Longowal is a town with

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

Sangrur district Sangrur district is in the state of Punjab in northern India. Sangrur city is the district headquarters. It is one of the five districts in Patiala Division in the Indian state of Punjab. Neighbouring districts are Malerkotla (north), Barnala ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. Longowal is unique in the history of East

Overview

Longowal

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

was first brought into existence by Baba Alla ji Singh, in whose name a very old

Gurudwara A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

is still running in its original place, now almost at the centre of the village. This

has been the largest populated village within Punjab for half a century and has been run by a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

since the 1950s. There used to be a

Granthi A Granthi ( pa, ਗ੍ਰੰਥੀ, ) is a person, female or male, of the Sikh religion who is a ceremonial reader of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, which is the Holy Book in Sikhism, often read to worshipers at Sikh temples called a Gurdwara. The na ...

named Harchand Singh from a neighbouring village who used to organise Kirtans in the area. He became very popular by the name Sant

Harchand Singh Longowal Sant Harchand Singh Longowal (2 January 1932 – 20 August 1985) was the President of the Akali Dal during the Punjab insurgency of the 1980s. He had signed the Punjab accord, also known as the Rajiv-Longowal Accord along with Rajiv Gandhi on 2 ...

because he moved to Longowal in early 1940s and became president ("Pardhan") of most of the Gurudwars of Longowal. He associated with another well known and outgoing

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

business man Lala Bantram of "Balle ka lana - family" being the old inhabitants of this village, and these two had a keen interest in the development of Longowal village in 1950s. They liaised with the government to have the village connected by road, get the first health centre established at Gurudwara

Shaheed Bhai Mani Singh Bhai Mani Singh was an 18th-century Sikh scholar and martyr. He was a childhood companion of Guru Gobind Singh and took the vows of Sikhism when the Guru inaugurated the Khalsa in March 1699. Soon after that, the Guru sent him to Amritsar ...

(the only Gurudware out of 7 in the town which is pure white), get a high school sanctioned and a new community school building established with efforts from all villagers. Postal services were also improved. Following all the improvements mentioned above, the village came into prominence and so did Sant Harchand Singh Longowal who then became actively involved in the politics of Punjab. Village Longowal earned repute at the national level when the central government set up the

Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (abbreviated SLIET i.e.ਸਲਾਇਟ सलाइट ) is a Govt. of India established (1989) deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act 1956 for higher education and research in In ...

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Longowal had a population of 20,269. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Longowal has an average literacy rate of 52%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 56%, and female literacy is 46%. In Longowal, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. Population of longowal is increasing and sewerage system is being laid.

References

{{Sangrur district Punjab Cities and towns in Sangrur district History of Punjab