Chapter -2

PROFILE OF BARAK VALLEY

INTRODUCTION

Assam, the biggest of the North-eastern states of India, is located

in between the longitudes 89° 45/ 0// E and 96° 0/ 0// E and latitudes

240 0/ 0// N and 28° 0/ 0// N.

The state divides itself into two natural divisions: i) the Plains

Area and ii) the Hills Area. The plains area of the state consists of two

Valleys viz. i) the Brahmaputra Valley and ii) the Barak Valley. The

Brahmaputra Valley in the north is the most extensive plain area with

Barak Valley in the south as it'sminiature^ (Map 2.1). E

Map 2.1: North-East Region (India)

.C;:^

N { MYANMAR

W

^y 3

} i " ^--^ C BA??Ai< VALLEY (CACHAR) AREA

: J ^ '

\ y aov.T

' NCAER (1962): Techno Economic Swvey of Assam, New Delhi, p. 1. 24

The Barak Valley region is situated between longitude 92° 15/E

and 90° 15/ E and 24° 8/N and 25° 8/ N covering a geographical area of

6922 Sq.Km. The Valley is surrounded on the north by the North

Cachar Hill District of Assam and the Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya,

on the east, by Manipur, on the south by Mizoram, while on the west by

Tripura and the Sylhet district of Bangladesh. The boundary clearly

reflects that the Barak Valley is surrounded by hills from three sides and

plain land from one side (Map 2.2). The Valley constitutes 8.9% of the

geographical area of the state.

Map 2.2: Barak Valley (Physiography) 2 ^ / N

•Ko/fm ('.\cnAn Htj.i

^ ais~:» W^-'^y if A<7 Z O/iA 11

/VVJ t-tfCftfc-i tr, ^;r'»/c- 24°8' I \u

2°1^E ®2 15E References 1. River 2. Stream 3. State Boundary

0 / 90 15E

25

PHYSIOGRAPHY

The Barak Valley is a heterogeneous land of high hills, low lands

and level plains. The Valley is the upward extension of Bengal Plains.^

Almost the entire area of old province of Bengal deltaic region succinctly

described as new mud, old mud and marsh including Surma Valley has,

however, a common structural and very similar way of life and a historic

entity and linguistic and cultural unit. The entire Valley region is

punctuated with high lands (locally called tillah) and low lands of an

average height of less than thirty metres from the sea level. The highest

hill range of Barail group of ranges which connects the North Manipur

Hills and Khasi range along the north of Cachar district ranges between

2500 feet and 6000 feet. The average height represented by Jhiri Hill

range which is the highest hill range within the jurisdiction of Barak

Valley is about 7660 feet above the sea level. Some hills on the eastern

side are as high as 2700 feet. Bhuban Hill which is the important range,

south of Barak, runs north and south at a short distance of 700 to 3000

feet height. The Rengti Pahar range also runs north and south from the

watershed between Sonai and Dhaleswari rivers. The Tilain range also

runs north and south (10 to 500 feet). The Sarispur or Sidheshwar Hill

which formed the boundary of Cachar and Sylhet (before partition)

varies from 600 to 2000 feet. Rest of the land of Barak Valley is flat land

of an average height of 100 feet. The principal river of the Valley is Barak

^ Chattcrjee, S.P.(l965):Gazatteer of India(Physiography of India), PubJication Division, Delhi, pp.25-28.

26

which rises on the southern slope of the lofty ranges of Nagaland and

forms the northern boundary of Manipur.

The important tributaries from the hills are Jiri, Chiri, Badri,

Madhura and Jatinga. The rivers coming from the south and draining

the Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts are Dhaleshwari,

Katakhal, Sonai, Rukni, Singla and Longai. The Barak River and it's

tributaries deposit different layers of shale and mud which form hard

sub-soil of the Valley. It provides thick blanket of mud stone that

restricts downward percolation of water. As a result, there is heavy run

off water during normal rainy days. The low lying areas of the Valley get

inundated during rainy season.

