Canning I

Canning I
ক্যানিং I
Community development block
সমষ্টি উন্নয়ন ব্লক
Canning I

Location in West Bengal

Coordinates: 22°17′57″N 88°35′19″E / 22.29917°N 88.58861°E / 22.29917; 88.58861
Country  India
State West Bengal
District South 24 Parganas
Parliamentary constituency Jaynagar
Assembly constituency Canning Paschim
Area
 • Total 72.53 sq mi (187.86 km2)
Elevation 20 ft (6 m)
Population (2011)
 • Total 304,724
 • Density 4,200/sq mi (1,600/km2)
Time zone IST (UTC+5.30)
PIN 743363 (Bansra)
743376 (Taldi)
743329 (Canning Town)
Area code(s) 03218
Vehicle registration WB-19, WB-20, WB-22
Literacy Rate 70.76 per cent
Website http://s24pgs.gov.in/
For other uses, see Canning (disambiguation).

Canning I is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Canning subdivision of South 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located 42 km from Alipore, the district headquarters.

History

Tebhaga movement

During the Bengal famine of 1943 the Communist Party of India provided relief to the peasantry of the Sundarbans area. In September 1946 Bangiya Pradeshik Kisan Sabha decided to launch the Tebhaga movement. The peasant movement broke out in Kakdwip, Sonarpur, Bhangar and Canning. Kakdwip and Namkhana were the storm centres of the movement. The movement aimed at improving the share of the peasant engaged as share croppers. The prominent leaders of the movement were: Kansari Halder, Ashoke Bose and Rash Behari Ghosh. Peasant leaders like Gajen Malik, Manik Hazra, Jatin Maity, Bijoy Mondal and others rose to prominence. The movement continued till 1950, when the Bargadari Act was enacted. The Act recognised the right of the share cropper to two-thirds of the produce when he provided the inputs.[1]

Land reforms

Although the Bargadari Act of 1950 recognised the rights of bargadars to a higher share of crops from the land that they tilled, it was not implemented. Large tracts, beyond the prescribed limit of land ceiling, remained with the rich landlords. In 1967, West Bengal witnessed a peasant uprising, against non-implementation of land reforms legislation, starting from Kheyadaha gram panchayat in Sonarpur CD Block. From 1977 onwards major land reforms took place in West Bengal under the Left Front government. Land in excess of land ceiling was acquired and distributed amongst the peasants. Subsequently, “Operation Barga” was aimed at securing tenancy rights for the peasants. In Canning I CD Block 3,452.16 acres of land was acquired and vested. Out of this 2,831.61 acres or 82,02% of the vested land was distributed amongst the peasants. The total number of patta holders was 9,254.[2]

Geography

Location

Daria, a constituent panchayat of Canning I block, is located at 22°17′57″N 88°35′19″E / 22.2990610°N 88.5886760°E / 22.2990610; 88.5886760.

Canning I CD Block is bounded by Canning II CD Block in the north, Basanti CD Block in the east and south, Kultali, Jaynagar I and Baruipur CD Blocks in the west.[3][4]

Area and administration

Canning I CD Block has an area of 187.86 km2. Canning police station serves this CD Block. Canning I panchayat samity has 10 gram panchayats. The block has 61 inhabited villages.[5]Headquarters of this block is at Canning.

Sundarbans settlements

Village in a clearing of Sundarbans. Drawing by Frederic Peter Layard after an original sketch of 1839
House in Sundarbans with a pond and rice fields, 2010

