Is Severity of River Bank Erosion Proportional to Social Vulnerability? A Perspective from West Bengal, India

Life and Living ThroughNewer Spectrum of Geography

EDITOR

MD. ISMAIL

Department of GeographyAliah University

West Bengal

ASSISTANT EDITOR

ASRAFUL ALAM

Department of GeographyAliah University

West Bengal

MOHIT PUBLICATIONS

NEW DELHI 110 002

First Published 2015

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ISBN 978-81-7445-690-8

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Is Severity of River Bank ErosionProportional to Social Vulnerability?A Perspective from West Bengal, India

Aznarul Islam & Dr. Sanat Kumar Guchhait

ABSTRACT

In post-Farakka period, the fluctuating river dischargeby artificial control of river regime has regulatedthe river bank erosion year the round. The tributariesespecially the River Ajay by its huge sediment anddischarge in monsoon period has accelerated thebank instability in the lower reach of River Bhagirathimainly in between the confluence zone of Ajay-Bhagirathi in north and Jalangi-Bhagirathi in thesouth of West Bengal, India. This huge bank erosionhas snatched the land and lives of the thousands ofpeople in this region. Consequently, there has beensubstantial decrease in the agricultural output. Thatis why, their economy is practically paralyzed. Inmost cases, they are caught in debt trap. Thisunstable economic structure has led to socialinstability. Crimes, moral erosion of values, childlabour are increasing day by day. But severity ofbank erosion is not always proportional to the socialvulnerability because social vulnerability isdetermined by the socio-economic factors too.

Is Severity of River Bank Erosion Proportional to . . .

Life and Living Through Newer Spectrum of Geography36

Key-Words: river bank erosion; social vulnerability;West Bengal; River Bhagirathi; Rukunpur andMatiari Mouza

1. Introduction

River bank erosion in socio-economic perspective isone of the most important issues in fluvial geomorphology,hazard management and environmental sociology. Riverbank erosion and channel instability is one of the mostimportant hazardous phenomena over the Gangetic deltaicregion (Bandyopadhyay, 2007). The middle and the lowerreaches of the river Bhagirathi is very erosion proneregion. During 1988 and 1994, the total land eroded is206.60 Sq. Km.; total numbers of families affected are14236; and total population displaced (projected) 79190in Murshidabad District alone ( Rudra, 2011).In the lowerreach of river Bhagirathi 46 mauzas adjacent to riverBhagirathi in Nadia District is badly affected by the bankerosion (Islam and Guchhait, 2012). The erosion in thisreach is very severe. In the lean period erosion is dueto the effect of controlled hydrology after the constructionof Farakka Barrage in 1975 and the erosion in the freshetperiod (monsoon months) is mainly due to thecontribution of Ajay-Mayurakshi system(Islam, 2013). Bankerosion has created enormous loss of lives and propertiesin the mouzas of this belt. The degree of marginalizationof the people of the mouzas not only depends upon theseverity of bank erosion but the social outlook and theeconomic structure of the people also. The present paperseeks to unfold the social vulnerability andmarginalization of the rural people of West Bengal inrespect of bank erosion and other socio-economic factorsby empirical micro level field verification.

2. Study Area

For carrying out the present research work the tworepresentative Mouzas from two C.D Blocks of Nadia

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237272754_UNSTABLE_RIVER_BANK_AND_THE_QUESTION_OF_SOCIAL_STABILITY_A_STUDY_ON_RUKUNPUR_MOUZA_IN_CD_BLOCK_KRISHNAGAR_II_NADIA_DISTRICT_WEST_BENGAL?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-6cd88b20-7fec-44ae-a354-c5f42ce8b51e&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI2OTk5NTEwODtBUzoxOTA0NjkyOTIxNjcxNzNAMTQyMjQyMjgyNjQ0Nw==

