Beerwah, Jammu and Kashmir

Beerwah (Hindi: बीरवाह) is a town and a notified area committee in Badgam district in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, India.

Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[1] Beerwah had a population of 5515. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Beerwah has an average literacy rate of 43%, lower than the national average of 59.5%; with 61% of the males and 39% of females literate. 16% of the population is under 6 years of age. Beerwah is the largest constituency in terms of number of voters in district Badgam. Presently the member of legislative assembly (MLA) from this constituency is Dr. Mohammad Shafi Wani from Peoples democratic party (PDP) who succeeded Sarfaraz Ahmad khan also from the same party.

Agriculture

Most of the families in Beerwah have their own fields for cultivation of crops which include rice, mustard, vegetables, apples, walnuts, pears, apricots, cherries and almonds.

Business

Beerwah is not a strong center of business. People are dealing with the business at small scales like carpet designing (Kaleen in kashmiri language), designing in shawls (knit work) and embroidery. These kashmiri carpets and shawls have good national and international market but the workers involved in it are not getting sufficient wages to hold on this business. This used to be the most important source of income in the families long time ago but due to increasing prices, family pressure and low income, people shifted to other small scale businesses to meet their family needs. Nowadays, only small chunk of people are involved in this heritage business and is almost at the verge of extinction. As this region of Badgam is very rich in walnut trees large section of people are dealing with walnut export.

Transportation

Mostly people of Beerwah have their own means of conveyance but public transportation includes buses and cars mainly.

History: Beerwah has root word in Sanskrit meaning Beautiful. This town has a 2000 years old history.

References

1. ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01.