Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-12, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

Block Level Spatio Temporal Analysis of Land Use Pattern in Subdivision, Paschim Medinipur during 1996-97 & 2010-11

Shriya Mukherjee1 & Gopal Chandra Debnath2 1Research Scholar, Dept. of Geography, Visva-Bharati, 2Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, Visva-Bharati, India

Abstract: In present world the increasing population use classification is grouping of different classes of pressure has affected the earth atmosphere system to land according to functionability. a great extent. Land being one of the resources is in very high demand for supporting our ever increasing 2. Objectives population. Man has modified land and has made it favorable for the survival of mankind. It is important The objectives of this paper are – to find out the spatio temporal changes in land use pattern of any region to identify and project • To identify major land use classes in the associated physical, socio-economic and study area during 1996-97 and 2010-11 environmental problems and to make a blue print for • To understand the reason behind the future regional development. Jhargram Subdivision particular pattern of land use present in the of Paschim Medinipur district, is one of the under study area. developed regions of . This paper • To compare spatio temporal patterns of land highlights that the land use of the Jhargram use classes between 1996-97 and 2010-11. Subdivision is mainly dominated by agricultural land and forest during 1996-97 and 2010-11. Other land 3. Data Sources & Methodology use classes during the mentioned time period have also been identified to understand the pattern of The present study has been done mainly with the interrelation between them and overall socio- help of secondary data. The land use data sets of economic condition of the region. 1996-97 have been collected from District Statistical Handbook of Medinipur, 1996-97; while the data sets 1. Introduction of 2010-11 land use have been collected from the records of Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Land use refers to the spatio temporal utilization West Bengal. A number of books and journals have and modification of all developed and vacant land. been consulted while ideating about the present Land-uses include the modification and/or study. To present the data, percentage proportions management of land for agriculture, settlements, have been calculated and proportional pie diagrams forestry and other uses including those that exclude have been prepared based on the calculated humans from land, as in the designation of nature percentages of each land use class to total reserves for conservation (Ellish, 2010). Land is one geographical area of the concerned block or the of the natural primary resources. When human Subdivision. intervention modifies the land according to their own need, the concept of land use comes into being. The 4. Study Area main point to be noted here is that how land is being Jhargram Subdivision is located between 22°00 used. Changes in land use affect physical as well as ʹ N to 22°51 socio-economic systems of any region. Man has ʹ06ʺ N latitudes 87°14 remodeled the land to a very large extent. It has ʹʺ24E longitudes. It forms the western part of Paschim Medinipur District. Jhargram Subdivision is become crucial to know how land use is changing surrounded by Orissa and Jharkhand towards its over space and time in order to understand the south-western and western part, Purulia District impact of these changes on the people’s lives. Land towards its north western part, Bankura District

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-12, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in towards its north and Medinipur Subdivision and cultivable waste, houseted land, forest and residual Kharagpur Subdivision towards its eastern and south area. eastern part respectively.