CLIMATE

The climate of a particular place has it's effects on the social as

well as economic conditions of the people. The climatic condition is of

special importance because of it's influence on health and energy.

"While it is, of course, foolish to believe that nature ever determined

man's mode of life in the strict sense of the word, it is equally foolish to

believe that modern man, through high technical development has

become independent of nature. Notwithstanding all the artificialities of

modern life, man and his various activities can never escape the direct or

indirect limiting effects of the natural environment, used here in the

27

broadest sense of the term."^ According to Huntington, "the prosperity

or depression of economy also depends upon climate."'^

The general climate of Barak Valley is neither too hot nor too cold,

it is rather humid. The Valley by it's geographical location is shut in by

hill ranges from three sides which have great influence on climate.

The uncertainty of monsoon throughout the country does not

show uniform rainfall in the Valley also. The rainfall Chart of the

different districts of the Valley indicates that usually the annual rainfall

exceeds 3000 mm (Table-2.1).

Table-2.1 Annual Rainfall of Barak Valley (in mm.)

Year

2003

2004

2006

Cachar

3564

2970.8

2086.8

Hailakandi

3665.9

2843.0

2465.8

Karimganj

2481

5487.5

3535.6

Source: Statistical Handbook of Assam, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Govt, of Assam, 2005, 2006.

ADMINISTRATIVE SET UP

Administratively, the Barak Valley region at present is comprised

of three districts viz. Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj. The district of

Cachar alone accounts for 54.7 per cent of the total area of the Valley, the

^ Bengston, N.A., W. Van Royen (1976): Fundamentals of Economic Geography,5'^ ed., Prentice Hall of India Ltd., New Delhi, p.35.

"* Huntington, Ellswortli (1959): Principles of Human Geography, Jolui Wiley & Sons INC, New York, p. 626

28

shares of the Hailakandi and Karimganj districts in the total area are 19.2

per cent and 26.1 per cent respectively. The district head-quarters of

Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj are Silchar, Hailakandi and

Karimganj respectively. Cachar is the largest and Hailakandi is the

smallest district with total geographical areas of 3786 sq. km. and 1327

sq. km. respectively and that of Karimganj is 1809 sq. km. as per 2001

census. The importance of Cachar district block wise as well as village

wise is also comparatively more than that of Hailakandi and Karimganj

districts.

Table-2.2 Administrative Units of Barak Valley

SI. No.

1.

2.

3.

District

Cachar

Hailakandi

Karimganj

Block

15

5

7

Village

1047

331

940

Gaon Fanchayat

163

62

96

Source: Statistical Hand Book Assam, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Govt, of Assam, 2005, pp. 2-3.

POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS

Before the annexation of Cachar (present Barak Valley) to British

kingdom, the population was less than fifty thousand with density of

11.38 per sq. km. Gradually, the population began to expand with the

development of agriculture. The colonial policy was also responsible for

rapid demographic change. The partition of India and subsequent large

scale influx of refugees from East Pakistan in different waves raised the

29

population of Barak Valley, which consequently, affected the socio­

economic and political dimensions of the Valley. The population of

Barak Valley during 2001 census was 29,95,769, majority of which

belonged to Bengali community. The Valley contains 11.22 per cent of

the population of state as per 2001 census. More than 15 per cent of the

total population of Barak Valley is constituted by the tea and ex-tea

garden labour community. Tea and Ex-tea labour community has been

split up in different groups, say Bhojpuri, Nagpuria, Santhali, Oriya,

Hindustani and others.^

GROWTH RATE OF POPULATION

The decadal growth rate of population in the Barak Valley and

Assam as a whole since 1941 is presented in Table-2.3.

Year

1941

1951

1961

1971

1991

2001

Table-2.3 Decadal Growth Rate of Population (1941-2001)

Total population in the Barak Valley

895140

1115865

1378476

1713318

2491496

2995769

Variation

(+)91446

(+)220725

(+)262611

(+)334842

(+)778178

(+)504273

Decadal growth rate (in %)

Barak Valley (+) 11.38

(+) 24.66

(+) 23.53

(+) 24.29

(+) 45.42

(+) 20.23

Assam 20.40

19.93

34.98

34.95

53.26

18.92

Sources: 1. Census of India, 1951,Vol. Ill Part II A, Assam, Manipur and Tripura, Shillong, 1953, pp.6-8.

