Dibrugarh District
| Total Population : 1,185,072 |
| Total literate : 698,148 |
| Rural : 956,634 |
Urban : 228,438 |
| Male : 613,555 |
Female : 571,517 |
Challenges
in Dibrugarh
Unemployment
Illiteracy
Malnutrition in Tea Labourers
Education Facilities
High
degree of Liquor Consumption
As told to IndianNGOs.com by Mr Agnihotri, Deputy
Commissioner on June 07, 2006
MP : Loksabha
Dibrugarh
MP
Sonowal, Shri Sarbananda
CONSTITUENCY : Dibrugarh (Assam )
PARTY : Asom Gana Parishad (AGP)
Present
Address
159, South Avenue,
New Delhi - 110 011
Tels. (011) 23795037, 9868180195(M)
Fax. (011) 23795331
Permanent
Address
Village & Post - Molokgaon
District - Dibrugarh (Assam)
Tels. (0373) 2321236, 2328020
Brief
about District
Dibrugarh
which is the headquarter of the district derived its
name from Dibarumukh. The name derived from the mouth(mukh)
of the river Dibaru or Dibru(Bodo word dibru,a blister)
during the reign of Siuhungmung, Pharsengmung Borgohain,
Chao Siulung, Kilong fought against the chetia king
who was defeated in the battle and surrendered before
the Ahom King. Dibarumukh was a renonwed encampment
of Ahoms during Ahom Chutia War. Earlier Dibrugarh
was the District HQ of undivided Lakhimpur District.But
now Dibrugarh is a separate district having its own
identity with the District HQ still in Dibrugarh town
itself.
GEOGRAPHY
Introduction
The Dibrugarh district extends from latitude
and longitude. It is bounded by Dhemaji district on
the north, Tinsukia district on the east, Tirap district
of Arunachal Pradesh on the south-east and Sibsagar
district on the north and south-west. THe area stretches
from the north bank of the mighty Brahamputra, which
flows for a length of 95 km through the northern margin
of the district, to the Patkai foothills on the south.
The Burhi Dihing, a major tributary of the Brahamputra
with its network of tributaries and wetlands flows
through the district from east to west.
Physiography
The Dibrugarh district is located in the
north eastern corner of the Upper Brahamputra valley
south with an altitude ranging between 99 and 474
meters. A major part of it is and extensive plain
formed by the Brahamputra and its major south bank
tributary-the Buri Dihing.
The Physiography of the district is constituted by
a variety of elements such as flood plain, beels and
swamps, occasional highlands and foothills of the
Barail Range. The Brahamputra river is fairly wide
here (average width 10km).
The general gradient of the district of the area is
from south-east to north-west. The altitude of the
south-easternmost corner covering the Hapjan Parvat
and Hilika Parvat of the Barail foot hills is 200m.
The height decreases gradually from this corner to
the mouth of the Buri Dihing river where the altitude
is 99 m. However the northern belt of the area has
a gentle slope from east to west. The altitude of
the eastern part is 115 m, while it is 99 m in the
western part. The average east-west slope is 152 cm
per km. Because of the relatively high slope and large
volume of water, the Brahamputra flows with a high
velocity causing significant bank erosion in the area.
The earthquake of 1950 (magnitude 8.7 in the Richter
scale, Poddar, 1952) accelerated the intensity of
bank erosion. The impact is alarming in the north
of Dibrugarh city and Rahmaria mouza.
The area may be divided into three distinct physiographic
zones stretching parallel to the Brahamputra river.
These are : (i) The active floodplain and 'charland',
(ii) the middle plain; and (iii) the southern foothills.
The first zone is an extensive and active floodplain
of the Brahamputra. The 'charlands'(sandbars) have
also been included in this zone. The charlands are
suitable for grazing during the winter season.
The second zone is extensive because of the presence
of fairly large tributaries like the Dibru (which
has now merged with the Brahamputra) and the Buri
Dihing through their headward erosion added alluvial
land substantially to the great plain of the Brahamputra.
This plain contains the rich belts of tea and rice
cultivation. All the mouzas excluding only Joypur
are partly or wholely in this zone. The highly meandered
course of the Burhi Dhing here has left cut off as
many as 39 wetlands in the form of ox-bow lakes and
swamps.
The foothill zone on the other hand consists of isolated
hillocks interspersed with plain embayments extending
into the Naga hills. The high grounds of this zone
composed mostly lateritic soils are covered by tea
gardens or dense forests. Located in this zone, the
Joypur Reserved Forest occupies an area of 10,666,08
hectares.
