Jalpaiguri District Research Articles

Importance based on avian diversity of Pakhibitan Bird & Wildlife Sanctuary, Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India

A comprehensive inventory of faunal and floral species in a specific region holds significant value for scientific investigation. This study was conducted between 2015 and 2021, especially during the winter season, in Pakhibitan Bird & Wildlife Sanctuary (also known as Gajoldoba wetland) in West Bengal, which was established in 2016. This wetland surrounded by forests is located on the upper section of the Teesta Barrage in the Dooars region of Jalpaiguri District, and it attracts birds from the Central Asian Flyway. Around 124 bird species belonging to 14 orders and 37 families were documented. Passeriformes with 32 species, and Anatidae with 23 species, are the most abundant groups. Based on the IUCN Red Data Book (2022–23), six species are Near Threatened, four are Vulnerable, and one Endangered. About 50% of birds were resident, 44% migratory, and 6% local migrants.

THE IMPACT OF MGNREGA ON TRIBAL POPULATION: A CASE STUDY OF JALPAIGURI DISTRICT IN WEST BENGAL

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was passed in 2005 and went into effect on February 2, 2006, covering 200 districts across India. Later on, this scheme was renamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2009.This act was passed to improve the stability of rural livelihoods by offering every household whose adult members agreed to perform unskilled manual labour 100 days of guaranteed pay employment in each financial year.The Ministry of Rural Development implements this scheme in partnership with state governments. The local governance bodies, such as Panchayati Raj Institutions, play an important role in the project development and implementation ofthis scheme in rural India. MGNREGS programs include water conservation, drought mitigation, land development, rural connection, and other rural infrastructure-building initiativeschosen according to local requirements and priorities.We selected the Jalpaiguri district for our study because it has several problems such as seasonal lockouts of tea plantations, shuttered tea gardens, unemployed laborers in isolated and closed forest villages, no heavy industry since independence, etc. In this paper we attempt to find out whether the implementation of the MGNREGA program in the Jalpaiguri district has improved the livelihood of the Tribal Population in the district and also how effective this program is in dealing with the unemployment problem among the ST population in the district.This study is based on both primary and secondary data from two blocks of Jalpaiguri district i.e. Mal and Nagrakata blockscovering the period 2017-18 to 2022-23. And from each block, I have chosen the two most populace GPs within the blocks.Although the MGNREGS is a good program for reducing rural poverty and unemployment, our primary survey reveals inadequate results in terms of job creation for tribal peoples and those living in the remote tea garden areas within the district. Furthermore, this scheme does not improve Scheduled Tribes (STs) standard of living by providing jobs and promoting their participation in village affairs, hence it is less effective as the participation of ST workers against active workers currently stands at only 12.86 percent.

Plants Used in Traditional Medicine by some Tribals of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal

The paper deals with 30 selected species of plants e.g. Costus speciosus (Keen.) Sm., Drynaria quercifolia (L.) J. Sm., Melastoma malabathricum L., Mimosa pudica L., Pedilanthus tithymaloides (L.) Poit., Premna latifolia Roxb., Solanum viarum Dunal, Thelypteris arida (D. Don) Morton, etc. which are used as medicine by some of the tribals like Mech, Rabha and Oraon of the Jalpaiguri District of West Bengal in their traditional system of treatment.Ethnobotanical field study reveals some interesting information about mode of their uses of plants in various ailments either single or in combination with other plant parts. It has been observed that though these tribes are living under same environment and using the same species of plants for curing disease, their Prescriptions are quite different. This indicates that the tribes are still retaining their own tradition so far as treatments are concerned.

Folklore about some Medicinal Plants from the Tribal Areas of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal

The paper deals with ethnobotanical uses of 30 plants belonging to 20 families which were reported by the tribals viz. Mech, Rabha, Nepali, Oraon and Munda. The information may be useful for further studies since most of the uses are less known to other societies.

