Brahamaputra Basin

Brahamaputra Basin
1.9 Demography
The basin spreads over 22 parliamentary constituencies (2009) comprising 12 of Assam, 4 of West
Bengal, 2 of Arunachal Pradesh, 2 of Meghalaya, 1 of Sikkim and 1 of Nagaland (Annexure I:B). The
total no. of villages falling in the basin is 20,050 with 33,72,532 no. of households (Annexure III:A).
The total population in this basin is 1,77,18,190 (Census,2001). The plain region (the Brahmaputra
valley) is densely populated in comparision to the hilly region of this basin. This valley represents the
most urbanized and industrialized part of the basin. The district-wise population distribution of
Brahmaputra Basin is shown in Map 8 (as per Census data 2001). It depicts that the Kooch Behar,
Dhubri, Nagaon, Kamrup and Jalpaiguri have more population density compared to the other
districts of this Basin. At the other extreme, Dibang Valley district with total population of 8,004 is
summarised as the least populated district of this basin. Interesting fact come out from the 2011
census is that the Kurung Kumey, the hilly district of Arunachal Pradesh has the max. sex ratio with
1032 females to 1000 males. East Kameng, Jaintia Hills and East Khasi Hills also show high sex ratio
which may be because of the women headed family custom in the hilly states of Northeast region of
India.The region has a high concentration of tribal population. Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Mizoram and Nagaland are mostly inhabited by more than 100 native tribes. Jalpaiguri and East
Khasi Hills accounts the maximum schedule tribe population of total 1,54,894 and 1,26,725
respectively (as per 2011 Census).
Largest cities of this basin, according to population of census 2011 are Guwahati, Shillong, Silchar,
Dibrugarh, Nagaon, Jorhat, Dimapur, Darjeeling, Gangtok and Kohima. The literacy rate in this basin
is 53.05 % (Census, 2001). Mokokchung and Kamrup Metropolitan are the 1st and the 2nd highly
ranked literate districts with 91.62 % and 88.71 % rates respectively (2011 Census).
This region constitutes a single linguistic region with about 220 languages. Assamiya/ Assamese is
spoken mostly in the Brahmaputra Valley of Assam. Nepali language is dominant in Sikkim, besides
Sikkimese. The main languages spoken in Meghalaya part include Khasi, Pnar & Garo. Main
languages of the people of Nagaland are English, Ao, Chang, Konyak etc. In Arunachal Pradesh Adi,
Aka, Apatani, Sherdukpen, and Bangni are spoken. Bengali is mostly spoken in Kochbehar and
Jalpaiguri region of West Bengal.
Majority of population is dependent on agriculture and allied land based activities. Shifting
cultivation (slashe and burn agriculture) is still the chief means of livelihood of tribal people. Assam
is famous for the production of tea covering a huge part of the international market. Jute, petroleum
products, paper, fertilizers, drugs and pharmaceuticals are other important industries in the Basin.
Brahmaputra basin is also rich in mineral resource especially the Brahmaputra valley. Petroleum is
found in Digboi, Naharkotiya, Hugrijan, Moran, Lakwa, Rudrasagar and Galiki. The main coal fields
are found in the Garo, Jaintia and Khasi Hills in Meghalay, Nazira-Borjan, Namchik, Longloi area of
Mikir Hills and Makum in Assam. Lime stone is found in the Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Mikir Hills.
Brahmaputra basin is well connected with the other part of the country. The basin is served by the
North-East Frontier Railway. Other National, State, and district highways are means of road
connectivity. Traditionally Inland navigation is very popular in this region.
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