| Voice of Tehri Garhwal
: Chanda Mohan Bhat
Unemployment is the major issue we face. There are no industries
and factories for us to get descent jobs.
This leads to the other major issue of Migration. The masses from
our district go to other places in search of lucrative work.
Government should pay more attention in getting the women literate
as their literacy rate is very weak.
Children are thoroughly malnutritioned.
Tehri Garhwal District
Area, Population & Sex Ratio
Geographical Area : 4080.0 Km2
Population in Tehri Garhwal (Census 2011)
Total Population
Total : 616409
Male : 296604
Female : 329805
Disabled population
Total disabled population : 16514
In seeing : 6922
In speech : 1423
In hearing : 1851
In movement : 4758
Mental : 1560
Rank ( VoiceOfBharat.org Analysis
)
Backwardness : Does not figure in list of 447 backward
districts
Sex Ratio Rank : 564
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 445 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : NA
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Brief About Tehri Garhwal District
History :
Lying on the southern slopes of outer Himalayas,
Tehri Garhwal is on of the sacred hilly districts of Uttaranchal
State. Before the creation
of universe, Lord Brahma is said to have meditated on this sacred
land. Muni-ki-Reti and Tapovan of the district are the places of
penance for the ancient Rishis. Its hilly terrain and lack of easy
communications have helped it to preserve its culture almost intact.
Tehri and Garhwal are the two words combined for naming the district
as Tehri Garhwal. While the prefix Tehri is the corrupted
form of the word `Trihari` which signifies a place that washes
away all the three types of sins, namely sins born out of thought
(Mansa), word (Vacha) and deed (Karmana), the other part `Garh`
means country fort. In fact during olden days possession of number
of forts was considered as a significant measuring rod of the prosperity
and power of their rulers. Prior to 888, the whole of the Garhwal
region was divided into small `garhs` ruled by separate independent
kings known as Rana, Rai or Thakur. It is said that the prince Kanakpal
who hailed from Malwa visited Badrinath ji (presently in Chamoli
district) where he met the then mightiest king Bhanu Pratap. King
Bhanu Pratap was impressed with the prince and got his only daughter
married to him and also handed over his kingdom. Gradually Kanakpal
and his descendents extended their empire by conquering all the
garhs. Thus up to 1803 i.e. for 915 years the whole of the Garhwal
region remained under their control.
During 1794-95 Garhwal was under the grip of severe
famine and again in 1883, the country was terribly shaken by an
earthquake. Gorkhas had by then started invading this territory
and heralded their influence over the region. The people of
the region being already affected by natural calamities were in
the deplorable condition and therefore could not resist Gorkhas
invasion. On the other hand, Gorkhas whose several attempts for
capturing the fort Langoor
Garhi had earlier failed, were now in powerful position. In 1803,
therefore, they again invaded Garhwal region when King Pradumn Shah
was the ruler. King Pradumn Shah was killed in the battle in Dehra
Dun but his only son (Sudarshan Shah was
minor at that time) was cleverly saved by the trusted courtiers.
With the victory of Gorkhas in this battle their dominion was established
in Garhwal region. Later on their kingdom extended up to Kangara
and they ruled over this region continuously for 12 years before
they were thrown away from Kangara by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. On
the other hand Sudarshan Shah could manage help from East India
Company and got his kingdom freed from Gorkha rulers. The East India
Company merged Kumaon, Dehra Dun
and east Garhwal in the British Empire and
the west Garhwal was given to Sudarshan Shah which was then known
as Tehri Riyasat.
King Sudarshan Shah established his capital
at Tehri town and afterwards his successors Pratap Shah, Kirti Shah
and Narendra Shah established their capital at Pratap Nagar, Kirti
Nagar and Narendra Nagar respectively. Their dynasty ruled over
this region from 1815 to 1949. During the Quit India Movement people
of this region actively participated for the independence of the
country. Ultimately when the country was declared independent in
1947, the inhabitants of Tehri Riyasat started their movement for
getting themselves freed from the clutches of Maharaja. Due to the
movement the situation became out of his control and was difficult
for him to rule over the region. Consequently the 60th king of Pawar
Vansh Manvendra Shah accepted the sovereignty of Indian Government.
Thus in 1949 Tehri Riyasat was merged in Uttar Pradesh and was given
the status of a new district. Being a scattered region it posed
numerous problems for expediting development. Resultantly
on 24th February 1960 the U.P. Government separated its’
one tehsil which was given status of a separate district named as
Uttarkashi.
LOCATION AND AREA
Tehri Garhwal is one of the western most
district of the Uttaranchal State (Former Uttar Pradesh) located
on the outer ranges of the mid Himalayas which comprise low line
peaks rising contiguously with the planes of the northern India.
The district lies between the parallels of 30.3` and 30.53` north
latitude and 77.56` and 79.04` east longitude. Uttarkashi from the
north, Rudraprayag from the east, Puri Garhwal from the south and
Dehra Dun from the west are bounding the districts. On the western
front Yamuna river separates it from Jaunsar Pragana of the Dehra
Dun district while Bhagirathi rising from the north of the Gangotri
in the district Uttarkashi touches the district near village Nagun.
Total area of the district is 4421 sq. kms
(Census 1991) . The district headquarter is located at New Tehri
Town since 1.4.1989, Earlier Narendranagar was the district headquarter.
GEOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES
A major portion of the district is having
hilly tract. The plain area is more fertile than the plateau area.
Bulk of the area of the district is under forest which occupy a
place of importance not only in the ecology but also in the economy
of the district. These forests are rich in vegetations. Wood of
commercial value is produced. These forests are also famous for
production of herbs and plants of medicinal value. There has been
a denudation of forests in the past, resulting in impoverishment
of forests wealth. Under five year plans efforts have been made
to plant trees under forestations programmed. Availability of soft
wood has given rise to the manufacturing of wooden toys in the area.
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