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Kutch
district is the dry district situated near the border, in
the
Gujarat
State of
INDIA. Now due to, irregularities and insufficient rain, the main
problem of this district is WATER. This district is having
population around 15 lakhs and is the largest district of Gujarat
according to land area. Now due to area and, are very
interior. Kutch and drought are the two side of a coin. Along with
the droughts other natural calamities such as storms, earthquakes
and some times even floods causes a long lasting damage to this
area’s Progress. Kutch
could be easily identified on the Map of India due to its, large
desert area and priceless handicrafts and large grassland.
The Climate of Kutch is dry, with rainfall around just 315mm per
year, the rain generally fall in July September, with rainy days not
exceeding 4-5 days!!
There is great combinations of people living here because as this is
border area during partition of India and Pakistan many people of
different communities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Sindhi, Rabaries,
Ahirs, Muslims, Harijans, Kolis. But thou of such diversity Kutch
had always retained its position as one of the most peaceful area in
complete world. Kutchi is the regional language but people also
speak Gujarati and Hindi. Among this peoples Ahirs and Rabaries are
the "Maldharis" that is the community of pastoralists. They are
generaly found in "Bani" the Grassland area of Kutch . Main sources
of income are agriculture, sale of high quality ghee, milk, wool,
animals and handicrafts. Due to various reasons, the occupational
pattern is changing from livestock breeding to livestock grazing.
According to the geographical information there are no natural
rivers or streams in Kutch.
But there are small streams numbered around 100, which flow from
north to the southern desert area, but they get active for just 4-5
rainy days. During the rainy days this area
(Bani) gets flooded which raised it to the Asia's
finest grassland. The depth of underground is very deep and the
water is saline. So this is a challenge to development of
agriculture. Due to very deep experience the "Maldharies" locate the
water accumulation sites in desert but they can provide water just
for few days. Due to large geographical areas water transportation
is impossible.
From past few years Kutch had been regular victims of natural
abnormalities. The rainfalls are irregular. So the draughts are the
common amongst the population. But when It rains, it rains so
vigorously destroying the crops and killing animals and harming
infrastructure such as roads etc. Along with the droughts and
floods other calamities also hampers its development. In 1998 a
powerful cyclone hit the Kandla port which is among the biggest
ports of India. 1999 brought a cyclone upturning complete Kutch.
2000 was a drought. And year 2001 brought one of the most
devastating earth quakes of the world on 26th January
which killed around 20% of population, crumbling most of the houses
and Infrastructure, even today the destruction brought by this earth
quake could be seen. People bravely face this drought and water
scarcity but such calamities exhausts there energy. Hardly have they
recovered the damage done by them and due to another blow it would
be all destroyed.
As said above these natural calamites destroy most of the
Infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, roads, shelters. So the
people choose the safe occupations such as agriculture and animal
husbandry which requires no education or capital. But the regular
droughts also make it impossible to survive on these occupations.
Also the
land
of Kutch is sandy which can not hold water so there is large effect
of the quality of crops. It is a kind of vicious circle, people
depend on agriculture and animal husbandry, but the scarcity of
water led to crop failures and thus loss. So the quality of life
decrease, the poverty leads to thus illiteracy etc. Due to
illiteracy they use the traditional methods of agriculture which
leads to deterioration of fertility of land. Due to illiteracy they
can not engage themselves in other occupations. So there is lack of
development of Industries. The poverty leads to deterioration of
health quality. Some time the droughts worsen to that limit that
people die of thirst and high temperature.
Kutch is famous for its handicrafts at international level. There is
large number of artisan families generating self employment. But
they too have to face problem such as lack of capital, proper
guidance for marketing etc.
So it could be taken that for development of Kutch the key sectors
to work would be education, water storage facilities, health and
hygiene and guidance and support. The state and central government
are at there best to support the development of Kutch, but the Kutch
region is around the 3/4th part of state with the
population of 15 lakhs but the total population is 5 crores! Also
the human settlements are scattered and in interior regions. So it
is impossible for them to work alone for the development.
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