People of Bam

PEOPLE OF BAM:


Composition

The total population of Bam as per 2011 census was 97,087 making it 5.59% of Cachar District population. The average population per village is 1115. Bam is the home of 14872 scheduled caste people and 3259 Scheduled Tribe people constituting 15.31% and 3.35% of total Bam population respectively. The remaining  population of Bam is comprised of others including caste Bengalee Hindus , a substantial portion of Hindi speaking people from Northern India. Bam is an anthropologist’s delight. There are Meitai Muslims,Maimal Muslims, Bengali speaking Muslims, Meitai and Bishnupriya Munipuri, ethnic Dimasa known as Barmans, Mizo, Khasi, Scheduled Castes of different shades, Nath community, North Indian, caste Bengali Hindus, mostly indigenous, all coming here from various places with so much diversity but coexisting  without any  schism. Bam is virtually a melting pot of different  communities coming from different part of Barak Valley and outside.

(Click to enlarge)

 A typical middle class home of Bam complete with betel nut ,bamboos and fruit bearing trees,a water tank (Pukuri) with split bamboo fencing  and a private approach road called Jangal

Image of Bam Outside

Bam is perceived differently by different people of mainland Cachar district and others in Barak Valley. It is almost like proverbial seven blind men ‘seeing’ an elephant. Some people refer it as Bam Dholai or Bam Bhaga perhaps suggesting that these two places are in Bam.Dholaibazar and Bhagabazar are only two emerging growth centers in Bam located in Sadagram and Bangram village respectively. Again, to some like  one retired Subject Teacher of Narsing HS School,Silchar Bam is a place somewhere in deep South of Silchar where milk is found in abundance. Yet again to retired Deputy Secretary to the Government of Assam,coming from Katigorah area, Bam is inhabited by rough and tough people. He still remembers that during 1950 riot after partition of the India while there was panic among Cachar Muslims and uncertainty was there the people of his area were hoping that Bam people would resist and that they were fighting on horseback. If Bam people gave away there was no hope. In the perception of a Cachar origin   CA in Guwahati, musclemen and tough people are available in Bam on hire to execute orders of eviction etc. But as a general rule, to the people of mainland Barak Valley the name Bam suffixed with Bouri, another notional region around Swadhin Bazar,east of Sonai and twenty km from Bhagabazar, makes  a phrase ‘Bam-Bouri’and conjures up an image of backwardness ,remoteness, lawlessness  and all that go with it. Bam continues to be an enigma to outsiders. This image of Bam has rightly or wrongly stuck and has not gone away even in this age of communication boom. Google Earth has not helped. Bam continues to be far removed from the psyche of the mainland Cachar as North Eastern Region continues to be far removed from the psyche of mainland India. But Bam people do not complain as Sardarjees no longer complain at Sardarjee jokes. Despite this negative image, Bam continues to draw investors as also brides from outside. Daughters of Minister, Tea Planter, Zamindar, Business Tycoon, Bureaucrats , Doctors and Technocrats  have gone to Bam as brides and lived happily.

P.S.:To be continued in the next section-"OLD HISTORY OF BAM"

Please give your comment and suggestions in the comment section.

Flora and Fauna of Bam

Plants and vegetation in Bam:Photo by Manjur Ahmed Laskar

Early Bam was a biodiversity hotspot. If Government had decided to preserve the area without settling the jungle land for human habitation, Bam would have been a wildlife sanctuary, sans the one horned rhinocerous. Early years of Bam abounded in wild life population. Bam was home to hoolock gibbons, deer, elephant, tigers, monkeys, river dolphins, numerous species of  birds like egrets, cranes, storks, heron, parrot, robin, fish eagle, mountain bamboo partridge, green pigeon, horn bill, woodpecker, bulbul, vultures, magpie robin,  house sparrow, tailor bird, jungle myna, dove, black cormorant and numerous other species.

As late as the middle of the last century, tigers would come to the localities and kill livestock of villagers and occasionally a deer would stray in to the villages. The hoolock gibbons would cry in chorus in the hillocks near human habitations at the twilight. Chirping of numerous varieties of birds would usher in the dawn for Bam inhabitants. Perhaps there was no law for the preservation of wild life. Village hunters would kill the tigers and carry it to the Dholai Police Outpost, and hand over the kill. There might have been a reward for killing tigers and leopards as the Government had a paid reward in 1904 ‘for destruction of 17 tigers and 16 leopard’ in Cachar.  With the growing human population, wild life of Bam has dwindled rapidly, if not vanished

Plants and vegetation in Bam:Photo by Manjur Laskar Ahmed

The enclosed area is a section of Bhuban  Reserved forest in  Bam between Sonai river in the east  and Bhaga Mizoram NEC road in the west .This is the home of major flora and fauna of Bam. 27 forest villages are also located in this section. Beyond Bam in the east  this reserved forest extends 10 km up to  river Barak  which forms the Cacharborder with Manipur.

