Raebareli district
Raebareli district is a district of Uttar Pradesh state in northern India. The city of Raebareli is the district headquarters. This district is a part of Lucknow Division in Uttar Pradesh state. The total area of Raebareli district is 3,371 Sq. km.
As of 2011, its population is 3,405,559, which makes it the 27th largest in the state. It is a predominantly rural district, with 91% of the population living in rural areas.
Geography
Raebareli district is located in the southern part of Awadh, at the southern end of Lucknow Division. It is compact in shape — no part of the district is especially far from the city of Raebareli. In general, the terrain is flat or gently undulating, and the soil is especially fertile and well-suited to agriculture. The elevation ranges from 100 to 120 m above sea level. The prevailing slope is from higher in the northwest to lower in the southeast, and the rivers that traverse the district all flow in this direction.The main river of Raebareli district is the Ganges, which forms the southern border of the district; the other rivers in the district are all its tributaries. The Ganges enters the district at Malipur, close to the Baksar ghat, and then flows southeast until reaching Bairua, where it bends more to the north. After Ralpur it turns east-northeast until it reaches Dalmau, where it returns to a southeastern course. It flows mostly straight in this direction until reaching Gukana, where it turns sharply to the south before resuming its original direction at the Naubasta ghat, and then it maintains this course until leaving the district at Katra Bahadurganj. The bed of the Ganges is sandy and has a width of about two miles. It is navigable throughout the district for boats carrying up to 40 tons, although now its importance as a means of transportation has declined in favour of road and rail.
The other main river in the district is the Sai, which is a tributary of the Ganges. It flows right down the middle of the district, from Rampur Sudauli in the northwestern corner to Kanhpur in the southeast, and has a meandering course. The Sai is not navigable — its depth during the hot season is no more than two feet — and it is not well suited for irrigation because it has high banks, leaving the actual level of the water well below the ground level of the surrounding terrain.
Most of the smaller rivers in Raebareli district are tributaries of the Sai. The Basaha, a right-bank tributary of the Sai, has its source in wetlands near Khiron and then flows in a well-defined bed before joining the Sai near Purai, west of the district headquarters. During the hot months it dries up completely, but during the rainy season it becomes fairly large. In years with high rainfall, the high volume of water in the Basaha can cause flooding further downstream after joining the Sai. The Soh is another small right-bank tributary of the Sai; it begins in Unnao district and flows a bit to the north of the Unnao-Raebareli road before joining the Sai near the village of Bardar. The Chob, one of two streams with that name in the district, flows north from the watershed at Itaura Buzurg to its confluence with the Sai at Bara Dih, near Salon. This river historically formed the boundary between the Baiswara region and the lands of the Kanhpuria Rajputs.
There are also four small streams that go by the generic name Naiya; these are seasonal drainage channels that dry up during the cold months. The Kathwara Naiya begins northeast of Johwa Sharqi and flows southeast, then south, and then after reaching the namesake village of Kathwara it turns southwest. It joins the Sai near the village of Andohar. The Maharajganj Naiya rises in the jhils near Kumhrawan in the north of the district; it takes a meandering course towards the south before joining the Sai at the village of Makraha near Parshadepur. The Nasirabad Naiya flows south past Nasirabad, its namesake, then turns east for a short distance before turning back to the south. It joins the Sai near Ateha in Pratapgarh district. The last stream called the Naiya is the Simrauta Naiya, which originates in Barabanki district and is a tributary of the Gomti rather than the Sai.
There are also a couple of tributaries of the Ganges in Raebareli district. One is the other Chob, which begins on the south side of the Itaura Buzurg watershed and flows south before joining the Ganges at Shahzadpur, just upstream from the Gukana ghat. The Loni, further west, can be fairly large but usually dries up during the hot season. It begins in Unnao district and then follows a winding course through Raebareli district before joining the Ganges just west of Dalmau.
These rivers and streams demarcate the main natural areas of the district. There are four main areas: the Ganges floodplains, in the south along the Ganges; the Dalmau plain, which is the upland area between the limits of the Ganges floodwaters and the Sai catchment; the Sai Catchment, extending for about 25 km on either side of the Sai; and the Bachhrawan-Jais plain in the north.
