Khagaria district General information
Khagaria district is one of the thirty-seven districts of Bihar state, India, and Khagaria town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Khagaria district is a part of Munger Division.
History
Also known as Farakiya in local region. There is an interesting story behind it. Four centuries ago Akbar, then king of Mugal empire directed his revenue minister Todarmal to map his entire empire. But he could not map this region now known as Khagaria due to difficult terrain, rivers and dense forests. So he named it Farakiya (Farak in Hindi means separate).
Geography
In the whole district, there is no hill and no mineral is found in this district. As far as the land use pattern is concerned, wheat is the prominent rabi crop in the district. Due to floods and water logging, the paddy production is very low, except in the southern part of the district. Maize is grown abundantly almost through out the district, while banana cultivation as a cash crop, has grown into prominence in last two decades. Banana cultivation is done mostly in Choutham, Gogari and Parvatta blocks.
Apart from these mango and litchi orchards are abundant in this district and are found almost through out the entire area. The study of old gazetteers show that these orchards have been in existence since long.
As per the reports compiled by the Directorate of Statistics, Government of Bihar, the principal characteristics of the land use pattern of Khagaria district for the year 1998-99 is as follows:
Total Area : 1,49,342 Hectares. Total irrigated land: 87147 Hect.
Forest area : Nil Kharif paddy: 15618 Hect.
Total sown area : 88,140 Hectares. Garama paddy : 441 Hect.
Orchrd etc. area: 2732 Hectares. Wheat : 31584 Hect.
Water area- (i) permanent : 7715 Hect. Garama and rabbi maize:31636 Hct
(ii) Seasonal : 4272 Hect. Kharif maize: 503 Hect.
Wasteland and non-arable area : 13694 Hect.
Physical Feature
Before the construction of embankments along the Ganga, the Bagmati, the Burhi Gandak and the Kosi, namely karachi badlaghat embankment, Badla- Nagarpara embankment, Burhi Gandak protection embankment and Gogri- Narayanpur embankment, the vast tract of present Khagaria district was flat alluvial plain and was abound in marshy and swampy land. The characteristics of this part, north of the Ganga has been described as follows by a former collector of Munger, Mr. E. Lockwood in "Natural History, Sports and Travel"- "The northern part is an extensive plain formed by the rich alluvial soil brought down by the ever changing river. In the north, nine tenths of the trees are cultivated mangoes, whilst wheat, Indian corn, various kinds of millet peas, masur, rahar, oats, indigo, mustard, linseed and castor oil, are the principal crops which the land holders find profitable to grow." He further describes that in contrast, "the southern portion (south of the Ganga) consists of vast rice tracts and forests, which cover the metamorphic hills extending far away into central India from the town of Monghyr. In the forest of the south are found the ebony tree, the sal and the mahua. The south also yields vast quantities of rice,and a hundred and fifty tons of opium, grown on twenty five thousand acres of land, whilst, after crossing the Ganges, little rice and not a single poppy will be seen."
The major part of the alluvial plain comprising this district, at present, is mainly a saucer- shaped depression, the center of which was innundated during the rains by the over flow of the rivers and for the rest of the year was full of marshy hollows. The inundation has decreased after construction of embankments but still a large part in the north eastern part of the district, contained in west by Gogari- Maheshkhunt – Saharsa Road, in the north by the Koshi and in the south by the Ganga is completely inundated during rainy season except for the National Highway and the New Delhi – Gauhati Railway line .
River
The principal rivers of the district are the Ganga, the Burhi Gandak, the Bagmati, the Kamla and the Ghaghri (the mainstream of Koshi). The Ganga forms the southern boundary of the district in its entire length. This river has severe shifting tendencies resulting in a vast tract of diara land, on the northern side and several hamlets of the present Munger district have resettled on the north of the Ganga due to erosion caused by the shifting of the river. Due to vast tract of diara land, during rainy season, at some places, the breadth of the river runs into miles.
The Burhi Gandak, runs a Zig-Zag course through the district of Begusarai and enters Khagaria for a short while, running by the side of the town of Khagaria, and flows in to the Ganga. It forms the western boundary of the Khagaria town and a protection embankment built along the eastern side of this river, protects Khagaria town from the floods of Burhi Gandak.
The Bagmati enters the district from the western side, through the district of Begusarai. It then pursues a winding but generally easterly direction, till it flows into the Tilijuga or the Kamla near Chautham.
The Tilijuga or the Kamla enters the district from Darbhnga, near Mohraghat, It then flows south east to Chautham, merges into the Bagmati, and the united stream flows into the district of Bhagalpur under the name of the Ghaghri, which is known as one of the main branches of the Koshi.
Climate
The climate of the district may be said to form a medium between the dry, parching heat of the up country and the close moist atmosphere of the south valley of Bengal. The heat is often intense but is very favourable during the rains because of law humidity. The seasons are the same as in the other parts of Bihar. The summer begins towards the middle of march and continues upto the end of June, when the rainy season begins, The months of April and May combine heat with high humidity relieved by intermittent rain falls. The rainy season continues upto October , while the water logging due to rain water continues in some areas up to the end of December. The winters are quite pleasant in this area.