Figure 2. Land use classification of Jhargram Subdivision, 1996-97

Table 1. Proportion of land use classes to total Figure 1. Location of Jhargram Subdivision area of Jhargram Subdivision in 1996-97 Area in % to Total Jhargram Subdivision consists of eight Land use classes Community Development Blocks, namely, -I, Hectare area Binpur-II, -I, Gopiballavpur-II, Net sown area 164785 54 Area under orchard Jhargram, Nayagram, and Sankrail and 4259 1 Jhargram Municipality. These eight blocks contain & pasture seventy nine Gram Panchayats. The Subdivision has Cultivable waste 5652 2 its head quarter at Jhargram. Jhargram Subdivision is Houseted land 53835 18 situated among the hilly and rolling uplands of Forest 72632 24 Chhotanagpur plateau and the undulating tract of Residual area 4713 2 Rarh Bengal. The geological formation of the area is Data source: District Statistical Handbook, mainly lateritic, which occupies the central as well as Medinipur, 1996-97 the southern parts of the area, while the eastern part is characterized by alluvium of Lower Ganga Plain. During 1996-97 it is observed that more than fifty The general slope of the area is from north-west to percent of the land is under agricultural uses. Net east south-east. There are three rivers (Kangsabati, sown area denotes total area sown with crops and Subarnarekha and Dulung) which drain the orchards, but area sown more than once in a year is Subdivision from north-west to south-east. The area counted once only. The net sown area accounts for is one of the drought prone areas of Paschim 54 percent of the total geographical area of Jhargram Medinipur District. The climate is warm humid Subdivision. The second largest land use class is tropical in nature and falls under Koppen’s Aw type forest which is 24 percent of the total area of the of climatic classification. The vegetation of the Subdivision. Percentage of land used for housing and Subdivision is dominated by jungles consisting of residential purposes is only 18 percent. The other Shorea robusta (Sal) or by mixed forest where land use classes which are observed during this species of Alagia, Schleichera, Schrebera, period are area under pasture and orchard, cultivable Terminalia and similar trees with many shrubs and waste and residual area. Cultivable waste (2%), Area climbers are found. under orchard & pasture (1%) and Residual area (2%) portrays insignificant proportion in total usages 5. Land use pattern in 1996-97 of land.

Land use in the then Medinipur has been dominated 5.1 Land use pattern at block level in 1996-97 mainly by forest land and agriculture. The same trend can be seen in case of Jhargram Subdivision. The land use pattern at Subdivisional level shows The secondary data, which has been collected from a particular trait. However to detect the minute District Statistical Handbook of Medinipur of the changes in the regional extent of the Jhargram year 1996-97, only has six categories from which a Subdivision, the block level land use pattern has generalized idea can be derived about the land use of been calculated and analyzed. All the blocks of Jhargram Subdivision. The sub divisions of land use Jhargram Subdivision show a dominance of net sown are net sown area, area under pasture and orchard, area in their land use pattern. The highest proportion of net sown area can be seen in Gopiballavpur-II

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-12, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

(79%). The second highest proportion of net sown topography and large patches of forest land has area is present in Sankrail (76%). The lowest hindered the development of large settled areas in percentage share of net sown area is observed in Jhargram Subdivision. Area under pasture and Binpur-II (42%). orchard which is not included in net sown area, cultivable waste and residual area have a very negligible proportion in the overall land use in case of almost every block.

6. Land use pattern in 2010-11

Figure 4. Land use classification of Jhargram Subdivision, 2010-11

Figure 3. Block wise land use classification of Jhargram Subdivision, 1996-97

Table 2. Block wise land use pattern of Jhargram Subdivision in 1996-97 (area in hectare) Area under Net sown Cultivable Houseted Residual CD Block pasture & Forest area waste land area orchard Jhargram 28806 (53%) 1100 (2%) 175 (0) 10169 (19%) 13400 (25%) 300 (1%) Binpur-I 18675 (51%) 484 (1%) 1520 (4%) 6928 (19%) 8106 (22%) 572 (2%) Binpur-II 23982 (42%) 1050 (2%) 1100 (2%) 8365 (15%) 21720 (38%) 1357 (2%) Jamboni 19200 (59%) 450 (1%) 850 (3%) 6032 (18%) 5200 (16%) 904 (3%) Nayagram 23760 (47%) 500 (1%) 1300 (3%) 9217 (18%) 14694 (29%) 1170 (2%) Sankrail 20910 (76%) 230 (1%) 100 (0) 5000 (18%) 1220 (4%) 100 (0) Gopiballavpur-I 13784 (50%) 400 (1%) 275 (1%) 5706 (21%) 6992 (26%) 235 (1%) Gopiballavpur-II 15668 (79%) 45 (0) 332 (2%) 2418 (12%) 1300 (7%) 75 (0)

