Land use change is an important parameter of the transformation that has taken place in areas with a long history of human life. Since last few decades’ land use pattern has changed dramatically in our country. The rapid growth of population and their diverse need compelled to change the land use pattern for their survival. The changing trend of land use affects the local as well as global climate and bio-diversity throughout the world.

1. Population Dynamics and Land Use
Change in Dakshin Dinajpur District: A
Geospatial Study
Ranjan Sarkar,
Assistant Professor, A.C. Training College, Jalpaiguri,
ranjangeo@gmail.com
Bhupen Barman
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geography,
TufanganjMahavidyalaya, bhugeo12@gmail.com
Dr. Ranjan Roy
Professor, Dept. of Geography & Applied Geography, University of
North Bengal, royranjangeo@gmail.com

2. INTRODUCTION
• Land use change is an important parameter of the
transformation that has taken place in areas with a long
history of human life. Since last few decades’ land use
pattern has changed dramatically in our country. The rapid
growth of population and their diverse need compelled to
change the land use pattern for their survival. The changing
trend of land use affects the local as well as global climate
and bio-diversity throughout the world.
• Therefore, land use change is a crucial issue for
understanding the urbanization, demographic change and
socio-economic development. Population change is the most
important factor which affects the land use pattern change in
Dakshin Dinajpur district. Population growth and continuous
accelerating urbanization increases the size of built-up urban
area, which exacerbated the contradiction between human
society and land system.

3. THE STUDY AREA
The district Dakshin Dinajpur extends from 25°10'55" North
to 26°35'15" North latitudes and from 87°48'37" East to
89°00'30" East longitudes. Dakshin Dinajpur is surrounded
by Bangladesh in the North, East and South, Uttar Dinajpur
District in the North and West and a part of southern and
western border of Dakshin Dinajpur lies adjacent to Malda
District. It is situated on the north eastern part of the
state of West Bengal and is under Jalpaiguri division. The
district is formed on 1st April, 1992 comprising the southern
part of the undivided West Dinajpur District with its
headquarter at Balurghat. The erstwhile Balurghat Sub-
division along with Banshihari and Kushmandi Blocks (which
were in Raiganj sub-division prior to division) comprise the
new district. The northern part of former West Dinajpur
District was renamed as Uttar Dinajpur District on the same
day.

4. • The administrative set up of the district consists
of two subdivisions viz. Balurghat, the district
headquarter and Gangarampur. There are total 8
Community Development(C. D) Blocks in the
district out of which Balurghat, Kumarganj,Tapan
and Hili C.D. Blocks are under Balurghat
Subdivision while Kushmandi, Banshihari,
Harirampur and Gangarampur are under
Gangarampur Sub-division. Each C.D Block has
got one Police Station. Gangarampur and
Balurghat are two Municipal Towns situated in
the district. The district has total 65 Gram
Panchayat (G.P.) and 1638 inhabited Villages as
per census report, 2011.

6. Population Characteristics
• The 2011 Population Census records the district population of
Dakshin Dinajpur as 16,76,276 of which male population was
8,57,199 (51.14%) and female population was 8,19,077 (48.86%).
• The rural population is 14,39,981 (85.90%) and the urban
population is only 2,36,295 (14.10%).
• This huge population of 16.76 lakh resides over an area of about
2219 sq.km giving a density of population of 755 persons per
sq.km.
• The sex ratio of the district is 956 females per thousand males,
out of which 952 is rural sex ratio and 979 is the urban sex ratio.
• The decadal growth of population was 11.92 % (2001-2011),
whereas the state average is 13.84%. The male population
growth is 11.67% in the District, whereas female population
growth is 12.18% of the District and the female population
growth i.e. 12.18% is below the states average female population
growth by 2.69%.

7. • The state average density of population is 1028
persons per Sq. km. which is also higher than 123
persons of the District average i.e. 755 persons
per sq. km. If we consider another cross-section
of the population in terms of rural urban
subdivision, 85.90% of the total population in the
district lives in the rural area and only 14.10%
lives in the urban belt.
• Thus, the district has a predominantly rural
population and hence, a distinctive rural
character. The modern concept of urbanization
and consumerism in the district are still relatively
new.

