Rajmahal 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 techni ...

that forms an administrative division in the Rajmahal subdivision of the

Sahibganj district Sahibganj district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India, and Sahibganj is the administrative headquarters of this district. Divisions Sahibganj district is divided into two subdivions: Sahibganj subdivision and Rajmahal s ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

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 ...

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 ...

Geography

Rajmahal Rajmahal is a subdivisional town and a notified area in Rajmahal subdivision of the Sahebganj district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is situated at the banks of Ganges and was former capital of Bengal Subah under Mughal governor, Man Sin ...

, the eponymous CD Block headquarters, is located at . It is located 32 km from

Sahibganj Sahebganj (also known as Sahibganj) is a scenic town and a port city with the serene Ganga and sturdy hills in the Sahibganj subdivision of the Sahebganj district of Jharkhand state, India. It serves as headquarters for Sahibganj District, Sah ...

, the district headquarters. Sahebganj district may be divided into three natural divisions – (i) the hilly portion stretching from the Ganges on the north to the borders of West Bengal on the south, (ii) the uplands, undulations, long ridges and depressions, with fertile lands, and (iii) the low fertile alluvial plains lying between the hills and the Ganges, with the

Sahibganj loop The Sahibganj loop is a railway line connecting Khana Junction and Kiul Junction. Originally a part of the Howrah–Delhi main line, it was opened to traffic in 1866. With the construction of a shorter railway line for a part of the route, the ...

line passing through the narrow strip. Three rivers flowing through this region – the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

, Gumani and Bansloi - make the plains rich and cultivable. Rajmahal CD block is bounded by Amdabad CD block in Katihar district of Bihar, across the

, on the north,

Manikchak Manikchak is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Malda Sadar subdivision of Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Gauda and Pandua Gauda was once the "capital of the ancient bhukti or po ...

and Kaliachak II CD blocks in Malda district of West Bengal, across the Ganges, and Farakka CD block in Murshidabad district of West Bengal on the east, Udwa CD block on the south and Taljhari and

CD blocks on the west. Rajmahal CD block has an area of 140.76 km².

police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at

town. Rajmahal CD block has 98 inhabited (chiragi) and 49 uninhabited (bechiragi) villages.

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 ...

, Rajmahal CD block had a total population of 145,899, of which 140,563 were rural and 5,336 were urban. There were 75,153 (52%) males and 70,746 (48%) females. Population in the age range 0–6 years was 29,897.

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 6,234 (4.27%) and Scheduled Tribes numbered 8,799 (6.03%). In the 2011 census, Tin Pahar was a census town in the Rajmahal CD block with a population of 5,336.

Literacy

According to the 2011 census, the total number of literate persons in the Rajmahal CD block was 59,486 (51.28% of the population over 6 years) out of which 35,641 (60%) were males and 23,845 (40%) were females. The

gender disparity Sex differences in humans have been studied in a variety of fields. Sex determination occurs by the presence or absence of a Y in the 23rd pair of chromosomes in the human genome. Phenotypic sex refers to an individual's sex as determined by the ...

(the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 20%. See also –

List of Jharkhand districts ranked by literacy rate This is a list of districts in the Indian state of Jharkhand ranked by literacy rate as per provisional data of 2011 census. With a literacy rate of 67.63%, below the national average of 74.04%, as per the 2011 Census, Jharkhand ranks 32nd amongst ...

Language and religion

Hindus form around half the population. Muslims (mainly Bengali Muslims) are a significant minority, while Christians and Sarna have small populations. At the time of the 2011 census, 38.88% of the population spoke

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, 32.40%

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 ...

, 12.21% Khortha, 5.61% Santali, 4.63%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Bhojpuri and 1.70% Kurukh as their first language.