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District adjacent to the River Bhagirathi (in between theconfluence zone of River Ajay and Jalangi) have beenselected. These two Mouzas are 1) Matiari of C.D. BlockKaliganj, 2) Rukunpur of C.D. Block Krishnagar II (Fig.1). Rukunpur and Matiari are conspicuous by theirseverity or very high nature of erosion. In the very higherosion (severe) belt the two mouzas i.e Rukunpur andMatiari have been taken so as to assess whether severityof erosion is the only cause of degree of victimization.Rukunpur is basically agriculture based area whereasthe Matiari Mouza once having the parallel economy ofagriculture and brass metal industry and now deviatedfrom the land based economy to brass metal industry.

3. Materials and Methods

i) Secondary data

a) District Census Handbook, Nadia from 1961 to2001,

b) ‘Annual Reports on River Bhagirathi, for variousyears from 2003-04 to 2008-09, and Index Plan ofthe Bhagirathi River prepared by Hydraulic StudyDepartment, Kolkata Port Trust.

c) The secondary data mainly Mouza maps fromdistrict land revenue office, Nadia, West Bengal

d) Satellite images of the study area from GoogleEarth, 2012.

ii) Primary Data

The primary data for carrying out the research havebeen collected from field survey taking 20% samplehousehold on a random basis from the two selectedvillages viz. Matiari and Rukunpur. As per 2001 census,out of 2984 households at Matiari, 597 households; outof 914 households at Rukunpur, 183 sample householdshave been taken as the samplesize.



Fig. 1: Location of the Study Area

The present work has followed a systematicmethodology to reach the desired goals. The methodologyhas been presented as a flow chart in the followingmanner (Fig. 2).

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Fig. 2. Methodology of the work

4. Results and Discussion

The whole discussion has been systematically



subdivided into three heads viz. Nature of bank erosion,impact of bank erosion on economy and degree ofvictimization discussed in the following sections.

4.1. Nature of bank erosion in the representative mouzas

The course of river Bhagirathi-Hooghly has undergonechanges during last few centuries (Chatterjee, 1989). Thedescriptions by various scholars viz. Rennell (1788),Colebrooke (1801), Sherwill (1858), Hirst (1915), Mukherjee(1938), Bandyopadhyay (1996), Ray (1999), Bhattacharya(2000), and Rudra (2010) have established the frequentshifting nature of Ganga Channel . So the channel shiftingof Ganga or Bhagirathi-Hooghly system has drawnattention from time immemorial. In this section oscillatingnature of Bhagirathi has been traced at very micro level.The extent of river shifting has been shown along theRukunpur and Matiari mouzas of Nadia District, WestBengal during the period 1920s and 2012.

River bank in lower reach of the river Bhagirathi isvery unstable. The investigated mouzas are located withinthis area- the area in between the two confluences ofRiver Ajay with Bhagirathi and River Jalangi withBhagirathi. It is to be noticed that banks of Bhagirathiin this segment is always oscillating within a limit asfar as the past study is concerned. Generally, there isnear about 200-240 years cycle of fluvial swing (Islam,2012). This frequent oscillating nature of the river makesthe mouzas and mouza boundaries unstable. From thecomparative study of the mouza maps of 1920s and therecent maps of 2012 based on field survey and Googleearth images, it is observed that both the mouzas arethreatened by the hazard of river bank oscillation.

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Fig. 3: River Bhagirathi and Rukunpur Mouza:

(a) 1920 (b) 2012

Fig. 4: River Bhagirathi and Matiari Mouza:

(a) 1920 (b) 2012

In case of Rukunpur Mouza, the River Bhagirathihas moved from south-western portion from 1920s to anorth-eastern part in 2012 (Fig.3 a & b). During thisperiod of almost 100 years, the single channel Bhagirathiturned into a bifurcated channel and the charland has



formed within the channel. For this mouza more than27 % land i.e. 0 .75 Sq. Km out of total area of 2.7357Sq. Km was lost during this time period (Fig. 5).

