Sitai


Sitai is a community development block that forms an administrative division in the Dinhata subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Geography

Sitai is located at.
Topographically Cooch Behar district is generally plain land which is low and marshy at some places. “Considering the nature of general surface configuration, relief and drainage pattern, distribution of different types of soil, climatic condition, the formation of geology and forest tracts, the district Koch Bihar falls under Barind Tract. The physiology of this area consists of alluvial soil, generally blackish brown in colour and composed of sand, clay and silt. The soils are loose and sandy throughout the district.” The Himalayan formations in the north end beyond the boundaries of this district. There are no hills/ mountains here. It has a large network of rivers flowing from north-west to south and south-east. The Teesta flows through Mekhliganj CD block before entering Bangladesh. The Jaldhaka and its connected river-streams form a large catchment area in the district. It virtually divides the district into two unequal parts and meets the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. The Himalayan rivers flowing through Cooch Behar district change courses from time to time. In 1876, W.W. Hunter mentioned the Dharla and the Torsha as the same stream with two names. However, since the advent of the 20th century, these are two different streams meeting the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.
The hill-streams of Cooch Behar carry debris and silt from the Himalayas and are shallow. During the
monsoons the speed of flow of the rivers almost doubles and the rivers overflow the banks causing floods and devastation. The Singimari and Giridhari/ Girdari are the major rivers causing floods in the Sitai CD block.
The Sitai CD block is bounded by the Sitalkuchi and Cooch Behar I CD blocks on the north, the Dinhata I CD block on the east, the Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila in Lalmonirhat District of Bangladesh on the south and the Aditmari Upazila of Lalmonirhat District of Bangladesh on the west.
The Sitai CD block has an area of 160.82 km2. It has 1 panchayat samity, 5 gram panchayats, 81 gram sansads, 53 mouzas and 53 inhabited villages. Sitai police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at Sitai.
Gram panchayats of Sitai block/ panchayat samiti are: Adabari Ghat, Brahmattar Chhatra, Chamta, Sitai I and Sitai II.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Sitai CD block had a total population of 110,333, all of which were rural. There were 56,016 males and 54,317 females. There were 15,424 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled Castes numbered 72,924 and the Scheduled Tribes numbered 215.
According to the 2001 census, Sitai block had a total population of 96,335, out of which 49,196 were males and 47,139 were females. Sitai block registered a population growth of 11.76 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade.
Large villages in the Sitai CD block are : Brahmottra Chatra, Konachatra, Kesaribari, Dhumerkhata, Bharali, Sitai and Chamta.
Other villages in the Sitai CD block include : Bara Adabari.

Literacy

According to the 2011 census, the total number of literate persons in the Sitai CD block was 59,595 out of which males numbered 33,323 and females numbered 26,272. The gender disparity was 12.96%.
See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate

Language and religion

According to the District Census Handbook, Cooch Behar, 2011 census, as of 2001, Bengali was the mother-tongue of 90.3% of the population of Cooch Behar district, followed by Hindi, Telugu, Sadan/ Sadri, Bhojpuri, Kurukh/ Oraon, Nepali/ Gorkhali and Santali. Marwari, Rajbansi, Munda, Rabha, Rajasthani, Assamese and Koch were the mother- tongues of smaller proportion of the population. People with other mother-tongues formed 6.9% of the population. The proportion of those whose mother-tongue was Bengali declined from 96.1% in 1961 to 90.3% in 2001 and the proportion of those with other mother tongues increased from 0.2% in 1961 to 6.9% in 2001.
According to the West Bengal Official Language Act 1961 and the West Bengal Official Language 2012, the Bengali language is to be used for official purposes in the whole of West Bengal. In addition to Bengali, the Nepali language is to be used for official purposes in the three hills subdivisions, namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, in the district of Darjeeling, and Urdu is to be used for official purposes in district/subdivision/ block/ municipality where the population speaking Urdu exceeds 10% of the total population. The English language will continue to be used for official purposes as it was being used prior to the enactment of these laws.
The West Bengal Official Language Bill, 2012, included Hindi, Santhali, Odiya and Punjabi as official languages if it is spoken by a population exceeding 10 per cent of the whole in a particular block or sub-division or a district. Subsequently, Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi and Kurmali were also included in the list of minority languages by the West Bengal Official Language Bill, 2018.However, as of 2020, there is no official / other reliable information about the areas covered. Census 2011 provides language data only at the district and above level.
In the 2011 Census of India, Hindus numbered 77,918 and formed 70.62% of the population of Sitai CD block. Muslims numbered 32,282 and formed 29.26% of the population. Christians numbered 62 and formed 0.06% of the population. Others numbered 71 and formed 0.06% of the population.

