Socio-economic profile of villages in study area
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The proposed project site is located in a rural area near the town of Sundernagar in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The human population of the area depends mainly on subsistence agriculture and livestock rearing to meet their livelihood needs. Cement plant site: The setting up of the proposed cement plant in its identified location would involve displacement of residents of four villages comprising a total of 587 land oustees with the highest number of 477 in Khatarwar, 50 in Gangal, 45 in Barodi, and 15 in Chambi (MoE&F 2004). Mine lease area: The lease area presently covers the area under villages of Keran, Mulakh Maidan, Behli and Bagain with a total population of over 700 people. These villages depend on the agriculture and livestock rearing supported by the croplands and pastureland of the proposed mining lease and adjoining forest land. Table 5.8a & b provide the socio-economic profile of the villages surveyed in and around the lease area during the site visit. Table 5.8a Socio-economic profile of villages surveyed
Four villages, namely Behli, Bagain, Mulakh Maidan and Keran fall within the proposed mine lease area and Maloh and Saryun are located adjacent to the lease area in the immediate vicinity of Bandli WLS. The number of families residing in the villages surveyed is 275 with a total human population of 1970 persons. The majority of people in all the six villages belong to the Rajput caste with nearly 70% of Rajput families while 14.5% families belong to the Scheduled Caste category, and about 6.5% to the Brahmin category. With the exception of Keran village which has a great majority of families with persons in regular salaried employment, regular salaried employment in the other five villages is low. All the villages reflect a very high level of literacy. The total livestock population of the six villages surveyed is 1260 with 328 cattle, 403 buffaloes and 529 sheep and goats (Table 5.8b). Table 5.8b Socio-economic profile of villages surveyed
The village Maloh near the southern boundary of Bandli WLS, has the highest livestock population size of 500. Dairy production is an important income-generating activity of Maloh village where milk production for commercial sale is high while it is negligible in the other five villages. Subsistence agriculture is carried out in all the six surveyed villages. The villages depend on agriculture to meet their subsistence needs particularly for foodgrains such as wheat and maize. The fuel energy demands of the villages is met from of LPG by a majority of the households in the villages of Maloh, Mulakh Maidan and Keran while LPG use is low in Behli, Bagain and Saryun where fuelwood is the primary source for energy requirements. However, even in the three villages where use of LPG is prevalent, fuelwood remains an important component fulfilling daily energy demands. Tarambri DPF was fenced off in 1991 to prevent grazing, fodder and fuelwood extraction from the area and allow the area to rejuvenate from its degraded condition (HPFD Undated). Hence, the area is devoid of human settlements. Bandli WLS: A human population of over 13,800 people of 1839 families in fifty-four villages lives in and around Bandli WLS. Many of these families possess small landholdings with the average land holding being less than one ha. Agriculture is mainly rain-fed and is predominantly for subsistence without much surplus for sale for economic gains. Regular salaried employment in the area is low and villagers supplement their incomes from working in development works such as plantation and soil conservation works of the forest department, and road construction and maintenance under the Public Works Department. The population of these 54 villages in and around Bandli WLS own nearly 9000 livestock. Resource dependencies of villages in the study area Dependencies on natural resources is primarily for sustenance-driven requirements for fuelwood and fodder as well as small timber and non-timber forest produce (Plate 4). Mine lease area The six villages surveyed in the study area depend on the proposed mining lease and adjoining areas in particular on Bandli Wildlife Sanctuary for extraction of fuel wood and fodder resources. The five villages of Behli, Bagain, Keran, Mulakh Maidan and Maloh with a total population of 1970 people and livestock numbering 1260 have high resource dependency for fuel and fodder on the proposed mining lease area. Their ghasnis or pastureland as well as government charagan (pastures) for grazing their livestock and extracting fodder resources are located in the proposed mining lease. Maloh and Saryun villages located within the immediate periphery of Bandli WLS exert high pressures on the Sanctuary because of both fuelwood and fodder resources dependencies. Maloh village, in particular, has a large livestock population of 500 with 350 cattle and buffaloes and the milk production and sale forms an important source of income for the village. The Maloh residents depend on Bandli WLS for grazing and resource extraction for meeting the fodder requirement of milk production for domestic as well as commercial use. Saryun village located at the southern edge of Bandli WLS, with a human population size of 318 and livestock numbering 365, also relies on resource extraction from Bandli WLS for fuel wood as well as for fodder. Table 5.9 Resource dependencies of villages surveyed in and around mine lease area
Resource dependency + Low (total of 1 to 5 headloads/day) ++ Medium (total of 6 to 15 head loads/day) + + + High (total of over 15 headloads/day) Bandli WLS Use of fuel sources such as the cooking gas (LPG) is relatively low and the energy needs of the village populations for cooking are largely met from fuelwood. The pressure of grazing from the high density of cattle population around the proposed mining lease area is significant. In addition to cattle, other small livestock such as sheep and goats that can negotiate steep precipitous slopes graze in the Sanctuary. Bandli WLS additionally provides a rich source of grass which is collected by villagers to meet their fodder requirements. In addition to the resource dependencies of villages in and around Bandli WLS, the Sanctuary also provides resources to livestock herds of migratory pastoralists, the Gaddis. The Gaddis migrate to Bandli WLS mainly from Kangra district of Himachal and remain in the Sanctuary for three to four months during the winter. During this period every year, on an average, between three to four thousand Gaddi livestock utilise Bandli WLS for grazing. According to records available with the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department for the year 2003-04, the migratory livestock (goats, sheep, lambs and horses) of Gaddi herders in Bandli WLS totalled 3383. Timber resources for construction of houses and cowsheds, and for construction of agricultural implements such as ploughs are extracted from the Sanctuary and its surrounds. Villagers also extract non-timber forest produce (NTFP) from the Sanctuary for making various implements for house-hold use. The important species used by villagers include nirgal (Arundinaria falcata) for preparation of baskets; leaves of Bauhinia vahlii for preparation of disposable plates and Phoenix leaves for making mats. Cement plant The site for the proposed cement plant is largely under habitation and agriculture and dependence of the local population is primarily on homegrown agricultural produce and crop-residues for fodder and fuel. |
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Last Updated: October 5, 2015
