The Gangetic Plain

Our civilisation was nurtured here. Fertile soils, moderate climate and abundant water combined to make this a region of plenty, just perfect for human colonisation. The Gangetic Plain extends along the foothills of the Himalaya, from Uttar Pradesh eastwards through Nepal, Bihar, West Bengal and parts of coastal Orissa. The entire area comprises a vast, flat, alluvial expanse, both to the north and south of the river Ganges, and its many tributaries that cut southward through the Himalaya. Eastwards, this zone extends into Bangladesh and coastal Burma. With an area of 359,400 sq. km., roughly 10 per cent of India's total landmass, the Gangetic Plain is one of the largest distinctive habitat zones of the subcontinent. The central hill ranges of the Vindbyas and Aravallis form the southern boundary of the Gangetic Plain into which the Shivaliks and the bhabar regions of the Himalayan foothills to the north have also been included. The area was once the heartland of the Indian wilderness, but has long since been converted to a vast man-dominated landscape. Perhaps recent conservation awareness may yet return at least the riverine areas to a measure of their former health through proposed river sanctuaries.

Biology of the Gangetic Plain

Known to be one of the world's most fertile regions, the Gangetic Plain is the most densely populated of the 10 habitat zones. Nearly 300 million people, accounting for over 30 per cent of India's population reside in this zone. Only in the narrow northern belt, flanking the Himalayan massif in the Shivaliks and bhabar, can one still see bits of natural forests and grasslands. The region is dotted with innumerable jheels and marshes, but it can be confidently stated that nearly 90 per cent of the Gangetic Plain has been significantly altered, the natural vegetation having long been converted into cropland. To date there are no signs of any decrease in the pressure of intensive agriculture on this habitat. Moreover, the deadly effect of excessive irrigation has already devastated significant portions of this biogeographic zone, causing its once fertile soils to turn saline. Over-use of fertilizers and pesticides has also resulted in depleted soils which now require more and more poisonous chemicals to stay 'productive'. This places the health of the populace at risk, even as it compromises India's financial independence on account the massive amounts of foreign exchange required to import farm additives.

The two large rivers of this zone -- the Ganges and Yamuna -- have been badly polluted, both as a result of excessive, chemical agriculture and rapid, haphazard industrialisation and urbanisation. Those who understand the imperatives of good habitat management can only look with dismay and amazement at the lack of concern of planners at the demise of this, one of the world's most productive ecosystems. As in the case of the regreening of the Himalaya, crores are now being spent on cleaning the Ganges. The sentiment is very good, but a hundred times more money continues to be invested in highly polluting industries in watersheds, which will further degrade the holy Ganges.

The most effective cleansers of rivers are the millions of microscopic aquatic organisms whose very purpose of existence on Earth has been to maintain the water quality of rivers and lakes. Such organisms, however, cannot survive the toxins we dump in the Ganges through our municipal and industrial wastes. Though some attempts have been made to reintroduce turtles and crocodiles, among the most effective cleansers of rivers, the fact remains that their nesting sites have been, and continue to be, devastated by alteration of river banks for one form of developmental activity or the other. If Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi were alive today to guide the confused leadership of India, he would have pointed out a most effective way to cleanse the Ganga which was so dear to his heart - stop polluting it!

At its western end, the Plain is drier, while the eastern parts are moist. On the whole, however, a distinct uniformity is noticeable in the landscape for many hundreds of kilometres, interspersed occasionally with ravinous country along the large rivers and some low hilly terrain.

Sadly, most of the native wildlife of this zone has either retreated into the northern pockets, or vanished altogether. At one time elephant, rhino, swamp deer, wild buffalo, tiger and many other wild animals were widespread over the Gangetic Plain. Small numbers of these survive today in the few remaining protected terai grasslands such as Dudhwa and in the Shivalik jungles of the north. A good part of the last surviving populations of Bengal florican are to be found in this zone.

The rhino has been introduced into Dudhwa in the west, though its stronghold in the eastern part of the terai, better known as the duars (see Northeast Zone) is diminishing. Technically, the Gangetic Plain runs more or less continuous, into the Brahmaputra Valley of the Northeast Zone, which has habitat types very similar to those of the Plain Zone. The northern bhabar forests, with their characteristic faunal community, transits into the Himalaya.

By far the finest feature of this zone is its wetland habitats, a well-formed and distributed network of lakes, marshes and rivers. Besides over 20 species of turtles, as also animals like the non-gregarious Gangetic dolphin, the mugger and gharial, this vital wetlands network is one of the subcontinent's wintering strongholds for migratory waterfowl. True development in this region would be to create conditions for such animals to thrive once more, for in such improved environmental conditions the quality of human life as determined by health would certainly be enhanced many times over.

Conservation status

In this huge zone of 359,400 sq. km., there are only 25 protected areas, adding up to a meagre 4,524 sq. km. or an infinitesimal 1.3 per cent of the area! This gives the Gangetic Plain the dubious distinction of possessing the second lowest percentage of protected areas of all the habitat zones in India.

Further, only three of these 25 protected areas, Corbett and Dudhwa in U.P. and Neora in West Bengal, are national parks. The rest are sanctuaries which receive hopelessly inadequate protection and funding. Besides the very low percentage of protected areas, this zone also has the most uneven distribution of these protected areas. Almost 90 per cent lie in the forests and grasslands of the terai, duars and Shivaliks - the northern belt of the zone. Some like Corbett, Dudhwa and Rajaji are said to be amongst the best-protected areas of the country, yet all are virtually under assault and are beginning to succumb to pressures from without.

Virtually the last remaining, reasonably large sized protected areas in the terai and Shivalik belts of Uttar Pradesh state, the immense importance of these three protected areas is enhanced by the fact that these happen to be the last viable habitat for the threatened Asian elephants of the region. Additionally, parts of the Shivalik are still interconnected with contiguous forest, thereby making the area a large viable natural unit - a rarity in modern India. In comparison, the eastern parts of this zone have several small reserves of less than 100 sq. km area, much too small for elephants which need extensive stretches for their considerable movements. There is a small population of rhinos in Jaldapara sanctuary of West Bengal, but the severe human pressures in this area jeopardise conservation efforts. Considering the tremendous significance that Jaldapara holds not just for the rhino but also for the tiger, gaur, elephant as a habitat suitable for the reintroduction of some of the region's endemic and vanishing species, it has been proposed that both, the area be increased as also its status raised from sanctuary to national park.

Even the most cursory evaluation of land use in this rich and vital biogeographical zone will confirm that the nature's bounty is been grossly been abused here, perhaps more than any where else on earth, the urgent need to redefine development in the context of ecological imperatives has become vital for survival.