|
|
Resources
Human Resources:
Resource wise Kosal region is a bed of wealth. Unfortunately due to the lack of concern by the state government and the local public representatives towards the development of this region it is facing utter poverty. This region alone contributes almost 2/3rd of the revenues to the state treasury. But in returns the share it gets through various plans is very minimal as compare to the costal Orissa belt. In every aspect of development it is lagging far behind the costal Orissa belt due to this biased manipulation.
The classification of the working population of Kosal is given below:
(a) Industrial Classification:
| Category | % of total population | ||
| Cultivator | 16.863 | ||
| Agricultural labour | 5.863 | ||
| Mining and Quarrying | 0.638 | ||
| Household Industries | 1.2045 | ||
| Trade& Commerce | 1.221 | ||
| Transport | 0.847 | ||
| Other services | 9.6635 | ||
| Total | 36.30% | ||
(Source: Action plan for undivided Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Balangir and Kalahandi).
The total working population is 36.3% of the total population of Kosal region .
(b) Unemployment: Percentage of educated unemployed youth in this area is 14.8% of the total population. The unemployed includes post-graduates, graduates, technical graduates and diploma holders in technical disciplines.
Material Resources:
(a) Agricultural Resources: Agriculture is the main occupation of people of Kosal region. It engages about 62% of the total working force. The detail of agricultural resource of this region is indicated below.
| Sl. No | Name of the crop | Area in Hectares | Yield/Hectare.(Tons) | ||
| 1 | Rice | 7789846 | 1.083 | ||
| 2 | Wheat | 31773 | ——- | ||
| 3 | Ragi | 63859 | 0.76 | ||
| 4 | Maize | 85597 | 0.69 | ||
| 5 | Gram | 21367 | 0.67 | ||
| 6 | Arhar | 43930 | 0.739 | ||
| 7 | Others | 190476 | ——– | ||
(b) Horticultural Resources: Only some parts of Balangir and Kalahandi districts are encouraging horticulture intensively.
The main horticulture products are listed billow.
| Horticulture Resources | |||||
| Fruits | Area in Hectares | Yield/Hectare | |||
| 1 | Mango | 1086.43 | 15MT | ||
| 2 | Guava | 933.54 | 80MT | ||
| 3 | Banana | 266.29 | 7MT | ||
| 4 | Papaya | 448.16 | 61MT | ||
| 5 | Others | 1071.27 | ——– | ||
| Vegetables | Area in Hectares | Yield/Hectare | |||
| 1 | Tomato | 20896 | 117MT | ||
| 2 | Brinjal | 17264 | 18MT | ||
| 3 | Potato | 1280 | 7MT | ||
| 4 | Onion | 18517 | 92MT | ||
| 5 | Cucurbits | 8542 | 66MT | ||
| 6 | Others | 18219 | ——– | ||
(Source: District wise Action plan)
(c) Forest Resources: The total forest area of Kosal is about 18646 Sq. Km. Kalahandi district is extremely rich in forest wealth. Forest products are broadly divided into two categories; major and minor. Timber, pulp wood constitutes the major group whereas the minor forest products are oilseeds, gum and resins, medicinal plants etc. Oil seeds like Sal, Mahul, Kusum, Neem, etc. occurring both in forest and non forest constitute potential source of vegetable oils. The important gums available are Sal, Salai, Pine, and Genduligum, etc. About 70% of Mahul flower available are used in manufacturing country liquor. The average quantity of forest products available in Kosal region per year is as listed billow:
Major Forest Products:
| Item | Quantity | |||
| 1 | Timber | 2002795 Cubic ft | ||
| 2 | Firewood | 4474137 Quintals | ||
| 3 | Bamboo | 59016820 Nos. | ||
Minor Forest Products:
| Item | Quantity in Quintals | |||
| 1 | Mahul flower | 338389 | ||
| 2 | Kendu Leaves | 296599 | ||
| 3 | Siali leaves and fibers | 23832 | ||
| 4 | Tamarind | 1698 | ||
| 5 | Petmuri Fibres | 8936 | ||
| 6 | Sunari barks | 4383 | ||
| 7 | Gum and resins | 9833 | ||
(Source: District wise action plan)
(d) Mineral Resources: It will not be an exaggeration to say that Kosal region is a bed of wealth. Sundergarh district has a vast reserve of iron ores and appreciable amount of Zinc, Lead and Coal whereas Jharsuguda district is rich in Coal. The following table gives the comparative analysis of different minerals available in Kosal with respect to that of total minerals content of Orissa state.
| Minerals | Approx. Area of deposits in Acre | Estemated quantity per Year (MT) | % available with reference to total content of Orissa | |||
| 1 | Iron Ore | 10670 | 2000 | 21% | ||
| 2 | Coal | ————— | 516167 | 70% | ||
| 3 | Graphite | ————— | 2823 | 67% | ||
| 4 | Lead | ————— | 25.2 | 71% | ||
| 5 | Manganese | 15025 | 1241.9 | 59% | ||
| 6 | Lime stone & Dolamite | 4719 | 1004.3 | 85% | ||
(Source: District Industries Centers action Plan)
Besides these, Copper, Chromites, Felspar, Uranium, Fire clay, China clay, Quartzite, etc. are available in many places of Kosal region.
(Excerpts taken from the book, “West Orissa : A study in Ethos” published by Sambalpur University).
