Bharmaur tribal region

Also called: Brahmaur · Topic: Regional Planning and Sustainable Development in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context"

Meaning

The Bharmaur tribal region (also written Brahmaur) is the tribal area made up of the Bharmaur and Holi tehsils of Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh. It was notified as a tribal area on 21 November 1975 and is home to the Gaddi tribe. It is the NCERT case study of target area planning (planning for one backward region): the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) raised literacy and built roads there, but the gains were not shared evenly across the region.

Explaination

Explanation

1. The land: why development is hard here

• Location: 32°11' N to 32°41' N and 76°22' E to 76°53' E. It covers about 1,818 sq km.

• A tehsil is a block of land below a district, used to run government work.

• Height: mostly 1,500-3,700 m above sea level.

• Mountains around it:
• The Pir Panjal range lies to the north.
• The Dhaula Dhar range lies to the south.

• The two ranges meet near Rohtang Pass in the east.

• Rivers: the Ravi drains the region, along with its tributaries Budhil and Tundahen.

• The rivers cut deep gorges (narrow valleys with steep sides).

• The gorges split the region into four physical divisions: Holi, Khani, Kugti and Tundah.

• Climate:

• Winters are freezing and snowy. The January mean is 4°C.

• Summers are mild. The July mean is 26°C.

• Population (Census 2011): 39,113 people. Density is only 21 persons per sq km.

• Three main problems:
• Harsh climate: long snowy winters leave only a short growing season.
• Low resource base: there is little flat land and the soils are poor.
• Fragile environment: steep slopes break and wear away easily. Roads and farming can set off landslides.

2. The people: the Gaddis and transhumance

• The Gaddis have their own Himalayan identity and speak the Gaddiali dialect.
• They have traditionally practised transhumance (moving herds between pastures as the seasons change) with sheep and goats:
• Summer: after the snow melts, herds go up to high-altitude pastures.
• Winter: snow covers the high pastures, so herds come down to low valley pastures.

• Result: the animals find grass all year, but the family is always on the move.

• For a long time the Gaddis lived in geographical and economic isolation and suffered socio-economic deprivation.

• They were declared a Scheduled Tribe in the 1970s.
• A Scheduled Tribe (ST) is a community listed under Article 342 of the Constitution. Listed communities get special protection and benefits.

3. The plan: Tribal Sub-Plan and ITDP

• Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP): started in the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974).
• What it does: sets aside part of plan money for tribal areas, at least in proportion to the tribal share of the population.

• Why: so that general plans do not spend mostly in richer areas and leave tribal areas behind.

• ITDP: an area development unit. It plans and spends money for one tribal region as a single block, instead of department by department.

• Under the TSP, Bharmaur became one of five ITDPs in Himachal Pradesh.

• Priorities of the Bharmaur ITDP, in order: 1. Transport and communications: roads and telephone links to end the isolation. 2. Agriculture and allied activities: farming, horticulture and animal husbandry. 3. Social and community services: schools, health care and drinking water.

• Today: the TSP strategy runs as the Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes (DAPST) [2][3]. Under it, 42 ministries or departments set aside 4.3% to 17.45% of their budgets every year for tribal development [2].

• Funding today: Himachal Pradesh gets money under the Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Scheme (SCA to TSS), which supports ITDPs/ITDAs, MADA pockets, clusters, PVTGs and scattered tribal populations [3][4]. As a hill state, Himachal Pradesh shares the cost with the Centre in a 90:10 ratio (Centre:state) [3].

4. The results: gains, and uneven gains

• Infrastructure: the region got schools, health care, drinking water, roads, communications and electricity.
• Social gains:
• Female literacy rose from 1.88% (1971) to 65% (2011).
• The gender gap in literacy became smaller.
• The sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) improved.

• Child marriage declined.

• Economic change:

• More pulses and cash crops are grown, but farming still uses traditional technology.
• Transhumance is declining: only about one-tenth of households still practise it.

• Many Gaddis now go down to the Kangra valley in winter to earn wage labour instead of herding.

