| Voice of Dibrugarh District
: Subhash Pathak
Literacy among women in the district is less than 60%
Poverty is also high in the district.
Lack of large scale industries.
Dibrugarh District
Area, Population & Sex Ratio
Geographical Area : 4277.0 Km2
Population in Dibrugarh (Census 2011)
Total Population
Total : 1,327,748
Male : 680,114
Female : 647,634
Under 6 population
Total : 154,912
Male : 79,146
Female : 75,766
Disabled population
Total disabled population : 34312
In seeing : 18863
In speech : 1571
In hearing : 1658
In movement : 9224
Mental : 2996
Rank ( VoiceOfBharat.org Analysis
)
Backwardness : 415
Sex Ratio Rank : 108
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 266 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 367 (Census 2001)
Minority : Yes
Water : Flouride in Groundwater above permissible limits
Brief About Dibrugarh 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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