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| Beauty Queen Dooars |
The
Dooars or Duars are the floodplains and
foothills of the eastern Himalayas in North-East India around Bhutan. Duar means 'door' in Assamese,
Bengali, Nepali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi and Telugu languages, and the
region forms the gateway to Bhutan from India. There are 18 passages or
gateways through which the Bhutanese people can communicate with the people
living in the plains. This region is divided by the Sankosh river into the
Eastern and the Western Dooars, consisting of an area of 8,800 km² (3,400
sq mi). The Western Dooars is known as the Bengal Dooars and the Eastern Dooars
as the Assam Dooars. Dooars is synonymous with the term Terai used in Nepal and
northern India and form the only nitrate rich soil in India.
The
Dooars belonged to the Kamata Kingdom under the Koch dynasty; and taking
advantage of the weakness of the Koch kingdom in subsequent times, Bhutan took
possession of the Dooars. This region was controlled by the kingdom of Bhutan
when the British annexed it in 1865 after the Bhutan War under the command of
Captain Hedayat Ali. The area was divided into two parts: the eastern part was
merged with Goalpara district in Assam and the western part was turned into a
new district named Western Dooars. Again in the year 1869, the name was changed
to Jalpaiguri District. After the end of the British rule in India in 1947, the
Dooars acceded into the dominion of India and it merged with the Union of India
shortly afterwards in 1949.
The
Dooars region politically constitutes the plains of Darjeeling District, the
whole of Jalpaiguri district and Alipurduar district and the upper region of
Cooch Behar district in West Bengal and the districts of Dhubri, Kokrajhar,
Barpeta, Goalpara and Bongaigaon in the state of Assam.
The
altitude of Dooars area ranges from 90 to 1,750 m. Innumerable streams and
rivers flow through these fertile plains from the mountains of Bhutan. In
Assam, the major rivers are the Brahmaputra and Manas. In northern West Bengal,
the major river is the Teesta besides many others like the Jaldhaka, Murti,
Torsha, Sankosh, Dyna, Karatoya, Raidak, and Kaljani rivers, among others.
The
average rainfall of the area is about 3,500 mm. Monsoon generally starts
from the middle of May and continues till the end of September. Winters are
cold with foggy mornings and nights. Summer is mild and constitutes a very
short period of the year.
The native people of
this region generally have Mongoloid features. They are composed of numerous
tribes, including the Bodo in Assam, and the Rabha, the Mech, the Toto, the
Koch Rajbongshi, the Tamang/Murmi, the Limbu, the Lepcha in Bengal. Most of the
people found here are Nepali community .
Apart from the
tribal population, a large Bengali population (mostly displaced from the then
East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by the Partition of Bengal) also populate the
Dooars and their culture emerged with local people.
The Dooars are
famous for the tea gardens which were planted by the British. For working in
the gardens, they imported labour from Nepal and the Chota Nagpur and Santhal
Parganas. The Oraons, Mundas, Kharia, Mahali, Lohara and Chik Baraik are the
tribals from these areas. The tribal of Chotanagpur origin are employed in tea
gardens, which started production during the 1870s. Before the settlement of
other communities, these people converted the forests into villages and busties
(agriculture village). The remnants of these tribal people form a majority of
the population in Western Dooars.
The Dooars is a
large region and is dotted with many towns and cities. The largest city in the
whole region stretching from the Darjeeling foothills to the Arunachal Pradesh
foothills is Siliguri. This northern Bengal city is well connected with the
rest of country by road, air and railway and is the business hub of the region.
The other major
cities are Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Goalpara, Barpeta and Dhubri in Assam. Cooch
Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Malbazar, Mainaguri and Birpara are the major
cities of the Dooars in West Bengal. Also, the commercial capital of Bhutan,
Phuentsholing, near Jaigaon, can be considered a part of this region.
Historically,
the region has suffered from ethnic strife. The Bodoland agitation in Assam for
a separate state for the Bodo people and the Kamtapur or Greater Cooch Behar
movement for a Kamtapur state in northern Bengal for the Rajbongshis are the
two most vociferous ones.The Adivasi (Tribal) of Dooars are demanding autonomy
under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The Gorkhas have also
demanded that the area be included in their territory.
The economy of
Dooars is based on three "T"s – Tea, Tourism and Timber. The main
industry of the Dooars region is the tea industry. Thousands of people are
engaged in the tea estates and factories. Several people are also engaged in
the cultivation of bettlenuts which also contributes to the economy.
Cultivation of other crops is done mainly for local consumption.
The area is dotted
by several national parks and wildlife sanctuaries which attract a lot of
tourists from all over India and abroad, making it an important contributor to
the economy and also employer of a number of people.
The timber industry,
both legally and illegally, flourishes in this region. A number of saw mills,
plywood industries and other allied business also act as an important
contributor to the economy.
The Dooars act as
doorways to Bhutan; thus, the export-import industry also flourishes in the
area. The towns of Jaigaon, Siliguri and Phuentsholing are important hubs of
the export-import industry.
As the region is
near the international borders of Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, the Border
Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indian army and
Indian Air Force maintain a large presence in the area. This leads to a large
population of semi-permanent residents who bring money into the local economy.
The beauty of the
region lies not only in its tea gardens but also in the dense jungles that make
up the countryside. Many wildlife sanctuaries and national park like Manas
National Park in Assam, Jaldapara National Park, Buxa National Park, Gorumara
National Park, Chapramari Wildlife Reserve and the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary
in West Bengal are located in this region.
A number of rare
endangered species of animals like tiger, rhinoceros and elephant make their
habitat in the forests of the Dooars. Other animals includes different types of
deer, bison, birds and reptiles. A railway line runs through the tea gardens
and the various protected areas and a number of elephants have been killed in
collisions with trains.
The main mode of
transport in the area is roadways. Most of the places are well connected by
roads. NH31 is the main highway of the area. Regular bus services provided by
North Bengal State Transport Corporation and Assam State Transport Corporation
and other private parties run between all the important places of the area.
Shared jeeps and maxi-taxies are quite popular in the area.
There are some
important railway stations in the area such as New Jalpaiguri, New Cooch Behar,
Alipurduar, New Bongaigaon, etc. An important rail route between Alipurduar
Junction and New Jalpaiguri via Malbazar covers almost the entire Dooars.
Two important
airports of the area are Bagdogra Airport near Siliguri and Guwahati Airport.
Another airport is proposed to start in Cooch Behar shortly.
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| Beauty Queen Dooars |
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dooars
