Forest department, NABARD to give skill-development training to Tharu people.
Why in the news?
Forest officials of the Katarniaghat division say a plan is in the works for the financial inclusion of the Tharu groups that live near the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) and are much affected by human-wildlife conflicts.
About Tharu people
They are an ethnic group indigenous to the Terai region of the Himalayan foothills, located in southern Nepal and in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.
Tharu in Nepal officially numbered about 1.5 million and those in India about 170,000.
They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European family, and they are largely Indian in culture.
Most Tharu practice agriculture, raise cattle, hunt, fish, and collect forest products.
Although they are Hindu, the Tharu use their own traditional ritual specialists in addition to the Hindu Brahman priests.
Each Tahru village is governed by a council and a headman.
Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS):
Location: It is situated in the Upper Gangetic plain falling in the Terai of Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh.
It is part of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve Lakhimpur kheri.
The Katarniya Ghat Forest provides strategic connectivity between tiger habitats of India and Nepal.
Flora: The sanctuary has a mosaic of Sal and Teak forests, lush grasslands, numerous swamps and wetlands.
Fauna: It is home to a number of endangered species including gharial, tiger, rhino, Gangetic dolphin, Swamp deer, Hispid hare, Bengal florican, the White-backed and Long-billed vultures.
