Paschim Medinipur district

Geography

Paschim Medinipur, located in the south-western part of West Bengal, was created with the partition of the erstwhile Midnapore district, then the largest district of India, on 1 January 2002. It ranks second in terms of geographical area (9,295.28 km2) amongst the districts of the state, next to South 24-Parganas (9,960 km2). It ranks third in terms of rural population (4.58 million) following South 24-Parganas (5.82 million) and Murshidabad (5.13 million). It ranked fourth in terms of percentage of tribal population (14.87) following Jalpaiguri (18.87), Purulia (18.27) and Dakshin Dinajpur (16.12) in 2011.

Broadly speaking, there are two natural divisions of the district. NH 14 and NH 16 (old numbering NH 60) from Bankura to Balasore, cuts across the district and roughly is the dividing line between the two natural divisions. To the east of this road, the soil is fertile alluvial and the area is flat. To the west, the Chota Nagpur Plateau gradually slopes down, creating an undulating area with infertile laterite rocks and soil. The landscape changes from dense dry deciduous forests in the west to marshy wetlands in the east.

The alluvial portion may be further subdivided into two divisions. First, it is a strip of purely deltaic country nearer to the Hooghly and the Rupnarayan, intersected by numerous rivers and watercourses subject to tidal influences. Second, it is the rest of the eastern half of the district. It is a monotonous rice plain with numerous waterways and tidal creeks intersecting it. The tidal creeks are lined with embankments to prevent flooding of the fields. Much of the area is water-logged.

Floods and drought

Paschim Medinipur district is subject to both floods and drought. Ghatal and parts of Kharagpur subdivision covering an area of 142,647 hectares (1,426.47 km2) are flood prone. Water logging during the rainy season affects Ghatal and the southern parts of Kharagpur subdivision and results in loss of crops in such areas as Sabang, Pingla and Narayangarh CD Blocks. 335,248 hectares (3,352.48 km2) Medinipur Sadar subdivision is drought prone. Although the district is away from the sea, cyclones hit it frequently in October–November.

Major cities and towns

Midnapore is the district headquarters. Kharagpur is the largest city in the district. Other important towns and cities in the district include: Salboni, Ghatal, Belda, Chandrakona, Ramjibanpur, Garbeta, Balichak, Dantan, Mohanpur, Keshiari, Keshpur, Narayangarh, Sabang, Daspur, Goaltore and Debra.

Villages

Paschim Medinipur district is home to the most villages of any district in India. The 2011 census lists Paschim Medinipur as having 8,694 villages, of which 7,600 are populated, and 1,094 uninhabited. The district with the next highest number of villages, Mayurbhanj, in the state of Odisha, has 3,950 villages, 3,751 of which are inhabited.

Jahalda

Narma

Pachakhali

Rajkushma

Economy and politics

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Paschim Medinipur one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the eleven districts in West Bengal currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

106 districts spanning 10 states across India, described as being part of Left Wing Extremism activities, constitute the Red corridor. In West Bengal the districts of Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia and Birbhum are part of the Red corridor. However, as of July 2016, there has been no reported incidents of Maoist 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.

Divisions

Paschim Medinipur district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions:

Administrative subdivisions

The district comprises three subdivisions: Kharagpur, Medinipur Sadar and Ghatal. Kharagpur subdivision consists of Kharagpur municipality and ten community development blocks: Dantan–I, Dantan–II, Pingla, Kharagpur–I, Kharagpur–II, Sabang, Mohanpur, Narayangarh, Keshiari and Debra. Medinipur Sadar subdivision consists of Midnapore municipality and six community development blocks: Medinipur Sadar, Garhbeta–I, Garhbeta–II, Garhbeta–III, Keshpur and Shalboni. Ghatal subdivision consists of five municipalities (Ramjibanpur, Chandrakona, Khirpai, Kharar and Ghatal) and five community development blocks: Chandrakona–I, Chandrakona–II, Daspur–I, Daspur–II and Ghatal.

Midnapore is the district headquarters. There are 28 police stations, 21 development blocks, 7 municipalities and 290 gram panchayats in this district.

Other than municipality area, each subdivision contains community development blocks which in turn are divided into rural areas and census towns. In total there are 11 urban units: 7 municipalities and 4 census towns.

One municipality: Kharagpur.

Dantan I community development block consists of rural areas with 9 gram panchayats and one census town: Chaulia

Dantan II community development block consists of rural areas only with 7 gram panchayats.

Pingla community development block consists of rural areas only with 10 gram panchayats.

Kharagpur I community development block consists of rural areas with 7 gram panchayats and two census towns: Kharagpur Railway Settlement and Kalaikunda.

Kharagpur II community development block consists of rural areas only with 9 gram panchayats.

