CHAPTER – III3.0 IntroductionBangladesh is largely an agricultural country and land is the principal wealth in therural society. Majority of the population are engaged in agricultural occupation andagriculture related occupation .In the current millennium at the peak of human civilizationmost of the countries are rushing towards postindustrial technology based modern society,we, the people of Bangladesh are far behind with that of the developed countries of themodern age. Majority of the population is the inhabitants of rural society where investorconsumerrelationship is well entranced to evaluate the development of the wholemotherland we have to pay a specific and sympathetic view to these irony-fated poorvillages.The word we know ‘Gram’ as an ethnic grouping of partial members of thesociety. It is a community all together with diverse ethnicity. The pastoral part possesses amore or less sole culture of their own with a diverse mind-set, custom and conviction. Inorder to be aware of the Gram we have to ascertain and gain knowledge from the people ofthe Gram and find our feet to their life style.

3.1 Creation of North Bahir Kamta Kamta-History and NomenclatureTo get the idea about the village we need to know the background of the village.The village we were assigned to conduct our PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) wasnamed North Bahir Kamta. While conducting the PRA of the assigned village, we have feltthe importance to learn the history of the name of the village. Majority of the residents ofthe village do not have any clear idea about history of the village accept few elderly peopleand some of them who had strong ancestral strings had a hazy view regarding this fact.While conducting PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal), we tried to get this information

from various respondents from that village and also from different people from differentage group.The villagers told us that in Pakistan period the village was under in Dhaleshori river.At the time passed there raised an island on the river and day by day people started toestablished their houses on the island.The main village is “Kamta”. The village fells under Dhankora Union, ShaturiaThana and North side of Maikganj District. It is an old village which is thought to be existsfor more than 35 years. All of its inhabitants are Muslims. It’s a beautiful village with theriver Dhalesshore flowing nearby. Our assigned village situated outside of the Kamta village.That’s why the villagers called Bahir Kamta.There are two parts of Bahir Kamta one of themis North Bahir Kamta and other one is South Bahir Kamta.We worked on North BahirKamta.

3.2 Mapping of North Bahir Kamta VillageVillage Mapping is a technique that helps a team to learn about the social structure of acommunity and how differences among households to land and other asset holdings andaccess to difference services to identify groups and social categories. It also identifies thelocation of homesteads, different streets, schools, markets, shops, ponds, mosques, rivers;crop field’s etc. social map is also useful as an introduction to discussing inequalities andsocial problems.Through the help of P.R.A. technique, we have been able to generate enoughfeedback from the villagers to construct the village map. This was our first step in P.R.A.building. Village map includes the overall picture of the Gram with its geographical data.Our study area North Bahir Kamta Village is in the Saturia Thana of ManikganjDistrict. To collect the data for our report we have used the following techniques, which areexplained in details later:1. Village Mapping

2. Village Transect

Map Of Bangladesh NW ES

Map Of ManikganjVillage Map Of North Bahir Kamta3.3 Techniques of village mapping3.3.1 Site selectionWe used PRA techniques to draw the maps. When we went to the village, we have to select aclean, open place where the selected villager will draw his village map. The place should besuch that more people can sit together. This is because one man can do several mistakes;other people will make him correct.3.3.2 Rapport buildingBuilding relationship with the villagers is called rapport building. So, the villagers willfeel free to share information. This is a major aspect of PRA technique. The PRA teamshould make the environment in such a way that the villagers feel themselves moreimportant; they do not feel uncomfortable and do not hesitate to share the feeling with thePRA team. Thus, it is important that by building a good relationship with the villagers anexact map can be extracted from the villagers. Another concept exists there. The teammembers should behave with the people in such a way that, they do not know anything andthe villagers are teaching them.We can construct relationship with the villagers by the following ways:1) We should make relationship with the villagers by talking with them while walkingthrough the village.2) We should ask the villagers from which direction we will get a clear idea about the village,its natural resources, surroundings etc.3) We should ask the villagers in a several formatted questions.4) While walking through in the village, we should carefully observe the surroundings: likehow the land is used, if there is any tube-well, pond or any mosque or any graveyard is there.

