Chopriyal Gao (Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand) - A Tourist Destination

LOCATION

Village Chopriyal is a revenue village comes under Gram Pancyat Chopriyal Goan which lies in Tehri tehsil in Tehri Garhwal District of Uttarakhand State, India. It is located 20 Km towards west from district head quarters Tehri and 120 KM from State capital Dehradun on Chamba Mussoorie road. Well known tourist destinations Chamba, Kanatal, Saur and Jadipani are located within 5-7 km radius from the village. Tourist visiting Kedarnath, Badrinath from Mussoorie passes through the Chopriyal village, therefore it is one of the village located on the route to two Dhams.  .

This middle Himalayan village lies at slope with the geographical coordinates of Latitude 30.3455 and longitude 78.3947. Situated at an elevation of about 1600 meter above from sea level, climate of Chopriyal remains pleasant throughout year. Climate is sub temperate to temperate. The maximum temperature during summer ranges from 25ºC to 5ºC. The months of winters begins from October and extend to April. Maximum temperature reaches to 10ºC and goes down to 0ºC or below during winter season, it also receives a particular amount of snowfalls.  The densely forested slope receives adequate rainfall generally commencing from mid-June and extending till mid-September. Adequate rainfall is also recorded in winter.

The rich forest area adjacent to the village is basically an broad leaf forest with a certain proportion of pine, pine, bushes and grasslands. Oak, Dendrocalamus, Rhododendron, Deodar and pine is widely spread over with different varieties of bushes of herbs shrubs and grasses.  At the higher elevation cedar species is also found in the reserve forest. The inhabitations of local people meet the need of fuel, fodder, small timber and thatch grass from this forest. The main wild animal of this area include the black bear, dear, common leopard, etc. The rich and exotic avifauna of in and around village makes it a birdwatcher’s paradise. Its colorful avifauna comprises, inter alia, several species of thrushes, woodpeckers, barbets, flycatchers, swifts, tits serow, golden eagle, bearded vulture, snow cock, steppe eagle black eagle and the one mustn't forget the peculiar -- and ubiquitous – jet black jungle crow.

SOCIO ECONOMIC FEATURES

Chopariyal Gaon is a medium size village with total 93 families residing. The Chopariyal Gaon village has population of 404 of which 178 are males while 226 are females as per Population Census 2011. In Chopariyal village, population of children with age 0-6 is 60 which makes up 14.85 % of total population of village. Average Sex Ratio of Chopariyal Gaon village is 1270 which is higher than Uttarakhand state average of 963. Child Sex Ratio for the Chopariyal Gaon as per census is 1069, higher than Uttarakhand average of 890. 

Chopariyal village has lower literacy rate compared to Uttarakhand. In 2011, literacy rate of Chopariyal village was 77.03 % compared to 78.82 % of Uttarakhand. In Chopariyal Gaon male literacy stands at 90.60 % while female literacy rate was 66.67 %. Dabral, Saklani, Belwal, and Chamoli are the casts in the village who belong to Hindu Brahman category. This is followed by the schedule caste with total 7 families. 

Agriculture combined with livestock, horticulture is main source of the economy of Chopriyal village. There are still 43 families who come below poverty line. The total agriculture land of the village is 58.16 hectare. The irrigated land area is only 0.87 hectare which is quite negligible and remaining cultivable area is rain fed. The amount of land available for cultivation in uttarakhand, particularly in the Chopriyal village is very limited as it constitutes more than 50% of the total reported area.

