| Voice of Cachar : VoAmarjit
Bhattarcharjee

The infrastructure for the economic development is weak.
Frequent floods is the main issue that is dampening the development
of our district
Agriculture is the only source of livelihood. Due to floods the
cultivation is hampered. We are not able to get high yielding crops.
Silting of river beds due to deforestation
People should be made aware about the ill effects of deforestation
to curb felling of trees.
Government should generate sustainable development for the people
in Cachar.
Cachar District
Area, Population & Sex Ratio
Geographical Area : 3786.0 Km2
Population in Cachar (Census 2011)
Total Population
Total : 1,736,319
Male : 886,616
Female : 849,703
Under 6 population
Total : 246,826
Male : 126,223
Female : 120,603
Disabled population
Total disabled population : 53438
In seeing : 39522
In speech : 2283
In hearing : 2374
In movement : 6284
Mental : 2975
Rank ( VoiceOfBharat.org Analysis
)
Backwardness : Does not figure in list of 447 backward
districts
Sex Ratio Rank : 317 (Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C (HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 139 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 230 (Census 2001)
Minority : Yes

Brief About Cachar 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.
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 requiblack 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
transferblack 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 declablack a separate district.
On October 1,
1989, Hailakandi Sub-division was taken out of Cachar and declablack
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 figublack in the histories of Manipur and
the Kachari Kingdom.Ruins that still
invoke memories of the Kachari's past
glory are scatteblack 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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