In brief, we should keep our eyes open.5) We should ask the villagers the name of the trees or crops, which are unfamiliar.6) After finishing the transect walk, we should write all the data in a tabular form. And thenwe should reconfirm it by the villagers.3.3.3 Drawing the mapThe villager draws the map on the ground. It should be finalized by the PRA team byasking them to symbolize (using colored chalk powder) the different resources like school,mosque, market, main road, sub road, government office, house type, mills, ponds, firms,canals and other social aspects.At last we selected the place which is besides of a pond, and the place was open andclear. Then we gathered some people and with the help of them we started to draw the map.We introduced ourselves to them. Then we told them that we wanted to know about theirvillage map. So, one of them took a stick and started to draw the main road of the village asthere is only one main road in village usually. An interesting thing happened. Our instructorstold us about it before but it was a personal experience for us that whenever we asked themsomething about their village they at first they talked among themselves and then gave theirstatement. They all talked at a high pitched voice and it seemed they were all talking to themselves and nobody could follow them. Then we asked them where is the mosque, if there isany school or not, if so then where it is and so on. They had drawn the map on thecourtyard and we copied it to a page. Then we drew it in PROSHIKA and the next day wecross checked the maps with the help of the villagers and corrected them. The people whohelped us are Mr. Torab, Mr. Kuddus and others. After returning to Chittagong we drew themap again and it is submitted with the report.

3.4 Overview of North Bahir Kamta villageNorth Bahir Kamta is situated in the northern part of Manikgonj. The village covers

an area of 35 acor. The entire village falls under the Dhankora Union in Saturia Thana andtopology is plain land. North Bahir Kamta is not very resourceful and it has a little area ofland with a good variety of resources ecology. It also has a river that stretches from North ofthe village. Such a resource provides benefit to the villagers of North Bahir Kamta. There areother water facilities such as a deep tube-well, which provide water for irrigation purposes.Not only does North Bahir Kamta have a moderately good water resources system forirrigation and food resources. The study findings also revealed that North Bahir Kamta is amore or less developing village. The villagers have strong communal feelings. There are nohealth care facilities or pharmacy in the village. The economic condition of the village is asustainable one as most men folk are farmer, daily labor or migrant workers living in thecities or abroad. This inflow of income enables few families to live a moderately comfortablelife.

3.5 Synopsis of North Bahir Kamta villageName of the villageDistrictThanaUnionPost officeAreaTotal PopulationVoterLiteracy RateReligionTotal Number of houseTotal Number of householdNumber of total SchoolHospitalMosqueElectricityGasNGOs:GOs:::

:::::::::::::::::North Bahir KamtaManikgonjShaturiaDhankoraDhankora35 acer (approximately)400-450250 (approximately)75%Islam (100% Muslim)70-7550-60NoneNoneNoneAvailableUnavailablePROSHIKA,Grameen Bank andASA are workingKrishi Bank, Thana sasto Complex

3.6 Village Attached with North Bahir Kamta villageOur study area is surrounded by the following areas:North Janna VillageEast Kamta VillageWest Raillar ChorSouth South Bahir Kamta

