Hijli is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

Kharagpur Kharagpur () is a semi- planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision and the largest city of the district. It is located 1 ...

in the

Kharagpur subdivision Kharagpur subdivision is an administrative subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district in the state of West Bengal, India. Subdivisions Paschim Medinipur district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions, after separation of Jhar ...

of the

Paschim Medinipur district Paschim Medinipur (English: ''West Medinipur'', alternative spelling ''Midnapore'') district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur a ...

in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

History

Hijli has a history much larger than its present presence. Today it is just another neighborhood of Khargapur city with a satellite

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. This area was part of

Hijli Kingdom The Hijli Kingdom existed between 1687 and 1886 in the eastern part of India. Initially Hijli was a small island village on the banks of the Rasulpur River as it flows to the Bay of Bengal. It developed into a port town in 1687. Slowly, it conver ...

(1687–1886), which is a small kingdom stretched from Khejuri in the east to the Bahiri in the west. In 1728 today's Hijli became the capital of this kingdom. In 1930 during

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

Hijli was chosen to build a jail for participating in armed struggles against the British. The same area of Hijli Detention Camp was replaced by India's very first

Indian Institutes of Technology The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are a network of engineering and technology institutions in India. Established in 1950, they are under the purview of the Ministry of Education of the Indian Government and are governed by the Inst ...

Campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

in 1951.

Geography

Location

Hijli is located at .

Area overview

Kharagpur subdivision, shown partly in the map alongside, mostly has

alluvial Alluvium (, ) 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. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

soils, except in two CD blocks in the west – Kharagpur I and Keshiary, which mostly have lateritic soils. Around 74% of the total cultivated area is cropped more than once. With a density of population of 787 per km²nearly half of the district's population resides in this subdivision. 14.33% of the population lives in urban areas and 86.67% lives in the rural areas. 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.

Education

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur was the first Indian Institute of Technology in the country in 1950. It was located in what was earlier Hijli Detention Camp that had been used as a detention camp during the period of British colonial rule in India to imprison

Indian independence activists Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

. Hijli College was established in 1995. Affiliated with the

Vidyasagar University Vidyasagar University is a Public university, public research university that 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 Me ...

it offers honours courses in Bengali, English, Sanskrit, history, education, philosophy, sociology, BCA, chemistry, computer science, geography, mathematics, physics and general courses in arts and science. .* For language details see Kharagpur I#Language and religion

Healthcare

B.C.Roy Technology Hospital at IIT, Kharagpur, functions with 35 beds. Hijli Rural Hospital, with 60 beds at Hijli, is the major government medical facility in the

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 block.

References

{{Paschim Medinipur District Cities and towns in Paschim Medinipur district Former capital cities in India