For Matiari, the river has moved towards north ofthe mouza, more specifically towards the interior portionof the Matiari Mouza. During the period of 1920 to 2012,the mouza has lost more than 14% land i.e. 0.885 Sq.km. out of total area of 6.192 sq. km (Fig.4 a & b ).

Fig 5: Percentage of land loss during 1920-2012

The first and foremost important shock thatimmediately comes through bank erosion is the loss oflanded property. In the surveyed mouzas it is revealedthat more than 60% households have lost their land. Itis to be noted that lion’s share of the households haveexperienced huge loss of agricultural land in both themouzas. Mouza level survey shows that among the lossof landed properties agricultural land loss tops the list.In both the mouzas, loss of agricultural land is morethan 90% (Fig. 6).

Agricultural land loss is a common parlance in thebank erosion prone areas all over the world. In recentdays bank erosion and agricultural land loss has become

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so much intertwined that numerous scholars are devotedto unfold their inquiry from economic and socialperspectives. This work also did not intend to deviatefrom such past works in this point. Empirical survey inthe selected mouzas indicates that farmers in the Matiariand Rukunpur mouzas are most threatened by agriculturalland loss (Islam, 2013). Here more than 40% farmershave lost 5 bighas or more land in the concerned mouzasor adjacent as well as nearby mouzas ( Fig. 7). InRukunpur more than 13% farmers have lost 16 bighasor more land. It is really a horrible in the scenario fromthe perspective of mouza economy of India.

In respect of proportion of land loss, it is observedthat farmers of Matiari and Rukunpur are most victimized.In Matiari mouza more than 69% farmers have lost 90%or above of their agricultural land. Similarly, in Rukunpurmouza nearly 47% farmers have lost 90% more.

Fig. 6: Types of land lost (Source: Field Survey, 2012)



Fig. 7: Magnitude of land loss of the farmers,

(Source: Field Survey, 2012; Total farmers: 152 for Rukunpur and362 for Matiari).

4.2. Impact of Bank Erosion on Economy

Shift in income sources are important to detectdeviation in the economy from farm to non-farm sector.Sample survey in the selected mouzas suggests that from1st generation (Base Year, 1970) to 3rd generation (BaseYear, 2012), there is a gradual increase in the incomelevel in case of Matiari while in case of Rukunpur thereis steady or sharp fall in the average per capita incomelevel during the same period (Islam, 2013). It is to benoted that in case of Rukunpur, there is steep fall in theincome level. Per capita monthly average income hascome down to Rs.614 in 2012 from Rs.1104 in 1970 onthe basis of 2012 price level (Fig.8a).

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Fig. 8 (a) Temporal variation in income at Rukunpur

Mouza(Source: Field Survey, 2012; Total respondents: 183 in

each generation)

Fig. 8 (b) Temporal variation in income at Matiari

Mouza(Source: Field Survey, 2012;Total respondents 597 in

each generation)

It is reality that in all the mouzas per capita averageincome from agriculture is falling. The steeper fall hasbeen noted for Matiari (Fig. 8b). Because most of thepeople are involved in non farm activities in Matiari. Incase of non agricultural income both the mouzas haveregistered positive growth but Matiari outcompeted



Rukunpur in this respect. This shows that fall inagricultural income level is common but if the non farmincome does not increase, the economy will collaspe.That has really happened in case of Rukunpur.

Concerning occuaptional diversity of individual itbecomes clear that after losing land through bank erosionmany people have been involved in more than oneoccuaptions in a financial year. Individual occupationaldiversity measures how many occupation types aninvidual is involved in within a financial year. Mouzalevel survey indicates that individual occuaption diversityhas decreased in case of Matiari in the third generation(Table 1).