Sabang community development block consists of rural areas only with 13 gram panchayats.

Assembly Constituencies

There are 15 assembly constituencies in Paschim Medinipur district. They belong to four Lok Sabha constituencies. Medinipur and Ghatal constituencies both comprise six constituencies of Paschim Medinipur district and one from Purba Medinipur district. Jhargram constituency contains two constituencies of Paschim Medinipur district, while Arambagh contains one constituency.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Paschim Medinipur district has a population of 5,913,457, roughly equal to the nation of Eritrea or the US state of Missouri. This gives it a ranking of 14th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 636 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,650/sq mi). Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 14.44%. Paschim Medinipur has a sex ratio of 960 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 79.04%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes collectively account for 33.96% (SC: 19.08% and ST: 14.88%) of the district's total population. The prominent communities in this group, in terms of the district's total population, are Santal (9.05%), Bagdi/Duley (6.27%), Bhumij (1.65%), Lohar (1.33%), Namasudra (1.3%), Munda (1.13%), Jalia Kaibartta (1.02%), Lodha/Kharia (0.88%), Dhoba (0.83%), Hari/Mehtar (0.81%), Bauri (0.76%), Mal (0.6%), Dom (0.56%), Chamar (0.53%), Bhuiya (0.53%), Kora (0.49%), Rajbanshi (0.43%), Pan/Sawasi (0.38%), Sunri (excluding Saha) (0.34%), Keot/Keyot (0.33%), Kandra (0.31%), Savar (0.31%), Rajwar (0.26%), Ho (0.25%), Mahar (0.24%), Kadar (0.23%), Baiga (0.22%), Mahali (0.21%), Khaira (0.2%), and Pod/Poundra (0.19%).

After bifurcation, the district had a population of 4,776,909, of which 655,250 (13.72%) live in urban areas. The divided district has a sex ratio of 963 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 892,763 (18.69%) and 546,167 (11.43%) of the population, respectively.

Language

At the 2011 census, 87.15% spoke Bengali, 6.29% Santali, 2.49% Hindi and 0.93% Telugu as their first language. Other languages spoken in the district include Odia, Urdu, Kudmali/Kurmali, Mundari and Koda.

Culture

Tourism

There are many tourist attractions in the district:

Patachitra Village (Naya, Pingla)

Gopegarh Heritage Park

Hatibari Forest banglow and Jhilli Pakhiralay

Gurguripal Heritage Park

Parimalkanan park, CKT

Gangani Garhbeta

Kriya Yoga Ashram, Chaipat Satmatha

Raj Rajeswar Temple, Chaipat

Rameshwar Temple, near Rohini (On the bank of Subarnarekha river with nearby green forest called Tapoban)

Gourya Temple, near Kharagpur

Bisnu Temple, Kultikri

Rashikananda Memorial, Rohini

Birthplace of Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Birsingha Village

Mogolmari Boudhabihar, Mogolmari, Dantan

Prayag Film City, Midnapore Film City or Chandrakona Film City at Chandrakona Road

Education

Universities and colleges

Belda College

Dr B C Roy Institute of Medical Sciences & Research

IIT Kharagpur

Institute of Science & Technology

Kharagpur Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital

Midnapore College (Autonomous) (formerly known as Day college)

Midnapore Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital

Midnapore Medical College and Hospital

Raja Narendra Lal Khan Women's College

Vidyasagar University

Healthcare

The table below (all data in numbers) presents an overview of the subdivision-wise medical facilities available and patients treated, after the separation of Jhargram, in the hospitals, health centres and sub-centres in 2014 in Paschim Medinipur district.

Excluding nursing homes

Notable people

Serajuddin Ahmad, MLA for Midnapore

Syed Shah Mehr Ali Alquadri Al Baghdadi (1808–1868), Sufi saint

Sheikh Siraj Ali, politician

Tamal Bandyopadhyay, Indian business journalist

Syed Shamsul Bari, politician

Rajnarayan Basu, writer and proponent of Young Bengal movement

Anirban Bhattacharya, actor in Tollywood movies

Khudiram Bose, one of the youngest martyrs of the Indian Independence Movement.

Soumya Sankar Bose, Photographer

Byomkes Chakrabarti, Linguist, writer and poet

Ramapada Chowdhury, Bengali author and editor

Souhardya De, orientalist and Bal Puraskar recipient

Mahasweta Devi, writer and Magsaysay Award winner

Nirmal Jibon Ghosh, revolutionary

Sheikh Najmul Haque, six-term legislator

Syed Moazzam Hossain, politician

Sheikh Humayun Kabir, state minister

Hemchandra Kanungo, an Indian nationalist and prime organiser of Anushilan Samiti