8. Serial No.
Name of
C.D. Block
Population Density Growth
in
Percenta
ge
2001 2011
1 Balurghat 628 634 0.96
2 Banshihari 618 719 16.34
3
Gangaramp
ur
655 731 11.60
4 Harirampur 581 613 5.51
5 Hili 877 923 5.25
6 Kumarganj 533 590 10.69
7 Kushmandi 564 640 13.48
8 Tapan 512 562 9.77

9. OBJECTIVES
• The study has taken the following objectives;
• To identify the changing trend of population
related to total population, rural and urban
population, population density, sex ratio etc.
• To identify the population pressure on land
use change.

10. METHODOLOGY
• In order to the above objectives for population change data
have been collected from district census handbook, Cenus of
India, 2011.The study of LU/LC of the Rajganj block is basically
depends on primary and secondary data. Primary data means
identify the present and past land use of the block using GPS.
The secondary data means Multi-temporal satellite data of
2001 and 2011 from Resourcesat-2, LISS III sensor data
prepared by National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, ISRO
(Indian Space Research Organisation) with 24 meter spatial
resolution. Preparation of land use classification done by
supervised classification method used remote sensing data on
GIS environment. Maximum likelihood algorithm (MLC) is one
of the most popular supervised classification methods used
with remote sensing image data. This method is based on the
probability that a pixel belongs to a particular class.

11. • Regarding growth of population density
between last two Census Years Banshihari has
recorded the highest value i.e. 16.34 %
followed by Kushmandi i.e. 13.48 %, then
Gangarampur scoring 11.60% and by 10.69%
Kumarganj taking fourth position. The last four
C.D. Blocks in terms of population density
growth are Tapan (9.77%), Harirampur
(5.51%), Hili (5.25%) and Balurghat the least
growth holder (0.96%).

12. Serial No.
Name of C.D.
Block
Sex- Ratio
Growth (in %)
2001 2011
1 Balurghat 936 937 0.11
2 Banshihari 952 958 0.63
3 Gangarampur 940 932 -0.85
4 Harirampur 965 983 1.87
5 Hili 954 949 -0.52
6 Kumarganj 944 942 -0.21
7 Kushmandi 964 981 1.76
8 Tapan 951 949 -0.21
Block-wise Sex-Ratio, Dakshin Dinajpur District; 2001 &2011
Sex Ratio
Sex ratio is measured by the number of female per 1000 male. It is the
ratio between the male and female population. This parameter is
generally reflecting the overall societies attitude towards women
population. In Dakshin Dinajpur district the average sex ratio is 954,
which is slightly higher than state average i.e. 947. The sex ratio is
recorded highest in Harirampur C.D. block i.e. 983 followed by 981 in
Kushmandi, 957 in Banshihari and the lowest one is found in
Gangarampur block i.e. 932. The following table and map shows the
block wise distribution of sex ratio in the district.

13. 78%
1%
18%
2% 1%
LAND USE, 2001
Agriculture Cropland
Builtup Urban
Builtup Rural
River and waterbodies
Wetlands
Land use in Dakshin Dinajpur 2001
Category Area (sq.km)
Agriculture Cropland 1720.55
Builtup Urban 17.16
Builtup Rural 390.33
River and waterbodies 50.57
Wetlands 13.39
Total

14. Land Use Map in Dakshin Dinajpur
District, 2001

15. Landuse in Dakshin Dinajpur, 2011
Category Area (sq.km)
Agriculture Cropland 1783.32
Builtup Urban 19.2
Builtup Rural 330.5
River and waterbodies 46.25
Wetlands 12.73
81%
1%
15%
2% 1%
LAND USE, 2011
Agriculture Cropland
Builtup Urban
Builtup Rural
River and waterbodies
Wetlands

16. Land Use Map in Dakshin Dinajpur
District, 2011