2. Census of India, 1961, District Census Hand Book, Cachar District. 3. Census of India, 1971, Assam, Series-3, Part II A, p.72. 4. Statistical Hand Book, Assam, 2005, Directorate of Economics and

Statistics, Govt, of Assam, pp.6-7.

^ Singli, S.N., Amarendra Narayan, Pumendu Kumar (2006): Socio-economic and Political Problems of Tea Garden Workers, Mittal Publications, New Delhi,p.l2.

30

The table shows that except 1941-51 and 1991-2001 decades, the

growth rate of population in the Valley is always less than that of Assam

as a whole. The table also reveals that the growth rate of

population in the Barak Valley has been rising very steeply since 1941-51

decade to 1991, This is perhaps because of influx of a large number of

displaced persons from Sylhet and other districts of the then East

Pakistan (presently Bangladesh).

DENSITY OF POPULATION

The density of population in the Barak Valley is increasing year

after year which is depicted in Table-2.4. In 1981, no census operation

was carried out in Assam.

Table-2.4 Density of Population in Barak Valley {per sq. km.)

SI. No.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Year

1951

1961

1971

1991

2001

Density of Population

160

198

246

360

433

Source: Statistical Hand Book Assam, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Govt, of Assam, 2005.

As compared to the state of Assam as a whole, the density of

population in the Barak Valley is higher over the years. Thus while in

Assam, the density of population increased from 186 in 1971 to 340 in

31

2001, the corresponding density in Barak Valley increased from 246 in

1971 to 433 in 2001.

RURAL-URBAN POPULATION

The rural and urban population of the Barak Valley is shown with

the help of the TabIe-2.5.

Table-2.5 Rural-Urban Population in Barak Valley (1951-2001)

Year

1951

1961

1971

1991

2001

Rural Population

1054489

1281663

1577626

2277753

2676447

Urban population

61376

96813

135692

213743

319322

Total

1115865

3378476

1713318

2491496

2995769

% of total population

living in rural areas

94.5

93

92.1

91.4

89.3

% of total population

living in urban areas

5.5

7

7.9

8.6

10.7

Sources: 1. Census of India, 1951, Vol. XII Part I-B, p.ll5. 2. Census of India, 1961, Assam, District Census Hand Book, Cachar,

p.l74. 3. Statistical Hand Book, Assam, 1982, pp.12-13, col.5-6. 4. Ibid., 2005, pp.6-7, col.9-11. 5. Statistical Profile of Barak Valley, 1998, Vol. I, 1ST ed., NECAS,

Silchar, p.24.

The table reveals that the percentage of population in the rural

areas is decreasing, but at a slow rate.

32

POPULATION BY RELIGION

The population by religion in Barak Valley in the years 1961,1971,

2001 is shown in Table-2.6.

Table-2.6 Population by religion in Barak Valley

Religion

Hindu

Muslim

Christian

Budhist

Jains

Sikhs

Other Religion

Tribal Religion

1961

Total

821600

539457

15178

311

437

39

1369

85

%of Total

59.60

39.13

1.10

0.02

0.03

0.003

0.09

0.01

1971

Total

1005995

683387

22686

308

800

141

1

-

%of Total

58.72

39.88

1.32

0.02

0.05

0.01

-

-

2001

Total

1580660

1362114

45476

1677

1970

765

1791

1316

%of Total

52.76

45.47

1.52

0.06

0.07

0.03

0.06

0.04

Sources: 1. Statistical Hand Book, Assam, 1982, pp.34-36. 2. ibid., 1971, pp.8-11. 3. ibid., 2005, pp.32-34.

The table reveals that the main religious communities in the Barak

Valley are the Hindus and the Muslims. However, there are many

Christians also in this Valley, who are mainly among the Hill Tribes like

Hmar, Khasi, Tipra, Riang etc.

