Darchula District


Darchula District as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has a population of 133,274. Darchula Lies in the west-north corner of the country.

Etymology

Darchula is made of two words "Dar" and "Chula". Dar means edge in Dotyali and Chula means fire stove, literally meaning a fire stove made of three stones. Almost all people in this place used to cook on a fire stove made of three stones. Also, there are mountain peaks here which look like a three-stone fire stove. The legend says that sage Vyasa cooked his food here on a fire stove of three peaks.

History

Darchula was part of Kumaon during Katyuri rule after fall of Katyuris and disintegration of the kingdom, kumaon was divided into numerous small principalities and this region came under the one of the katyuri principality knows as Doti Kingdom, nepal annexed Doti in 1790 and made it part of Doti District until 1885. After 1885 it became part of Baitadi District. Baitadi and Dadeldhura had same "Bada-Hakim" so Those two districts jointly used to call Baitadi-Dadeldhura district. The "Baitadi-Dadeldhura" district named Mahakali District after 1956. In 1956 four county of Baitadi separated and made a sub-district of Mahakali district. From 1956 to 1962 "Mahakali district" had three sub-districts.
  1. Dadeldhura
  2. Baitadi
  3. Chamba
In 1962, Chamba separately upgraded to a district and named "Darchula District".

Geography and climate

The district is surrounded by Bajhang District in the east, Baitadi District in the east and the south, Ngari Prefecture of TAR of China in the North and Pithoragarh district of India in the West.
The Himalayan region between two rivers Kali River to Seti River calls Gurans Himal. Darchula district falls in the Gurans Himal zone. Api Himal and Jethi Bahurani are main mountain peaks of the area. There is a protected area named Api Nampa Conservation Area which ranges in elevation from to. Mahakali, Chalune, Tinkar, Nampa and Kalagad are the rivers in the area.
The climate of the area is generally characterized by high rainfall and humidity. The climatic condition varies along with the elevation gradient. The climate of Darchula District varies widely from subtropical to alpine. In the north, most of the parts, having an alpine climate, remain under snow. In the southern part and valleys, the climate is subtropical. Mid- hills have a temperate climate. The average maximum temperature is 18.6 °C and the minimum temperature is 7.7 °C. The average rainfall is 2129mm. Most precipitation falls between May and September.
About eighty percent of the total annual rainfall occurs during the monsoon season. All areas experience very high rainfall intensities, ranging between estimates of for a 24-hour period.
Within its elevation range of to, there are limited subtropical valleys in the southern margin although most of the area is ecologically temperate or highland. A cold, generally dry climate exists in the high alpine valleys just north of the southern arm of the Himalayan mountain range which cuts across the bottom of Darchula.
Climate ZoneElevation Range% of Area
Upper Tropical300 to 1,000 meters
1,000 to 3,300 ft.		 4.7%
Subtropical1,000 to 2,000 meters
3,300 to 6,600 ft.		19.8%
Temperate2,000 to 3,000 meters
6,400 to 9,800 ft.		22.2%
Subalpine3,000 to 4,000 meters
9,800 to 13,100 ft.		20.5%
Alpine4,000 to 5,000 meters
13,100 to 16,400 ft.		15.3%
Nivalabove 5,000 meters17.5%

Major rivers

Darchula District is administered by Darchula District Coordination Committee. The Darchula DCC is elected by Darchula District Assembly. The head of Darchula DCC is Mr. Karbir Singh Karki and Mr. Krishna Singh Dhami is deputy head of Darchula DCC.
Darchula District Administration Office under Ministry of Home Affairs co-operate with Darchula DCC to maintain peace, order and security in the district. The officer of District Administration office called CDO and current CDO of Darchula DAO is Yadunath Paudel
Darchula District Court is a Judicial court to see the cases of people on district level.
AdministrationNameHeadWebsite
LegislativeDistrict Coordination CommitteeMr. Karbir Singh Karki
ExecutiveDistrict Administration OfficeMr. Yadunath Paudel
JudicialDistrict CourtMr. Giriraj Gautam

Division

The district consists of nine municipalities, out of which two are urban municipalities and seven are rural municipalities. These are as follows:
SNLocal level unitTypePopulationAreaNo. of wardsWebsite
1MahakaliUrban21231135.119
2ShailyasikharUrban22060117.819
3MalikarjunRural15581100.828
4ApihimalRural6779613.956
5DuhunRural1081865.355
6NaugadhRural15874180.276
7MarmaRural14956208.066
8LekamRural1483883.986
9VyansRural10347839.266
DarchulaDistrict 1324842344.6161

Former administrative divisions

Formerly, Darchula had one municipality and many VDCs. VDCs were the local administrative units for villages.
Fulfilling the requirement of the new constitution of Nepal 2015, on 10 March 2017 all VDCs were nullified and formed new units after grouping VDCs.