As per the focus discussion with the village, 50% families have less than half hectare land. A large cultivable area in village is under marginal holdings, which too is fragmented and scattered. This has impeded the task of making agriculture a profitable occupation. However, the experience of Himachal Pradesh with a similar land holdings pattern shows that agriculture could be made remunerative through its focused development by providing incentives like inputs, extension, developing infrastructure, etc. Somehow the villagers have adopted Himachal pattern of cash crop farming and developed orchard and off season vegetable farming. Village Chopriyal is part of Kanatal, which is known as the famous fruit belt in the area. Villager cultivating more and more cash crop to enhance their livelihood despite  lack   of irrigation facilities. This village could be an example for the other villages in Uttarakhand. The main agricultural crops grown in the village are paddy, mandua (ragi), Jhangora (both are small millets) and pulses in the kharif crop season, potato, tomato and vegetable (summer crops), and wheat and vegetable in rabi crop (winter crops). Food grains such as paddy and wheat are mostly grown in valley areas that have irrigation facilities, while the other crops are generally grown in the high terraces where irrigation facilities are not available. Mixed cropping is common in village which helps in maintaining the crop diversity and reduces the risk of environment uncertainty. Productivity of agriculture almost remained stagnant in the village over the past one decade except increase in the case of cash crops.

The area under commercial crops in village is increasing.  There has been a significant growth in the area under fruits and vegetables particularly under the potato and seasonal off seasonal vegetable.  As a result, both production and productivity of vegetables recorded an impressive increase in the village. This has become one of the additional sources of income for the villagers.

Agriculture in village is closely interlinked with animal husbandry and forestry to form a production system.  Marginal and small farmers are heavily dependent on the livestock sector as it is not only a source of milk and draught power, but its by-products such as manure help in supplementing farm income. These animals, in turn largely depend on forests for their feed. There has been a decline in the growth of population of sheep, which could be attributed to the reduction in grazing lands. Also, the village observed continuous decline in the growth of cattle population.

 ATTRACTION FOR TOURIST IN AND AROUND THE VILLAGE

The key attractions for tourist in and around the village are following.

S.N	Attraction	Description
1	Cool, calm, scenic beauty and village environment	The number of tourist especially during summer in Mussoorie reaches its peak beyond carrying capacity. The crowed hotels and jammed road during summer makes tourist to explore option to enjoy the beauty of the hills. To get away from the hustle bustle of the popular destination many resort/ hotels and camps are already developed and offering their services. The ridge of Jadipani, Kanatal is unique place from where a wonderful view of Ganga and Yamuna valley along with view of Great Himalaya attracts hundreds of visitors.  Mix evergreen forest with giant and beautiful Deodar trees makes the place attractive for nature lover. The lush green orchard and vegetable farming will provide an additional tourism product to visitor.
2	Surkanda Temple	Tourist staying at Chopriyal can make their day visit to temple of Surkanda Devi which is about 6 km away from the village and lies about 2500 meter above sea level. The Ganga Dussera festival is celebrated every year at Surkanda between May and June and attracts a lot of people.
3	Chamba, New Tehri Town and Tehri Lake	Chamba, a hilly town located 8 km and Tehri lake about 32 km away from the village will offers experience of both mountain's scenic beauty and water sports for tourist. Tehri Lake is now an emerging tourist destination, it is spread over 45 km2 and government of Uttarakahnd tends to develop it as aqua sports destination. Boating Kayaking and many other water related sports will attract peoples.
4	Cultural life of local community	The villages of Uttarakhand are culturally very rich. The peculiar traditional housing pattern, costumes, fair festival, food, folk music and dances, agriculture practices and animal husbandry practices can attract visitors across the world. Linking tourism activities with the calendar of local fair and festival would be a lifelong experience to visitors. This area of Tehri Garhwal has known for its colorful custom, fair, festival, song, dances and music. To expose village life and culture, schedule can be made for students, corporate, culture lover etc. matching with local cultural activities. The traditional organic cuisine of the area is highly nutritious, simple to prepare and at the same time appealing to the palate. The main recipes are Baildi roti, Patyud, Badeel, Pappdi, pooree, meat,  suwanley, pakodey, lagdey, baadi, pattod, arsey, rotal, sattoo, marchha ki kheer, bhujeela ki badiyan etc.