Livelihoodsand Tourismin Netarhat Jharkhand AGeographical Analysis
Livelihoodsand Tourismin Netarhat Jharkhand AGeographical Analysis
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ABSTRACT:
Netarhat, one of the famous tourist destinations in Jharkhand has been inhabited by many
indigenous tribal populations. The quality of living in this tribal dominated region is still primitive in
nature. Like the other tourist destinations in India, the livelihood of the residents of Netarhat is
slowly changing. Though, modernization has started to affect their employment and income but it is
not comparable to national or state level. The region has been suffering from poverty since distant
past. Low level of literacy, agro-based economy, low income opportunities are responsible for their
poor living condition. So, the main focus of this paper is to present a glimpse of livelihood
conditions of Netarhat. About 25% of the families of the entire area have been randomly surveyed
through personal interview and focus group discussions. The result which has come out from this
survey is truly amazing such as the large concentration of dependent population, high rate of
illiteracy, the dominance of primary activities a gro-based economy (subsistence agriculture) with
low returns, poor housing condition and almost no household has any toilet facility. Therefore, it is
necessary to bring them back to the main stream of modernization by making suitable measures
otherwise they will gradually be deprived of different developmental and societal aspects. Therefore,
this paper is being discussed about the livelihood characteristics of Netarhat.
KEYWORDS: Demography, Livelihood, Common Property Resource (CPR), Wasteland,
Subsistence Agriculture.
*Corresponding Author:
Ershad Ali
Guest Lecturer,
Department of Geography,
Ananda Chandra College, Jalpaiguri-735101,
West Bengal, India.
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +91 8967252423
1. INTRODUCTION:
Jharkhand, at the time of its formation, lagged behind the all India average in many of the key
development indicators such as the economy, productivity, livelihood status etc. Afterward, it has
made an impressive progress from the birth of the state i.e. 15th November 2000. However, different
development programme have been reducing the gap but it still persists 1. Netarhat is a popular hill
station tourist place in Latehar district of the state of Jharkhand popularly referred to as the
“Chotonagpur ki Rani” (Queen of Chotonagpur). Due to the advantage of elevation accompanied by
temperate climate, Netarhat is developed as one of the leading fruit grown area in the state,
especially in pear cultivation. Netarhat has the total population of 1497, of which 789 are males and
708 are females out of 266 households 2.
A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living 3.
Thus, the livelihood status is often discussed in a broad term as the satisfaction of human needs such
as Drinking water, health, occupation and income, schooling etc 4. Therefore it is needed to increase
the facilities, safety and security and other important infrastructure regarding the socio-economic
activities in any community. Though the livelihood status is mainly primary activity based, Netarhat
is designated as remarkable tourists spot under different tourism category of the state. According to
the draft tourism policy 2014, it is a famous tourist spot. But, it becomes a place of politically
turmoil and thus, it needs serious effort to improve from such of its current state 5. The study area is
the homeland of many tribal populations and they are detached from many of the public facilities.
Therefore, it is now the a crucial condition to develop with an improvement in living standards for
the tribal population in which most of the population can participate in the process of socio-
economic development 6. So, the livelihood development has emerged as a central component of any
clan as well as tribes. The present paper is focused to illustrate the livelihoods snapshot of the study
area.
2. OBJECTIVES:
The objective of the present study includes:
To study the livelihoods including habitat, economy and the society of the inhabitants at
Netarhat.
To examine the degree of influence of tourism.
3. STUDY AREA:
Netarhat is a small village located under the jurisdiction of C.D block of Mahuadanr in
Latehar district in the state of Jharkhand. It is situated at an elevation of 1,071 meters (3,514 ft) in the
western part of the state. The socio-economic survey has been conducted at two different localities of
5.1. Demography:
Demographic characteristics of Paseripat and Mohanapat have been revealed after the
analysis of surveyed data of 67 households of this locality. Table 1 shows the total 50.12% are male
and 49.88% are female in this study area with a negative sex ratio of 1000: 995 which shows a quite
positive situation with respect to sex composition in Indian rural localities. In the case of family
composition, there are 79.1% households live in the joint family system, whereas 19.3% are of
nuclear type family and 22.3% households have family members more than 10. It was noticed that
Jharkhand state has always been a region of tribal concentration where the tribal population was
sharing at around 36% of the total population of the state in the early 1950s, and around 27% by the
beginning of the 1990s 7. The same scenario is reflecting in Netarhat where most of the households
belong to ST category (94.3%) followed by SC (5.7%) category [figure: 2(a)]. In the study area, they
speak in different tribal languages to communicate in their daily life such as Sadri (29.8%) followed
by Oraon (23.9%), Santhali (13.4%), Briziya (9%), Kurukh (9%) etc. and only 14.9% of inhabitants
of the locality prefer to speak in Hindi.
Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of the study area
% of
Variables No. of Household
Household Age- Sex Male Female
Male 200 50.12 structure (Years)
Gender
Female 199 49.88 No. % No. %
Male 1000 <10 34 8.52 36 9.02
Sex Ratio
Female 995 11-20 50 12.53 61 15.29
ST 63 94.03 21-30 43 10.78 32 8.02
Caste
SC 4 5.97 31-40 18 4.51 31 7.77
Sadri 20 29.8 41-50 24 6.02 11 2.76
Oraon 16 23.9 51-60 10 2.51 15 3.77
Language Hindi 10 14.9 >60 21 5.26 13 3.26
Santhali 9 13.4
Briziya 6 9.0
Source: Compiled from the field survey
The age-sex pyramid [figure: 2(b)] of the study area shows almost similar characteristics of
any developing country. About 8.5% of total populations are in the age group of below 10 years and
5.26% are in the old age group with above 60 years indicating the large concentration of dependent
population. The age group of 11-30 years is composing 23.31% of the total population. It indicates
the possibility of population explosion in near future.
5.2. Education:
Education is one of the main indicators of the development of human civilization. Education
is considered to be the core key of a society which helps to learn or acquisition of knowledge, skills,
and habits. It carries the content of human being also. Development of a region depends on the rate
of literacy and quality of education of the population 8. The table 2 shows that educational status of
the localities is poor. The literacy rate is quite below the national literacy rate of 74.04% in 2011.
Only 62.2% inhabitants are literate here and most of the educated persons are the first generation
learner while the literacy rate of Jharkhand is 67%, a remarkable improvement from 54% 9. The
percentage of literacy rate of male is 69% and for the female, it is 10% lower than male [figure:
3(a)]. The pattern of distribution of educational levels shows that 40.3% of them have completed
their education at primary level followed by 33.46% in secondary level. Only 11.2% of the
inhabitants attain higher education and 2.7% to the postgraduate level [figure: 3(b)]. Although a good
number of educational institutions are being run in the State but the rural area still remains deprived
of even primary education. Not only lack of teachers but also there is a serious lack of motivational
force to read & write 10. Though Netarhat is famous for its top Residential school, it could not fulfill
the demand of local inhabitants. For higher education, the learners of the area have to go to Latehar,
Lohardaga, and Ranchi. About 78% of households are responded about the poor education facilities.
Table 2: Educational status of the study area
Levels Male % Female % Literacy Status Male Female Total
248
Primary 54 21.8 46 18.5 Literate 130 (69%) 118 (59.3%)
(62.2%)
Secondary 39 15.7 44 17.7 Male Female Total
Higher Illiterate 151
12 4.8 07 2.8 70 (31%) 81 (40.7%)
Secondary (37.8%)
Graduate 13 5.2 15 6.0
Post
05 2.0 02 0.7
Graduate
Others 07 2.8 04 1.6
Source: Compiled from the field survey
5.3. Economy:
According to District census handbook 2011, Netarhat has a comparatively stable economic
condition mainly primary in nature such as cultivators, agricultural labours, household industries etc.
The inhabitants of Paseripat and Mohanapat are engaged in a variety of economic activities found
mainly in the surrounding area. In the primary sector like cultivators, agricultural labours and related
activities, about 73% of people are engaged followed by 27% in secondary activities [figure: 4(a)].
