Cachar District
| Total Population : 1,444,921 |
| Total literate : 824,437 |
| Rural : 1243,534 |
Urban :201,387 |
| Male : 743,042 |
Female : 701,879 |
| Area
:3786 sq.km |
MP : Loksabha
Dev
Sontosh Mohan
CONSTITUENCY : Silchar (Assam ) Cachar District
PARTY : Indian National Congress (INC)
Present
Address
15, Safdarjung Lane,
New Delhi - 110 003
Tels.(011) 23794902, 23019569, 9868180152 (M)
Permanent
Address
S.M. Dev Road,
Tarapur-Silchar-3
Distt. Cachar, Assam-788 003
Tels.(03842) 234255, 245754,
Fax:(03842) 234672
Brief
about District
The
District of Cachar which is located in the southernmost
part of Assam is one of the oldest districts of Assam. It is bounded on the north by
Barail and Jayantia Hill ranges, on the south by the
state of Mizoram, on the east by Manipur and on the west by sister
districts of Karimganj and
Hailakandi and Bangladesh. The district was created
in 1830 after annexation of Kachari
kingdom by the British. In 1854, North
Kachar was annexed and tagged to the district.
In 1951 erstwhile North Cachar Sub-Division was made
a separate district and taken out of Cachar.In
1983 erstwhile Karimganj Sub-Division and in 1989, Hailakandi Sub-Division
was made a separate District.
Origin of the name:
There are two possibilities regarding the
origin of the name. They are:
1. The Kacharis
gave this name Cachar when they ruled this land.
2. The word 'Kachar' in Sylhette(Bengali of Sylhet)
means a stretch of land at the foot of a mountain.Hence the name Cachar might have been given by Bengalies
of Sylhet as the land is
surrounded by mountains.
The
circumstances under which the Kacharis
came and ruled this land is briefly stated below:
In December
,1706, the Kachari King
Tamradhaja ,whose capital was at Maibong on the bank of the Mahur
River,was invaded by the
most powerful Ahom king Rudra Singha.Being defeated by the Ahom
King ,Tamradhaja fled southwards
to Khaspur.From this time onwards the Kachari princes seemed to have settled in the plains of Cachar,
their court being located at Khaspur.
The Kachari King Suradarpa
Narayan set himself to recognise
the people and improve the capital Brick buit
palaces and temples were constructed in different
parts of Khaspur.It is said that the demoness Hirimba,whom the second
Pandava Bhima
married ,resided in this place .Hence the kingdom
was named Hirimba kingdom in memory of the demoness.
The first connection
of British with the District dates from 1762, when
Mr. Verelst marched from Chittogong
to assist the Manipuri king Jay Singha
who had been driven from his throne by the Burmese
and halted with his army at Jatrapur near the present Silchar town.The army remained there for about a year, but due to
death and disease among the army ,Mr
Verelst could not proceed further and was ultimately recalled.
The next historical
event of importance was the formal conversion of Kachari King Krishna Chandra to Hinduism in 1770.
A few years
later,the
last prince Gobinda Chandra was driven from throne by Marjit Singha of Manipur with the
help of the Burmese.Afterwards
the Burmese drove Marjit Singha from this place to
Surma Valley. But the British Govt. which was
in possession of Sylhet
expelled the Burmese and handed back the district
to Gobinda Chandra.In return he was required to pay an annual tribute
of Rs. 10,000.The king then
shifted his abode to Haritikar,but in 1830 he was assisinated by batch of Manipuri murderers.In the absence of a natural heir,this territory lapsed to the British Govt. under the
term of a treaty executed in 1826.This
district was formally annexed by the pro-clamation
of August 14,1832.
The last of
the Kachari Kings, Raja
Gobin Chandra was
assassinated by a group of seditious persons
with the help of some of his personal attendants on
April 24, 1830, at Haritikar.
In absence of natural heirs, his territory lapsed
to the British under the terms of an agreement executed
in 1826. Mr. T. Fisher, an army officer was sent to
take charge of the territory with the power of a Collector
and Magistrate and he took over charge on June 30,
1830, with headquarters at Cherrapunji.
In 1833, the headquarters were shifted to Dudpatil
and then to Silchar. Plain portion of Cachar was formally
annexed to the British dominion on August 14, 1832
by a proclamation of the Governor General-in-Council.
Mr. T. Fisher was gazetted
to the first post of the Superintendent of the district.
He unfortunately died while in service and was
succeeded respectively by Messrs I.G.
Burns, E.R. Lyons, E. Pearson,
P.G. Verner
and others.
