Jhalda II

Jhalda II is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Jhalda 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 the 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 the 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

Kotshila is located at .

The Jhalda II CD block is located in the western part of the district. The Kangsabati River takes its name after the confluence of the Saharjor and Girgiri rivers near Tigra village in the Jhalda II CD block. Geographyically the area forms a part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

The Jhalda II CD block is bounded by the Jaridih CD block, in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand, on a part of the north, the Joypur CD block on parts of the north and the east, The Arsha CD block on the east, the Baghmundi CD block on the south, and Jhalda I CD block on the west.

The Jhalda II CD block has an area of 256.61 km². It has 1 panchayat samity, 9 gram panchayats, 99 gram sansads (village councils), 131 mouzas, 118 inhabited villages and 2 census towns. Kotshila and Jhalda (partly) police stations serve this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at Kotshila.

Gram panchayats of the Jhalda II CD block/panchayat samiti are: Bamina-Belyadih, Begunkodor, Chekya, Chitmu, Hirapur-Adardih, Majhidih, Nowahatu, Rigid and Tatuara.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Jhalda II CD block had a total population of 148,156, of which 135,814 were rural and 12,342 were urban. There were 75,453 (51%) males and 72,703 (49%) females. There were 24,831 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled Castes numbered 15,663 (10.57%) and the Scheduled Tribes numbered 15,917 (10.74%).

According to the 2001 census, the Jhalda II block had a total population of 123,696, out of which 63,279 were males and 60,417 were females. The Jhalda II block registered a population growth of 18.15 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 Jhalda II CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Chekya (5,995) and Begunkodor (6,347).

Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in the Jhalda II CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Belyadi (4,217), Bararola (5,913) and Tatayara (5,863).

Other villages in the Jhalda II CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Chitmu (3,893), Adardi (1,980), Bamaniya (2,785), Kotshila (1,452), Hirapur (739), Nawahatu (1,625), Oldih (1797) and Rigid (2,312).

Literacy

According to the 2011 census the total number of literates in the Jhalda II CD block was 67,532 (54.76% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 45,588 (72.53% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 21,944 (36.29%) of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 36.24%.

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