PLP 2020-21 Bhojpur MAP of Bhojpur District 4 PLP 2020-21 Bhojpur DISTRICT PROFILE District Bhojpur is agriculture based district and is located in the south west corner of Bihar. The entire district lies in the rich alluvial zone of the Ganga and its tributaries. Location and geographical area The present day Bhojpur district came into existence in 1992. The district was earlier a part of the Sahabad district. In the year 1972 Sahabad district was bifurcated in two parts namely Bhojpur and Rohtas. Buxar was a subdivision of old Bhojpur district. In 1992, Buxar became a separate district. Geographically, the district lies at 25°47'N latitude, 84°52'E longitude and 193 m Altitude. The district encompasses a geographical area of 2,395 sq km and it is bounded by Saran district and Uttar Pradesh on the North, Rohtas district on the South West, Arwal district on the South East, Patna district on the East and Buxar district on the West. The climate of the district is characterised as extremely moderate. The actual rainfall in the district was 874.3 mm, 584.3 mm and 576.6 mm during the year 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively against the average annual rainfall of 1060 mm. (Ref: http://hydro.imd.gov.in). Administration wise, the district is divided into 14 blocks namely Agiaon, Arrah, Barhara, Behea, Charpokhari, Garhani, Jagdishpur, Koilwar, Piro, Sahar, Sandesh, Shahpur, Tarari, and Udwant Nagar. Demographic profile The district has three subdivisions Ara Sadar, Jagdishpur and Piro. Ara town is the headquarters of the district and also its principal town. There are 228 Gram Panchayats, 14 Panchayat Samitis and 1 Zila Parishad in the district. General Information According to 2011 census the district has a population of 27,28,407 persons out of which 14,30,380 are males and 12,98,027 are females. The district has a sex ratio of 907 females for every 1000 males. In the year 2001-2011 the population growth rate in the district was 21.63% (Persons) including 21.26% are males and 22.05% are females. Population (As per the 2011 General Census) in `000) Villages No. of Un- Revenue Area No. of Male Female Total S.C. S.T. District Inhabited inhabited Villages (sq.km) G.Ps. Total 997 220 1217 2497 228 1430 1298 2720 425 13 The majority of the people in the district speak Bhojpuri followed by Hindi. General Characteristics The Administrative Headquarters is situated at Ara town. The Bhojpur district occupies 20th position in terms of area (2395 sq. km) and also 20th in terms of population (27,28,407) in the State of Bihar. Soil The soil of Bhojpur District in general is Alluvium soil. The area adjoining the rivers Ganga, Sone, Dharmawati, and Gangi consists of sandy loam, loamy sand and sand, whereas, the area away from the river channels consist of silty sand to sandy silt. The soils in general are fine textured away from the river course and rivulets and coarse textured along their courses. The soils of coarse textured have got mixed with silt and fine sand due to the mixing of canal water being used perennially for irrigation. The entire area of the district has a general slope towards the north and northeast. Rivers The district has rivers running almost three sides -North, East, and South. The Ganges forms the northern boundary of the district. The low-lying rich alluvial plains in the north-eastern owe their fertility to the river Ganges. The rivers Chher and Banas fall into the Ganges. The Sone is another important river in the district. It runs along the southern and eastern boundaries of the district until it merges in the river Ganges near Maner in Patna district. 5 PLP 2020-21 Bhojpur Forests There are no large forest areas in the District. Out of the total area of 2.39 lakh hectares in the District, forests cover is negligible. Predominant economic activity in the district The predominant economic activity of the district is agriculture and allied activities. The major crops of the district are rice, wheat, maize, Gram, pulses, oilseeds and vegetables. The other major economic activities of the district are dairy, rice-milling, petty trade, transport, etc. The district is major producer of rice and milk. Agricultural Seasons in Bhojpur, Bihar:- Table 1 Kharif Rabi Bhadai - (April- Aghani - (June- Rabi - (Nov- Garma- (March- Aug/Sept) Oct) March/Apr) Apr/June) Paddy, maize Paddy, pulses Wheat, pulses, maize, Paddy, maize, pulses, Peas, spices and oilseeds vegetables, millet New and emerging sectors/ economic activities There is no specific direction to capture any prominent activities as emerging. However, private investment is taking place in dairy, food processing, agro processing, Poultry layer unit etc. Some new crops such as Medicinal Crops cultivation such as Mentha, Floriculture etc. and off season cultivation and conversions of fieed crop