In 1854, North
Cachar was annexed to
the British dominion after the death of Senapati
Tularam, and tagged with Cachar. In 1874, Cachar was
included in the Chief Commissionership of Assam as
per proclamation of February 6, 1874, and the post
of Superintendent was re-designated as the Deputy
Commissioner and Mr. R.. Stuart was the first Deputy
Commissioner of the district. Hailakandi Sub-division
was formed on June 1, 1869.
As a result of the partition
of India in 1947, four Thanas of erstwhile Karimganj Sub-division
of Sylhet district were
transferred to Cachar.
On November
17, 1951, North Cachar Sub-division was carved out
of this district and made part of the newly formed
district of United Mikir
and North Cachar Hills.
On July 1, 1983,
Karimganj Sub-division was
taken out of Cachar and declared a separate district.
On October 1,
1989, Hailakandi Sub-division was taken out of Cachar
and declared a separate district.
The District is a heterogeneous plain composed
of both low lands and high hills and level plains.
Actually the whole of the District lies at the foot
hills. The Bhubban ranges
on the eastern side of the district covers a considerable
area. The river Barak, along with the tributaries
,Jiri, Chiri, Madhura, Jatinga,Sonai, Katakhal and others are flowing through the centre of the
plain valley of the district. On the average, the
soil of the district is a sandy-loomy
and sand-clay and is fertile. Explorations by ONGC
in different parts of Cachar have indicated that there
are huge mineral oil and gas deposits in various parts
of the district. The district covers an area of 37861.1
Sq Km. With a population of 12,15,385 as per 1991
census. The rural population is 10,96, 161 where urban
population is only 1,19,224. Thus the majority of
the population live in rural area and their main source
of livelihood is agricultural activities. Almost 70%
of the total population is dependant on primary sector,
i.e on agriculture. According to 1971 census, 42.70% of total
workers are cultivators and 19.60% are agricultural
labourers. The percentage of workers to total population is
29.16. Other agricultural allied activities such as
mining ,querry, livestock,
forestry, fisheries etc are pursued nearly 14.77%
of the total work force of the district. The rest
are engaged in trade and commerce, household industries,
construction, manufacturing, transport etc.
The socio-economic
condition of the district remains backward with lack
of major industrial establishment
in the district. However there are
potentialities for improving the economic condition
of the district in view of the huge water recourses
,forest product, oil and natural gas reserves present
project, exploration of natural gas and extension
of Broad gauge railway line up to the head quarter
of the district will help in a great way to accelerate
the process of socio-economic development in the district.
As in the other districts of Assam, the Govt. has taken up and implemented
various developmental schemes/projects through the
different departments in the district of Cachar for
upliftment of the Socio-economic
condition of people.
The District of Cachar lies between
longitude 92° 24' E and 93° 15'E and Latitude 24°
22' N and 25° 8' N and is bounded on the north by
the North Cachar Hills District and the State of Meghalaya, on the East by Manipur State,on the South by the State of Mizoram and on the west by Hailakandi District and Bangladesh.It has two sub-divisions -Silchar and Lakhipur .Named after the Kacharis
who once ruled over this part of the State.Cachar
district has prominently figured in the histories
of Manipur and the Kachari Kingdom.Ruins that still
invoke memories of the Kachari's
past glory are scattered at several places of the
district.
Silchar, the district headquarter town, situated on the South
bank of the Barak river is an important commercial
centre of the state .A gateway to Mizoram,Manipur
and Tripura, the town naturally plays a vital role
so far supply of essential commodities etc to those
states is concerned.A medical
college ,a station of All India Radio,a
TV Station and several other organisations have helped the town grow in importance.
A Central
University
is also set up in the district. The district
of Cachar is the home of a large number of Tea Gardens
of the State.Lakhipur is the richest pine-apple growing area in the
country.Natural Gas is found
in Adamtilla area of Cachar.One LPG
bottling plant is already been commissioned at Harincherrah of Silchar Subdivision.Khaspur,a past capital of the ancient Kachari Kingdom, with numerous ruins and architechtural remains,provides
nostalgic times to those with historical interest.
The main river of the district is Barak
which comes down from the southern slopes of lofty
ranges of Nagaland and forms
the northern boundary of Manipur.It
is joined with many small tributaries from the hills
with are Chiri, Jatinga, Sonai, Dhaleshwari. Katakhal etc.
Climate of Barak Velley
is significant for excessive humidity and being shut
in by ranges of hills on North,East
and South , heat during summer becomes unbearable.During
rainy season , the air is surcharged with moisture
and rainfall is extremely heavy.The winter is not so cold as that of Brahmaputra velley.The rainy season
starts from May and continues upto
October.
HeadQuarter
- Silchar
Subdivision - Silchar , Lakhipu
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