1.2 The Sample Villages
The village of Beguakhali is located in the south west corner of Sagar Island. This
island is the largest and the western most Sunderban island. It is subject to constant
erosion and accretion. As the river Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal at Sagar, it is an
important pilgrimage centre for the Hindus.
The villages of Rangabelia, Pakhiralaya and Gosaba of the Gosaba block and
Masjidbari village in the Basanti block lie in the eastern part of the Sunderbans.
These blocks are separated from each other by numerous water channels and rivers
like Matla and Bidyadhari. The villages face the onslaught of cyclones and very
high tides perennially.
Before going into the practiced livelihoods of Sunderbans, let us have a look at
the land use pattern there, in order to understand the practiced livelihoods better.
Table 1 shows the land use pattern in Sunderbans.
Location of the sample villages (Pakrashi 2012, p. 40)
360
H. Pakrashi
The village of Beguakhali is located in the south west corner of Sagar Island. This
island is the largest and the western most Sunderban island. It is subject to constant
erosion and accretion. As the river Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal at Sagar, it is an
important pilgrimage centre for the Hindus.
The villages of Rangabelia, Pakhiralaya and Gosaba of the Gosaba block and
Masjidbari village in the Basanti block lie in the eastern part of the Sunderbans.
These blocks are separated from each other by numerous water channels and rivers
like Matla and Bidyadhari. The villages face the onslaught of cyclones and very
high tides perennially.
Before going into the practiced livelihoods of Sunderbans, let us have a look at
the land use pattern there, in order to understand the practiced livelihoods better.
Table 1 shows the land use pattern in Sunderbans.
Location of the sample villages (Pakrashi 2012, p. 40)
360
H. Pakrashi