Bam is rich in plants and vegetation. Betelnut, plaintain and bamboo forms the  greater  trinity  of trees, with which every home called ‘bari’ is decorated with, besides other fruit bearing trees like mango, jack fruit and other citrus fruits and trees.Valuable timber trees like nageasvar, jarul, gomari, sundi, ramdala, cham, rata, kurta, poma, gundroi, tula, kadam, simul are  available in Bam in abundance despite onslaught of human depredation. Besides trees there are numerous species of herbs, medicinal plants and orchids.

Of the total land area of 281.87 sq. km of Bam, as much as 65.91 % area is covered by reserved forest in the Bhuban Hill ranges, and provide a natural home for wild life and forest cover. The vast Bhuban reserved forest of Bam between Rukni river and Sonai river is contiguous with the vast Bhuban forest reserve of about 200 sq. km between Sonai river and Barak River, and together makes up more than 350 sq. km reserved forest, offering an opportunity for declaring it as a wild life sanctuary by the Government.

            

PS:To be continued in next section:People of Bam. Please give your comments and suggestions.

                              


                               NOTICE

SUB: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ALUMNI OF BAM NITYANANDA HIGHER SECONDARY & MULTIPURPOSE SCHOOL (BNHS & MP SCHOOL) DHOLAI IN 

BAM OF CACHAR ,INDIA-PIN:788114.

Section 18 of BAM history will be devoted to write short biographical sketch of some of the important personalities of Bam from all walks of life. The process is on to collect the information from various sources. Apart from other sources attempt is now made to collect information through Bam-history.blogspot.in .In the first phase it is sought to collect the biographical sketch of the following alumni of Bam Nityananda Higher Secondary & Multipurpose School. The esteemed visitors to this Blog are requested to provide biographical sketch (in less than 500 words) of any of the following alumni of BNHS & MP School of early years who had brought laurel to the School and fame to Bam.

     1. Rajmoni Nath ,Joint Registrar in Cooperation Department,Government of Assam 2.Bani Kanta Sinha ,a Wharton PhD and Professor Emeritus IIM Kolkata; 3.Ramkumar Das,MA,PhD, a London School of Economics alumnus , Principal Cotton College and Economic Adviser, Government of Assam; 4.Hironmoy Nath MSc,Retd. Professor of Physics ,Karimganj College 5. Muslehuddin Choudhury MA ,BT, former Principal Sonai N.G Higher Secondary Schoo l6 .Bimal Sinha ,MSc,retd Professor,G.C.College7.Professor Nalini Sinha of NEHU 8.Alauddin Choudhury,Deputy Registrar Gauhati High Court 9.Saadullah Choudhury, MA,BT,Senior Lecturer, District Institute of Education and Training ;10.Biman Behari Sinha MSc,Australia ,Sydney, Consultant World Bank or Director  11.Paresh Nath,an alumnus of Glasgow university who served in Civil Aviation Department Govt. of India; 12.Binoy Bhushan Sinha,Professor Mathematics, Russia .13.Ganendra Chackrabarty,MA,BT,retired Deputy Director of Education ,Tripura14.Mahendra Roy,retired Subject Teacher,BNHS & MP School 15.Kula Chandra Singha ,retired Commander, Indian Navy and retired Additional Director(MM),ONGC 16.Nanda Mohan Barman ACS 17.Dilip Kumar Purkayastha,retired Joint Director of Health Services ,Assam 18.Karunamoy Nath Laskar,MA,BT retired Vice Principal,BNHS & MP School 19.Jatindranath Laskar,MA,BT,Lecturer ,Silchar College of Education 20.Digendra Chandra Purkayastha,MA,LLB,founder Head Master,Howaithang High School and ex MLA 21.Sushil Kumar Sinha, MA, B.Ed, Principal Silchar College of Education 22.Nikhil Baran Das MA,ACS 23.Pulakeshi Sinha, MA,Ex MLA, 24.Dinendra Purkayastha, Joint Director,Veterianary Department; 25.Dinesh Chandra Nath,Assistant Director,Veterianary Department 26.Jay Prasad Goala,MA,BT Subject Teacher of English, BNHS & MP School 27.Kalachand Sinha,Subject Teacher of English,BNHS &MP School,28.Hemendra Nath MA (Double) ? .29.Jagadish Nath Engineer 30.Dr.Ramendra Choudhury ,Senior Medical and Heaith Officer Dholai Primary Health Centre 31.Harendra Barman, former Labour    Commissioner 32.Banka Behari Singha former Director Sericulture 33.Nishikanta Das, ACS/IAS ,Director Census 34.Suniti Kumar Barman, District Elementary Education Officer 35.Dr.Harendra Chandra Biswas, Assistant Director Health and Medicine GOI 36.Mukul Ranjan Barman, Assistant Diector,AIR-Silchar, 37.Debjyotih  Biswas,M.Tec ?38.Diptendu Paul,MSc ?S39.urrya Kumar Singha MSc ? 40.Pallabi Choudhury BE?41.Saurav Choudhury,BE?42.Binoy Paul-Engineer?43.Himadri Nath-Engineer?44.Roshen Ahmed Barbhuiya-Engneer ? 45.Rabijul Ali Laskar,BA,LLB ,Advocate( The designations  given may not be  accurate in some cases and in some cases it is not available which is indicated as ?.)

