Location :

The project area is located in Tehsil Tharali of District Chamoli. The Tehsil constitutes development blocks of Narain Bagar, Tharali & Deval. Since the region falls under the macro watershed of Pinder river it is also popularly known as Pinder valley. The region shares its boundaries with District Bageshwar in north east, District Almora in south and Development blocks of Karan prayag and Ghat, District Chamoli in northwest while the Himalayas expanse till the Tibetan plateau towards its north. Table below marks the location of the blocks.

S.No	Development Block	Location	MHSL
1	Narain Bagar	30° 08’ 45.69’’ N and 79° 22’ 28.04’’ E	1054
2	Tharali	30° 04’ 22.54’’ N and 79° 30’ 00.16’’ E	1226
3	Deval	30° 03’ 20.61’’ N and 79° 34’ 51.29’’ E	1346
Note : MHSL - Mean Height from Sea Level (mtrs), Source : Google earth
Project Description (MAP)

Accessibility to Project region :

The Tehsil has road network established in all the 3 blocks. The nearest rail network is situated at Rishikesh after which mobility is only available by road.

This region is accessible at 500 km from National capital region (Delhi), 300 km from State capital region (Dehradun) and 27 km from regional township Karanprayag, 250 km from Rishikesh and 225 km from Haldwani.

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Topography :

Pinder Valley is situated amides the middle and the upper Himalayan range of Uttaranchal. Topography being mountainous the region stretches from the river basin at 3000 ft that is around 1000 mtrs HSL to the snow capped mountains standing tall at 7120 mtrs (Sumit Trisuli - 23000 ft) HSL. The entire ridge area of this Tehsil contains large alpine pastures (locally called Bugyals) that have been variously named by the local communities. These alpine pastures till the lofty Himalayan peaks fall under Nanda devi national biosphere reserves. A number of natural lakes are also present near these Bugyals. Between the vegetative covers of dense forest at the heights 9000fts (3000mtrs) culminating down till the river basin & the valley are unevenly populated with rural settlements far and wide in small clusters amidst the mountain remotes. Most hamlets are further away from the road heads. The community on an average is settled 10 km to 15 km from road heads. The valleys are mostly steep down meeting the river Pinder separated by perennial rivulets emerging through the forest covers at the river basin.

The valley falls on the trekking route to some of Uttarakhand’s most renowned peaks – Trishul, Nanda Ghoonti and the famous glaciers – Pindari and Sunderdhunga. The bugyals of the region are amongst the most splendid in the state with Kuari, Bedini, Ali and Bagchi Bugyals mesmerizing travel lovers with owe some undulating pastures. House to numerous springs and streams the region is well endowed with bio-diversity.

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Agro climatic conditions:

The climate characteristic of the region ranges from warm temperate at the valleys to cold temperate at the higher altitudinal of the mountains, followed by cold climate and the alpine at the high mountain ridges. The snow-covered peaks are covered by perennial snowfall.

The climate is pre-dominantly temperate and temperatures range from 5 to 30 o C in lower parts and -5 to 22 o C in higher parts of the valley. Rainfall varies between 1500 to 1700 mm in a bimodal pattern.

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Demography Statistics of Pinder valley:

Total Population of the region is 88,089. Male Population is 42,150 (47.85%) while the female population is 45,939 (52.15%). female population is higher than the male population in the region. The ratio of male to female (sex ratio) is 1000:1090.

SC consist of 20.3% (17,914) of the total population of the Tehsil while ST contributes 0.3% (285). The total population of SC & ST contribute 21% (18,199) to the total population of the region.

Source : Uttarakhand Censius 2001

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Socio – Economic profile :

1.) Literacy :

Total literate population is 62.15% out of 88,089 while 37.85% consist of illiterate population.
Number of literate male to the total literate population is 57.36 % while it is 42.64% in the case of female population.
Number of illiterate male to the total illiterate population is 32.23 % while it is 67.77% in the case of women. It is evident that as far as gender literacy is concerned more female population is left out due to increased workload at home and especially because most of the high schools and college are far away from homes or do not have requisite faculty.

2.) Situation of Agriculture and Rural Farming Community:

The region is largely dependent on the natural resources to support livelihood activities which are predominantly Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. Increasing encroachment of human, in struggle for livelihood basic needs, owing to increasing population and shrink in agriculture land holdings per capita has resulted in resource depletion over the recent years. This has raised quite a concern to not only the existence of biodiversity but self sustenance with increase in drudgery. On the Agriculture front, farmers have become impoverished owing to factors such as strenuous agriculture practices in the steep mountain slopes, erosion of topsoil during the rainy season, terrace farming hardships, irrigation bottlenecks & complete rain water dependency in the farmlands.

A significant concern of the community has been the abysmal shrink in land holding per capita with increase in rural population. This has left farmers insufficiently contained on farm produce as a result of which agriculture barely meets the daily requirement of the community affecting available food nutrition and family health. Their plight has subsequently increased dependency on local market to supplement for daily and immediate needs. Largely the community is dependent on remunerative incomes.

On the other hand natural calamities have caused increased environmental degradation in recent times. The region is prone to natural and man-made disasters. The region has witnessed flash floods, cloudburst, earthquakes, landslides, forest fire in most part of the valley, aggravating concerns of rural populace.

This region is visibly amongst the remote most locations of Uttaranchal hills. Sadly due to much needed attention from public and private institutions on public amenities such as roads, telecommunication, rural reach and access to market this region has continued to remain disadvantaged.

Marketing of harvested vegetables and crops from the valley has been trader dependent and leaves the valley raw due to lack of post harvest centres. The marketing of produce has as ever been exploitative, leaving the farmers at the mercy of small and large traders, with negligible earnings to sustain very livelihood. Their poor state of affairs has tangled them into heavy borrowings to sustain livelihood, often in the hands of these very traders, leaving them helpless, miserable and in poor state of affairs.

Overall the experience of farmers during their agricultural practice has been unpromising one. These unfavourable conditions have discouraged the local populace especially the youths from taking up agriculture as income generating activity as a result of which the valley has witnessed rising migration in search of income prospects to near by/distant urban reaches. The impact has affected farm management resulting into conversion of arable lands into fallow. This has caused quite a worry to farming community as these fallow lands are increasingly becoming non arable, affecting land fertility with increase in degradation status.

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3.) Situation of women:

Women are the major work force in the valley as they delve into all issues for mitigating everyday household problems hence they form the backbone of socio – economic life of hill regions. They have been most susceptible to changes afflicting them in their pursuit to socio – economic sustenance. As community livelihood is dependent on natural resources, diversity in floura and fauna of the region for their food and shelter, they hold larger responsibility in managing the resources and also mitigating concerns affecting them and the community.

Increased drudgery, inadequate intake of food & nutrients has often lead to serious health problems, effecting mother and child consequently. Unfortunately, absence of male members in general, owing to their struggle in search of income prospects to support family at home has increased burden on mountain women to manage house hold. The results show up in poor health statistics resulting from excessive pressure on the women community.

• Widespread respiratory tract infection.
• Rampant dental decay.
• Pervasive leukaemia and anaemia among women.
• Worrying levels of alcoholism among males.
• Unbalanced diet and inadequate personal hygiene

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