Dr. K. G. Basavarajappa aged 89 years died on September 11, 2020, at Heart Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. On March 18, 1931, he was born on March 18, 1931 in Mysore state, India. He obtained his M.Sc. in Statistics (1956) at Karnataka University, India, Diploma in Demography (1960) at International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India, and Ph.D. in Demography (1964) at the Australian National University, Canberra. Over the period 1953 to 1998, he had a very successful upward professional mobility, working in different capacities in several institutions in India, Australia, the USA, and Canada.
He began his career in 1953-54 as an Assistant Master at a High School in Kogalur, India. During 1956-58 and 1960-61, he was a lecturer in the Department of Statistics, Karnataka University. India. In 1964-66 he worked as a Senior Demographer, International Institute for Population Studies, Mumbai. During 1961-1970, he was a research scholar and a research fellow 1966-1970 at the Australian National University, Canberra. He spent one year (1970-71) a Visiting Associate Professor of Population Dynamics, School of Hygiene of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Then, he migrated to Canada to work as an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, London. Finally, he had a long carrier as Associate Director of Demography Division, Director of Population and Estimates Division, and Advisor at Statistics Canada from 1975 to 1998.
He was a member of several learned societies, including the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, Population Association of America where he served as a member of Ethics Committee, and Canadian Population Society where he was a councillor of the executive committee, and Indian Association for the Study of Population.
He had published a number of papers in Refereed Journals and Chapters in books. Some of his well-known papers include “Effect of Declines in Mortality on the Birth Rate and Related Measures” Population Studies, 1963, Vol. XVI, No.3, pp. 237-259; “ Changes in Age at Marriage of Females and Their Effect on the Birth Rate in India,” Eugenics Quarterly,1967,Vol. 14,No. 1, pp. 14-26 ( Jointly with M.I. Belvalgidad); “The Significance of Differences in Patterns of Mortality for Projections of Population,” Demography, 1968,Vol.1,No.2, pp:101-108; “The Influence of Fluctuations in Economic Conditions on Fertility and Marriage Rates, Australia, 1920-21 to 1937-38 and 1946-47 to 1966-67,” Population Studies, 1971. Vol.25, No.1, pp.39-53; “Trends in Age-Duration –Specific Fertility Rates in Australia,1911- 1961,” World Population Conference 1965,Belgrade,in Vol.2, P.249, WPC/WP/319; “The Employment and Training in the ECAFE Region of Persons with Training in Demography or Allied Population Fields,” in Contributed Papers, 1967, I.U.S.S.P. The conference, Sydney, pp.1083-1099 ( Jointly with Dr. J.C. Caldwell); “Mortality,’ Ch.3, in Population Change: Asia and Oceania (eds., W.D. Borrie and Morey, Morag Cameran), Proceedings of the I.U.S.S. P. Conference, Sydney, 1967, pp.46-64 ( Jointly with C.Y. Tye); Trends in Fertility in Australia, 1911-1961. ( Ph.D. Thesis) Australian National University) , Canberra, 1964; Population and Migration, in Historical Statistics, Statistics Canada.1983 ( With B. Ram); Ethnic fertility differences in Canada, 1926-71: An examination of assimilation hypothesis, Journal of Biosocial Science, Vol. 16, 1984, pp.45-54 (with Shiva Halli); Asian Immigrants in Canada and Some Findings from the 1981 Census, International Migration, 1985, Vol 23(1) ( With Ravi B. P. Verma); The income of Immigrants in Canada, Statistics Canada, 1986. (With Roderick Beaujot and Ravi B. P. Verma); Spouse Selection in Canada, 1921-78: An Examination by Age, sex, and religion, Journal of Biosocial Science, Vol. 20, 1988. (with M. Norris and Shiva Halli); A Comparative Study of Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Families in Canada with Special Reference to Income, 1986. International Migration,Vol 35(2), 225-52. 1997. Living Arrangements and Residential Overcrowding: The Situation of Older Immigrants, 1991. Statistics Canada, 1998.
In 1981 Dr. Ravi B. P. Verma joined Statistics Canada to do research in immigration and developing a methodology for producing annual population estimates for small areas (Census Divisions and Census Metropolitan Areas,.Dr. Basavarajappa directed these two projects very closely. As such, a small area methodology, the Nested Regression Method, was developed. A number of papers on immigration research were published jointly.
K.G. Basarajappa is survived by his wife (Ratna), daughter ( Sudha), Son (Udai), daughter-in-law ( Elizabeth)) and granddaughter ( Aster), and grandson ( Aril). He will be missed by a lot of friends and relatives.
Ravi B. P. Verma, Ph.D. Consultant and Researcher Ravi Verma Associates, 3 Forestglade Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 5X3 Canada