About The Area
Since its inception in 1986, CHIRAG has been working with rural communities in the Indian Central Himalaya. The Himalaya form the backdrop of the socio-cultural and geographic settings of our area. Given the rugged nature of terrain, poorly developed means of transport and communication, inadequacy of social infrastructure, and severe winters, these areas have been largely bypassed by the currents of development sweeping other parts of the country.
The area has limited linkages with the world outside and the people are dependent on the immediate environment for sustenance. The landscape is dotted by scattered settlements, largely farmsteads. Agriculture is the single most important activity but is carried out largely for household consumption. Fruit and vegetable cultivation is important in some areas but is constrained by poor transportation and marketing linkages.
Pristine and heavenly to a visiting tourist, life in these mountains is far from easy. Walking 5 km up a steep slope, to fetch a bucket of water or carrying a headload of 35 kg of fuelwood a day to keep the fire in the hearth burning, is a reality of life for the women of the area. Absence of basic amenities such as health care is chronic.
Given the fact that local communities are reliant on their immediate surroundings to draw sustenance the impact of ever increasing anthropogenic pressure on natural resources and dependent ecological balance cannot be overstated. The single most important need of the area is integrated development and through it harmonising of the man-nature relationship.
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