About rural settlements:
As we know a settlement is a place where human beings live thereby making houses. Villages, cities, towns, and large towns are examples of human settlements.
On the basis of people's participation in economic activities, settlements are of two types – rural settlements and urban settlements.
Rural settlements are those settlements where the majority of the people living are involved in primary activities such as farming, fishing, animal husbandry, and mining. Villages and hamlets are examples of rural settlements.
The pattern of rural settlements in Bihar;
As we know that people living in rural settlements are involved in primary activities and primary activities are directly dependent on the physical environment like fertile land, availability of water, availability of minerals, etc. People in rural areas prefer to settle near fertile land, the availability of water, mineral resources, and transport lines (roads and railways).
According to the 2011 census, 88.7% of the population of the state of Bihar lives in rural settlements; The reason for such a large part of the population living in rural areas is the availability of fertile land and perennial river sources.
In Bihar, the presence of the caste system is strong which influences the pattern of rural settlements in much of the state.
The pattern of rural settlements in Bihar is largely influenced by the availability of alluvial soil, access to water resources, and socio-economic factors (caste system and tribal community).
There are three major patterns of rural settlements in Bihar:
Compact or nucleated or clustered settlements;
In a clustered settlement, almost all the village communities usually live in one place.
Congested or dense settlements are usually less visible in Bihar because all the communities do not like to live in the same place due to the stronghold of the caste system. But over time, due to an increase in population density, dense settlements are generally found in western and central parts of Bihar like Siwan, Buxar, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, etc.
South West Bihar has more dense settlements than other areas.
Congested settlements are in small geographical areas and the distance between houses is less.
Semi-Clustered Settlements:
Semi-clustered settlements are prevalent in most parts of the Gangetic plains of Bihar where there is a strong presence of a single caste.
In semi-clustered settlements, the dominant community usually resides in the central part of the village, while daily wage laborers or those from the lower strata of the society settle on the outskirts of the village.
Hamlet rural settlements:
Hamlet settlements are found in Bihar in areas where people of many castes live.
Large villages are generally divided into several tolas or mohallas (small areas of villages inhabited by particular communities). People of a particular caste live in each Hamlet ( tola).
Hamlet settlements are prominent in most of the Ganges Ghaghra Doab. But it is found almost in the plains of Bihar as well as in the Shivalik range of Bihar (West Champaran district) and the eastern and southern plateau of Bihar (tribal areas like Katihar, Jamui, Banka, and Purnia districts).
Try to solve the following questions:
- Describe the distributional patterns of rural settlements found in Bihar. ( 65th BPSC geography)
- Describe the rural settlement patterns found in Bihar. ( 60-62nd BPSC geography)
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