East Garo Hills district General information

East Garo Hills is an administrative district in the state of Meghalaya in India. The district headquarters are located at Williamnagar. The district occupies an area of 2603 km² and has a population of 247,555 (as of 2001).

The East Garo Hills district was formed in 1976, after the erstwhile Garo Hills district of Meghalaya was re-organised with a view to bring the administration closer to the people.

The district headquarter-complex of the district, christened as Williamnagar after the name of Captain Williamson A. Sangma the founder Chief Minister of the State of Meghalaya. Williamnagar is located on the vast plainlands along the bank of the Simsang River, at Simsanggre. These plainlands are in a sense historical, as it was here that the Garos made their last major resistance to the British intrusion into Garo Hills during the year 1837. The legendary Garo leader Pa Togan Nengminja Sangma was felled by the British, in skirmish, at Chisobibra, quite close to Wiliamnagar, on 12 December 1837.

The district falls under the Tura Parliamentary Constituency which Purno Agitok Sangma has been representing at the Lok Sabha (the House of the People), the Lower House of the Indian Parliament since 1975. Purno Agitok Sangma has been a former Union Minister and has the distinction of being the only unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha (during the 11th Lok Sabha).

History

East Garo Hills District was upgraded from a sub-division to a full fledged district in 1976, after the erstwhile Garo Hills District was reorganised with a view to bring the administration closer to the people. The District is bounded by South Garo Hills on the south, West Garo Hills on the west, East Khasi Hills on the East and the state of Assam on the north.

The new headquarter-complex is a neatly planned township. It has been christened as Williamnagar after Captain Williamson A. Sangma, the first Chief Minister of the State of Meghalaya. Williamnagar now has all the amenities of a modern town and is the largest growth centre in Garo Hills, next to Tura.

Topography

As is evident from the name, the district of East Garo Hils is a hilly terrain. The hills are highly dissected and one major formation is the Arbella Range, which is cuts through the south-central part of the district. The range consists of peaks with an average height of 700 metres above sea level. Another important physiographic feature is the Simsang Valley which runs through the southern part of the district. The River Simsang is the longest river in Garo Hills, which originates in West Garo Hills and flows through East Garo Hills and thence to South Garo Hills. The topography of the rest of the district is of undulating low hills, with altitude ranging from 150 to 600 netres above sea level, with plain fringes in the northern areas neighbouring Assam. Besides the Simsang (Someshwari), the district is also drained by the rivers Manda (Dudhnoi), Ildek, Didram & Damring (Krishnoi). Other than the Simsang which drains southeastwards, the others all runs north or northwest towards the Brahmaputra.

Culture

The Garos constitute the majority in the East Garo Hills district as is evident from the name of the district. The district also is home for a sizeable population of Rabhas, Hajongs, Koches, Dalus, Banais and Boros.

The Garos are the second largest tribe after the Khasis in Meghalaya. The Garos refer to themselves as A'chik or Mande and their language belongs to the Bodo branch of the Bodo-Naga-Kachin family of Sino Tibetan phylum. The Garos are distributed over the three Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya, the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh and  the Kamrup, Goalpara and Karbi-Anglong districts of Assam. They are also scatterred in a few numbers in Tripura and Nagaland.

Since the Garos are scattered far and wide, and since these scattered units were in isolation from each other over time, they have developed their own separate identities and dialects. Still, features like their traditional political setup, social institutions, marriage systems, inheritance of properties, religion and beliefs are common between these groups. Moreover, these groups are endogamous generally. The various dialect groups that comprises the Garos are the Ambeng, Atong, Akawe (or Awe), Duals, Matchi, Matabengs, Chibok, Chisak Megam or Lyngngam, Ruga, Gara-Ganching. The most significant difference is that between the groups who live closer to the plains and the hill dwellers who constitute the remaining groups. The Garos of the hills practice slash-and-burn agriculture or jhum-cultivation while the Garo of the plains practice wet-rice agriculture and live in a cultural and ecological environment entirely different from that of the Garo of the hills

Economy

The economy of the East Garo Hills district is basically agrarian and rural based. Agriculture is the mainstay of about 90 percent of the population of East Garo Hills and most earn their livings directly or indirectly from agriculture. Traditionally, agriculture in the district is mostly of food crops and it is only in the recent years that cash crops agriculture is gaining popularity. There is a great potential for Agro-based industries in the district. Rice is the most important food crop that is grown in the district, both in the plains and i the hills. Other food crops that are widely grown in the district is tapioca or manoic, yam, maize and millet. The district produces substantial quantities of fruits like oranges, pineapples, bananas and jackfruit and spices like chillies, ginger, tumeric and bay leaves. In recent years there has been an increase in the coverage of plantation crops like rubber, coffee, tea, cashew nuts. The latest horticultural introduction is vanilla vines. There is also scope for floriculture to flourish, due to favourable climate enabling low cost cultivation. The district is ideal for growing orchids and tropical blooms like anthurium and bird of paradise (Strelitzia Reginae). However, the market potential for flowers is still at it's nascent, developmental stage.

