Sankrail is a

community development block In India, a Community development block (CD block) or simply Block is a sub-division of Tehsil, administratively earmarked for planning and development. The area is administered by a Block Development Officer (BDO), supported by several technic ...

that forms an administrative division in

Jhargram subdivision Jhargram Sadar Subdivision is an administrative Subdivision (till now only Subdivision) of the Jhargram district in the state of West Bengal, India. It became part of the Jhargram district from 4 April 2017 after splitting from the Paschim Medin ...

Jhargram district Jhargram is a district in the state of West Bengal, India.The district lies between the Kangsabati River in the north and the Subarnarekha in the south. Jhargram has one of the lowest population densities among the districts of West Bengal, ...

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 ...

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 ...

History

Red corridor

106 districts spanning 10 states across India, described as being a part of the Left Wing Extremism activities, constitutes the

Red corridor The red corridor, also called the red zone, is the region in the eastern, central and the southern parts of India where the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency has the strongest presence. It has been steadily diminishing in terms of geographical cove ...

. In West Bengal the districts of Pashim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia and Birbhum are part of the Red corridor. However, as of July 2016, there has been no reported incidents of

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

related activities from these districts for the previous 4 years. In the period 2009-2011 LWE violence resulted in more than 500 deaths and a similar number missing in Paschim Medinipur district. The Lalgarh movement, which started attracting attention after the failed assassination attempt on

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also known as Buddha Babu (born 1 March 1944) is an Indian Communist politician and a former member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He served as the 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal from 20 ...

, then chief minister of West Bengal, in the Salboni area of 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, and others active in different political parties, 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 The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a federal police organisation in India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government of India. It is one among the Central Armed Police F ...

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 Mallojula Koteswara Rao (26 November 1954 – 24 November 2011), commonly known by his ''nom de guerre'' Kishenji (), was an Indian political leader who was a Politburo and Central Military Commission member of the Communist Party of India (Ma ...

, the

commander, on 24 November 2011 was the last major landmark. From 2009 Maoist violence had rapidly spread across eleven western CD blocks of the district: Binpur I, Binpur II, Salboni, Grahbeta II, Jamboni, Jhargram, Midnapore Sadar, Gopiballavpur I, Gopiballavpur II, Sankrail and Nayagram.

Geography

The

Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the bas ...

gradually slopes down creating an undulating area with infertile laterite rocks/ soil. In Sankrail CD block 80% of the cultivated area has

lateritic Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

soil and 20% has

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

soil. Sankrail CD block is drought prone with a particularly severe drought situation. Sankrail is located at . Sankrail CD block is bounded by

Jhargram Jhargram is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Jhargram district. It is a popular tourist destination known for its forests, ancient temples and royal palaces. Geography Location Jhargr ...

and

Kharagpur I Kharagpur I is a community development block that forms an administrative division in the Kharagpur subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located 14 km from Midnapore, the district headquarters. ...

CD blocks in the north,

Keshiari Keshiari (also spelled ''Keshiary'') is a community development block that forms an administrative division in the Kharagpur subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Keshiari CD block is a largely i ...

CD block in the east,

Nayagram Nayagram is a village and a gram panchayat in the Nayagram CD block in the Jhargram subdivision of the Jhargram district in West Bengal, India. Geography Location Nayagram is located at Area overview Jhargram subdivision, the only one in ...

CD block in the south and

Gopiballavpur II Gopiballavpur II is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Jhargram subdivision of Jhargram district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Naxalite movement in Debra-Gopiballavpur In 1968 many revolutionary ...

CD block in the west. It is located 31 km from

Midnapore Medinipur or Midnapore (Pron: med̪iːniːpur) is a city known for its history in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the West Medinipur district. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River (variously known as '' ...

, the district headquarters. Sankrail CD block has an area of 276.80 km². It has 1 panchayat samity, 10

gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

s, 87 gram sansads (village councils), 287 mouzas and 257 inhabited villages.

Sankrail Sankrail is a census town in Sankrail CD Block of Howrah Sadar subdivision in Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of Kolkata Urban Agglomeration. Geography Sankrail is located at . It has an average elevation of ...

police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at Rohini. Sankrail CD block had a forest cover of 1,620 hectares, against a total geographical area of 27,610 hectares in 2005-06.

Gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

s of Sankrail block/ panchayat samiti are:Andhari, Chhatri, Dhanghori, Khudmarai, Kultikri, Laudaha, Pathra, Ragra, Rohini and Sankrail.

Demographics

Population

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 ...