The Sundarbans area, in the south of the district, includes 102 deltaic islands, out of which 54 are inhabited and the rest is reserved forest. The area spread over 54,000 sq km is home to 3.9 million people or around 40% of the population of the district. As per December 2001 census there were 271 Royal Bengal tigers and other animals in the Indian portion of the Sundarban forest, spread across 42,000 sq km. The floor of the Sunderbans varies from 0.9 m to 2.11 m above sea level. Tidal saline water from the Bay of Bengal alternatively drowns and exposes the islands twice a day throughout the year. Around 3,500 km of earthen embankments, protecting the inhabited islands, have been facing the daily onslaught in a cyclone-prone area for more than a century. Clearing of the forests effectively started in 1781 and in about a century Hingalganj, Hasnabad, Sandeshkhali I and II, Minakhan, Haroa (all in North 24 Parganas district in 2016) Canning I and II, Jaynagar I and II, Mathurapur I and II, and Sagar (all in South 24 Parganas district in 2016) had been fully or substantially cleared of forests. Thereafter, much of the interiors of Kakdwip, Patharpratima, Basanti, Kultali and Gosaba were cleared for human settlement. People started moving in to the area. The refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan were the last to come in large numbers between 1951 and 1971. Canning I and II, Jaynagar I and II, Mathurapur I and II, Kakdwip and Namkhana are a little away from the forests and being attached/ connected to the mainland their conditions are similar to other mainland blocks in the district, but Basanti, Gosaba, Kultali, Patharpratima and Sagar are largely isolated from the mainland. These islands are mostly separated from the deep forest by a river. Electric connections are rare, and transport and communications, other than river transport, are not there. Around 95% people depend on rain-fed agriculture. Sagar lies at the mouth of the Hooghly, which carries fresh water and so things are a little different there. The sea level, around India, is estimated to be rising at 2.55 mm per year. In the last 70 years, 220 sq km of forest land has been submerged and the process continues.[6]

Gram panchayats

Gram panchayats of Canning I block/panchayat samiti are: Bansra, Daria, Dighirpar, Gopalpur, Hatpukuria, Itkhola, Matla I, Matla Ii, Nikarighata and Taldi.[7]

Demographics

As per 2011 Census of India Canning I CD Block had a total population of 304,724, of which 181,508 were rural and 123,216 were urban. There were 155,126 (51%) males and 149,598 (49%) females. Population below 6 years was 44,344. Scheduled Castes numbered 144,906 and Scheduled Tribes numbered 3,710.[8]

As per 2001 census, Canning I block had a total population of 244,354, out of which 125,216 were males and 119,138 were females. Canning I block registered a population growth of 24.48 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade. Decadal growth for South 24 Parganas district was 20.89 per cent. Decadal growth in West Bengal was 17.84 per cent. Scheduled castes at 126,485 formed about one-half the population. Scheduled tribes numbered 6,731.[5][9][10]

Census towns and large villages

Census towns in Canning I CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Kalaria (10,075), Gaur Daha (5,260), Banshra (29,521), Rajapur (9,754), Taldi (12,459), Bayarsingh (8,346), Matla (31,920) and Dighirpar (15,881).[8]

Large villages in Canning I CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Khas Kumarkhali (7,227), Sibnagar (5,667), Daria (4,900), Bhaleya (5,858), Hatpukhuria (4,629), Devis Abad (8,128), Dharmatala (5,003), Duttababur Abad (6,095), Gopalpur (4,958), Hero Bhanga (7,339), Uttar Redokhali (5,006), Maukhali (4,164), Uttar Angad Baria (5,141), Kumarsa Chak (7,334), Banibadabede Khali (4,930), Budh Khali (8,908), Gola Bari (4,896) and Modhu Khali (5,546).[8]

Literacy

As per 2011 census the total number of literates in Canning I CD Block was 184,241 (70.76% of the population over 6 years) out of which 103,611 (56%) were males and 80,630 (44%) were females.[8]

As per 2011 census, literacy in South 24 Parganas district was 77.51[11] Literacy in West Bengal was 77.08% in 2011.[12] Literacy in India in 2011 was 74.04%.[12]

As per 2001 census, Canning I block had a total literacy of 60.49 per cent for the 6+ age group. While male literacy was 72.56 per cent female literacy was 47.79 per cent. South 24 Parganas district had a total literacy of 69.45 per cent, male literacy being 79.19 per cent and female literacy being 59.01 per cent.[5]

Language

Bengali is the local language in these areas.[3]

Human Development Report

According to the South 24 Parganas district Human Development Report, it is an overwhelmingly rural district with 85% of the population living in rural areas. An analysis of the district’s population shows that 33 percent of the district’s population belongs to Scheduled Castes. While 65.86% of people are Hindus, 33.24% are Muslims. 86% of the population resided in the 29 CD Blocks. In 2005, more than 4 lakh households were identified as living below poverty line, pushing the poverty ratio in the district to 34.11%, way above the state and national poverty ratios.[13]

