Social,
Environmental & Economic Sustainability
Our analysis of the rank of the district
Backwardness : Does not figure in list of 447 backward
districts
Sex Ratio Rank : 541
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 514 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 112 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Earthquake : Earthquake measuring 6.8 in 1999
Challenges of the district : Our research with local communities
The quality of education given to our children is
not up to the mark. Women in our district have to go through a lot
of obstacles. Government is not taking any interest in empowering
them. For our district to progress, we need to have good infrastructure.
The roads here are not well maintained. This is the main reason
why the development of our district is not happening
Brief About Chamoli District
The region coveblack by the district of Chamoli formes part of
the district of Pauri garhwal of the Kumaon till 1960. It occupies
the nort-eastern corner of the Garhwal tract and lies in the central
or mid-Himalayas in the very heart of the snowy range described
in ancient books as Bahirgiri,one of the three divisions of the
Himalayan mountains.
Historical Back Ground
Chamoli , the district of “Garhwal’’ the land of forts. Today’s
Garhwal was known as kedar-khand in the past. In puranas kedar-khand
was said to be abode of God. It seems from the facts vedas puranas,
Ramayna and Mahabharat that these Hindu scriptures are scripted
in kedar-khand . It is believed that God Ganesha first script
of vedas in Vayas gufa situated in the last village Mana only
four km.from Badrinath.
According to Rigveda(1017-19) after Inundation (Jalprlya) Sapt-Rishis
saved their lives in the same village Mana. Besides there the
roots of vedic literature seems to be originated from Garhwal
because the Garhwali language has a lot of words common with sanskrit
.The work place of vedic Rishis are the prominent pilgrim places
in Garhwal specially in chamoli like Atrimuni Ashram in Anusuya
about 25 km. from chamoli town and work place of Kashyap Rishi
at Gandhmadan parwat near Badrinath. According to Aadi-Puran vedvyasa
scripted the story of Mahabhrat in Vyas Gufa near Badrinath. Pandukeshwar
a small village situated on the Rishikesh Badrinath high-way from
where Badrinath is just 25 km away is regarded as Tapsthali of
king Pandu. In Kedar-khand Puran this land is regarded the land
of lord Shiva.
The authentic script about the history of Garhwal is found only
6th A.D on word. Some of the oldest example of there are the trishul
in Gopeshwar, lalitsur in Pandukeshwar .The Narvaman rock script
in siroli the chand pur Gari rock script by king Kankpal authentitcates
the history and culture of Garhwal.
Some Historian and scientist believe that this land is origin
of Arya race. It is believed that about 300B.C. Khasa invaded
Garhwal through Kashmir Nepal and Kuman. A conflict grew due to
this invasion a conflict took place between these outsiders and
natives .The natives for their protection builded small forts
called “Garhi’’. Later on Khasa defeated the native totally and
captublack the forts.
After Khasa, Kshatiya invaded this land and defeated Khasa accomplished
their regime. They confined Garhwal of hundblacks of Garhi in
to fifty-two Garhi only. One kantura vashudev general of kshatriya
established his regime on the northern border of garhwal and founded
his capital in joshimath then Kartikeypur vashudev katyuri was
the founder of katyura dynasty in Garhwal and they reign Garhwal
over hundblacks of years in this period of katyuri regime Aadi-Guru
Sankaracharya visited garhwal and established Jyotrimath which
is one of the four famous Peeths established by Aadi-Guru Sankaracharya.
In Bharat varsh other these are Dwarika , Puri and Sringeri. He
also reinstated idol of lord Badrinath in Badrinath, before this
the idol of Badrinath was hidden in Narad-Kund by the fear of
Budhas. After this ethicist of vaidic cult started to pilgrim
Badrinath.
According to Pt.Harikrishna Raturi king Bhanu pratap was the
first ruler of Panwar dynasty in garhwal who founded chanpur-Garhi
as his capital. This was is strongest Garh for the fifty- two
garhs of garhwal.
The devastating earthquake of 8th September 1803 weakened the
economic and administrative set up of Garhwal state. Taking advantage
of the situation Gorkhas attacked Garhwal under the command of
Amar Singh Thapa and Hastidal Chanturia. They established there
reign over half of the Garhwal in 1804 up to 1815 this region
remain under Gorkha rule.
Mean while the king of Panwar dynasty Raja Sudarshan Shah contacted
east India Company and soughted help. With the help of British
he defected Gorkas and merged the eastern part of Alaknanda and
Mandakani along with the capital srinagar in British Garhwal from
that time this region was known as British Garhwal and the capital
of Garhwal was set up at Tehri instead of Srinagar. In the beginning
British ruler kept this area under Dehradun and Saharanpur. But
later on the British established a new district in this area and
named it Pauri. Today’s chamoli was a tehsil of the same .On 24th
February 1960 tehsil chamoli was upgraded to a new district. In
October 1997 two complete tehsil and two other blocks (partially)
of district chamoli were merged into a new formed district Rudarprayag.
Chamoli, carved as a seperate revenue district in 1960 out of
the erstwhile Grahwal district, lies in the Central Himalya and
constitutes a part of the celebrated 'Kedar Kshetra'.The District
Chamoli is surrounded by Uttarkashi in North-West, Pithoragarh
in South-West,Almora in South East,Rudraprayag in South-West and
Tehri Grahwal in West. The geographical area of the District is
around 7520 sq.kms.