Ganges floodplain
In the south are the low-lying khadar lands below the old high bank of the Ganges. This area is locally called kachar. In some places, the Ganges bank is a cliff and the kachar is nonexistent; in other areas it can be up to 2 miles wide. Kachar lands closest to the river are inundated each year during the wet season, so that cultivation is only possible during the rabi season. Kachar lands further inland are generally protected from annual floods; they are well-suited for agriculture and often do well without irrigation. Villages in this area are especially large and usually are built on the high bank of the Ganges to protect from flood waters.Dalmau plain
Above the high bank of the Ganges, the landscape is eroded by tributary channels so that it consists of various mostly-flat plateaus separated by nalas. The soil in the Ganges uplands is typically a light loam with a fair amount of sand mixed in; the plateaus have more fertile soil than the ravines along the nalas. Wheat is the main cereal crop grown in this area; there are only a few localities where the water collects in hollows and rice is the staple crop. Historically, this tract was well-shaded by mango and mahua groves.A bit further north, there is a belt of slightly lower-lying land with stiffer clay soil interspersed with broad shallow wetlands and patches of barren usar land. This area stretches from Khiron towards Lalganj and Thalrai, and then on to Bela Bhela and Rohanian. Rice is the main crop grown here — in many areas, the soil is too stiff to support rabi crops, and in still other areas, it only supports a light crop of gram and linseed after the rice harvest.
A mostly continuous chain of jhils runs through this clayey region for the entire length of the district. They are parallel to the courses of the Ganges and the Sai, and they may represent an old river bed. This group of jhils is distinctly deep and narrow compared to elsewhere in the district, and many of them are oxbow or irregular in shape. The soil here is much less stiff than the surrounding clay, and instead it ranges from sand to light loam. The chain of jhils forms three distinct systems: in the west, near Khiron, they form the source of the Basaha; closer to Dalmau, they form a series of small channels that eventually join the Sai; finally, in the east near Salon, they form one of the Naiyas which eventually goes into Pratapgarh district. The jhils all dry up mostly or entirely during the hot season.
Sai catchment
The Sai uplands generally resemble the Ganges uplands, although here the least fertile soils are more extreme than in the Ganges uplands. The good soils along the Sai, though, are among the best in the district for agriculture. On the south side of the river, west of Raebareli, many nalas cut up the terrain. The Sai basin narrows further east, around Pandri Ganeshpur.Bachhrawan-Jais plain
The northern part of the district generally has firm loamy or clayey soil, with rice as the staple crop. This area is studded with various jhils, of which the largest are the Mung Tal, Hanswa, Khaur, and Salothu. Like the jhils on the Dalmau plain, these northern jhils largely dry up during the hot season. Settlements in this region are more sparsely distributed than elsewhere in the district.Forests
Woodlands once covered a large area in Raebareli district, but this has mostly been cleared to make room for agriculture. In the 1800s, William Henry Sleeman described a large jungle stretching out for 12 miles on either side of the Sai, which historically formed a stronghold of the Nain Kanhpurias; after their participation in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British cut down parts of it to break it up. Patches of dhak jungle remain throughout the areas with stiff soils, as well as along the Sai, but their total area is negligible.The common trees of Raebareli district are the same as the rest of southern Awadh. The most common growing wild are neem, babul, bargad, pipal, tamarisk, and jamun. Mango and mahua trees are also widely grown in orchards throughout the district. The shisham is uncommon in Raebareli district, and past attempts to introduce the sal were unsuccessful.
Wildlife
Due to extensive deforestation in modern times, the number and variety of wild animals present in Raebareli district has fallen significantly. In the early 19th century there were wild tigers, hyenas, and buffaloes in the high tamarisk woodlands along the Ganges, but these had disappeared by 1900. The Indian wolf was also once common, but by the 20th century it had become rare. Antelopes, also once common, have similarly declined and are now represented by a few nilgai along the Ganges as well as some blackbucks along the Ganges and around Bachhrawan. Wild cattle also exist in small numbers along the Sai and Ganges, and jackals are also sometimes seen. Other mammals include foxes, cats, and mongooses.The birds present in the district are similar to surrounding districts. There are plenty of waterfowl and snipe during the cold months, and quail are also fairly common. There are also some black partridges and sandgrouses on the Ganges floodplain. The red-headed parrot was also formerly caught for its feathers.