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Gharat: an environment friendly livelihood source for the natives of western Himalaya, India.

ABSTRACT: The native people of the Himalayan region use an indigenously designed watermill locally called as 'Gharat'. The 'Gharat' is made from the natural resources that are easily available in the area and operates through the water force coming from glaciers, perennial streams and rivulets. Thus, it is an environment friendly source of livelihood for the 'Gharatis' (the owner of Gharat). In the present communication, an effort was made to document the status of Gharats in the high-altitude Himalayan regions of Pangi and Tissa of district Chamba. Field surveys were conducted in a total of twenty remote villages of Pangi and Tissa regions (ten in each site). Information was collected on pre-designed semi-structured questionnaires from local people that primarily consisted of Gharatis, elderly informants and the inhabitants living in the vicinity of Gharats. All possible reasons responsible for the increase and reduction in the number of Gharats in the study areas were also documented by interviewing the informants. The study revealed that in the Pangi region number of Gharats have increased and are in good condition whereas there is a drastic decline in the number of Gharats in Tissa. The informants in Pangi gave maximum responses favouring motivational factors while in Tissa maximum responses were obtained for demotivational factors. Based on these responses, we prioritized the corrective measures for improving the efficiency of Gharats and restoration of this age-old indigenous and environment friendly technology. This will surely enhance livelihood security of the inhabitants besides optimum utilization of the natural resources in the Himalayan region.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10668-021-01455-4.

SUBMITTER: Bhatt A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8084263 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background: Laughingthrushes (family: Leiothrichidae) consists of diverse and widespread species found in the Indian subcontinent but there is a lack of information on their avian haemosporidians. Methods: We sampled 231 laughingthrushes of 8 species in the western and eastern Himalaya in India. Using parasite morphology and cytochrome b sequences we describe 2 new Haemoproteus species harbored in 3 species of laughingthrushes and report a case of cryptic speciation. Results: First Haemoproteus lineage TROERY01 (GenBank: KY623720) found in Trochalopteron erythrocephalum (27.47%) and Trochalopteron variegatum (2.9%) in mid to high altitude tropical forests in the western and eastern Himalaya, was described as Haemoproteus (Parahaemoproteus) leiothrichus n. sp. (Haemosporida: Haemoproteidae). Second Haemoproteus lineage TROERY02 (GenBank: KY623721) described as Haemoproteus (Parahaemoproteus) homoleiothrichus n. sp. (Haemosporida: Haemoproteidae) was found in T. erythrocephalum (2.19%) and Trochalopteron lineatum (3.84%), albeit in low intensity, only in the western Himalaya. Both H. homoleiothrichus n. sp. and H. leiothrichus n. sp. showed no significant difference in morphological features in blood stages. A genetic divergence of 4.4% along with distinct phylogenetic position indicates that these 2 lineages represent cryptic species. Previously, T. erythrocephalum has been described as an additional host for a morphologically described Haemoproteus timalus in the oriental region. Our described species have several morphological features that are absent in H. timalus. These are, the presence of dumbbell-like shaped mature gametocytes, 'arm' like extensions of gametocytes and lateral displacement of nuclei of infected erythrocytes. Illustrations of blood stages of the new species are given, and phylogenetic analysis with morphologically described Haemoproteus species identifies parasites closely related to the 2 described parasites. Conclusions: The lineages described here have been recorded only in the laughingthrushes so far. These are the first parasites to be described with T. erythrocephalum as a type host from the western and eastern Himalaya in India.

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Gharat: an environment friendly livelihood source for the natives of western Himalaya, India.

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