Rural poverty

50-60% of the population of Sahibganj district were in the BPL category in 2004–2005, being in the same category as Pakur, Deoghar and Garhwa districts. "Based on the number of the total rural households in Census 2011 and BPL Revision Survey of 2010-11 the percentage of BPL households in rural areas is 86.03 percent." Rural poverty in Jharkhand declined from 66% in 1993–94 to 46% in 2004–05. In 2011, it has come down to 39.1%.

Economy

Livelihood

In Rajmahal CD block in 2011, amongst the class of total workers, cultivators numbered 9,921 and formed 15.69%, agricultural labourers numbered 30,763 and formed 48.65%, household industry workers numbered 12,654 and formed 20.01% and other workers numbered 9,893 and formed 15.65%. Total workers numbered 72,082 and formed 42.80% of the total population. Non-workers numbered 96,331 and formed 57.20% of total population. Note: In the census records a person is considered a cultivator, if the person is engaged in cultivation/ supervision of land owned. When a person who works on another person's land for wages in cash or kind or share, is regarded as an agricultural labourer. Household industry is defined as an industry conducted by one or more members of the family within the household or village, and one that does not qualify for registration as a factory under the Factories Act. Other workers are persons engaged in some economic activity other than cultivators, agricultural labourers and household workers. It includes factory, mining, plantation, transport and office workers, those engaged in business and commerce, teachers and entertainment artistes.

Infrastructure

There are 101 inhabited villages in Rajmahal CD block. In 2011, 53 villages had power supply. 12 villages had tap water (treated/ untreated), 96 villages had well water (covered/ uncovered), 63 villages had hand pumps, and all villages had drinking water facility. 5 village had post offices, 8 villages had sub post offices, 9 villages had telephones (land lines), 11 villages had public call offices and 40 villages had mobile phone coverage. 73 villages had pucca (paved) roads, 17 villages had bus service (private/public), 9 villages had auto/ modified auto, 19 villages had taxis/ vans, 40 villages had tractors, 14 villages had navigable waterways. 7 villages had bank branches, 3 villages had cinema/ video hall, 1 village had public library and public reading room. 24 villages had

public distribution system The Public Distribution System (PDS) is an Indian food security system that was established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to distribute food and non-food items to India's poor a ...

, 12 villages had weekly haat (market) and 24 villages had

assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

polling stations.

Agriculture

A large part of Sahibganj district is hilly and most of the thick forests are gone. Some of the plains are cultivable. The livelihood scenario presented above indicates that a large population depends on agriculture. In Rajmahal CD block 80.84% of the total area is cultivable area and 12.83% of the cultivable area is irrigated area.

Backward Regions Grant Fund

Sahibganj district is listed as a backward region and receives financial support from the

Backward Regions Grant Fund Backward or Backwards is a relative direction. Backwards or Sdrawkcab (the word "backwards" with its letters reversed) may also refer to: * "Backwards" (''Red Dwarf''), episode of sci-fi TV sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' ** ''Backwards'' (novel), a nov ...

. The fund created by the Government of India is designed to redress regional imbalances in development. As of 2012, 272 districts across the country were listed under this scheme. The list includes 21 districts of Jharkhand.

Transport

The Khana Junction-Rajmahal section of the

Sahibganj Loop The Sahibganj loop is a railway line connecting Khana Junction and Kiul Junction. Originally a part of the Howrah–Delhi main line, it was opened to traffic in 1866. With the construction of a shorter railway line for a part of the route, the ...

was complete in October 1859 and the first train ran from Howrah to Rajmahal via Khana on 4 July 1860.

Education

Rajmahal CD block had 5 villages with pre-primary schools, 57 villages with primary schools, 24 villages with middle schools, 5 villages with secondary schools, 43 villages with no educational facility.

Healthcare

Rajmahal CD block had 2 villages with primary health centres, 7 villages with primary health subcentres, 3 villages with allopathic hospitals, 1 village with dispensary, 8 villages with medicine shops.
.*Private medical practitioners, alternative medicine etc. not included

References

{{Santhal Pargana Division topics Community development blocks in Sahibganj district