The higher engagement in primary activities results in poor household condition with average
monthly income in between Rs. 4500-6000. About 58.3% households have the monthly income less
than Rs. 5000 and only 5.95% households have monthly income greater than Rs. 20000. It has been
noticed that higher the family member, greater the income in the study area. Table 3 shows it clearly
and this is because every member of the family is associated with farming and joint farming system
increases their income. Apart from this, the per capita wages is very low in the surveyed area.
Majority of workers earn monthly income in the range between Rs. 2000-4000 [figure: 4(c)]. Only
4.2 % of workers have per capita income greater than Rs. 12000 per month. This suggests that the
locality belongs to a low-income region of Latehar district as well as Jharkhand. Agricultural and
related activities are the major source of income of the inhabitants. Though, the production of Rice
and Pulse are significantly increased in Jharkhand but the production of Wheat and Maize are
11
declined sharply over the past few years . In the study area, Paddy and corn are the two major
agricultural products which are produced at a rate of 67.2% and 50.7% household respectively,
followed by vegetables (14.9%), wheat (10.4%) and millet (8.9%). Irrigation facility is almost not
available here, so prolonged period without rainfall or drought-like condition harms the agriculture
and the local economy.
As Netarhat is a tourist spot, it is found that about 6.8% inhabitants are engaged in tourism
based activities but these activities are mostly seasonal in nature depending on peak tourist flows
12
during October to February in Netarhat . The potentiality of the tourism based activities not only
increases foreign and domestic income but also it creates employment opportunities, stimulates the
growth of the tourism industry as well as triggers overall economic growth 13.
Table 3: Occupations and Income Structure of the study area
No. of
Variables % No. of % of
Participants Variables
Household Household
Cultivation 86 58.11
Agricultural Less than 2000 9 13.4
22 14.86
Labour 2000-4000 38 56.7
Handicraft 8 5.41 Per 4000-6000 10 14.9
Occupations
Manufacturing 16 10.81 capita 6000-8000 4 6.0
Business 7 4.73 Wages 8000-10000 1 1.5
Transport 6 4.05 10000-12000 3 4.5
Hotel 3 2.03 Above 12000 2 3.0
Work Male 113 76.35 Paddy 45 67.2
Participation Female 35 23.65 Corn 34 50.7
Less than 5000 39 58.3 Major Wheat 7 10.4
Monthly
5000-10000 16 23.8 Crops Millet 6 8.9
family
10000-15000 5 7.5 Vegetables 10 14.9
Incomes (in
15000-20000 3 4.5 Fruits 4 6.0
Rs.)
Above 20000 4 5.9
Livestock Cow 53 79.1
Farming
Pig 16 23.0
Goat 24 35.8
Hen 17 25.4
Source: Compiled from the field survey
17.6% of houses have more than 5 rooms due to their large family size. But, 94% of the households
have no toilet facility and separate kitchen in the premises too. The individual household latrine
program, a component of Swaccha Bharat Mission (SWM), has therefore faced several roadblocks
11
and most of them are still prefer open field for a milieu of reasons . Jharkhand Government is
committed to ensuring that by the year of 2019, there will be 100% electrified household but up to
2018, it achieved only 57%, up from 47% in the past two years 1. In the case of Netarhat, table 4
shows that there are 44.8% of households have electricity connection and only 26.9% of households
have LPG connection with subsidy facility. Due to the abundance of natural vegetation and low
population density, about 88% of households rely on fuel wood which is collect from nearby forest
and village land as common property resource (CPR) and sometimes buy from the local market.
Table 4: Housing Characteristics of the study area
The people of Netarhat have no excuse about their delicacy. They are especially vegetarian.
They prefer to eat pork in different occasions and ritual ceremonies which are their pet pigs. In spite
14
of a good income, they sustain their old eating habits and also use old cooking methods . Thus,
some nutritional improvement is required in their diet system. Table 5 expresses that Wheat (87%)
and Rice (13%) are the main staple food in their daily menu. About 86.6% of households are
dependent on Govt. hospital for medical treatment. But there is a lack of medical personnel and poor
medicine supply is noticed in the health center and hospital. Health problems of any community are
influenced by various factors including social, economic and political etc. and there is a proverb in
circulation that the health status of the tribal people is very poor because of their isolation,
15
remoteness and being largely unaffected by developmental processes . Tribal dominant Netarhat
has no exception in the same case. They are not well aware of their health and hygiene. As a result,
the emergence of various insects driven diseases such as Malaria (50.57%), fever (68.81%), skin
related diseases, gastro enteric diseases are the major threat to the inhabitants in the study area.