3.7Landmarks and resources of North Bahir Kamta village

Our village is not very resourceful but it has a little area of land with a good fertility .Butthere is no pond in our village. North Bahir Kamta also has a river that is situated in theEastern side. Such a resource provides benefit to the villagers of North Bahir Kamta.The study findings also revealed that North Bahir Kamta is a more or less developing village.The villagers have strong communal feelings. There are no health care facilities or pharmacyin the village. The economic condition of the village is a sustainable and almost all of themare farmers.3.7.1 School/college/madrasaAt present there is no School, college or madrasa in our village. Three years ago therewas a primary school which was directed by Proshika. By the changing of government theschool was closed because of the foreign help was stopped by the government. After thatsome student of this school goes to Kamta Government primary school and some of themwere stop reading.3.7.2 Roads and CommunicationThe main road of North Bahir Kamta is not large, it is kacha, so the truck cannotenter inside the village and the farmers have to pay high price to higher rickshaw and van totake there crops to the market. So the overall production price of the crops increases.3.7.3 House typeWe found there were several types of houses in our village. We found somebrick built house, but most of the houses are tin-shaded, we found some houses whichwalls and floor are made by muddy. But all of them houses are situated on high placesbecause in rainy season the village is affected by flood. Villages said that they have madetheir roof by tin, wall by bamboo stick and floor by mud. There are two concrete madefloors in our village; one is Kala chan’s house (Judge of the village) and another one isTorab Ali’s house. Villagers said that people graves finishing to their room's floor by

mixing water with little amount of cow dung. The floor is made with the lower layer ofthe soil and it is "Bele" soil. The upper layer is "Etel" soil. This soil is very hard. Theysome trees here as well as, they have stocked their strand here. Most of the householdshave straw in front of their houses. Villagers said that in their houses they have palm,date, coconut, and “Supari or Boroi" trees. Villagers also have the rooms for cattle's infront of their houses. They cattle's are fed in "Chari", which is a big pot is made of mud.Some villagers may have two or more houses in their propriety. They are one room for"Kachari ghar, which they use as the drawing room of their houses.3.7.4 ShopThere is only one tin shed shop in the middle of the village. This shop is beside ofowner’s residence and with the main road. It helps her to work in his house and shop both.The villagers buy their daily essential things from this shop. Chocolate, Biscuit, tea ,bread,chips, potato, onion, ginger ,sugar and many of their necessary things.3.7.5 MosqueThere is no mosque in our village. But there is one mosque, which is situated besideof our village. Villagers go there to say their prayer.3.7.6 Communication and TransportsThere is only one way to get into the village, which is through the Saturia main road.The communication system of the village is not very good. The sources for communicationwith Manikgonj are rickshaws, rickshaw van, baby-taxis, buses and tempo. The Dhaka-Aricha highway is mainly used as the route to the town from the village. Van, rickshaw,bicycle, motorcycle and other light vehicles are used for communication. This road improvedvillager’s life slandered. Students are easily goes to town for their higher study and theopportunities of business also increased. According to the villager this road was build in sixto eight years ago. And the improvement of communication system started after the flood of

1988. This communication is indicating that the revolution that is taking place in the grassroot level in the form of chronological change due to political modernization and graduallyincreasing activities of the NGO’s after the Liberation War. Their development efforts havecreated a revolution of rising expectation of people for better life, better well being, even incompletely isolated villages.The main road of the village is not large, it is muddy, so the truck cannot enter insidethe village and the farmers have to pay high price to higher rickshaw and van to take therecrops to the market. So the overall production price of the crops increases. But from theSaturia there are bus service available, and villagers can also find enough rickshaw, baby--taxi, tempo. But during rainy season the kacha rasta of the village get really messy.3.7.7 Sources of waterThe main water sources of this village is Dholesshori river, Balir Ghat(part ofDholesshori) and tube well.Almost every house has its own it’s own tube well. The villagersuse the water from the well for drinking, household and domestic purposes. Almost everyhouse has their own hold to put all the wastes. They also use Dholesshori and Balir Ghat fortheir and their domestic animal bath. The other source of waters are- Shallow tube-well,deep-tube-well; which they use for irrigation.3.7.8 RiverThe village has a river “Dholesshori” which is important river of Bangladesh. Theriver plays an important role for this fertility of the land. The villagers use river water fortheir irrigation and daily use.3.7.9 Soil TypeThe types of soil we found in the village are sandy loam. Not everywhere, but insome places the soil is of clay. This sandy loamy soils are blown by the river for longtimes. The soil is famous for its fertility. The villagers are very happy with theproduction capability of the land.