to horticulture crop such as Mango, Guava etc. are major change indicators. Level of rural and urban poverty The per Capita Income of bhojpur district is rising consistently. As per the latest economic Survey, it had increased from 12594 at current prices in 2016-17 to 18494 in 2017-18. There are 228 Gram Panchayats in the district. However, Gram Panchayats play no role in implementation of bank-loan related programs. PRIs get the funds from GoB / GOI. 6 PLP 2020-21 Bhojpur 7 PLP 2020-21 Bhojpur Banking Profile The Banking network in the district comprises of 226 branches of which 27 Commercial banks have 116 branches, the Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank has 95 branches, the Ara District Central Cooperative Bank have 15 branches and Land Development Bank has 04 branches. Out of total 226 bank branches in the district, 48 are purely urban branches. The LDB with its 4 branches in the district is defunct. Service area responsibilities have been reallocated with Panchayats as base among branches of the district with 01- 02 panchayats per branch. The average per branch population is between 14000 and 15000. The outreach of these branches however gets limited on account of uneven spread of branches with certain blocks like Tarari, Sahar, Charpokhri, Agiaon and Garhani are comparatively neglected as compared to Arrah, Barhara, Piro, Jagdishpur and Bihea. Staff constraints, power and communication breakdowns further limit the effectiveness of the existing rural branches, During 2018-19, as reported by Lead Bank, the total ground level credit flow under the priority sector amounted to 1820.39 crores out of which 1104.34 crores was under Agriculture. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Other Priority Sector (OPS) had share of 491.21 crore and 224.84 crore respectively. The CD ratio of the district is low and is around 30%. In FY 2018-19 it had decreased from 29.60 during 2017-18 to 29.40%. Bhojpur is among the three districts having significantly lowest CD ratio in the state of Bihar.CD ratio of the district is much lower than the state average of 47.13% and national average of 77.40 %. The Service Area Monitoring and Information System (SAMIS) has not stabilized in the district. Most banks are not submitting MIS returns to the Lead bank in the RBI prescribed formats. As such activity wise disbursement data are not available. Lead District Manager is, to a great extent compiling data based on Monthly Progress Reports received from Banks for submission to SLBC. Even these returns are irregular which sometimes creates mismatch between data reported in DLCC and SLBC Meetings. The new Crop Insurance scheme, Bihar Rajya Fasal Sahayata Yojna (BRFSY) is being implemented by the district administration in Bhojpur district for Kharif 2018-19 in association with Cooperative Department of GOB. Under this scheme two crops, Paddy and Maize, have been notified in Bhojpur district for Kharif Season 2019. The Computerization of Ara DCCB, facilitated by NABARD has been completed although certain more steps need to be taken by the DCCB to reap its full benefits. The Bank needs to take effective steps to quickly issue RuPay Credit Cards and start offering ATM services to its consumers. Allocation of villages for opening branches/USBs with population above 5000 (41), 2000 and above (234), 1600 to 2000 (103) and 1000 to 2000 (329) have been done in Bhojpur district and Banks have been advised to act as per the allocation for opening of B&M and USB. As per available figures, 545 CSP/ Bank Mitras have so far been placed by various banks to provide banking unbanked villages in the district. The position is reviewed in the DCC / DLRC meeting. Digital Banking Initiative Financial Inclusion efforts in the district received a major boost in the district with the launch of the PMJDY scheme. More than 1.5 lakh saving accounts have since been opened under the scheme. With subsequent launch of Insurance schemes like PMJJY, PMSBY and social security scheme Atal Pension Yojana, giant steps towards comprehensive financial inclusion were taken during the year. Adhaar Seeding is being actively initiated by all banks to facilitate the delivery of financial services and benefits to the poorest and the most marginalized. The major Initiatives taken by NABARD in the district are as under:- Two FI Workshops each was conducted by every branch of MBGB in the district with FIF support. 05 Financial Literacy Cells (FLCs) has been sanctioned to Ara DCCB in Bhojpur district. All of these are actively functioning. Lead Bank (PNB) has opened one FLCC at Ara. During the year , RSETI, Koilwar (Bhojpur) has conducted 22 training programmes with 643 participants. So far they have conducted 149 training programmes with 4295 participants out of which 3094 trainees have settled till date.