Sankrail CD block had a total population of 115,418, all of which were rural. There were 58,240 (50%) males and 57,178 (50%) females. Population in the age range 0–6 years was 13,128,

Scheduled Castes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

numbered 21,004 (18.20%) and

Scheduled Tribes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

numbered 28,825 (24.97%). According to the 2001 census, Sankrail block had a total population of 102,626, out of which 52,096 were males and 50,530 were females. Sankrail block registered a population growth of 17.04 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade. Decadal growth for the combined Midnapore district was 14.87 per cent. Decadal growth in West Bengal was 17.45 per cent. Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in Sankrail CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Ragra (5,916), Other villages in Sankrail CD block included (2011 census figures in brackets): Andhari (797), Pathra (660), Sankrail (491), Rohini (1,691), Laudaha (2,300),

Kultikri Kultikri is a village, in Sankrail CD Block in Jhargram subdivision of Jhargram district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Location Kultikri is located at . Area overview Jhargram subdivision, the only one in Jhargram district, s ...

(797), Chhatri (704), Dhanghari (864) and Khudmarai (639).

Literacy

According to the 2011 census the total number of literates in Sankrail CD block was 75,028 (73.35% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 41,793 (81.01% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 33,235 (65.55% of the female population over 6 years). The gender gap in literacy rates was 15.47%. See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate

Language and religion

According to the ''District Census Handbook, Paschim Medinipur, 2011 census,'' as of 2001, Bengali was the mother-tongue of 90.5% of the population of Paschim Medinipur district, followed by Santali (4.6%),

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 ...

(1.4%), Kurmali Thar (0.7%),

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

(0.6%), Odia (0.4%), Mundari (0.2%), Koda/ Kora (0.1%), Munda (0.1%) and Nepali (0.1%). There were people, forming lesser proportion of population, having other languages as mother-tongue. People with other mother-tongues formed 0.7% of the population. There is a tribal presence in many of the CD blocks of the district. Santali is spoken by 55.93% of the tribal population of the district. The Bhumij, forming 11.16% of the tribal population, and the

Mundas The Munda people are an Austroasiatic speaking ethnic group of India. They predominantly speak the Mundari language as their native language, which belongs to the Munda subgroup of Austroasiatic languages. The Munda are found mainly concent ...

, forming 6.10% of the tribal population, speak Mundari. Other small groups include Koras and Mahalis. The Lodhas, forming 3.85% of the tribal population, the only primitive tribe in the district, speak Lodhi. According to the West Bengal Official Language Act 1961 and the West Bengal Official Language (Amendment Act) 2012, the Bengali language is to be used for official purposes in the whole of West Bengal. In addition to Bengali, the Nepali language is to be used for official purposes in the three hills subdivisions, namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, in the district of Darjeeling, and Urdu is to be used for official purposes in district/subdivision/ block/ municipality where the population speaking Urdu exceeds 10% of the total population. The English language will continue to be used for official purposes as it was being used prior to the enactment of these laws. The West Bengal Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, 2012, included Hindi, Santhali, Odiya and Punjabi as official languages if it is spoken by a population exceeding 10 per cent of the whole in a particular block or sub-division or a district. Subsequently, Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi and Kurmali were also included in the list of minority languages by the West Bengal Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018. However, as of 2020, there is no official / other reliable information about the areas covered. Census 2011 provides language data only at the district and above level. In the 2011 census Hindus numbered 111,205 and formed 96.35% of the population in Sankrail CD block. Muslims numbered 2,094 and formed 1.81% of the population. Christians numbered 827 and formed 0.72% of the population. Others numbered 1,292 and formed 1.11% of the population. Others include Addi Bassi, Marang Boro, Santal, Saranath, Sari Dharma, Sarna, Alchchi, Bidin, Sant, Saevdharm, Seran, Saran, Sarin, Kheria, and other religious communities.

BPL families

In Sankrail CD block 51.33% families were living

below poverty line Below Poverty Line is a benchmark used by the government of India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify individuals and households in need of government assistance and aid. It is determined using various parameters which vary from s ...

in 2007. According to the District

Human Development Report The Human Development Report (HDR) is an annual Human Development Index report published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The first HDR was launched in 1990 by the Pakistani economist ...

of Paschim Medinipur: The 29 CD blocks of the district were classified into four categories based on the poverty ratio. Nayagram, Binpur II and Jamboni CD blocks have very high poverty levels (above 60%). Kharagpur I, Kharagpur II, Sankrail, Garhbeta II, Pingla and Mohanpur CD blocks have high levels of poverty (50-60%), Jhargram, Midnapore Sadar, Dantan I, Gopiballavpur II, Binpur I, Dantan II, Keshiari, Chandrakona I, Gopiballavpur I, Chandrakona II, Narayangarh, Keshpur, Ghatal, Sabang, Garhbeta I, Salboni, Debra and Garhbeta III CD blocks have moderate levels of poverty (25-50%) and Daspur II and Daspur I CD blocks have low levels of poverty (below 25%).