3.7.10 Agriculture and CultivationAs the most of the villagers are farmers, so they are grown paddy in a large number.Paddy is grown here vastly. Most of the lands are paddy lands. For irrigation they usedeep tube well which is called ‘Shallow machine’ by them. They also use chemicalfertilizers for good production of crops. There are various types of fruits that are availablein the village all the year round. Like coconut, watermelon, mango, jam, jackfruit,banana, Papaw etc are mostly seen.The villagers grows only IRRI paddy through out the year. There are no Aush, Amanand Boro. There are many different types in IRRI. They are twenty, B-11, Bitlob, Varda,Rajvog, Kalizira, Nazarshail, China Irri etc. They also grow winter crops like Rabi Shashwa,such as potato, Gourt, Spinach, Brinjle, Pumpkin, Bean pumpkins, beans, spices etc in thewinter season. The most common crop is mustard and tobacco. Tobacco is profitablebecause it does not need any pesticide more over the paddy is given by Tobacco Company.But now farmers not interested to grow tobacco because it decreased fertility of land. That’swhy other crops could not grow in that land.The major advantage for the farmers in North Bahir Kamta is that all of theircultivatable land is located at one side of the village. Therefore it is easier for them to supplywater to the lands in the dry season. In North Bahir Kamta village, farmers get seeds,fertilizer and pesticides from their nearest “Proshika” NGO organization and also fromother external sources. Their land is very fertile, which allows them to produce crops andvegetables throughout the year.After analyzing the seasonal timing of growing crops in village, we can say that the‘pricing’ of the crops, vegetables and spices follow the simple economic principle of supplyand demand. The prices are high when demand for a particular crop exceeds its supply andvice versa.3.7.11 TreesDifferent types of trees are found all over in the village. Almost every household hasseveral trees. The small homestead forests are Palm, Mango, Jackfruit, Banana, Mahogany,

Eucalyptus, Pitasorai, Coconut, Papaw, contain near Tulsi, olive, Karoi, Devdaru, Shishu,Rain Tree, "Shupari", Date, Lichi, Bamboo, Berry, Guava, "jamrul", 'Kotbel", "Ata",“Amra", Star-fruit, "Dalim", "Boroi", "Golapjam", Lemon, Shall, Epil epil, Shimul andBanyan tree etc are mostly seen.. Most of the houses have bamboo bushes at the back oftheir houses. The trees along the side of the main road are SHISHU. There used to be bushesand jungles in the village. But now most of it has turn in to agricultural land. These trees are agood source of earnings for the villagers. They also meet the necessity for the firewood of thevillagers.We found many bamboo bushes that are used in household walls and villagers alsocan earn money by selling it in the Hut. Most of the homestead also contains may jack fruitstree which are used for making furniture from these villagers also can lot of money.3.7.12 Healthcare CenterThere are no health care facilities or pharmacy in the village. The economiccondition of the village is a sustainable and almost all of them are farmers. The villagers leada bit comfortable, sometimes hard life.There is no Hospital and Health Center into the village. Villagers have go to theSadar for better treatment. Otherwise they have to depend on some doctors whose camberand dispensary is in Bazaar. The health condition of the people whose economic condition isquite good is better than whose economic condition is poor. The sanitary system is good andthere are very few non-sanitary latrines in the village. Almost every house has its own it’sown arsenic free tube well. The villagers use the water from the well for drinking and alsodomestic purposes. Almost every house has their own hold to put all the wastes. Almost thewhole village is aware of family planning. But only the women have to follow this concept, asthe men do not like to follow this. The family planning items are like- condom (Raja, Nirapod),