Data source: District Statistical Handbook, Medinipur, 1996-97

Forest is another major land use class which has The Land use of 2010-11 of Jhargram highest percentage share in Binpur-II (38%) and the Subdivision follows a nine fold classification. The lowest in Sankrail (4%). Jhargram, Binpur-I, land use classes present in the Subdivision are forest, Nayagram and Gopiballavpur-I have forest area more area under non-agricultural usages, barren and than 20 percent of their total geographical area. The unculturable land, permanent pastures and other settlement part of all the blocks does not indicate a grazing lands, land under miscellaneous crops, trees very thick concentration. The highest percentage and groves not included in net sown area, culturable share of settled area can be seen in Gopiballavpur-I waste land, fallow and other than current fallow, (21%) which is followed by Jhargram and Binpur-I. current fallow and net sown area. The Lowest percentage of settled area is present in Gopiballavpur-II (12%). This indicates the fact that the region is not too favorable for settlement. Large stretches of agricultural fields, undulation

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-12, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in

Table 3. Proportion of land use classes total area percent to 39 percent during 1996-97 and 2010-11. of Jhargram Subdivision in 2010-11 Thus it can be said that cropping area has decreased and got substituted by some other land use class. On the other hand there has been an increase in forest Land use Area in % to total area during this period from 24 percent in 1996-97 to classes Hectare area 29 percent in 2010-11. This obviously is a positive fact that the forest area has increased from Forest 89830 29 environmental as well as socio-economic point of views. Area under non-agricultural uses denote settled areas, transport lines, commercial and Area under 44665 15 industrial establishments, which accounts for only 15 non percent. The current fallow also has 15 percent share agricultural in total usages of land. uses 6.1 Land use pattern at block level in 2010-11 Barren & 967 0 unculturable land

Permanent 219 0 pastures & other grazing lands

Land under 3766 1 miscellaneous tree crops and groves not included in net sown area

Culturable 596 0 waste

Fallow & 1467 0 other than current fallow Figure 5. Block wise land use classification of Jhargram Subdivision, 2010-11 Current 45724 15 From the Subdivisional level data it is seen that fallow there has been a big change in percentage share of net sown area and a moderate change in case of forest area in Jhargram Subdivision. The land use of Net sown area 118587 39 Jhargram Subdivision is still dominated by net sown area and forest land. Although there are nine sub Data source: Report from Directorate of Agriculture, classes present in case of 2010-11 land use Govt. of West Bengal classification but the prominent classes are net sown area, forest, area under non-agricultural uses and From the analyzed data of land use in 2010-11 it current fallow. is seen that the main two classes domination the total The highest percentage share of forest land can be land use are net sown area and forest. This indicates seen in Nayagram block with 51.8 percent, while that the nature of land use pattern has remained the Sankrail possesses a negligible amount of forest land. same during a span of fourteen years. But there has Jamboni and Binpur-II have forest area more than 40 been a change in the magnitude. In 2010-11 although percent but less than 50 percent. Jhargram and net sown area accounts for 39 percent of the total Gopiballavpur-I has forest area more than 20 percent geographical area but it has decreased from 54

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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-12, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in but less than 30 percent. Gopiballavpur-II and Binpur-I have forest area less than 5 percent.

Table 4. Block wise percentage share of land use classes in Jhargram Subdivision. 2010-11

Permanent Area under Area under Fallow & Barren & pastures & non- miscellaneous Cultrable other than Current Net sown CD Block Forest unculturable other agricultural tree crops waste current fallow area land grazing uses and groves fallow land 15172 7214 440 5090 23285 Jhargram 667 (1.2%) 0 2278 (4.2%) 130 (0.2%) (28%) (13.7%) (0.8%) (9.4%) (42.9%) 26117 6232 14045 Nayagram 3908 (7.8%) 0 15 (0.1%) 51 (0.1%) 6 0 (51.8%) (12.4%) (27.9%) 13952 8857 3719 Sankrail 0 89 (0.3%) 18 (0.1%) 372 (1.4%) 5 2 (51.6%) (32.8%) (13.8%)