Rivers
and Wetlands
On the northern margin of the district lies the river
Brahamputra which basically drains the whole area.
The Brahamputra here is very wide and braided. Near
the Dibrugarh City the river is 10km wide with a large
number of sandbars. Till the great earthquake of 1950
the north easternmost corner was drained by the Dibru
River. The Dibru was a main tributary of the Brahamputra
the confluence of it being at about 18km east of Dibrugarh
City. By raising the bed of the Brahamputra , the
earthquake caused severe erosion on its south bank
and as a result the Dibru river got merged with its
master stream in Rahmaria mouza. Earlier, the interfluves
of the Brahamputra and the Dibru was on an average
6-8 km wide within the district. Some of the inhabited
villages like Sainaki, Erasuti, Chabaru Kalioro, Sairsuti,
Nepali Block, Mohmora, Charisuti, Nepali South Block
in between the Brahamputra and the Dibru, and Rangajan,
Laruparia Pathar, Guiphala Habi, Laruporia Saugaon,
Guiphala, Nagaon, part of Rahmaria Gaon, Gaharipathar,
Piporatoli, Nefafu grant on the south bank of the
Dibru alongwith their fertile agricultural land and
forest cover were wiped away by the Brahamputra. Now,
Maijan stream, a tributary of the former Dibru has
become a tributary to the Brahamputra.
Buri Dihing river flows from almost east to west through
the area. It has many tributaries such as Digboi,
Tingrai, Tipling, Telpani, Deherang and Sessa in the
north bank and Tipam and Disam in the south bank.
In addition to the tributaries of the Burhi Dihing,
there are three other tributaries of the Disang river(
in Sibsagar district) namely Gela Disam, Tiolo and
Demow flowing mainly from the Tingkhong mouza. Official
reports , in fact suggest that Burhi Dhing is the
erstwhile Namphuk river. It flows for 90 km through
the Patkai Hills before it comes down to the foot
hill zone. Thereafter flowing in a south-west direction
for 20km it meets the Khaikhe and Meganton to form
what is called Burhi Dihing. The Burhi Dihing meanders
through the plains facing Patkai Hills for a length
of 50km and then enters into Joypur-Digboi low hill
range. It then comes out near Joypur to flow through
the plains for a length of 120km and ultimately joins
the Brahamputra at about 32 km south-west of Dibrugarh
city.
Wetlands
Like any other parts of Assam, the area is endowed
with extensive water resources. The district possesses
a large number of wetlands of varying sizes. The larger
ones are popularly know as beel, while the marshes
and swamps are generally known as jalah, doloni, pitoni,
doba, etc. In some areas, the beels are referred to
as gadang. However, all these features may be include
under the comprehensive term ' wetland'. The wetlands
may broadly be divided into two categories : the lake-like
ones , i.e beel with clear wide-spread water area
and the others i.e. swamps and marshes covered by
weeds, grasses, etc.
Both the beels and the swamps are geomorphologically,
ecologically and economically very important features.
These comprise a major component of the area's ecology.
The beels are traditionally used as natural fisheries.
Even today, the beels produce more fish per unit area
than any many other man-made fisheries. A large number
of beels are connected with the rivers by one or more
feeder channels. These feeder channels are lifeline
of such water bodies.
Climate
Being
located on the north of the latitude and with its
unique physiographic elements, the area experiences
subtropical monsoon climate with mild winter, warm
and humid summer which may be designated as CWB (Borthakur,1986).
Rainfall decreases from south to north and east to
west in the area. The average annual rainfall of the
Dibrugarh city in the north is 276 cm with a total
number of 193 rainy days, while at Naharkatia in the
south, it is 163 cm with 147 rainy days. The temperature
generally decreases from south to north. The average
annual temperature in Dibrugarh and Naharkatia is
23.9 C and 24.3 C respectively. Located on the bank
of the Brahmaputra, the Dibrugarh city experiences
mild climate with low temperature and high rainfall
as compared to Chabua in the east and Moran in the
west. The average annual temperature in Chabua and
Moran is 28 C and 32 C respectively. Rainfall records
show a decreasing trend towards east and west of Dibrugarh
city. The annual amount of rainfall in Chabua and
Moran is 250 cm and 171 cm and 171 cm respectively.
On the basis of the climatic characteristics such
as distribution of temperature, rainfall, rainy days,
humidity, presence of fogs and thunderstorms, the
climate of the area may be classified into four seasons
:
(a)
winter, (b) pre-monsoon, (c) monsoon and (d) retreating
monsoon
Winter
The winter covers the months of December, January
and February. In this season, fair weather prevails
occasionally associated with fogs and haze. December
and January are the driest months and January is the
coldest. The minimum temperature ranges between 8
C and 10 C and the maximum between 27 C and 29 C.