pills (Femicon, Maya) are available there. This center manly deals with baby and their mother.Mother comes here for routine check-up.3.7.13 Haat and BazarThe definition of haat is- a big places where exchange takes place between sellers andbuyers. A village hut is a large gathering of the village people Haat generally sits at an openplace on the skirt of a village by the side of a river or a canal or a road. We found their twotypes of village market. One is a big bazaar and another is a haat named “Jannar haat”The villagers go to Gollara bazar for buy their daily essential things. But in big casethey go to Jannar haat.3.7.14 BirdsIn our village there are different types of birds we seen.They are Pigeon, Mayna,Parrot, ghughu, Bulbul, Doel, Shalik, Stocks, cuckoo, owl, Sparrow, Pan kowri, Kingfisher,cock, pea cock etc.3.7.15 AnimalsIn our village most of the houses have domestic animal of cows, goats and sheep.They don’t have hens and ducks so much because these domestic animals make their housedirty which hampers their prayer. But Muslim are use to have all types of domestic animals.The others animals are buffaloes, horse, jackal, hens, ducks and dogs are thedomestic animals of the village. There are also have different types of small and big andpoisonous snakes like “Sutanali”, “Gokhro”, “Daraish”, “Dudhraj”, “Dhora”, “Pangkhiraj”etc.

3.8 Basic Demographical information of North Bahir Kamta3. 3.8 .1 8 Age and Sex Distribution of Study PopulationTable: 1.1 Age and Sex Distribution of Study PopulationMale Female Age GroupsNo. % No. %0-10 13 11% 11 9%10-15 7 6% 5 4%15-20 5 4% 11 9%

20-Higher 36 30% 33 27%Source: Field Survey 20053.8. 3.8.2 Marital Status2 Table: 1.2 Marital statusMale Female Marital StatusNo. % No. %Married 38 31% 44 36%Unmarried 20 17% 17 14%Widow/Widower - - 2 2%Divorced - - - -Separated/Abandoned - - - -Source: Field Survey 20053.8.3 Family TypeTable: 1.3 Family TypeFamily Type No %Extended - -Joint 8 32%Nuclear 17 68%Total 25 100%Source: Field Survey,20053.8.4 Primary occupationTable:1.4 OccupationMale Female OccupationNo. % No. %Income Earner 38 31% 3 2%House Wife 40 33%Student 10 8 % 8 7 %Unemployed - - - -Dependent (children) 8 7% 9 7%Dependent (Aged persons) 2 2% 4 3%Total 57 48% 63 52%Source: Field Survey, 2005.3.8.5 Total Family IncomeTable 1.5: Total Family Income (Yearly)Income Range No. %30000-70000 5 7 %18000– 30000 40 57%10000-18000 25 36 %Source: Field Survey, 2005.3.8.6 BBS Report of Manikganj SadarTable 1.6: BBS reportRuralMale FemaleNeverMarried

CurrentlyMarriedWidowedDivorcedSeparatedNeverMarriedCurrentlyMarriedWidowedDivorcedSeparatedTotal 47.13 51.55 1.18 30.27 60.93 8.2510-14 100.00 - - 100.00 -15-19 100.00 - - 60.94 35.87 2.1520-24 74.32 23.60 1.84 14.74 82.66 2.0325-29 35.15 63.17 1.10 5.09 91.42 2.3530-34 11.52 87.22 0.95 2.67 91.86 3.9435-39 5.18 93.89 0.66 1.80 91.04 6.1540-44 3.83 95.23 0.69 2.18 83.34 10.8345-49 2.46 96.44 0.98 1.99 80.12 17.0550-54 3.45 94.65 1.54 1.69 72.82 24.8555-59 2.78 94.41 2.36 1.67 67.34 30.6460-64 2.93 92.35 4.68 2.36 54.79 42.3465-69 4.22 91.63 4.12 4.27 49.32 45.9770-74 9.41 82.72 7.87 5.23 43.58 50.84Source: BBS Report, 2000.