13229 12374 3834 Jamboni 2963 (9.1%) 18 (0.1%) 30 (0.1%) 92 (0.3) 76 (0.2%) 0 (40.6%) (37.9%) (11.8%) 1467 7235 20116 Binpur-I 52 (0.1%) 2 223 (0.6%) 0 0 6836 (19%) (4.1%) (20.7%) (56%) 26882 4980 21595 Binpur-II 4457 (7.7%) 83 (0.1%) 1 0 0 8 (46.3%) (8.6%) (37.2%) 6018 1129 5374 9534 Gopbalavpur-I 5284 (19%) 29 (0.1%) 22 (0.1%) 398 (1.4%) 69 (0.2%) (21.6%) (4.1%) (19.3%) (34.2%) 945 1119 12226 Gopiballavpur-II 4747 (24%) 29 (0.1%) 131 (0.7%) 352 (1.8%) 0 198 (1%) (4.8%) (5.7%) (61.9%) Data source: Directorate of Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal. (Area in hectare).

Gopiballavpur-II accounts for 61.9 percent of net Gopiballavpur-II; small amount of decrease can be sown area which is highest among all the blocks. observed at Jhargram and Binpur-II. The decreasing While the lowest percentage proportion of net sown net sown area of Jamboni has been in tune with the area is seen at Jamboni (11.4%). The land use class increase of forest area in the block. Also a large of current fallow has it highest share of 37.9 percent amount of land has been under current fallow in case in Jamboni and the least amount is present in of Jamboni block. The decrease of net sown area and Gopiballavpur-II (5.7%). Area under non-agricultural a considerable amount of area under land other than uses which includes all land occupied by buildings, agricultural uses indicates that cropping land is roads and railways or by water i.e. rivers, canal etc. getting reduced to make way to settled area, transport and other land put to uses other than agriculture lines etc. in Sankrail. In case of Nayagram the occupies 31.79 percent out of total area of Sankrail decreasing net sown area is directly related to and 24 percent of that of Gopiballavpur-II. All the increasing forest area in the block. Binpur-I is the other sub classes of land use show very small only block in Jhargram Subdivision which shows an proportion in all the blocks of Jhargram Subdivision. increase in net sown area over the period of fourteen years. Binpur-I has undergone a moderate reduction of forest area. Thus although in 2010-11 the land use 7. Summery and conclusion pattern is still inclined towards net sown area but the regional variations over a period of fourteen years The study of land use pattern is an integral part revels that the use of land as cropping activity is while making the blue print for initiating future getting replaced either by forest area or by fallow developmental prospects of any region. The analysis land or by non-agricultural activities. The drought of land use pattern provides an idea about the relative proneness and lack of proper irrigational facilities position of each land use class on a spatio temporal might have played a role in this departure. scale. Thus nature, degree and magnitude of the character of each class can be understood to bring 8. References out the overall picture of the area regarding how the land has been utilized. The study of analyzing land [1] District Statistical Handbook, 1996-97, Medinipur, use pattern of the year 1996-97 and 2010-11 of Bureau of Applied Economics & Statistics, Govt. of West Jhargram Subdivision reveals the fact that the net Bengal. sown area has decreased to a very large extent in the [2] District Human Development Report, 2011, Paschim study area. According to the block level data the Medinipur, Development & Planning Department, Govt. of highest amount of decrease of net sown area is seen West Bengal. in Jamboni, Sankrail, Nayagram blocks; moderate [3] Ellish, E., "Land-use", The Encyclopedia OF EARTH, amount of decrease is seen at Gopiballavpur-I and 2010.

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[4] Halder, J. C., "Land Use/Land Cover and Change Detection Mapping in Binpur-II Block, Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal: A Remote Sensing & GIS Perspective", IOSR Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 8, 5, 2013, pp. 20-31. [5] Land Use Report, 2010-11, Paschim Medinipur, Directorate of Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal. [6] Mondal, M., "Land People- a dynamic interaction of Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal", IOSR Journal of Pharmacy, 2, 6, Nov-Dec 2012, pp. 56-61. [7] O' Malley, L. S. S., Bengal District Gazetteers: Midnapore (Vol. 1st Reprint), Bengal District Gazetteers, Education Department, Govt. of West Bengal, 1995. [8] Status on Land, 2001, Department of Land & land Reforms, Govt. of West Bengal.

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