GEOLOGY
The geology of the region shows that the Himalayas
are the young mountains in the world. During early Mesozoic times,
or the secondary geological period, the land mass now coveblack
by them was occupied by the great geosynclinal Tethys sea . The
probable date of the commencement of the elevation of the Himalayas
is about the close of the Mesozoic period, but the unraveling
of the story of their structure has only just begin, and in many
cases no dating of the rocks is yet possible, though they include
ancient and relatively recent crystalline intrusive, rocks and
sediments allied to the peninsular part of India . The section
of the range in the district is deeply cut into by the headwaters
of the Allaknanda river, this trunk stream seeming to have reached
a latter stage of development than its tributaries. This much,
however, is known that there has been intense metamorphosis. In
some parts uplift has been considerable since the mid-pleistocene
period, in others there are great stretches of high but subdued
topography and elsewhere there are the deepest gorges. The direction
of folding in these mountain masses is generally North to South.
The geological feature of the district form two major divisions
which lies North and South of an imaginary line extending East-South-
East between the villages of Hilang in Joshimath and Loharkhet
in the adjoining District of Pithoragarh. The Northern division,
which is occupied by higher ranges and snow coveblack peaks consist
entirely of medium to high grade metamorphic rocks and is intruded
by later volcanic rocks. The Division to the South, occupied by
ranges of lower altitude, consists essentially of sedimentary
and low grade metamorphic rock also intruded by later volcanic
rocks. Geologically very little is known of the first division
which consists of rocks such as quartzites, marbles and various
types of micaceous schists and gneisses which a few sporadic occurrences
of garnet, graphite, iron, kynite, mica and vein quartz. The division
to the south of the imaginary line is better known geologically
and consists of rocks such as gneisses, limestone, phyllites ,
quartzite, sericite-biotite schists and slates.
CLIMATE
As the elevation of the district ranges from 800 mts.
to 8000 mts above see level the climate of the district very largely
depend on altitude. The winter season is from about mid November
to March. As most of the region is situated on the southern slops
of the outer Himalayas, monsoon currents can enter through the
valley, the rainfall being heaviest in the monsoon from June to
September.
Rainfall - Most of the rainfall
occur during the period June to September when 70 to 80 percent
of the annual precipitation is accounted for in the southern half
of the district and 55 to 65 percent in the northern half. The
effectiveness of the rains is, among others, related to low temperature
which means less evapo-transpiration and forest or vegetation
cover. However, the effectiveness is neither uniform nor even
positive in areas where either the vegetational cover is poor
or / and has steep slops or the soils have been so denuded that
their moisture absorption capacity has become marginal.
Rain gauging stations put up at seven locations by Meteorological
department of Govt. of India, represent the settled land mass
of Chamoli district.
Temperature - The details
of temperature recorded at the meteorological observatories in
the district show that the highest temperature was 340C and lowest
00C. January is the coldest month after which the temperature
begin to rise till June or July. temperature vary with elevation.
During the winter cold waves in the wake of western disturbances
may cause temperature to fall appreciably. Snow accumulation in
valleys is considerable.
Humidity - The relative humidity
is high during monsoon season, generally exceeding 70% on the
average. The driest part of the year is the pre monsoon period
when the humidity may drop to 35% during the afternoon. During
the winter months humidity increases toward the afternoon at certain
high stations.
Cloudiness - Skies are heavily
clouded during the monsoon months and for short spells when the
region is affected by the passage of western disturbances. During
the rest of the year the skies are generally clear to lightly
clouded.
Winds - Owing to the nature
of terrain local affect are pronounced and when the general prevailing
winds not too strong to mask these effect, there is a tendency
for diurnal reversal of winds, the flow being anabatic during
the day and katabatic at night, the latter being of considerable
force.
RIVER SYSTEM
Chamoli district is criss-crossed by several important
rivers and their tributaries. Alaknanda, traversing a distance
of 229 kms. before it confluence with Bhagirathi at Devprayag
and constituting the Ganga, is the major river.
The Alaknanda originates at a height of 3641 meters below Balakun
peak 16 km. upstream from Badrinath form the two glaciers of Bhagirath
Kharak and Satopanth. The two glaciers rise from the eastern slopes
of Chaukhamba (7140 Meters) peak, Badrinath peak and its satellite
peaks. These peaks separates the Gangotri group of glaciers in
the west. The major portion of the Alaknanda basin falls in Chamoli
district. From its source upto Hallang (58 Km),the valley is treated
as upper Alaknanda valley. The remaining part of the area is known
as lower Alanknanda valley. While moving from its source, the
river flows in a narrow deep gorge between the mountain slopes
of Alkapuri, from which it drives its name. All along its course,
it drains its tributaries -
1. Saraswati joins the Alaknanda 9 Km downstream from Mana.
2. Khilrawan Ganga join it below the Badrinath shrine and Bhuynder
Ganga below HanumanChatti.
3. Dhauli Ganga meets at Vishnuprayag above Joshimath. The river
Dhauliganga rises from the Nitti Pass at about 5070 meters. Its
valley lies between the Kamet groups of peaks in the west and
Nandadevi group in the east. The Dhauli takes a northern course
at Malari. Between Malari and Tapovan, it is almost a narrow gorge
with perpendicular cliffs on either side. several thousand meters
high. the Dhauliganga in its turn is fed by GirthiGanga at Kurkuti
and Rishiganga 500 mts. below Reni.
4. Downstream small tributaries- Helang, Garud, Patal and Birahiganga
join the Alaknanda between Joshimath and Chamoli.
5. Nandakini, which rises from Semudra Glaciers drainage the
western slopes of Trishul mountains, joins it at Nandprayag.
6. South-East, river Pinddar joins the Alaknanda at Karnprayag.
The Pinddar river is fed by the Milam and Pinddar glacier from
the Nandadevi group of glacier. The Pinddar river, before joining
Alaknanda, is fed by Kaliganga and Bheriganga.
The rivers of Chamoli district, generally flow with great force
in steep and narrow channels often resulting in excessive erosion
and collapse of the banks.