A Sketch of the Vegetation of Jalpaiguri District of West Bengal

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Food and nutritional vulnerability of the households in Jalpaiguri District, India

Food and nutritional vulnerability of the households in Jalpaiguri District, India

Evaluating Flood Susceptibility in the Brahmaputra River Basin: An Insight into Asia's Eastern Himalayan Floodplains Using Machine Learning and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making

Floods represent a significant threat to human life, property, and agriculture, especially in low-lying floodplains. This study assesses flood susceptibility in the Brahmaputra River basin, which spans China, India, Bhutan, and Bangladesh—an area notorious for frequent flooding due to the saturation of river water intake capacity. We developed and evaluated several innovative models for predicting flood susceptibility by employing Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques. The models showed robust performance, evidenced by Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC-ROC) scores exceeding 70% and Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Squared Error (MSE), and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) scores below 30%. Our findings indicate that approximately one-third of the studied region is categorized as moderately to highly flood-prone, while over 40% is classified as low to very low flood-risk areas. Specific regions with high to very high flood susceptibility include Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Darrang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, and Dhubri districts in Assam; Coochbihar and Jalpaiguri districts in West Bengal; and Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajganj, Pabna, Jamalpur, and Manikganj districts in Bangladesh. Owing to their strong performance and the suitability of the training datasets, we recommend the application of the developed MCDM techniques and ML algorithms in geographically similar areas. This study holds significant implications for policymakers, regional administrators, environmentalists, and engineers by informing flood management and prevention strategies, serving as a climate change adaptive response within the Brahmaputra River basin.

Conversion of Potato Fields into Small Tea Plantations at Bhotepatty, Mainaguri: Consequences of This Shifting Agriculture Through Survey and Soil Analysis

Summary Over the past years, the tea industry in India has started to suffer from various drawbacks, i.e. issues regarding low productivity and rising input costs (namely the uneconomic age profile of tea bushes across the tea estates of North Bengal), leading to a decline in the industry and dramatic expansion of small tea growers. Accordingly, the vast expansion of small tea plantations in North Bengal prompted this study to examine the purpose and outcome of such an expansion concept. In the present study, Bhotepatty, Maynaguri (the Jalpaiguri district), was considered due to an immense conversion of agricultural land into numerous small tea plantations in the region. The study focuses on the agricultural shift from potato fields to small tea gardens. Initially, a cumulative approach encompassing the preliminary survey work and analysis of soil physicochemical characteristics was adopted to assess the adequacy of this agricultural shift. The survey conducted revealed the lack of proper land preparation, land rehabilitation before planting, sound soil nutrient management, and soil testing programs after shifting (responsible for the depletion of major nutrients such as potassium and phosphorus in the tea soil, which can be resolved with proper and timely manuring practices). Sulphur and the organic matter, organic carbon and available nitrogen of the top soil were detected in huge amounts compared to the optimum values suggested by the Tea Board of India.

Assessment of patients satisfaction with mobile medical clinics in the two districts of north Bengal, India

Background: Patient satisfaction is an important indicator to measure the quality of healthcare services and plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of health service delivery. The aim of the study was to assess the patient’s satisfaction level with the quality of health care delivered at the mobile medical clinics (MMC) in two districts of north Bengal, India. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was done using a purposive sampling method, and total of 294 samples were recruited. A questionnaire (PSQ-18) was used to assess the patient satisfaction level. Chi-square tests were used for categorical variables. F-test and t-test were used for mean differences between the variables. Linear regression analysis was done to examine the linear effect of social factors on patient satisfaction. Results: The present study shows that overall satisfaction was 74.04%, with a mean value of 3.702. In the Jalpaiguri district, 27.5% of patients are highly satisfied, whereas 17.0% are in Alipurduar. Alipurduar district has a higher low satisfaction rating (39.7%) than Jalpaiguri district (19.7%), and a district-wise significant association was found (p<0.001). Overall satisfaction level effects by occupation (p<0.001), population and socio economic status (p<0.05). Conclusions: Policymakers may consider that MMCs could be an effective strategy to improve primary health care in remote, underserved areas where there are no public health care facilities.

Relationship between parental participation and adolescents’ academic success in Nadia and Jalpaiguri districts

The present study investigated the relationship between parents' participation in their children's education and academic success in the post-pandemic period. A cross-sectional survey design was used, and 209 respondents were selected through a simple random sampling technique. The results revealed that parental involvement has a negative correlation (p>0.05) with their children's academic success but not significantly affecting the same. Apart from that, some other social and educational attributes of the children also contributed to their academic success to a great extent. Further research is needed to explore other potential factors that may contribute to academic success in children.