3.8.7 ReligionAll of the villagers are Muslims. They perform their usual religious activities withoutany barriers.

3.8.8 LiteracyIn the village of North Bahir Kamta the literacy rate is very good and it increasingday by day. Though there is no school in the village but children’s go another village schoolwhich is one or one and half kilometer far from the their village. Parents want to make theirchildren educated. It is because the parents are given compensation from the government ifthey let their children to study up to the primary level. So that 75% of people of North BahirKamta are literate. Students are given all kind of books pencils and other necessaries from

the school. Interesting things is that the girls also go school as well as boys.Table : 1.7 Educational Background:Currently Student Non-studentMale Female Male FemaleEducational BackgroundNo. % No. % No. % No. %Primary 6 5 7 6 3 2 1 1Secondary (Non S.S.C) 3 2 1 4.0 1 1 5 4S.S.C. - - - - - - - -H.S.C. 1 1 - - 2 2 - -Graduation - - - - - - - -Masters - - - - - - - -Source: Field Survey, 2005.3.8.9 Administration and LawsBasically there is no administration in North Bahir Kamta. At the entrance point ofthe village there is a police box. Polices are guard whole night but in day time they don’t. Forany kind of problem solving people announced a meeting which is called “Bichar”. Theoldest person of the village named Kala Chan and Torab Ali are present there and give thesolutions.3.8.10 Roles of NGOThere are NGOs like PROSHIKA, Grameen Bank, ASA in the village. They areoffer for micro credit, mass education, their health conditions and hygiene, financialcondition etc. These organizations are giving message on education. They are creatingconsciousness for the education among the villagers. They give loan and job facilities to thevillagers.For example activities regarding social, economical, education, health, agriculture and manyother.The NGOs have field worker for the village for help and inspection whether thevillagers are really getting their services.POSHIKA has one of the successful project is Koitta village. Since 1986 PROSHIKA isdeveloping their different activities in Koitta village life.

Removing poor structurally. Build and save the nature.

Developing the rights of woman in the society.Different development Education program

Human development training workshop. Skill Development training Workshop to help the communication development. Developing scope of woman end of income by different activities.

Ex-small loan.3.8.11 Government OrganizationThere is Krishi Bank for giving agriculture and project loan. Thana sastho comlplexwhich gives family planning accessories and mother and child cares.3.8.12 RecreationThe general meeting place for the men is the bazaar. And for the women they gofrom houses to houses and gossip. Some time woman use to watch TV after finishingtheir housework.They have drama and fair in different seasons of the year. Every year there sits a fairin the Kati village. This fair is taking place for almost 40-50 years. People from nearbyvillages come and takes part in the fair. Wood and steel materials are one of the mainselling materials of this fair. In the fair circus comes from Dhaka. But the females are notallowed to come here and enjoy the circus.Folk song narrates the common social practice, norms and history in local language.According to the villagers these are usually sang by the villagers in different occasions.But now a day, the main source of entertainment is TV, Video and Audios, as thewhole village has electric facility and almost every house has TV (Black-white). So thesources of ancient means of entertainment are going to be extinct now.

3.9 Major Findings of the villageThere are about 400 to 450 (approx) people residing in the village and there are about250 voters in the village. The village has about 60-70 family units. Most of the families arenuclear and it is increasing. The number of joint families is decreasing. It is because thepeople of the village are getting more self-centered. According to the villagers that their

economical condition is not good, for which they cannot afford to stay in joint families. Notonly that, the villagers are getting educated and they are growing a tendency to move to thetowns rather than stay in the village.Information of total of 25 (twenty five) families were collected for analysis.According to the villagers' opinion these families were divided into three classes – Upper,Middle and Lower. Among those 3 of the families were classified as Upper, 15 were ofMiddle class and rest was Lower.Overall the villagers were not very well off. Most of the villagers are middle class orpoor. According to the villagers they are quite happy as they are.We found 80% people of the village were educated. It is because the parents aregiven compensation from the government if they let their children to study up to theprimary level.All most all houses have sanitary latrines. There was no doctor even a pharmacy inthe village. That’s why the villagers till now for the common diseases depend on Kobiraj’s,Pani Pora, Alopathy, and homeopathy treatment.

3.10 LimitationsAs we were unfamiliar with this type of research, we found some margins. Thelimitations we found are stated below:

Time limitation was one of the most important factors because to build a very goodrapport with the villagers we need to comparatively longer period of time than wewere allotted. More over we spent only one day for drawing the village map and oneday for transect map

As we worked at morning, the villagers were very much busy at that time. They werein hurry because they have to go field for work.