Flora and Fauna
In contrast to the southern portions of the old district of Munger, this district, lying north to the Ganga does not comprise of any forest of Sal or other large trees. However ever growing jungles of Kash and Pater is found in the northern areas in the belt of the Koshi and its tributaries .At most of the places, there are luxuriant gardens of mango and litchi, for which this district is mostly famous. Apart from these, Babul, Neem,Sirish and Sisho are also found. Not the least valuable product is thatching grass.It is grown on low land subject to inundation which retains water too long to enable the villagers to sow a cold weather crop upon it.
Wild animals, such as boars were occasionally found in the northern area bu now they are scarcely seen. However, birds are seen in large numbers in the various chours, particularly, in the area visited by the Koshi, the Kamla and the Bagmati. Snakes are also found in the river basins in a large number. Fish are abundant because of the rivers and the chours. Rohu, Kabai and Tengra are particularly known. During the winters, migratory birds come in large numbers in the northern part of the district.
Industrialisation
The economy of the district is dependent entirely on agriculture and its two main allied activities, namely horticulture and dairy. Industrialisation is completely absent. This district has potential for agro- based industries because of large production of banana and maize, but so far no industry has come-up. The development of Barauni district of Begusarai, as a prominent industrial area , has also pre-empted any industrialization in this district as entrepreneurs move towards Barauni or to the upcoming town of Silliguri in West Bengal, rather than investing in this district. Another reason is lack of surplus capital in this district because of historical reasons, as mentioned earlier. Agriculture was never so profitable here, as to generate surplus capital. Small business is the only non agricultural economic activity in this district.
Transport
This district is well connected to other parts of Bihar and the country through railways as well as roads. New Delhi – Gauhati railway lines passes through Khagaria. Other prominent stations are Mansi, Maheshkhunt and Pasraha. From Mansi, one branch line goes towards Saharsa, while from Khagaria, one branch line goes towards Samastipur. Both these branch lines are still meter- gauge. Between Khagaria and Mansi, both broad gauge and meter gauge railway lines run parallel. Mansi had been an important place from the point of view of railways, since it used to be the headquarters of an Engineering district of railway but now most of important offices of railways have shifted from this place to other places, and mostly to Khagaria or Barauni, which falls in Begusarai district.
National Highway No. 31 passes through the district almost parallel to the railway line in west-east direction, the intersection of the two existing at a place called Chukati, eight kms. eastward from Khagaria. Almost 46 Km. of NH- 31 falls within the jurisdiction of Khagaria district. NH-31 goes right upto Gauhati and is an important road link of Bihar to the north – eastern part of the country and to Northern Bengal. From Maheshkhunt, on NH-31, branches off one road to Saharsa district. It is maintained by Road Construction Department of Government of Bihar.
Apart from National highway, the condition of other roads in the district is not very good. Historically also the situation had been the same. Excessive rains and water logging coupled with poor maintenance account for this. Prominent roads of the district, which are maintained by Road Construction department are Maheshkhunt- Chautham- Beldaur Road (26 Km.), Maheshkhunt – Gogari- Parvatta- sultanganj ghat Road (32 Km.), Khagaria- Alauli Road (18 Km.), Khagaria – Parihara- Bakhri Road (19 Km.), Khagaria-Munger ghat Road (6.5 Km.) , Khagaria- Sonmankhi Road (6.5 Km.) and Pansalwa – Baijnathpur Road (11 Km.).
The condition of other roads, some maintained by Rural Engineering organisation and some by Block and Panchayats are also worse . Due to existence of several rivers and rivulets, all weather communication in the interiors of the district would require huge investment in bridges and culverts, the lack of which makes large part of country side accessible by boats only during the rainy season.
Trade and Commerce
Trade and commerce are the only non- agricultural economic activity in the district . Khagaria and Gogri Jamalpur are the two important trade centres. Main trading item is foodgrains. Apart from foodgrains there are small number of traders in other items, as, textiles, hardware, jewellery and other commonly used items. Khagaria is a municipality while Gogari is a notified area. None of these is a fast growing township. In 1921 census, Khagaria town had a population of 9521 persons, which increased to 10,050 in 1951 census and in 2001, it is estimated to be near 45,000 persons. The 1960 Gazetteer of Munger terms Khagaria as "an important trade centre", wherefrom large amount of chillies and grains were exported; and "merchants from far and near corners of India have come and settled down here". In comparison, it seems that during last fifty years, most of the trading community has shifted out of the district, either to Begusarai and Patna, or to Siliguri.
Social and Cultural Events
The district of khagaria is unfortunate in the sense that very little has been recorded regarding the social and cultural history of this area.Whatever account of the old district of Munger has been unearthed,covers mainly the southern Munger and to some extent Northwest Munger,i.e.,the present Begusarai district. All the ancient remains and inscriptions have been discovered south of the Ganga, and some in Northwest, namely in Jaimanglagarh (Begusarai). Description of cultural heritage of old district of Munger, in contemporary literature, is found both in the writings of Bengali and English writers. Munger finds reference in the book "Tirtha Mangal" by the Bengali poet Vijaya Ram Sen Visharad, in the poetic work "Surodhani kabya" by Dinbandhu Mitra, the great dramatist of Bengal. Besides description of Munger is found in the works of famous Bengali poets Navin chandra Sen, Baldeo palit and great novelists Bankim Chandra Chaterjee, Ramesh chandra Dutta, Sarat chandra Chatterjee, Prabhat kumar Mukhopadhyay, Dwarka Nath Vidyabhusan, Nirupama Devi, Anand Shanker Ray, Saradindu Bandopadhayay, Bibhuti Bhushan Mukherjee etc.