Impact of Tista River on the socio-economic life of the riparian people of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India

Abstract

A river is a lifeline for any region. The river basin provided the floodplain, which is directly affected by the people's habited and live/I/roods. Rivers have an economic. political and social impact on the culture of the people. However, It also plays a role of negative character for the adjacent people. Thus a river in a region plays a dual character in the behaviour in an a/111vlal channel. The River Tista is /mown as the lifeline of Jalpalg11ri District as ii plays a noticeable role In the development of the people. The mighty Tis ta is very import an/for the riparian people due to its water resources, small-scale navigation and facilitating agric111/11ral prod11clion. Here are the community development Blocks. namely. Rajganj and Jalpaiguri (at the right bank}, Mal and Maynag11rl (at the left bank) along the Tis/a River of Jalpaiguri District, has been selected as the study area. Throughout the present study, the authors have tried to analyze various fields where the Tisla River influenced the socio-economic aspects of the riparian inhabitants and highlighted the impact of increased human intervention on the· river. For this purpose, primary and secondary data have been collected and presented through various cartographic techniques. The study helps to manif cst the role of the Tista River in the concerned region.