Constituencies

Darchula District consists 1 Parliamentary constituency and 2 Provincial constituencies:
ConstituenciesTypeAreaMP/MLAParty
Darchula 1Parliamentarywhole Darchula districtGanesh Singh ThagunnaNCP
Darchula 1Gelbu Singh BoharaNCP
Darchula 1ProvincialShailyashikhar, Naugad, Marma, ApihimalMan Bahadur DhamiNCP

Demographics

The number of male 63,609 and female 69,855. Decadal change 9.40, annual growth rate 0.90%, sex ratio 91, absent population 6,867, where number of male 5,880 and female 987. Total number of house 22,948. Total number of household 25,802. Average household size 5.17. Population density. The town has an Indian counterpart to its northwest, named Dharchula. The split between the two towns is just virtual as the traditions, culture, and lifestyle of the people living across both the regions are quite similar.
More than 56,000 people live in 8,989 households. About 58.4 percent of the population falls below the poverty line. Population composition is made up of different castes, such as Kshatriya 63.55%, Brahmin 17.15%, Thakuri 4.01%, Dalit and others contribute 15.39 percent. Hindu followers are high in numbers. Hindu, Buddhists, as well as others, regard nature as a gift from God and they worship nature their own way.

Ethnic composition

The majority ethnic group is Pahari Arya. Castes of Darchula District are Brahmin, Chhetries, Dalit, Thakuri, Lohar, Kaine, Newar, Byansi, Bandhe, Sanyasi etc. Among them 85.19% HHs are Brahmin/Chheties/Thakuri, 10% Dalits, 0.12% Sauka and others are occupational caste groups. Sauka are indigenous inhabitant's caste group. The indigenous caste groups are dominated by migrants from other villages.
The Dalits and Thakuri share equal proportions and occupy the second largest group in the total population. Indigenous groups Byansi represent 1.32%, Lohar 1.38% and other minorities’ correspondent to 1.48 percent. Dalits are also defined as the Special Target Groups.

Language

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Darchula District had a population of 133,274. Of these, 95.9% spoke Doteli, 2.5% Nepali and 0.5% Lepcha as their first language.

Economic development

Darchula is one of the least developed districts of the country. The major socioeconomic indicator of Darchula District is still very poor. Life expectancy of these people was about 52 in 1996. About 89.90% of the total population depends upon agriculture. Substance agriculture, lack of basic infrastructure, difficult geophysical condition, traditional agricultural practice, low literacy rate and population growth are the root causes for deeply rooted poverty.

Trade and business

Trade is one of the most important means of livelihood. Every year, people from the hills come with NTFP, ghee, and herbs to sell. Agriculture related commodities are sold in local bazaars. People of Byans, Rapla go to Tibet to fill their needs for clothes and other commodities. Local carpets and wool products, handmade clothes, and NTFP bring in huge amounts of money to the VDCs. However, each and every respondent indicated that their income is invested in domestic use.

Tourism

is a famous gateway to Kailash Mansarobar's holy region located in Tibet. Many pilgrims pass through this Conservation Area to get to Kailash Pravat. Not only Nepalese but also foreigners visit Api Nampa Conservation Area to acquire satisfaction, spirituality and the boons of nature.
The first European, A. H. Savage Landor entered Nampa valley in 1899 and explored the glacier system. He travelled across the Tinkar valley and entered Tibet via the Lipu pass. In 1905, Dr. Longstaff visited this region. Then Swiss geologists A. Heim and A. Gansser visited the Api Himal area in 1936.
The elevation of Api Himal at the top is calculated to be 23,399 ft. John Tyson and W. H. Murray explored this region in 1953. An Api group has been created to lure tourists wanting to see the geological features blending with nature and other natural assets. Sauka culture is also an attraction for tourist.
Api Himal can be visited by going via Darchula Bazar, Huti, Sunsera, Rapla to base camp. It takes five days to reach there or travelers may go via Bitule, Makari Gad, Ghusa Village, Domilla, to Lolu at the base camp. Panoramic views of Himalayas are created by several peaks like Nampa, Jethi Bahurani and others.

Media/radio partners

To Promote local culture there are few FM radio stations: Radio Samad FM 102.6 MHz, Radio Naya Nepal FM 104.5 MHz, Darchula FM, which are Community radio Stations.

Education

Colleges and schools