Economy

Infrastructure

245 or 85% of mouzas in Sankrail CD block were electrified by 31 March 2014. 246 mouzas in Sankrail CD block had drinking water facilities in 2013-14. There were 43 fertiliser depots, 20 seed stores and 33 fair price shops in the CD block.

Agriculture

Although the Bargadari Act of 1950 recognised the rights of

bargadar Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

s to a higher share of crops from the land that they tilled, it was not implemented fully. Large tracts, beyond the prescribed limit of land ceiling, remained with the rich landlords. From 1977 onwards major land reforms took place in West Bengal. Land in excess of land ceiling was acquired and distributed amongst the peasants. Following

land reforms Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

land ownership pattern has undergone transformation. In 2013-14, persons engaged in agriculture in Sankrail CD block could be classified as follows:

s 4.87%, patta (document) holders 41.19%, small farmers (possessing land between 1 and 2 hectares) 2.15%, marginal farmers (possessing land up to 1 hectare) 16.65% and agricultural labourers 35.14%. In 2005-06 net cropped area in Sankrail CD block was 21,153 hectares and the area in which more than one crop was grown was 11,275 hectares. The extension of irrigation has played a role in growth of the predominantly agricultural economy. In 2013-14, the total area irrigated in Sankrail CD block was 9,770 hectares, out of which 2,000 hectares were by canal waters, 160 hectares by tank water, 395 hectares by deep tubewells, 6,550 hectares by shallow tube wells, 450 hectares by river lift irrigation, 90 hectares by open dug wells and 125 hectares by other methods. In 2013-14, Sankrail CD block produced 26,310 tonnes of Aman paddy, the main winter crop, from 15,874 hectares, 4,142 tonnes of Aus paddy (summer crop) from 1,489 hectares, 12,162 tonnes of Boro paddy (spring crop) from 4,152 hectares, 4,086 tonnes of potatoes from 145 hectares and 342,399 tonnes of sugar cane from 1,552 hectares. It also produced mustard and til.

Banking

In 2013-14, Sankrail CD block had offices of 8 commercial banks and 1 gramin bank.

Transport

Sankrail CD block has 5 ferry services and 4 originating/ terminating bus routes. The nearest railway station is 45 km from the CD block headquarters.

Education

In 2013-14, Sankrail CD block had 153 primary schools with 6,776 students, 26 middle schools with 1,552 students and 14 higher secondary schools with 10,365 students. Sankrail CD block had 1 general college with 704 students and 275 institutions for special and non-formal education with 8,496 students. The

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

considers the combined primary and secondary enrolment ratio as the simple indicator of educational achievement of the children in the school going age. The infrastructure available is important. In Sankrail CD block out of the total 151 primary schools in 2008-2009, 113 had pucca buildings, 12 partially pucca and 26 multiple type.

Sankrail Anil Biswas Smriti Mahavidyalaya Sankrail Anil Biswas Smriti Mahavidyalaya, also known as Kultikri College, established in 2007, is a college in Kultikri, in the Jhargram district. It offers undergraduate courses in arts. It is affiliated to Vidyasagar University Vidy ...

was established at

in 2007 and is affiliated to

Vidyasagar University Vidyasagar University was established by an Act of the West Bengal legislature which was notified in the ''Calcutta Gazette'' on 24 June 1981. It is an affiliating university in Paschim Medinipur district of southern West Bengal, India. It o ...

. It offers arts courses with honours in English, Bengali, Sanskrit, Santali, history and political science.

Healthcare

In 2014, Sankrail CD block had 1 rural hospital and 2 primary health centres with total 51 beds and 3 doctors. It had 22 family welfare sub centres and 1 family welfare centre. 4,954 patients were treated indoor and 46,393 patients were treated outdoor in the hospitals, health centres and subcentres of the CD block. Bhangagarh Rural Hospital, with 30 beds at Bhanga Gar, PO Keshiapata, is the major government medical facility in the Sankrail CD block. There are primary health centres at: Pathra (with 6 beds) and Kultikri (with 10 beds).

References

{{Jhargram district topics Community development blocks in Jhargram district