Barabazar (community development block)

Barabazar is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Manbazar 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 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 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

Barabazar is located at .

The Barabazar 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.

The Barabazar CD block is bounded by the Arsha and Purulia I CD blocks on the north, the Manbazar I and Manbazar II CD blocks on the east, the Boram and Patamda CD blocks, in the East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, on the south and the Balarampur CD block on the west.

The Barabazar CD block has an area of 418.06 km². It has 1 panchayat samity, 10 gram panchayats, 122 gram sansads (village councils), 215 mouzas, 202 inhabited villages and 1 census town. Barabazar police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at Barabazar.

Gram panchayats of the Barabazar block/panchayat samiti are: Baghbandh, Banjora, Bansbera, Barabazar, Berada, Dhelat-Bamu, Latpada, Sindri, Sukurhutu and Tumrasole.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Barabazar CD block had a total population of 170,569, of which 162,508 were rural and 8,056 were urban. There were 86,353 (51%) males and 64,211 (49%) females. There were 23,844 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled Castes numbered 12,599 (7.39%) and the Scheduled Tribes numbered 33,096 (19.40%).

According to the 2001 census, the Barabazar block had a total population of 146,917, out of which 74,234 were males and 72,683 were females. The Barabazar block registered a population growth of 13.60 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 Barabazar CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Barabazar (8,056).

Villages in the Barabazar CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Sindri (3,972), Banjora (1,903), Sukurhutu (1,760), Berada (2,706), Latpada (2,016), Dhelatbamu (451) and Tumrashou (1,399).

Literacy

According to the 2011 census the total number of literates in Barabazar CD block was 92,837 (63.27% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 57,752 (77.84% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 35,085 (48.37%) of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 29.47%.

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

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