<h1 class="ql-align-center"><strong style="color: rgb(230, 0, 0);">Tharu people</strong></h1><p class="ql-align-center"><br></p><h3><strong>Context&nbsp;</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">Forest officials of the Katarniaghat division say a plan is in the works for the financial inclusion of the <strong>Tharu groups that live near the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) and are much affected by human-wildlife conflicts.</strong></li></ul><p><br></p><h3><strong>About</strong>&nbsp;</h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">The word “tharu” is believed to be derived from “sthavir”, meaning followers of <strong>Theravada Buddhism.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1"><strong>Habitat</strong>: The Tharu community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amid the Shivaliks or lower Himalayas.</li><li class="ql-indent-2">Terai is a region of northern India and southern Nepal running parallel to the lower ranges of the Himalayas.</li><li class="ql-indent-2">The Tharus live in both India and Nepal. In the Indian terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.</li><li class="ql-indent-1"><strong>Scheduled Tribe</strong>: Tharu is a scheduled tribe in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.</li><li class="ql-indent-1"><strong>Occupation</strong>: Most of them are forest dwellers, and some practice agriculture.</li></ul><p><br></p><h3><strong>Culture</strong>:</h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Although they are Hindu, the Tharu use their own traditional ritual specialists in addition to the Hindu Brahman priests.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Each Tahru village is governed by a council and a headman.</li></ul><p><br></p><h3><strong>The Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-indent-1">The Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, <strong>200 km from Lucknow, is a part of the Dudhwa tiger reserve.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">It covers an area of 400.6 sq km in T<strong>erai belt of Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">It is part of <strong>Dudhwa Tiger Reserve Lakhimpur kheri.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">In 1987, it was brought under the purview of the 'Project Tiger'.</li><li class="ql-indent-1">It provides strategic connectivity between tiger habitats of <strong>Dudhwa and Kishanpur in India and the Bardia National Park in Nepal.</strong></li><li class="ql-indent-1">Katarniaghat is home to a wide range of endangered species, including the <strong>rhino, Gangetic dolphin, gharial, swamp deer, tiger, white-backed and long-billed vultures and Hispid hare.</strong></li></ul><p><br></p><h1 class="ql-align-center"><strong>PRELIMS NOTES:</strong><a href="https://sunyaias.in/notes/prelims-2023" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);"><strong>CLICK HERE</strong></a></h1><p class="ql-align-center"><br></p>