Some of the old people feel very hesitate. They don’t want to talk. Most of our respondents were young people. They could not give

appropriateanswers of some questions.

There were some topics such as we asked them about the history of their village

name. But they could not answer accurately.

3.11 Transect MappingTransect is micro view of village. The importance of doing transect is to give a birdseye view or a view at glance about the physical picture of the village. The Transect is atechnique that is directly built upon the village map to help the team learn more details aboutthe environmental, economical and social resources of a community. It depicts a crosssection of an area on which a number of physical arrangements are recorded. They aremainly topography, soils, land type, land use pattern, vegetation, plantation, fish culture,poultry and livestock, crops and cropping pattern, homestead gardening etc. To do transactit takes a limited area and within that area we need to describe what we saw step by stepfrom our first step to the last.3.11.1 Application of Transect MapThe goal of the transect map is to get a micro view of the whole village. It representsthe structure of the whole village in terms of its components. The application of the map isto illustrate the relationship between the different important components of the village. Itincludes generalized soil type, land use homestead forest and vegetation, types of crops andsome important structures etc.3.11.2 Objective of village transectThe major objective is to get a general idea about the village and village people, andthen to get primary ideas about the natural resources of the village like river, lands, trees, etc.When doing village transact, by talking with the villagers rapport building is done.The main objectives are:

To know the life style of the village people. To get a clear idea about the village and to get primary idea about

the naturalresources, soil use problems and solutions, etc.

To know the differences about the village by seeing and by knowledge gatheredlocally.

To promote the group members about the village by transect.

Transect Map Of North Bahir Kamta3.11.3 Procedure of vill village transect Mapage At first select the most resourceful way of the village.

Observing the general structures as far as eyes can see. Drawing a rough sketch map of the transect path. While walking through the village, walk very slowly; observe

everything very carefullyaround you; and take notes of things like, soil type and uses, types of crops,vegetation, trees, types of fishes in the ponds, types of animals, birds seen, etc.everything. If we find any problem also note that down.

Asking the villagers what is where. Asking the villagers the name of the trees and crops which is not

known Taking notes of what is seen Summarizing the major features

Finalizing of the map.3.11.4 Transect walkWe took the south side of our village North Bahir Kamta. We consider left side ofthe road because the left side was resourceful than the right side. Here is the detaildescription of the transect walk we have done in there:0-20 stepsWe started our transect walk form cultivable land. It was low land and soil type wassandy loamy. Different kinds of vegetables were cultivated like potato, lal shak, gourd, onion,garlic etc. After that we found two double tin shaded houses. We also found some trees like:palm, kadam, neem, wood, and guava. Cows and hens were found there.20 20-40 stepsThese land were high and soil types was sandy loamy. It’s used for residence. Somehouses were made of straw and some of tin. Some trees were beside in houses like: Jambura,betel nut, Jackfruit, coconut, pupil, silk cotton and bamboo tree.40-60 stepsHere land type was low and soil was sandy loamy. We found some empty land andsome were used for cultivating mustard. Trees like bean, neem, date and palm were found.No shallow tube well was found for irrigation land.