33

AGRICULTURAL SCENARIO

The Barak Valley is mainly agriculture oriented and about 66 per

cent of the working population depends on agriculture for maintaining

their livelihood. The problems of agriculture in the Barak Valley are not

different from that of Assam in general. The agriculture in this Valley is

"characterised by many impediments such as small and uneconomic

farm units, low cost intensity, low productivity, lack of proper irrigation

facilities, inadequate credit. Besides, in agriculture and rural economy,

tradition persisted very deep reducing the total productivity to a large

extent. Excessive rain, flood and some times drought conditions here

and there and paste attack on standing crops are some of the other

problems which agriculture willy-nilly has to face every year."^

"Agriculture in the rainy months is mainly confined to the high lands

which are free from water logging. In winter, the depressions grow

excellent crops like pulses and oil seeds. Besides rice, jute and sugar

canes are also grown here with no land available for reclamation and

bringing under cultivation, agriculture can not support more people in

Cachar."7

* Directorate of Economics & Statistics (1982-83): Economic Survey, Assam, Govt, of Assam, Guwahati, p. 7.

' Census of India (1971): Assam Series 3 part I-A, Gaieral Report, p. 12.

34

INDUSTRIAL SCENARIO

The principal industry of the Valley is the Tea industry. There

were 198 tea gardens with 31894 hectares area under tea cultivation in

2005. As regards production, the Barak Valley produced 44858 thousand

kg. of tea in the same year. Regarding average daily number of labourers

employed in tea plantation, tea gardens in Barak Valley employed 69815

labourers with an 11.29 per cent share of that of whole Assam in 2005

(Statistical Hand Book, Assam, 2009).

Union Flour Mill, Silchar is a medium scale industrial unit in

Barak Valley. Another medium scale industry. Paper Mill, with an

annual production capacity of one lakh ton is also established at

Panchgram in the Hailakandi district under the auspices of Hindustan

Paper Corporation. The project is endeavouring to solve the

unemployment problem of the Valley. Again, the district Cachar (more

particularly Lakhipur police station area) produces one of the best

varieties of pine apples in the world. Efforts have been made for

establishment of canning and preservation units for pine apple which

may provide some employment directly and indirectly. There were 282

registered factories in 2008 in Barak Valley.^ These factories are mainly

manufacturers of food products and wood and wood products. There

are also some industrial units based on timber, engineering, chemical,

textile, cement, grinding etc. giving employment to a small number of

Directorate of Economics and Statistics (2009), Statistical Handbook, Assam, pp. 167-169. 35

people. Again, traditional cottage industries like weaving, sericulture,

bamboo and cane crafts etc. are subsidiary sources of income to a large

number of rural population. The economy of Barak Valley, though has

huge developmental potential, still remains under-developed because of

slower industrial growth, too much dependence on agriculture and

unutilised man power and untapped natural resources. In fact, the

present economic profile of the Valley exhibits high density of

population, excessive agricultural dependence, low level of agricultural

productivity, uneconomic size of operational holding, low rate of

industrialisation, high incidence of registered as well as disguised

unemployment, low level of capital formation and enterprise etc.

ROAD, TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION

The transport bottleneck is the main reason for the backwardness

of Barak Valley.

Barak Valley had a road length of 2233 kms. under P.W.D.

including 159 km. of State Highways^ 607 km. of Major District Road,

1407 km. of Rural Road and 60 km. of Urban Road as in 2008.*̂

Further, the National Highway 53 (Jowai-Badarpur Road)

connects Silchar with Guwahati via Shillong. The other important roads

are Silchar-Imphal, Silchar-Aizwal and Silchar-Agartala. These roads are

metalled and black-topped. Again, there is a fair weather road from

Ibid.,pp.210-211. 36

Silchar to Haflong, the head quarter of N.C. Hills. During the rainy

season, these roads remain suspended frequently owing to land slides.

The Barak Valley is connected by railway with Agartala and

Lumding (Assam). The track is meter gauge to both the locations.