Table 1: Nature of Occupational involvement atindividual level

Note: M =Matirai, R= Rukunpur, and 1 for 1st generation, 2 for

2nd generation and 3 for 3rd generation

The higher the occupational diversity at individuallevel, the lesser is the stability in the economy. It hasbeen observed that occupational diversity at individuallevel has increased in the third generation for RukunpurMouza while the reverse picture has been noted forMatiari. It is due to presence of stable brass metaleconomy in MatiariMouza.

Abbrev

iation

of

Mouzas

and

generati

on

No. of Occupation(s) an

individual involved in an

economic year (Absolute Figure

of Respondents)

No. of Occupation(s) an individual

involved in an economic year

(Percentage Figure of Respondents)

One Two More

than

two

Total One Two More

than

two

Total

M1 478 119 0 597 80.07 19.93 0.00 100.00

M2 466 131 0 597 78.06 21.94 0.00 100.00

M3 485 112 0 597 81.24 18.76 0.00 100.00

R1 145 38 0 183 79.23 20.77 0.00 100.00

R2 135 48 0 183 73.77 26.23 0.00 100.00

R3 118 61 4 183 64.48 33.33 2.19 100.00

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Regarding the family budget, it can be mentionedthat family budget (income, expenditure and savings)are diminishing day by day for Rukunpur and in thirdgeneration savings has come to negative while Matiarihas registered a consistent increase in family budget (Fig.9).

Fig. 9: Mouza wise Family Budget

(Source: Field Survey, 2012; Total respondents: 183 for Rukunpur,597 for Matiari in each generation)

Above discussion regarding income, expenditureandsavings reveals that satisfaction of the respondentsregarding occupation is bound to fall for Rukunpur.Torepresent the degree of satisfaction, satisfaction indexafter Hall, Yan and (1975) has been calculated accordingthis formula: (satisfied respondents-dissatisfiedrespondents/total respondents). The index value rangesfrom +1 to -1 denoting 100 % satisfied respondents and100% dissatisfied respondents respectively. Perceptionsurvey shows that across the generations there is a gradualfall in the level of satisfaction and in case of thirdgeneration satisfaction level has come down to negativefor Rukunpur. So, most of the respondents are dissatisfied



than satisfied. But for Matiari, the satisfaction level hasgradually increased from 1st generation to 3rd generation(Fig. 10).

Fig. 10: Temporal Changes in the level of Satisfactionregarding per capita income (Source: Field Survey, 2012;

Total Respondents: 183 for Rukunpur and 597 for Matiari)

4.3. Nature of Victimization

To analyse the nature of victimization and socialvulnerability, four factors have been taken intoconsideration. These are nature of bank erosion,dependence on land based economy, degree of presenceof alternative economy, and nature of society. Nature ofbank erosion depicts the severity of bank erosion whichdepends upon proportion of land loss, absolute landloss and type of land loss. In this regard both Matiariand Rukunpur, at mentioned earlier, experienced severeerosion. Dependence on land based economy has positivecorrelation with socio-economic vulnerability. The higherthe dependence on land based economy, the greater isthe social vulnerability in the erosion prone belt. Thisvariable takes into account of percentage of workers

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engaged as farmers. In this variable Rukunpur registershigher dependence on agriculture than Matiari becausein Rukunpur more than 75 % are farmers while for Matiariit is less than 40%. The third variable i.e. degree ofpresence of alternative economy is a positive indicatorof development. This variable takes into account ofpercentage of workers engaged in non land basedeconomy or the economy not directly dependent on thenurturing of land (e.g. secondary or tertiary economicactivities). The higher the percentage of workers engagedin non land based economy, the lesser is the risk frombank erosion. In Rukunpur less than 35% people areengaged in non land based economywhile for Matiari itis more than 60%. Fourth variable i.e. the nature of societyis very significant for determining its vulnerability.Outlook of the member of the society,whether modernor traditional, determines society’s strength or weaknessto combat a hazard. For Rukpunpur the members of thesociety bear traditional outlook and reluctant to acceptnew emerging economy, while Matirians are literate andready to accept the new economic order.

5. Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be mentioned thatbank erosion definitely controls the socio-economic fabricof a particular society. Bank erosion induces socialvulnerability. But its extent depends upon the other factorsof a society viz. the outlook of the society, dependenceon the land based economy, presence of the alternativeeconomy. Despite the presence of severe bank erosionin Rukunpur and Matiari Mouza, Matiari has experiencedrelatively little socio-economic vulnerability mainly dueto the presence of an alternative brass metal industrythat acted as a shock absorbing economy. Finally it canbe concluded that although bank erosion drags aneconomy and society towards to backward direction,severity of bank erosion is not always proportional tothe social vulnerability.



6. Acknowledgements

I express my gratitude to the respondents of theMatiari, and RunkunpurMouzas for giving their valuabletime during survey. I am also grateful to District Landand Land Revenue Officer, Nadia for providing me theMouza Maps of the study area and Census office ofIndia, Kolkata for providing me census data for theselected Mouzas.

7. References

1. Bandyopadhyay, S. (1996). Location of Adi Ganhga PaleoChannel, S. 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Geographical Reviewof India, 58 (2), 93-109.

2. Bandyopadhyay, S. (2007): Riverbank and Coastal ErosionHazards: Mechanisms and Mapping in Basu, R. and Bhaduri,S. (editors): Contemporary Issues and Techniques inGeography, Progressive Publishers, Kolkata 73, pp.36-72.

3. Bhattacharya, K. (2000). Bangladesher Nadnadi o Parikalpana(pp.10-19). Kolkata: Vidyoday Library Private Ltd.

4. Chatterjee, S.N. (1989). River System of West Bengal (pp.9-24). Kolkata: River Research Institute, Govt. of West Bengal.

5. Colebooke, R.H (1801). On the Courses of Ganges throughBengal. Asiatic Researchers, 7, 1-31.

6. Hall et.al (1975) Satisfaction Index in Majumder, K.A.et.al(2007): Urban Environmental Quality Mapping: A PerceptionStudy on Chittagong Metropolitan City, KathmanduUniversity Journal of Science Engineering, and Technology,VOL.I, No.IV,August, 2007.

7. Hirst, F.C. (1915). Reports on Nadia Rivers. Reprinted inRiver of Bengal, Vol. III (2002) (pp. 1-180).Calcutta:Gazetteers Dept.

8. Islam, A. (2012). Unstable River Bank and the Question ofSocial Stability: A Study on Rukunpur Mouza in C.D. BlockKrishnagar II, Nadia. Journal of River Research Institute –River Behaviour and Control, 32, 53-65.

9. Islam, A and Guchhait, S.K (2012): Hydraulic control andBank Erosion of the River Bhagirathi – a search for socialjustice. An unpublished paper.

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10. Islam, A (2013). Bank erosion of River Bhagirathi and itsimpact on agriculture and economy in the selected areasof Nadia District, West Bengal. An unpublished M.PhilDissertation.

11. Mukherjee, R.K. (1938). The Changing Face of Bengal (pp.161-190). Kolkata: Calcutta University.

12. Ray, A. (1999). Locational Problems of the sixteenth centuryBengal Coast. Pratna samiksha, Journal o the Directorateof Archaeology and Museum, 6 (8), 121-134.

13. Rennell, J. (1788). Memoir of Hindoostan or Mughal Empire(pp.225-284). London.

14. Rudra, K, (2010). Banglar Nadikatha (pp.24-35). Kolkata:Sahitya Samsad.

15. Rudra, K, (2011): The Encroaching Ganga and Social Conflict:the case of West Bengal, India, unpublished paper, pp. 19-32.

16. Sherwill, W.S. (1858). Report on Rivers of Bengal (pp. 1-18). Calcutta: Savielle Printing and Publishing Co Ltd.


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Is Severity of River Bank Erosion Proportional to Social Vulnerability? A Perspective from West Bengal, India