Balarampur, Purulia (community Development Block)

Balarampur is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Purulia Sadar subdivision of the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

History

Background

The ''Jaina Bhagavati-Sutra'' of the 5th century AD mentions that Purulia was one of the sixteen mahajanapadas and was a part of the kingdom known as Vajra-bhumi in ancient times. In 1833, the Manbhum district was carved out of the Jungle Mahals district, with headquarters at Manbazar. In 1838, the headquarters was transferred to Purulia. After independence, when Manbhum district was a part of Bihar, efforts were made to impose Hindi on the Bengali-speaking majority of the district and it led to the Bengali Language Movement (Manbhum). In 1956, the Manbhum district was partitioned between Bihar and West Bengal under the States Reorganization Act and the Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of Territories) Act 1956.

Red corridor

106 districts spanning 10 states across India, described as being part of the Left Wing Extremism activities, constitutes the Red corridor. In West Bengal the districts of the Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia and Birbhum are part of the Red corridor. However, as of July 2016, there had been no reported incidents of Maoist related activities from these districts for the previous 4 years.

The CPI (Maoist) extremism affected CD blocks in the Purulia district were: Jhalda I, Jhalda II, Arsha, Baghmundi, Balarampur, Barabazar, Manbazar II and Bandwan. Certain reports also included Manbazar I and Joypur CD Blocks and some times indicted the whole of Purulia district.

The Lalgarh movement, which started attracting attention after the failed assassination attempt on Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, then chief minister of West Bengal, in the Salboni area of the Paschim Medinipur district, on 2 November 2008 and the police action that followed, had also spread over to these areas. The movement was not just a political struggle but an armed struggle that concurrently took the look of a social struggle. A large number of CPI (M) activists were killed. Although the epi-centre of the movement was Lalgarh, it was spread across 19 police stations in three adjoining districts – Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia, all thickly forested and near the border with Jharkhand. The deployment of CRPF and other forces started on 11 June 2009. The movement came to an end after the 2011 state assembly elections and change of government in West Bengal. The death of Kishenji, the Maoist commander, on 24 November 2011 was the last major landmark.

Geography

Tentlo, a constituent panchayat of Balarampur block, is located at .

The Balarampur CD block is located in the southern part of the district. The Bagmundi-Bandwan uplands is an area that has descended from the Ranchi Plateau. In the Baghmundi and Balarampur areas, the Ajodhya Hills form the main highlands, forming the drainage divide between the basins of the Subrnarekha and the Kangsabati. The elevation ranges from 475 to 700 m.

The Balarampur CD block is bounded by the Arsha CD block on the north, the Barabazar CD block on the east and on the south, the Nimdih CD block, in the Seraikela Kharsawan district of Jharkhand and the Baghmundi CD block on the west.

The Balarampur CD block has an area of 300.88 km². It has 1 panchayat samity, 7 gram panchayats, 92 gram sansads (village councils), 90 mouzas, 89 inhabited villages and 1 census town. Balarampur police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at Baghadih.

Gram panchayats of the Balarampur block/panchayat samiti are: Balarampur, Bara-Urma, Bela, Darda, Genrua, Ghatbera-Kerowa and Tentlo.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2011 Census of India the Balarampur CD block had a total population of 137,950, of which 113,519 were rural and 24,431 were urban. There were 70,995 (51%) males and 66,955 (49%) females. There were 20,118 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled Castes numbered 16,427 (11.91%) and the Scheduled Tribes numbered 43,738 (31.71%).

According to the 2001 census, the Balarampur CD block had a total population of 118,071, out of which 60,424 were males and 57,647 were females. The Balarampur CD block registered a population growth of 14.27 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade. Decadal growth for the Purulia district was 13.96 per cent. Decadal growth in West Bengal was 17.84 per cent.

Census Towns in the Balarampur CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Balarampur (24,431).

Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in the Balarampur CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Genrua (6,454).

Other villages in the Balarampur CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Bela (3,436), Darda (2,619), Tentlo (2,924), Ghatbera (1,858) and Keraya (2,140).

Literacy

According to the 2011 census the total number of literate persons in the Balarampur CD block was 71,176 (60.40% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 44,950 (74.18% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 26,226 (45.82%) of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 28.35%.

See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate

Language and religion

In the 2001 census, Bengali was the mother tongue for 76.6% of the population of the district, followed by Santali 11.4%, Kurmali Thar 7.7%, Hindi 1.9%, Urdu