About District
The establishment of Serchhip District came into being on 15th September, 1998 from the existence of Rural Development Block. Serchhip is the smallest district in the state. The Tropic of Cancer passed through the District and is located in the central of the state of Mizoram.
Serchhip is adjoined by Champhai District in the East, Aizawl in the North and North West and Lunglei District in the South.
The District is divided into 3 (three) Sub-Divisions viz. Serchhip Sadar, North Vanlaiphai and Thenzawl. There are 2 (two) Rural Development Blocks such as Serchhip and East Lungdar RD Blocks. Altogether there are 42 Villages within the District.
District Overview
- Name of District: Serchhip
- Name of District Headquarter: Serchhip
- Total Geographical Area: 1421 sq.km
- No. of Sub-Divisions: 3
- No. of RD Blocks: 2
- No. of Census Village 2011: 40
- No. of Notified Towns 2011: 3
- Major Languages: Mizo & English
Description of the District
General Characteristics of the District: Serchhip District is occupying the central part of the state with its headquarters at Serchhip Town. The district has been carved out of old Aizawl District vide Government of Mizoram Notification No. A.60011/2/95-GAD dt 29.7.1998. The District with an area of 1,421 sq.km is the 8th among all eight districts in Mizoram.
Location & Geographical Area: Serchhip District is located between 23∘35’N and 23∘ N latitude and between 92∘41 ‘E and 93∘10’ E longitude. The district is located right in the central part of the State. The district is bounded on the north and northwest by Aizawl District, on the west and south by Lunglei district, on the southeast by Myanmar (Burma), and on the east by Champhai District. The district has an average altitude of approximately 1044 mtrs from MSL. Serchhip, the district headquarter has an altitude of 1281 mtrs from MSL. The extension of the district is as follows:
- North – South = 41 km
- East – West = 40 km
Soil: The Major soil types found in this area is red 7 laterite soil, alluvial soil and hill or brown soil. The topography of the land is mainly moderate slope.
Rivers: There are five major rivers that flow across the district, namely (i) Tuikum (ii) Mat (iii) Tuichang (iv) Tlawng (v) Lau. All these rivers flow from south to the northernly direction. There is no natural pond or lake in the district.
Forest: The total forest cover of the district is 91,235 hectare out of which 408 hectare are dense forest and 794 hectares are open forest. Total forest cover of the district is about 64.17% of the Geographical area.
Administrative Status: Since 15th of September 1998 the district administration started functioning with Serchhip as its headquarters. Serchhip district is the only district in Mizoram which was elevated directly from RD Block status to full fledged district. Other newly created districts of Mamit, Kolasib, Champhai and Lawngtlai were functioning as independent administrative sub-divisions. The Deputy Commissioner, as in case of other districts, heads the team of district level officers like Superintendent of Police etc, who is assisted by various other officers.
Socio Economic Profile – The main occupation of the people of the District dominated by the primary sector is largely agriculture and allied activities.
In the largest town, Serchhip, nearly half of the total workforce is engaged in primary activities. The sectoral distribution of output also reflects the economic condition of these towns. Among the primary activities in small towns, the highest productivity is observed in market oriented cropping (market based gardening), succeeded by market-oriented animal husbandry.
Public establishments and private enterprises act as the principal mechanism of production, because the tertiary sector contributes more than two-thirds of the total output in these towns. Public establishments play a very important role in creating livelihood opportunities. Within the urban economy, the government servants and businessmen often practice crops production in neighbouring areas of the town, in free time to supplement incomes or for getting food items from farms for the household. Many government servants and businessmen own agriculture land. Occupations like animal husbandry, subsistence cropping and animal rearing, foraging, carpentry etc are the major second occupations in these towns. Small scale piggery (only one or two pigs) and poultry farming (only 10-20 fowls) are very popular in the small towns. The complexity of the urban economic structure influences the rural economy. Though the town and the villages are separate places, they appear merged in their ceaseless interactions—the distance and accessibility a barrier, and the human endeavour is to overcome it..