Location: Village Satjelia ( Block Gosaba / Sunderban Region / West Bengal / India :Fig I & III )
Brief Description:
Sunderban is the largest intertidal delta in the world and harbors the largest mangrove vegetation. It is bounded by the river Hubli on the West, Ichamoti : Kalindi : Raymongal rivers in the East , Dampare Hodges line in the North and Bay of Bengal on the South (Fig II & III).
The area lies between 21° 30’ and 22° 45’ North latitude, 88° 66’ and 89° 5’ East longitude. It consist of a group of 54 islands , innumerable river creeks and mangrove forest . It hosts a national park , a tiger reserve and three wildlife sanctuaries.
Indian Sunderban covers an area of 4262 sq km with 19 blocks. Sunderban is the only mangrove forest in the world , which is the home of tigers and having the highest population of tigers in the world.
The mangrove forest supports 334 species of birds, 44 species of fishes , 8 species of amphibians , 53 species of reptiles , 315 species of birds , 49 species of mammals.
Why It Matters:
Satjelia is an extremely backward region with a very poor quality of life. 85% are dependent on agriculture of which 90% are landless agricultural laborers and marginal farmers.
Occupation of approximately 69.9% of the male involves deep forest activity such as woodcutting, fishing, honey collection while in females it is near forest activities like tiger prawn seed and crab collection.
The human animal conflict is high and tiger attack the commonest (82%) followed by crocodile and shark.
The literacy level and per capita income is much below the state average and most of the people fall below the poverty line. Approximately 66.7% of the population in Satjelia is illiterate, 18% with primary education i.e 4th standard and 15.3% with secondary education i.e 5th standard +.
To reach the village from Kolkata it takes 2 hrs journey by road, appx 125Km, followed by 2 hrs 30 mins by boat, approx. 15 Kms