Although the economy of the state is largely agrarian, agriculture and agro-based industries has not been fully exploited in the district. There is tremendous potential for investment and development in food processing and ample scope for setting up a viable large scale fruit processing units in the district. Besides agriculture, a small part of the economy is occupied in small-scale industries such as sericulture & weaving, animal husbandry and dairy farming, carpentry & bamboo-working, brick-making, etc. Mining is another important industry. The district has fairly large reserves of coal, limestone and clay.

Flora

Bamboos are tall arborescent grasses belonging to the family Graminaceae. They have an extremely wide range of distribution and are found as an understorey in many types of forests occurring in the state. They form rich belts of vegetation in well-drained parts of tropical and subtropical habitats and rise upto the highest point in Meghalaya. Bamboos are perennial grasses, with woody and pointed stems. Stems or culms are mostly hollows from inside with few exceptions. Thickness or thinness of the culm determine utility.

In East Garo Hills the forest under the control of District Council have been badly mauled by the practice of shifting cultivation. The tree species in these areas have been replaced by pure bamboo crop, over vast areas. On abandoned Jhum areas pure crops of Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Melocanna bambusoides and Oxytenanthera nigrociliata have sprung up.

Fauna

The elephant is perhaps the most interesting animal in India. There are about 2,000 elephants in Garo Hills. The average height of an adult male elephant is about 270 cm. The favourite habitat of the elephants is tall forest areas and undulating grounds. They can live in steamy humid jungles as well as in cool elevated forests. Thick bamboo forests are liked by them for food. During the rains, they come out into open valleys and often enter into cultivations.

Climate

Meghalaya is subject to vagaries of the monsoon. The climate varies with altitude. The climate of Khasi and Jaintia Hills is uniquely pleasant and bracing. It is neither too warm in summer nor too cold in winter, but over the plains of Garo Hills, the climate is warm and humid, except in winter. The Meghalayan sky seldom remains free of clouds literally it is the Abode of the Clouds. The average annual rainfall is about 2600 mm over western Meghalaya, between 2500 to 3000 mm over northern Meghalaya and about 4000 mm over south-eastern Meghalaya. There is a great variation of rainfall over central and southern Meghalaya. At Sohra (Cherrapunji), the average annual rainfall is as high as 12000 millimetres, but Shillong located at a distance of about fifty kilometres from Sohra receives an average of 2200 mm of rainfall annually.

Rivers

In the Garo hills, the important rivers of the northern system from west to east are the Kalu, Ringgi, Chagua, Ajagar, Didram, Krishnai and Dudnai. Of these only the Krishnai and Kalu are navigable. The important rivers of the southern system are Daring, Sanda, Bandra, Bhogai, Dareng and Simsang. Simsang is the largest river in the Garo hills and navigable only for about 30 Km . Other navigable rivers are Nitai and the Bhupai. In the central and eastern section of the plateau the important northward flowing rivers are Umkhri, Digaru and Umiam and the south-flowing rivers are Kynchiang (Jadukata), Mawpa, Umiew or Barapani, Myngot and Myntdu.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the main occupation of Meghalaya, with eighty three percent of the total population, dependent on it for their livelihood. Rice and maize are the major food crops. Important fruits grown here are orange, pineapple, lemon, guava, jackfruit and bananas, while potato, jute, mesta, cotton, arecanut, ginger, turmeric, betel leaf and black pepper are the chief commercial crops. 'Jhum' or the shifting system of cultivation is being replaced with scientific methods, bringing land under permanent cultivation. Forest resources from pine and other timber products bring in the major chunk of state revenue. The state has many small scale industries in furniture making, iron and steel fabrication, tyre retreading and baking, to name the principal ones.

Minerals

Meghalaya has abundant but untapped natural resources, including coal, limestone, kaolin, feldspar, quartz, mica, gypsum, bauxite, and other minerals. Its sillimanite deposits (a source of high-grade ceramic clay) are reputedly the best in the world and account for almost all of India's sillimanite output. Most of the natural resources are extracted and sent outside the state only in raw form. Meghalaya has no heavy industries; small-scale industries include cement, plywood, and beverage factories, in addition to a newly established electronics plant.

Wild Life in Meghalaya

The state has two National Parks - Nobrek and Balpakam, and two wildlife sanctuaries - Nongkyllem and Siju.

Balpakram National Park

Balpakram is a fertile virgin land. The unsurveyed belts of limestone and coal deposits, along with sea shells fossilized into rocks in Balpakram Hill provide immense scope for geological and archeological studies. The fauna of this area includes elephants, wild buffaloes, gaur (Indian bison), sambar, barking deer, wild boar, slow loris, capped langur as well as predators such as tigers, leopards, clouded leopards and the rare golden cat.

Nokrek Biosphere and Siju Caves

Nokrek Biosphere Reserve is located in the Garo Hills district, 2 kms from Tura Peak. The reserve is one of the least disturbed forest tracts of the sub-Himalayan ranges. It is the first biosphere reserve of its kind in the northeast region. The Garo Hills contain many natural limestone caves. The famous Siju Cave is located very close to the Nophak Lake near the Simsang River Game Reserve. The cave is filled with water and is miles long.