RUSLE and AHP based soil erosion risk mapping for Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, India

RUSLE and AHP based soil erosion risk mapping for Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, India

Estimation of surface soil erosion using the RUSLE Model of Jalpaiguri Sadar Block in Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India

Land degradation is a pervasive environmental and “economic challenge of the present time, especially in developing countries. Soil erosion caused by water is considered as one of the major types of land degradation processes. Soil loss estimation and detection of soil erosion-prone areas are the most important for agricultural planning and various other land management plannings in the recent era. The amount of annual average soil loss was calculated by using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model. This model was popularized for identifying soil loss zone areas or zones and soil erosion risk areas. This study provided a creditable prediction of soil erosion and the probable soil erosion severity zones of Jalpaiguri Sadar Block in Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal. GIS Environment was used to create the raster layer in the RUSLE factors. RUSLE data layers including rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), slope length and steepness (LS), cover management (C), and conservation practice (P) factors were calculated to account for the average annual soil loss of the study area. The results of this work show that the range of soil erosion is >100.00 tons hac-1year-1 to <25.00 tons hac-1year-1 while the amount of soil erosion is more in the upper part of the Jalpaiguri Sadar block, mainly along the right bank of the Tista river and the bank of the Karala river, because the soil texture is very loose in nature and the area also receive heavy rainfall. Therefore, the high level of risk of soil erosion can be checked through the processes of various soil conservation techniques.

Health Propaganda and Health Consciousness in Jalpaiguri (1880 - 1945) : A Historical Overview

The present study focuses the practices of British Govt. on Health & hygiene in Jalpaiguri district which constitute the health propaganda during colonial phase. British Raj extracted huge revenue from tea gardens of Jalpaiguri but spend a fragment of it in health services. The Director of Public health too regularly informed about the shortage of fund to regarding various public health schemes. To spread the govt. policies for the health services and maintain the hygiene in different community various steps were taken but did not reach to the labor line areas of various plantation industry and other rural parts of Jalpaiguri district. The role of the govt. journals was also not satisfactory in this regard because of lack of interest of colonial government. Sources gathered that many preventive measures were taken like malaria Vaccination, distribution of western medicines, mosquito net etc. as safety measures in other parts of Bengal but Jalpaiguri was kept untouched. Facilities were provided for Europeans but not as a whole for the commoners, Govt facilities were in paper but not in practices in real sense. The minimum facilities regarding health and hygiene were ignored by colonial ruler and mortality rate increased in Jalpaiguri. Though climate of Jalpaiguri was also very favorable in this regard and gradually Jalpaiguri became the store house of all diseases. Few charitable hospitals were built for minimum health services after world war I to meet the challenges but were very minimum which forced the people to depend upon indigenous medicines.

Knowledge of Farmers towards Improved Tomato Production Practices in Jalpaiguri District of West Bengal

India is the second largest producer of tomato in the world after China. West Bengal is seventh largest producer of tomato in India. Present study was conducted in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. Present study fully relies on the primary data collected by personal interview method using a pre-tested structured interview schedule. majority of the respondents were middle age group, illiterate, majority of the respondents lived in semi-cemented house and most of the respondents were living in extended family with medium annual income and most of them belongs to SC category, medium level of social participation, scientific orientation, risk orientation, mass media exposure. Majority of the respondents had medium level of knowledge and adoption towards improved tomato production. Socio-economic characteristics like age, education, housing pattern, annual income, family type, social participation, scientific orientation, risk orientation, mass media exposure had positive and significant association with the knowledge at 0.05% of the probability. Caste and extension contacts had negative but significant association with the knowledge at 0.05% level.