There is one Airport in the Valley and that is at Kumbhirgram.

Indian Airlines maintain flights connecting Silchar with Kolkata, Imphal,

Guwahati.

There is developed telecommunication facility in the Valley. The

Office of the General Manager, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is

situated at Silchar. Due to this, subscribers' complaints can be redressed

in a prompt and efficient maimer.

EDUCATIONAL FACILITY

If we consider from the stand point of number of educational

institutions, there emerges a picture of rapid development in the sphere

of education in the Valley during the post-independence period. The

present position regarding the number of educational institutions in the

Barak Valley is given in Table-2.7 below.

37

Table-2.7 Educational Institutions in Barak Valley as on 30* September, 2007.

SL. No.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Institution

Primary

Middle

High

Higher Secondary

Novodoya Vidyalaya

Intermediate/Junior College

General College

(Deficit/ Provincialised)

Polytechnic

Engineering College

Medical College

Veterinary College

Agriculture College

B.T. college(Govt.)

Law College

University

Cachar

1613

412

218

28

1

21

7

1

1

1

-

-

1

1

1

Hailakandi

1003

388

246

11

1

11

2

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Karimganj

1245

374

92

25

1

3

7

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

Total

3861

1174

556

64

3

35

16

1

1

1

-

-

1

2

1

Sources: 1. Statistical Hand Book, Assam, 2009, Govt, of Assam, p. 263. 2. Deputy Director, Department of Economics and Statistics, Govt, of

Assam, Cachar District. 3. Ibid., Karimganj District. 4. Ibid., Hailakandi District.

38

HEALTH FACILITY

Since independence, much attention is given on the development

of infrastructure of health facility in Assam and Barak Valley is no

exception in this regard. The Valley has 3 Civil Hospitals with each

district having one respectively and 61 Primary Health Centres.

Furthermore, in Barak Valley, Cachar district had 269 sub-centres to look

after the children and mother's health problems whereas Hailakandi and

Karimganj districts had 105 and 217 respectively as in 2008. The

Hospital-bed strength of Cachar district was 260 while Hailakandi had

208 beds and Karimganj had 222 in 2008. Health facilities in Barak Valley

comprising Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts are shown below

in Table-2.8.

Table-2.8 Health Facility in Barak Valley- Institutions as in 2008

SL. No.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Institution

Sub-centre

Dispensary

Primary Health Centre

Civil Hospital

Bed Strength

Cancer Hospital

Cachar

269

2

27

1

260

1

Haila­kandi

105

2

12

1

208

-

Karim­ganj

217

24

22

1

222

-

Total

591

28

61

3

690

1

Sources: Statistical Hand Book, Assam, 2009, Govt, of Assam, pp.254-55.

39

ELECTRICITY

The entire Barak Valley is mainly served by Barapani Hydro

Electric Project under Meghalaya State and Loktak Hydel Project under

Manipur State. The supply of power is not adequate enough to meet the

demand of this region. More particularly, during the dry season, the

Valley faces a serious power crisis.

The Valley has progressed remarkably regarding the

electrification of villages. Out of three districts of Barak Valley, Cachar

had 749 villages electrified upto 31*' March, 2008, while the figures of

Hailakandi and Karimganj were 242 and 660 respectively bearing 73 per

cent, 74 per cent and 72 per cent of each of these three districts

respectively having villages electrified.^"

DRINKING WATER FACILITY

During post-independence period, there has been sufficient

improvement in drinking water facility in Assam as well as in Barak

Valley. Up to 31^^ March'2009, 62 per cent of total number of habitations

in Cachar district was fully covered with drinking water facility, in case

of Hailakandi and Karimganj districts, the percentages were 28 and 40

respectively. In contrast, the percentage of habitations fully covered with

•° ibid. 40

drinking water facility for Assam as a whole was 43 per cent as on 31^'

March, 2009.̂ ^ However, there is much complaint regarding the quality

of drinking water in Barak Valley. There is high deposits of iron and

chemical substances which contaminate the drinking water in Barak

Valley.

" Ibid,p.261. 41