The average rainfall in the season is 20 cm.
Pre-Monsoon:
The months of March, April and May constitute
the pre-monsoon season. From March the land surface
gets steadily heated and the temperature starts rising.
Strong convection develops due to the local depressions
formed especially in the afternoon. The nor'westers
locally called Bordoichilla appears during the period.
Rainfall ranges between 59 and 160 cm and maximum
temperature ranges between 28 C and 32 C. This season
is, in fact, a transitional phase between the dry
cool winter and the warm moist monsoon.
Monsoon
With the onset of monsoon in early June,
heavy rainfall occurs.Widespread low clouds and high
humidity together maintain almost uniform temperature
over the area. The maximum temperature ranges between
33 C and 37 C. The average annual rainfall during
the period is 300 cm. The occurrence of thunderstorms
is the most conspicuous characteristics of the monsoon
weather. This is the season of dominant agricultural
operation in the area.
Retreating Monsoon
The monsoon withdraws from the area in
the last week of September or first week of October.
The cool north-easterly winds originating over the
lofty mountains of the Arunachal himalayas brings
the temperature down. The orographic low is replaced
by high pressure and a flat pressure gradient occurs.
Rainfall decreases abruptly and the sky becomes progressively
clear. Sunny days prevail till the end of November.The
CWB climate thus has a profound influence on the economy
and lifeof the people of the area. It is most suitable
for the cultivation of a variety of grain and horticultural
crops.
Soil
The soils of the area are basically the products of
the fluvial processes of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
The plains are composed of alluvium which may be classified
as new and old. The new alluvium varies mostly from
clayey to sandy loam in texture and is slightly acidic
in reaction. it is deficient in phosphoric acid, nitrogen
and humus, but rich in lime and potash. It is found
in the vast plain of the district along the river
valleys, especially in their lower courses.The old
alluvium on the other hand occurs in the upper and
middle parts of the valleys. It occurs mainly in Joypur,Tipling,
Kheremia and Tengakhat mouzas in the form of terrace
deposits. These deposits contain alternating beds
of pebbles, gravel or boulder with loose sand and
clays. In certain parts, both the old and new alluvium
are so combined that it is difficult to distinguish
them.
The old alluvium has relatively high percentage of
acid and soluble Mg accompanied by Ca in general,
its HCL soluble material contents are lower and the
percentage of MgO is higher. The pH value ranges between
4.2 and 5.5 with very low quantity of exchangeable
calcium which varies from 0.1 to 5.0 mg per 100 gms
of soil
The new alluvium is less acidic as compared to the
old alluvium. Its pH value varies from 5.5 to 9.0.
These soils are rich in PO4'K and Ca (6 to 21mg per
100 gms of soil), but its N2 content is somewhat low,
being 0.1percent .
Tea is abundantly grown in the old alluvium as it
has high percentage of acid. The tea estates are located
over relatively high lands covering mainly the mouzas
of Chabua, Bogdung, Rahmaria, Tengakhat, Tipling,
Kheremia,Gharbandi, Lahoal, Moderkhat, Mancotta, Jamira,
Joypur and Tipling with discernible slopes containing
both old and new alluvium. Heavy clays, with high
percentage of N2 are suitable for rice cultivation.
The silty river banks lying in Lengri, Khowang, Mancotta
and Larua are favourable for pulses and vegetables.
The river banks bear texturally three types of soil:
sandy loam, loam and clayey loam. These favour the
cultivation of winter rice, mustard, pea, vegetables,
etc. Of the total river bank area, 82.0 percent is
arable, 7.0 percent is non arable land and 11.0 percent
is not available for cultivation. As per the reports
of the National Watershed Development Project for
Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA) , 1991-92, soils of the flood
plain may be classified into four classes : Land having
moderate limitations and good land which is subject
to wind and water erosion and can be cultivated with
some corrective measures, Second, Land having moderate
limitations and good land with excessive sand structure,
gravel and stony conditions that can be cultivated
with some corrective measures), Third, land having
severe limitations like excessive wetness or too much
overflow where regular cultivation is possible if
hazards are removed and well treated by corrective
measures and fourth land not suitable for cultivation
due to excessive overflow or water-logging condition
which can not be drained out and can be used only
for fishing (Fig.2.4). The percentage strength of
area under the these classes are 82.0, 8.0, 4.0 and
6.0 respectively.
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