Geo-demographic Features : owrah District plays a vital role in the ...

Geo-demographic Features :Howrah District plays a vital role in the economy of both theState and the country as a whole. There is a largeindustrial population in this District. Highly congestedindustrial belt and its problems are indeed complex. TheDistrict Howrah, lying on the west of the river Hooghly, is thesmallest district in the State of West Bengal. It is one of the 18districts in the State, comprises only 1.68% of its total area, andcontains 5.45% of its population. According to the Census 1991, the area of theDistrict is 1467 Sq.K.M. There are 14 Community Development Blocks/PanchayatSamities, 157 Gram Panchayats and 763 Mauzas in the District consisting of twoSub-divisions i.e. Howrah Sadar and Uluberia having 5 blocks under Sadar Subdivisionand 9 blocks under Uluberia Sub-divisions. Howrah city is much older thancity of Calclutta and connected by the Howrah Bridge which is known as RabindraSetu constructed in the year 1943. Very recently it has been connected by anothermodern bridge called Vidyasagar Setu which is a finest combination of architecture &technology. Belurmath which was set up by the renowned philanthropist and socialreformer Swami Vivekananda is a place of attraction to the people in this globe.Botanical Garden speaks about ancient memories. The district gave birth ofluminary like great poet Bharat Chandra (1712 - 1764) who was born in PerRadhanagar (Penro) a village in north western part of the district. Sri SaratChandra Chattopadhyay who is a name in bengali literature was residing inPanitrash at the bank of Roopnarayan. Gadiara and Garchumuck are the attractivetourist spots which draw people for a change from different parts of the state.Among the Engineering College of name & fame in this State the BengalEngineering College, Shibpur now converted into a "Deemed University" drawprominence which is as old as more than 140 years. The college has successfullycreated many talents who have contributed in developing the country’s moderninfrastructures. Shibpur Hindu Girls' School which was established in 1837 wasgraced by Sister Nivedita in the year 1902. Howrah Town Hall is carrying a specialmemory of the presence of two luminaries of the country the great poet ShriRabindra Nath Tagore and the novelist Shri Sarat Chandra Chattapadhyay in theyear 1923. There is another addition of the district, an attractive Community Hall &Auditorium "Sarat Sadan" named in the memory great novelist Sarat ChandraChattopadhyay.The District is well connected with other parts of the country by broad-gaugedrailway line of the Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway. Two importanthighways are connecting the three major metropolitan cities i.e. Calcutta, Mumbai &Delhi which is ensuring faster movement of important necessities of the people.

Hemmed in between the river Hooghly on the East and the Rupnarayan onthe West, intersected by the Damodar, the district consists of a flat alluvial plain.The surface soil in the Western part of the district, served by the rivers Rupnarayanand Damodar is sandy loam whereas nearer to the Hooghly, hard clay loampredominates. Clay and Deep Loamy soil prevail in the North and lighter loams inthe South.All round industrial activities in the district with both heavy/medium and smallscale/cottage industries, have enriched the industrial economy and environment ofthe district.According to the Census 2001, the population of the district is 4274010. Thismeans an increase of 62.21% over 1971. Out of total population, 49.60% resides inrural areas while 50.30% in the urban area. The numerous mills in Howrah city andalongthe river banks and other industrial concerns attracted a large number oflabourers as well as professionals from Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and otherStates. Large number of agriculturists and labourers immigrate to seekemployment on farms, in the brick fields or in the railway works. Besides, there aremany farmer families from the bordering districts of Midnapore Hooghly andBankura.Almost all the parts of the district are well connected with motorable road,railway link and River ways. Added with this proximity to the City and Port Calcutta,Rail Link , resource of coal Iron & Steel within the short distance, Jute resources,availability of steel scrap, mostly Rly. Spares for use in foundry, re-rolling mills Steelforging shops are the causes for the concentration of large medium & small scaleindustries in Howrah. The Engineering units, generated four or five decades ago,once established international reputation generated in machine manufacture andother engineering skill is relegated to the background today and are unable tocompete with small scale units established elsewhere in India. But ‘excellence’contents with special reference to engineering skill still available are unique of itskind and if they could be supported by modern technology and equipments, thesituation could be brought to its original position. Taking into consideration of theskill points as are available in the district most of the Blocks in the district can beidentified as Growth Centres.Industrial Backdrops :District Howrah though smallest in area is remarkably known as "IndustriallyDeveloped" district in the State having a unique position in industrial economy. Forsome obvious reasons viz. (i) generalised way of planning towards setting up ofindustrial units, (ii) sharp inclination to adhere to the "NUCLUEUS" of commercialhubs for better infrastructure facilities (iii) inadequacy of investments in time

(iv) reluctance amongst the industrial units to adopt the "MODERN TECHNO-MANAGERIAL" inputs towards greater efficiency, productivity with properattachments to keep the surroundings of the societies free from all sorts of "PollutionHazards" (as may automatically creep into the horizon of societies unless countermeasures are fore-seen and put into effect) etc. - all have resulted in relatively slowgrowth rate. All these factors have urged for a planning with matching shift fromconventional out-look, in order to bring an integrated development under a phasedannual programme. District Industries Centre, Howrah (D.I.C. Howrah) has beenlaying much stress in this direction in consideration of subsistence of the existingunits and to raise its standard qualitatively as per world parameters in view of stiffcompetition in "GLOBAL" MARKETS under "Liberalised Economic" policy.Simultaneous efforts are being pursued for setting-up of innovative as well asdiversified product oriented units.Industrial development of Howrah district in comparison to other places wasprimarily due to the following infrastructural and other economic facilities :-(i) Advantageous communication network by Road, Rail, River-ways,Air- service(Dum Dum) and Port facilities.(ii) Availability of power.(iii) High technical skill through generation at a cheaper rate.(iv) Availability of raw materials from nearest sources.(v) Large & medium houses in and around the district adjacent,Developed and developing localities by the side of river Bhagirathi,Steel complex at Durgapur belt, Colliery complex in Raniganj-Asansol belt needs of adjoining Districts Towns and localitiesprovided good market resuting from their commercial and industrialneeds. In other parts of our country too demand of products of thisregion was also relatively high. Migration influx since partition aswell as rapid urbanisation in and around Howrah had widelyopened the scope of market to a considerable extent.************