Odisha occupies the eighth position among the States with 20,332 persons, 16,438 in rural and 3,894 in urban areas, i.e, 0.48 per cent of the State’s population, reporting their gender under ‘Other Sex’.
As per the 2011 Census, in India, 4,87,803 persons (3,23,120 rural, 164,683 urban) constituting 0.04 per cent of the total population were reported under the ‘Other Sex’ category.Among the States, the highest number of persons under this category is in Uttar Pradesh (1,37,465).One of the important data collected during the 2011 Census is about the sex of a person. Prior to this census, the entire population was divided into two categories of gender, male and female, and,accordingly, information was collected.
But for the first time in the 2011 Census, the data were collected about the ‘Other Sex’ ie other than males and females.
Instruction was given to the population enumerators that in case the respondent wished to mention the sex other than male or female, the respondent was to be taken under the ‘Other Sex’ category. The enumerators were also cautioned that it was the respondent’s choice to opt for the same.
Odisha’s Director of Census Operations Bishnupada Sethi has reviewed the figures available in the latest Census report and it was revealed that among the persons reported under ‘Other Sex’, 2,125 belong to the age-group of 0-6 years in the State, which constitute 10.45 per cent of the total population reported under ‘Other Sex’ whereas in Odisha as a whole 12.6 per cent of the population comes under 0-6 age-group.
Under the ‘Other Sex’ category in the State, 15.92 per cent of the population belongs to SC category while 22.39 per cent belongs to the ST category. Out of the total population of the State, 17.1 per cent belongs to the SC category and 22.8 per cent to the ST category. The literacy rate among the population of ‘Other Sex’ in the State is 54.35 per cent whereas for the total population the literacy rate is 72.9 per cent.
As per the 2011 Census, 31.75 per cent of the populations of the ‘Other Sex’ category are workers whereas 68.25 per cent non-workers while in total population of the State 41.8 per cent persons are workers.
Among the workers belonging to ‘Other Sex’ 46.07 per cent are main workers who have worked for more than 180 days in a year and 53.93 per cent are marginal workers whereas among total workers of the State 61 per cent are main workers and 39 per cent are marginal workers.
Cultivators constitute 15.24 per cent of the total workers, 44.84 per cent are agricultural labourers, 5.86 per cent belong to workers in household industry and 34.06 per cent are other workers among the persons reported under ‘Other Sex’ while out of the total workers of the State 23.4 per cent are cultivators, 38.4 per cent agricultural labourers, 4.5 per cent in household industry and 33.7 per cent comes under the category of other workers.