Table 5: Food habits and Health of the study area
Variables No. of % of Variables No. of % of
families family families family
Community
57 85.0 Wheat 58 87.0
Source of Tube well Staple Food
Drinking Tube well 4 6.0 Rice 9 13.0
Water Well 2 3.0 Allopathic 25 37.3
Mode of
Stream 4 6.0 Homeopathic 19 28.36
Treatment
Water Yes 6 8.9 Ayurbedic 23 34.33
Treatment No 61 91.1 Malaria 34 50.57
Boiling 15 22.4 Major Fever 26 38.81
Water
Filter 4 6.0 Diseases Skin 2 2.99
purification
Aqua guard 1 1.5 Others 5 7.46
system used
None 47 70.1
Place of Personal 26 38.9
waste Wasteland 12 17.9
disposal Anywhere 29 43.2
Source: Source: Compiled from the field survey
5.6. Livelihood Characteristics:
In the study area, own community marriage is often very common among them. About 85.1%
of families get their marriage in their own community but 14.9% families get their marriage in others
community. The age of marriage for both male and female is same with respect to the country’s
constitutional law. In most of the cases, it was observed that the age of marriage lies in between 19-
26 years for both male and female. Dowry system is almost not prevailing in this village (table: 6).
56.7% of households have following public media such as T.V (19.4%), Radio (11.9%) and use of
the Internet (25.4%) but 43.3% households do not access [figure: 7] any public media. Motorcycle
(14.81%), refrigerator, DTH facility are very uncommon in this village. However, bicycle (68.7%) is
the main companion of daily transport in the study area.
Government Organizations (NGOs) should play the leading role to bring up Netarhat in harmony of
development.
REFERENCES:
1. Govt. of Jharkhand, “Jharkhand Vision & Action Plan 2021”, Department of Planning cum
Finance, Comprehensive Document. 2018; 1: 17-19.
2. Census of India, “District Census Handbook Latehar”, Directorate of Census Operations
Jharkhand. 2011; 21 (Xii-B): 76.
3. Department for International Development (DFID), “DFID Sustainable Livelihoods
Guidance Sheets”, October 2001, London.
4. Ali E, & Basak A, “Socio Economic Condition of Oraon Tribe in Garal Bari Gram
Panchayat of Jalpaiguri District”, West Bengal, International Journal of Research and
Analytical Reviews. 2018; 5 (2): 2137-2146.
5. Kumar P, & Mishra A, “A study of perception of tourist Socio-economic status on Jharkhand
Tourism Category”, American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and
Social Sciences. 2015; 10 (2): 185-196.
6. Prakash A, “Case Study Tribal Rights in Jharkhand”, United Nations Development
Programme, Regional Centre in Bangkok. 2007; Thailand: 31.
7. Maharatna A, & Chikte, R, “Demography of Tribal Population in Jharkhand 1951-1991”,
Economic and Political Weekly. 2004; 20: 5053-5062.
8. Mandal J, & Sengupta P, “Socio-Economic Status of Tribe: A Case Study of Porobusty,
Alipurduar”, West Bengal, Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research. 2016; 2 (5): 536-
541.
9. Govt. of Jharkhand, “Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society”, Social Assessment,
Social Management & Tribal Development Framework. 2017; 32-34.
10. Govt. of India, “Sate-Profile”, Ministry of MSME, MSME – Development Institute. 2016;
Ranchi: 86-88.
11. Govt. of Jharkhand, “Jharkhand Economic Survey 2015-16”, Planning Cum Finance
Department, Finance Division. 2016; 100-102.
12. Govt. of India, “Tourism survey in the State of Jharkhand-Annual Final-Report”, Ministry of
Tourism, Department of Tourism. 2014; Noida: 3-4.