Rural poverty

Based on a study of the per capita consumption in rural and urban areas, using central sample data of NSS 55th Round 1999-2000, Cooch Behar district had a rural poverty ratio of 25.62%.
According to a World Bank report, as of 2012, 20-26% of the population of Cooch Behar, Birbhum, Nadia and Hooghly districts were below poverty line, marginally higher than the level of poverty in West Bengal, which had an average 20% of the population below poverty line.

Economy

Livelihood

In the Sitai CD block in 2011, among the class of total workers, cultivators numbered 21,141 and formed 41.96%, agricultural labourers numbered 22,635 and formed 44.92%, household industry workers numbered 843 and formed 1.67% and other workers numbered 5,768 and formed 11.45%.Total workers numbered 50,387 and formed 45.67% of the total population, and non-workers numbered 59,946 and formed 54.33% of the population.
Note: In the census records a person is considered a cultivator, if the person is engaged in cultivation/ supervision of land owned by self/government/institution. When a person who works on another person's land for wages in cash or kind or share, is regarded as an agricultural labourer. Household industry is defined as an industry conducted by one or more members of the family within the household or village, and one that does not qualify for registration as a factory under the Factories Act. Other workers are persons engaged in some economic activity other than cultivators, agricultural labourers and household workers. It includes factory, mining, plantation, transport and office workers, those engaged in business and commerce, teachers, entertainment artistes and so on.

Infrastructure

There are 53 inhabited villages in the Sitai CD block, as per the District Census Handbook, Cooch Behar, 2011. 100% villages have power supply. 100% villages have drinking water supply. 15 villages have post offices. 50 villages have telephones. 30 villages have pucca approach roads and 10 villages have transport communication. 5 villages have agricultural credit societies and 4 villages have banks.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the primary mode of living in the district. The entire Cooch Behar district has fertile soil and around half of the cultivated land in the district is cropped twice or more. Paddy and jute are the largest producing crops, followed by potatoes, vegetables and pulses. There are 23 tea gardens on glided slopes. There are some coconut, areca nut and betel leaf plantations. 77.6% of the land holdings are marginal.
In 2012-13, there were 3 fertiliser depots, 1 seed store and 20 fair price shops in the Sitai CD block.
In 2012–13, the Sitai CD block produced 21,907 tonnes of Aman paddy, the main winter crop, from 10,581 hectares, 12,115 tonnes of Boro paddy from 3,911 hectares, 976 tonnes of Aus paddy from 817 hectares, 120 tonnes of wheat from 65 hectares, 1,266 tonnes of maize from 520 hectares, 35,715 tonnes of jute from 2,830 hectares and 13,264 tonnes of potatoes from 623 hectares. It also produced pulses and oilseeds.
In 2012-13, the total area irrigated in the Sitai CD block was 2,724 hectares, out of which 50 hectares were irrigated by private canal water, 120 hectares by tank water, 362 hectares by river lift irrigation, 80 hectares by deep tube wells, 1,722 hectares by shallow tube wells, 110 hectares by open dug wells, 280 hectares by other means.

Pisciculture

Being a river-bound district, pisciculture is an important economic activity in the Cooch Behar district. Almost all the rivers originating in the Himalayas have a lot of fish. The net area under effective pisciculture in 2010-11 in the Sitai CD block was 175.50 hectares. 9,595persons were engaged in the profession and approximate annual production was 8,142 quintals.

Banking

In 2012-13, Sitai CD block had offices of 3 commercial banks and 1 gramin bank.

Transport

Sitai CD block has 4 ferry services and 2 originating/ terminating bus routes. The nearest railway station is 22 km from block headquarters.

Education

In 2012-13, Sitai CD block had 69 primary schools with 13,401 students, 7 middle schools with 2,843 students, 4 high schools with 4,900 students and 4 higher secondary schools with 5,928 students. Sitai CD block had 255 institutions for special and non-formal education with 7,405 students.
See also – Education in India
According to the 2011 census, in the Sitai CD block, among the 53 inhabited villages, 4 villages did not have schools, 12 villages had two or more primary schools, 14 villages had at least 1 primary and 1 middle school and 8 villages had at least 1 middle and 1 secondary school.

Healthcare

In 2013, Sitai CD block had 1 block primary health centre and 2 primary health centres with total 38 beds and 4 doctors. It had 17 family welfare subcentres. 5,995 patients were treated indoor and 42,103 patients were treated outdoor in the hospitals, health centres and subcentres of the CD block.
Sitai Rural Hospital, with 30 beds at Sitaihati, is the major government medical facility in the Sitai CD block. There are primary health centres at Nakarjan and Adabari .