• Spatial inequality (gains spread unevenly across the region):

• Cause: villages along the Ravi in Holi and Khani lie in easier valleys that roads can reach.
• Process: schools, roads and power lines were built first where building was cheapest and easiest.
• Result: Holi and Khani gained most. Remote Kugti and Tundah still lag behind.

Division	Position	Benefit from ITDP
Holi	Along the Ravi valley	High
Khani	Along the Ravi valley, near Bharmaur town	High
Kugti	Remote, high, hard to reach	Low
Tundah	Remote, high, hard to reach	Low

Where it occurs

• Bharmaur region: the Bharmaur and Holi tehsils, Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh. It lies between the Pir Panjal (north) and the Dhaula Dhar (south), in the basin of the Ravi, Budhil and Tundahen.
• Programme: the ITDP, set up under the Tribal Sub-Plan of the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974). Bharmaur is one of five ITDPs in Himachal Pradesh.
• Current framework: DAPST applies in 22 states and 2 UTs, Himachal Pradesh among them [3]. Funds reach ITDPs through SCA to TSS [3][4].
• Winter wage migration: the Gaddis go down to the Kangra valley, Himachal Pradesh.
• Other transhumant groups in India: the Bakarwals and Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Bhotias of Uttarakhand.

Don't confuse with

• PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group): the most backward tribal groups, marked by pre-agricultural technology, very low literacy, a falling or stagnant population and a subsistence economy. The Gaddis are a Scheduled Tribe, not a PVTG, so PM JANMAN (launched 15 November 2023, covering 75 PVTGs) is not aimed at them [2].
• MADA (Modified Area Development Approach): covers smaller tribal pockets outside ITDP areas. Bharmaur is a full ITDP, not a MADA pocket.
• Beas or Chenab basin: Bharmaur is drained by the Ravi (with the Budhil and Tundahen), not by the Beas or the Chenab.
• Nomadism: nomads keep moving with no fixed home. Transhumance is a fixed seasonal swing between high summer pastures and low winter pastures.

Prelims Hooks

• Bharmaur = Bharmaur + Holi tehsils, Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh. It has been a notified tribal area since 21 November 1975.
• Order from north to south: Pir Panjal, then Bharmaur, then Dhaula Dhar. The two ranges meet near Rohtang Pass.
• Drainage: the Ravi and its tributaries Budhil and Tundahen. Trap: it is not the Beas.
• Four divisions: Holi and Khani (Ravi valley) gained most from the ITDP. Kugti and Tundah lag behind.
• TSP began in the Fifth Plan (1974). Bharmaur was one of five ITDPs in Himachal Pradesh, and its first priority was transport and communications. The TSP now runs as DAPST: 42 ministries/departments set aside 4.3%-17.45% of their budgets [2].
• Female literacy: 1.88% (1971) to 65% (2011). Census 2011: population 39,113, density 21 per sq km.

Mains Points

• Target area planning needs equity inside the target area too (GS-I/GS-III):
• The ITDP raised literacy and brought roads, power and water to Bharmaur.
• But the gains gathered in the easy-to-reach Ravi valley (Holi, Khani). Remote Kugti and Tundah were left behind.

• Response: rank villages by remoteness and set money aside for the hardest-to-reach places. Aspirational Districts (2018) and PM JANMAN (2023) already rank places by how far behind they are [2].

• Sustainable development in a fragile Himalayan region (GS-III):

• Steep slopes, snow and a thin resource base limit how much the land can bear.

• New roads and cash crops must come with slope stability measures, watershed management and protection of pasture commons (shared grazing land).

• Change in a pastoral society (GS-I):

• Only about one-tenth of households still practise transhumance. Many now do winter wage work in Kangra. Earnings come from more sources, but traditional knowledge and the use of high pastures are being lost.
• Response: value addition for wool and livestock, horticulture and eco-tourism linked to Gaddi culture, backed by Fifth Schedule and PESA, 1996 protections.

Related concepts

• Gaddi
• Tribal sub-plan
• Integrated Tribal Development Project
• Impact of ITDP in Bharmaur
• PM JANMAN

Read more

• Case study: the Integrated Tribal Development Project in Bharmaur