Panighatta, or Panighata (English translation: ''Water mill''), is a

Tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

Estate village on the banks of Balason River and the foothills of the

Himalayan Mountains The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. Panighatta falls under the

Mirik Mirik is a small town and a Notified Area of Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Mirik subdivision. The name ''Mirik'' comes from the Lepcha language, Lepcha words ''Mir-Yok'' meaning "place bur ...

sub-division of

Darjeeling district Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its hill station and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters. Kurseon ...

and is situated about 26 kilometers from Mirik and 32 km from

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...

in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

in India.

Geography

Location

Panighata is located at . The total geographical area of Panighata village is and is the fourth-biggest village by area in the sub-division.

Area overview

The map alongside shows a part of the southern portion of the

Darjeeling Himalayan hill region Darjeeling Himalayan hill region or Darjeeling Himalaya is the mountainous area on the north-western side of the state of West Bengal in India. This region belongs to the Eastern Himalaya range. The Darjeeling district except the Siliguri subdiv ...

in the Darjeeling district. In the Darjeeling Sadar subdivision 61.00% of the total population lives in the rural areas and 39.00% of the population lives in the urban areas. In the

Mirik subdivision Mirik subdivision is a subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. It was declared a subdivision on 30 March 2017. Subdivisions Darjeeling district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: ...

80.11% of the total population lives in the rural areas and 19.89% lives in the urban areas. There are 78 tea gardens/ estates (the figure varies slightly according to different sources), in the district, producing and largely exporting Darjeeling tea. It engages a large proportion of the population directly/ indirectly. Some tea gardens were identified in the 2011 census as

census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

s or villages. Such places are marked in the map as CT (census town) or R (rural/ urban centre). Specific tea estate pages are marked TE. Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Demographics

According to the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, Panighata had a total population of 5,235 of which 2,595 (50%) were males and 2,640 (50%) were females. There were 438 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The total number of literate people in Panighata was 3,588 (68.54% of the population over 6 years).

Languages spoken

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Tea

Panighatta Tea Estate employs about 750 permanent and 400 casual staff. The estate is spread over 900 acres and produces about 5.5 lakh kg tea annually.

Transport

Notable persons

Rangu Souriya Rangu Souriya is an Indian activist and social worker for women and children. She is the founder of Kanchanjunga Uddhar Kendra, a non-profit organization based in Siliguri, dedicated to helping victims of sex trafficking in Darjeeling, North E ...

Education

Loreto School Panighatta is an English-medium coeducational institution established in 1995. It has facilities for teaching from nursery to class X. It is affiliated with the

West Bengal Board of Secondary Education The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education is the West Bengal state government administered autonomous examining authority for the Standard 10 examination (or secondary school level examination) of West Bengal, India. It has come into force ...

. Rainbow High School is an English-medium coeducational institution established in 1980. It has facilities for teaching from class Nursery to class X. It has 20 computers, a library with 1,000 books and a playground.

External links

References

Economy of Darjeeling district Tea estates in West Bengal Villages in Darjeeling district {{Darjeeling-geo-stub