60 60-80 stepsA ditch was found here and soil type was clay. It was using fisheries in rainy season.There were some straw and tin shaded houses. Bananas, gourds trees were there and ashallow machine for irrigation.80 80- 100 stepsThe land was low land and soil type was sandy loamy. Here land was used forproducing mustard. There was cow dung side of the road, which is used as fuel for cooking.100 100-120 stepsIts also low land and soil type was sandy loamy. Land was used for producingtobacco and IRRI paddy.120 120-140 stepsLand and soil type was same as above. But land was used for producing corn,mustard and tobacco.140 140-160 stepsIt was low land and soil type was loamy. Here land was used for producing tobaccoand coriander. There were some trees like wood, date, palm and mango.160 160-180 stepsThe one and only shop was situated here. After long distance again we found highland and soil type was loamy. Tin shaded houses were found here also some domesticanimals like cow and hen in the house. Trees were mehegoni, mango, eucalyptus and gourd180 180-200 stepsIt was also high land and soil type was loamy. There were tin shaded houses andgoats were found in the house. We saw some trees like banana, papaw, mango and bamboobushes. In the next few steps we found another thing, the villagers called it “Dhormosha”which is one type of straw used as fuel.3.11.5 Findings from transect walkWe found different variation in this part of transact. We found here variation in soil,trees, height etc. Regarding those parts we found also some advantages and disadvantages.We saw that those particular parts have different sorts of trees there; we tried to find out

what kinds of trees are there. According to the villagers we found different layers of soil inthose parts. We tried to get the characteristics of those different layers.If we look at the transact map of North Bahir Kamta, we can find different sectionsor zone from one end to another. These are:ResidenceCultivatable landDitchShopsBamboo bush3.11.5.1Residence:Most of the houses is mainly tin shaded and “do-chala”. Only one house wall madeof bricks and roof was tin. Usually houses were made in high land because in rainy seasonthe area is affected by flood. Lots of trees were found in back side of every house.3.11.5.2 Cultiv Cultivatable landatable There was lots of cultivatable land. This land were mainly used to cultivate rice,mustered, tobacco and vegetables all over the year. Its soil type is sandy loamy and beside ofthis land we found some trees like palm, mango, coconut etc. Villager gets a lot of help fromNGO’s like Proshika. Proshika gives training to the villagers about different cultivationsystem and also provide seeds. We saw in the village bazaar there was available fertiliser andseeds for the farmer.3.11.5.3 Ditch:Beside of cultivatable land we found a ditch. This ditch is mainly used for farmingfish. The soil type is mainly clay. The problem is that this water is polluted, that is source ofmosquito.3.11.5.4 ShopsThis shop is attached of a house. The shop keeper was a woman. It helps her towork in his house and shop both. It the shop contained daily essential things.

3.11.5.5 Bamboo Bamboo- bushWe found bamboo-bush back side of a house. This bamboo-bush is produced for

household. After they meet there needs villagers sell this bamboo in the haat. So thesebamboos are the source of earning money for the villager. The soil type of this land is loamy.

3.12 Major problems of the villageDuring study hour we have tried to get information about some major problemsin the village. The village has some problems like,

No educational institution. Insufficient electricity. There is no telephone or mobile in the village. Insufficient Healthcare facilities. Muddy road and it is not clear. Infected Banana plants. Infected Chili plants. There is no Gas or bio-gas plant. That’s why air

pollution due to the burning of cooking. As a resultthe villagers affect by many diseases.

3.13 SolutionWhile talking to the villagers, they told some solutions of their problems and weSuggested that these solutions may comfort and easy their life. Their suggestions aregiven below,

Building one or more educational institution Ensure electricity for every house. Create communication system for example mobile and T&T. Building more healthy sanitation system. Arrange regular healthcare checkup team of doctors from the city

provided by thegovernment.

Modem road system and Pacca road with direct connection with the Dhaka- Arichahighway.

Arrange scientists and researchers to find out the causes of the infection in Chili andBanana fields.

Reduce air pollution by creating Bio-gas plant.

3.14 Ending marksThe primary study of the village and the construction of the village and transect mapgave us an overview, a rough idea of the village as a whole. We got a lot of information,which helped us carry out the later sections of the study. We got both a macro and micro

view of the village. We got an idea of their lifestyle, demographics, economy and otheraspects. We learned many interesting facts. But the most important aspect of this section wasthe initial course of rapport building that we went through during these first few days.One thing, which seemed to attract us all, was that they are not superstitious and fanatic.They believe on their own capabilities rather than fate. That means what they think they cando, hay just do it without breaking other’s peace. That’s why I think village environment aswell as society is so calm and quiet.