Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
Year : 2019, Volume : 10, Issue : 1
First page : ( 97) Last page : ( 104)
Print ISSN : 0975-6795. Online ISSN : 2321-5828.
Article DOI : 10.5958/2321-5828.2019.00017.2

Assessment of Demography and Settlement in the wetland's surrounding areas: a micro level study from Labpur C.D. block, Birbhum district, West Bengal

Dr. Das Niladri*

Department of Geography, Hiralal Bhakat College, Nalhati, Birbhum

*Corresponding Author Email: niladridas123@gmail.com

Online published on 15 May, 2019.

Abstract

Demography and settlements are the two basic elements in cultural geography. Wetland is one of important natural element which is the biggest storage of ‘gene pool’. Wetland also viewed as a stock of natural resources, which have potential to provide diverse flows of provisioning, regulating and cultural services that are of value to people and it also provides irreplaceable hydrologic and ecological functions including stabilization in water supply, flood control, recharge of ground water aquifer, carbon sequestration etc. Demography and settlement in the wetland surrounding area are quite different from other natural resource area because the demographic dynamics and settlement dynamic have the major impact on wetland hydrology. The major concern of this article is to find out spatio-temporal demographic and settlement pattern of different wetlands area of Labpur block. The result shows that marginal farmers and agricultural labourer are much higher in the beel areas as fertile soil favours the extension of agricultural land. On the other hand, settlements are dispersed over the beel area because water logging does not favour the location of clustered settlement. Finally, gravity center analysis indicates that settlements have the tendency to encroach towards the core of the beel area due to shrinkage of the beel area and extension of the agricultural land.

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Keywords

Mean center, population growth, Settlement dispersion.

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