13. Ahmad M. K, “Contribution of Tourism in the socio-economic development of Hazaribagh,
Jharkhand, India”, International Journal of Human Resource & Industrial Research. 2015; 2
(7): 24-34.
14. Toppo S, “Changing food pattern of tribal women of Jharkhand state with special reference
to Gumla district”, Food Science Research Journal. 2016; 7 (2): 207-216.
15. Sinha B.K.P, & Behera M, “Changing Socio-Economic Condition and Livelihood of
Geographically Isolated Tribal Community in Kandhamal and KBK Districts of Orissa”,
Amity School of Natural Resources & Sustainable Development. 2010; Uttar Pradesh: 98-
100.
16. “Culture and livelihood pattern of the different tribes of Jharkhand” [online]. 2018 [cited
23th September, 2018] Available from: URL:
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/144111/7/07_chapter%203.pdf.
17. “Gumla -'The land of Gaw-Mela” [online]. 2018 [cited 15th October, 2018] Available from:
URL: http://www.traveljharkhand.com/jharkhand-tourism/jharkhand-districts/gumla-
netarhat.html.
18. Ghosh P, “The Colonial and Post-Colonial Approach to Industrialization in India’s
Jharkhand State: Envisioning Environmental Crisis”, The International Journal of
Humanities & Social Studies. 2016; 4 (1): 286-301.
19. Prajapati S.N, Prasad N, & Mandal, J, “Tourism in Jharkhand as a Hospitality Industry”, Rai
Management Journal 2017, Volume 13, Issue 2, pp 17-20.
20. Singh S, & Pathak N, “Tourism in Jharkhand – An Evaluative Study”, Jharkhand Journal of
Social Development. 2009; 2 (1): 125-130.
Appendix I
List of Figures
80
41-50 Female %
60 Male %
31-40
40 21-30
5.97
20 .11-20
0 <10
ST SC S
T -20 -10 0 10 20
% of Population
2(a) 2(b)
Figure 2: Caste Composition 2(a) & Age-Sex Structure 2(b) of the Study Area
25 21.8
100%
90% % of Male
20
18.5 15.7 17.7
% of Literate
80% % of Female
118
% of Population
70% 81 15
60%
Female 10
50% 4.8 5.2 6
40% Male 5 2.8 2 2.8 1.6
30% 0.7
130 70 0
20%
10%
0%
Literate Iliterate
3(a) 3(b)
Figure 3: Literacy Status 3(a) & Level of Literacy 3 (b)
70 58.11
60
% of Household
50 Female
40 23.65
30 %
20 14.86 10.81 76.35
10 5.41 4.73 4.05 2.03 %
0
Male
4(a) 4(b)
Figure 4: Occupational Structure 4(a) & Work Participation 4(b)
70
58.3
60 100
% of Household
50 79.1
% of Household
80
40
30 23.8 60
35.8
20 40 25.4
7.5 23
10 4.5 5.9
20
0
<5000 5000-10000 10000-15000 15000-20000 >20000 0
Cow Pig Goat Hen
4(c) 4(d)
Figure 4: Monthly Family Income 4(c) & Livestock Farming 4(d)
60
50.7 47.8
% of Household
50 80 71.6
40 60
Household
% of
30
40
20
10 20 10.4 6
1.5
0 0
Mud Semi Pucca Pucca Forest Village Market
Tree
5(a) 5(b)
Figure 5: Nature of Houses 5(a) & Source of Fuel Wood 5(b)
85 60
90 50.57
80 50
% of Household
% of Household
70 38.81
60
40
50 30
40
30 20
20 7.46
6 6
10 2.99
10 3
0 0
Community Tube well Well Stream Malaria Fever Skin Others
Tube well
6(a) 6(b)
Figure 6: Source of Drinking Water 6(a) & Major Diseases 6(b)
50 43.3
% of Household
40
30 25.4
19.4
20 11.9
10
0
Television Radio Users of Internet No Access
Figure 7: Basic Amenities Available
80
70
% of Household
60 11 15
21 22 23 27
50 33 32 35
40 48
Bad
30 38 56 50 30 Moderate
38
20 30 33 27 38 Good
10 15
8 7 14
0 0 4 2 2 4 5 2