The biographical sketch with photo may be mailed to jiya0786@yahoo.co.in. If it is not possible to provide the biographical sketch contact details of any one who you think can give information may be given in the comment section of this Blog or mailed. Your support will make the task easier.

Topography of Bam

Bam is basically Rukni Valley bounded by hills in three sides-west, south and east making Bam a treasure –trove of natural beauty. Rukni, a hilly river originating from Mizoram enters Bam at Bishnpur, coordinate 24.442242° N & 92.796534° E, and winds through the plains with gentle drainage gradient, 20 km from south to north through Bam dividing it in two parts horizontally before leaving Bam near Ramprsadpur, to join Sonai River at Sundari Part I in the South East of Kabuganj, after travelling a distance of 6 km from Ramprasadpur.

Rukni river flowing gently after entering Bam from hills of Mizoram:Photo by Manjur Ahmed Laskar (Click to enlarge)

Of the total 281.87 sq. km area of Bam, 185.96 sq. km area is reserved and unclassed forest constituting 65.91 % of total land area of Bam. Only 95 sq. km area of Bam land area representing 34.09% is revenue villages characterised by plains of Rukni valley scattered with small hillocks (tillas) in between presenting astounding beauty. It is generally high land with several rivulets joining Rukni as its tributaries serving as natural drainage. Of the 39 forest villages of Bam 27 are located in 142 sq. km reserved and unclassed forest area bounded by Sonai river in the east, Mizoram in the south and Bhagabazar Saiphai NEC Mizoram road in the west. Other 10 forest villages are scattered in another 27 sq. km reserve and unclassed forest areas in South West border of Bam touching Mizoram in the western bank of Rukni and 2 FVs are in the Rengti Hills. Most   of the revenue villages are lined up on both banks of the river Rukni throughout the valley. section 

Satellite view of Central Bam, east of Rengti Hills

(click to enlarge)

P.S.: To be continued in the next section - "Flora and Fauna of Bam"

Geographical Location of Bam

Bam is a landlocked geographic region in the south west corner of Cachar District in Assam, India, spread over 281.87  sq. km approximately. 

Notionally Bam starts  from Ramprasadpur, a village 27 km south of  Silchar, in the Silchar -Bhagabazar - Aizwal road, now the four lane National Highway No. 44. Other villages of Bam in the same latitudinal line of Ramprasadpur  are Lantugram - Dulalgram and Sukhtola. Other villages of Bam  in North boundary are Malugram and Bhubandahar. In the West Rengti Hill, in the eastern end of Hailakandi district forms the 13 km boundary of Bam. In the remaining 12 km of Bam, in the south-west, and 10 km boundary to the south of Bam lie the hills of Mizoram. To the east of Bam are the vast uninhabited 15 km long and 10 km wide uninhibited and deep Barak reserved forest of Bhuban hill ranges between Barak and Sonai rivers.

In the map Bam would look like a sitting jar with 10 km bottom, 18 Km in middle, and 5 km at top and 21 Km in height. Bam is not an administrative area to be found in the revenue map and record of Cachar district administration, even as it forms a part of Davidsonabad Parganah (created in 1902) of Cachar District under Sonai Revenue Circle. Bam covers 54.23% area of Narsingpur Development Block and 6.47 % area of Palonghat Development Block in the southern end of these Blocks.  Bam is broadly situated between 92.9391 E (Dholakhal FV), 92.7994 E (Lailapur) longitudes and 24.6124 N (Ramprasadpur) & 24.3816 N latitudes in this globe. 

Bam consists of 48 small revenue villages and 39 inhabited forest villages totaling 87 villages with average village size of 1.48 sq. km spread over 128.96 sq. km constituting 3.38% of the land area of Cachar District. The forest villages are villages in unclassified and reserved forest areas under Forest Department administration. These are smaller in size with average 0.85 sq. km in area whereas average size of revenue village is 2 sq. km. 

The following Gram Panchayats are in Bam - Dholai GP, Bhagabazar GP, Saptagram GP, Channighat GP, Rajnagar GP, Jamalpur GP, Sewrartol GP and  Jibangram GP  of Narsinghpur Development Block. Besides these GPs two villages of Palonghat Development Bock are situated in Bam. 

Southern region of Barak Valley, showing location of Bam

(click on the image for a larger view)