First Report of Toba Ash Bed from the Himalayan Foot-Hill Alluvial Fan Deposit, Neora River Section, Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal and its Implication

First Report of Toba Ash Bed from the Himalayan Foot-Hill Alluvial Fan Deposit, Neora River Section, Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal and its Implication

Management Approaches and Strategies by the Farmers to Cope Up with the Risk of Covid-19 Pandemic

This study was conducted under the department of Agricultural Economics, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar, West Bengal, India during October, 2021 to January, 2022. The objective was aimed to evaluate the management approaches in relation to management principles for sustaining their farming during Covid-19 pandemic with a unique set of primary data (before, during and after of pandemic) collected in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, India. Tabular, multiple regression and Garrett ranking analysis were followed to obtain the results for interpretation. Impact of the management approaches was reflected in positive net income (return-cost ratio around 1.09) in spite of variation in yield and price for two crops viz. paddy and wheat. Mobile phone was largely used for transaction. Multiple regression analysis predicted some independent variables responsible for low yield. The study, thus, showed the farmers’ managerial strategies during pandemic helped them to maintain livelihoods. Restriction in consumption, saving, entertainment, investment and other expenditures had been evident. Low risk enterprises like livestock and vegetables were followed to reduce risk. Like a visionary manager, majority of the farmers (76%) prioritised (Garrett ranking) on more Govt. initiatives. Extent and variation of management principles (functions) viz. planning, organizing, leading and controlling, as followed by the farmers was also examined and found to be relevant. The study, thus, showed the managerial strategies and efficiency of farmer-manager during pandemic which helped the farmers’ to sustain livelihoods during pandemic.

Pattern of hemoglobinopathy among the young tribes of West Bengal: A completely different scenario from Rest of India.

Hemoglobinopathy is a major concern among the tribal population which constitutes 8.6% of the total population, and West Bengal (WB) is the home to 5.3 million tribes. The present study was conducted on 52,880 tribal school students from all the districts of WB. Written informed consent and peripheral blood were collected for complete blood count and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. Beta trait was 5.3%, sickle trait was 2.35%, and hemoglobin (Hb) E (HbE) trait was 1.4% in this population. About 37.8% of beta trait belonged to the Santal tribe and 21.5% belonged to Oraon. HbS is mainly found in Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts at the prevalence of 3.69% and 5.96%, respectively. HbE trait is found at 6.06% in Alipurduar, of which 51% of cases are from Mech tribe only found in this district. Unlike central and Western parts of India, HbS trait in WB was significantly low among the tribes. A high prevalence of consanguinity among the tribes is considered responsible for the high rate of hemoglobinopathy.

AN ACCOUNT OF AVIFAUNA OF A TRANSITIONAL ZONE BETWEEN A TOWNSHIP AND A LARGE RIVER BASIN IN NORTH BENGAL

A survey was conducted covering the area lying between a large river bed and the edges of a township in the Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal. A total of 73 species of birds were recorded under53 generaand 17 orders. The highest number of species belonged to order Passeriformes. Five species reported were under Near-Threatened category. Of the orders recorded, relative diversity index was observed to be highest for Passeriformes, followed by Anseriformes and Coraciiformes, while at family level, the same was maximum for Anatidae.

First record of Chilapata rain-pool frog Minervarya chilapata Ohler, Deuti, Grosjean, Paul, Ayyaswamy, Ahmed & Dutta, 2009 (Anura, Dicroglossidae) from Nepal

Chilapata rain-pool frog (Minervarya chilapata) was described in 2009 from the Chilapata Reserve Forest of West Bengal, India. Here, we report the occurrence of M. chilapata for the first time from Morang district, Nepal, based on acoustic and morphological characters such as the presence of a distinct white line in the upper lip, small size (snout-vent length 18 to 26 mm), pointed snout and presence of dorso-lateral black patch. The nearest record of Chilapata rain-pool frog in Nepal from Pathari-Kanepokhari forest, Morang district, Nepal is ca.182 km west of its type locality Chilapata Reserve Forest, Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, India. We also report the occurrence of M. chilapata from Barandabhar Biological Corridor, Chitwan National Park, Nepal based on a photographic record. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the species as Data Deficient. Therefore, this record from Nepal will add new presence data for future status assessment for the species.

Urban Functionality and Sphere of Influence: A Case Study on Urban Centres of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal

City and their surroundings are functionally interdependent and it grows through interaction with the periphery. If an urban centre develops, it diffuses its development in surrounding rural areas which can help to develop the whole region. For this reason, it is necessary to find out the growth centres their functional relations with the adjoining area. This paper is an attempt to identify the functional importance of the urban centres their hierarchical distribution and also to delineate the sphere of influence of urban centres of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. Various statistical techniques are to be incorporated for this purpose. The result indicates that higher the functional importance greater the zone of influence and vice-versa.