Barak Valley (বরাক উপত্যকা) is located in southern Assam, India. The place is named after the Barak river. Barak valley mainly consists of three districts namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi.
POPULATION: MORE THAN FOUR MILLION: Barak Valley is the homeland of Bengalees, Kacharis, Hmar, Bishnupriya, Meitei, Rongmei Nagas, Hindi-speaking and tea garden people.
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES:
The Barak Valley covers an area of 6222 sq. km. and is administratively divided into 27 Blocks, 321 Gaon Panchayats and 1050 Villages. The valley is geographically isolated not only from mainstream of India but also from the rest of the state of Assam owing to difficult topography of the adjoining areas. It is surrounded by other states of India viz., Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Manipur and a long vulnerable international border with Bangladesh.
The topography of the valley is heterogeneous having hills, low lands and plain areas.
The Barak-Surma-Kusiara river system passes through this valley. It is geographically the part of what was known as Surma Valley in pre-partition days consisting of the old districts of Sylhet (now included in Bangladesh) and Cachar.
Barak Valley is therefore the extension of greater Surma/Meghna Valley of Bengal in all the way from culture to geography.
The main city of the valley is Silchar. Other major towns are Karimganj, Hailakandi, Badarpur, Lakhipur, Sonai, Patherkandi etc..
The vegetation in the valley is mostly Tropical evergreen and there are large tracts of Rainforests in the northern and southern-eastern parts of the valley, which are home to Tiger, Elephants, Malayan sun bear, Capped langur, hoolock gibbon, etc. The forests of Barak valley were once rich in wildlife but now vanishing due to human onslaught. Rare species found are Hoolock gibbon, Phayre's leaf monkey, Pig-tailed macaque, Stump-tailed macaque, Masked Finfoot, White-winged Wood Duck, etc., have been recorded.
The Asian elephant has already vanished from most of the valley. The southern part was also recommended as 'Dhaleswari' wildlife sanctuary. Barail is the only wildlife sanctuary of the Barak valley region. It was initiated by noted naturalist Dr Anwaruddin Choudhury, who originally hailed from this region in early 1980s. This sanctuary was ultimately notified in 2004. Hailakandi have Inner line reserve forest and Katakhal reserve forest.
Notable Persons from Barak Valley are:
• Kamini Kumar Chanda (Social Activist))
• Abdul Matlib Mazumdar (Former MLA)
• Arun Kumar Chanda (Former MLA)
• Moinul Hoque Choudhury (Former Union Minister)
• Syed Mujtaba Ali (noted litterateur)
• Abdul Muhib Mazumdar (former Advocate and minister)
• Mohitosh Purkayastha (Former MLA)
• Rati Ranjan Roy (News Journalist, Columnist, Social Activist)
• Nurul Huda (Political Activist)
• Bimalangshu Roy (Senior Advocate, Former MLA)
• Prof. Bhaktimadhab Chattopadhyay (Ex Principal, Cachar College)
• Debojit Saha (Singer & Television host)
• Karnendu Bhattacharjee (Former Member of Rajya Sabha)
• Kabindra Purkayastha (Member of Lok Sabha)
• Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya (Member of Lok Sabha)
• Santosh Mohan Deb (Former Member of Lok Sabha)
• Prof. B. B. Bhattacharya (Ex Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
• Prof. Tapodhir Bhattacharjee (Ex Vice Chancellor, Assam Central University, Silchar)
• Dr.Zohurul Hoque (Translator of the Qur'an in three languages - Assamese, Bengali and English)
• Jagannath Singh (Trade Union & Tea Garden Leader / Former MLA)
• Sujit Choudhury (Journalist)
• Dr Sujit Kumar Nandi Purkayastha (Former Principal, Silchar Medical College & Hospital)
• Baidyanath Nath (Social Activist)
• Ranabir Roy (Journalist – Editor, Dainik Sonar Cachar)
• Chengkong Kabui (Singer)
• Jatindralal Dutta (Journalist – Editor, Prantajyoti)
• U.Churamoni Singha (Ex Principal, Guru Charan College, Silchar)
• Nepal Chandra Das ( Former Member of Lok Sabha)
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