Canning I CD Block had a poverty ratio of 31.05% of the households in 2005. The Sundarbans region in general is afflicted with poverty with all the 13 CD Blocks recording above 30% and 8 CD Blocks recording more than 40% households in the BPL category.[13]

In standard of living Canning I had a rank of 16 amongst all the 29 blocks. In infrastructure development it was 21st amongst all CD Blocks. In Canning I, 13.80% households had access to electricity. The length of surfaced roads was 0.78 km per sq km area. The number of bank branches was 0.29 per 10,000 population. Lack of access to irrigation is a major problem for most of the CD Blocks in South 24 Parganas, but it assumes particular significance in the Sundarbans area, where there is limited scope for employment beyond the agricultural sector. In Canning I, 49.93% of rural households were engaged as daily/ agricultural/ other physical labour, 19.76% were cultivators, 10.58% were self-employed rural artisans/ hawkers, 7.93% were engaged in labour oriented regular jobs in the unorganised sector, and 11.85% were engaged in the organised sector or work as professionals.[13]

As per 1991 census, while male literacy rate was 59.21% female literacy was 25.88% and there was a gender gap of 33.88% in Canning I. In 2006, Canning I had 15 secondary and higher secondary schools. All, but 2 of them, had library facility but 11 of them did not have computer facilities.[13]

In 2006, in Canning I for 61 villages there were 56 health sub-centres and 2 rural hospital/public health centres having 78 beds with 16 medical officers, 25 nurses, 79 health assistants and 11 pharmacists and technicians. 19.3% of the 254 habitations in Canning I CD Block were fully covered with safe drinking water (including tube wells and tap water), 46.5% habitations were partly covered and 34.3% habitations were not covered.[13]

Canning I has 64.61 km of embankments. Breaches in these embankments varied from 1.5 km in 2004-05 to 4.5 km in 2005-06. Embankments raised along rivers are of critical importance for the safety of lives and protection of crops, against daily tides and tidal surges. Technologically the embankment structures are weak and there is need of proper drainage of accumulated rain water through sluice gates. Crude cuts in embankments for drainage of accumulated rain water and channels built for providing water to large fisheries (bheris) also add to the hazards. Cyclones and tropical depressions are regular threats.[13]

Health

Certain areas of South 24 Parganas district has been identified where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination.[14]High levels of arsenic in ground water were found in twelve blocks of the district. Water samples collected from tubewells in the affected places contained arsenic above the normal level (10 microgram a litre as specified by the World Health Organisation). The affected blocks are Baruipur, Bhangar I, Bhangar II, Bishnupur I, Bishnupur II, Basanti, Budge Budge, Canning I, Canning II, Sonarpur, Mograhat II and Joynagar.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "District Human Development Report: South 24 Parganas". Chapter 1.2, South 24 Parganas in Historical Perspective, pages 7-9. Development & Planning Department, Government of West Bengal, 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "District Human Development Report: South 24 Parganas". (1) Chapter 1.2, South 24 Parganas in Historical Perspective, pages 7-9 (2) Chapter 3.4, Land reforms, pages 32-33. Development & Planning Department, Government of West Bengal, 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Canning I Block". onefivenine. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "South 24 Parganas". CD Block/Tehsil map. Maps of India. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "District Statistical Handbook – 2009 – South 24 Parganas" (PDF). South 24 Parganas at a glance, Tables 2.1, 2.2, 2.4 (b), 4.5. Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics, Government of West Bengal. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "District Human Development Report: South 24 Parganas". Chapter 9: Sundarbans and the Remote Islanders, p 290-311. Development & Planning Department, Government of West Bengal, 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Blocks and Gram Panchayats in South 24 Parganas". South 24 Parganas District Administration. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "C.D. Block Wise Primary Census Abstract Data(PCA)". 2011 census: West Bengal – District-wise CD Blocks. Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Provisional Population Totals, West Bengal. Table 4". Census of India 2001 – South 24 Parganas. Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  10. ↑ "Provisional Population Totals, West Bengal. Table 4". Census of India 2001. Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  11. ↑ "District Census 2011". Population Census 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Provisional population tables and annexures" (PDF). Census 2011:Table 2(3) Literates and Literacy rates by sex. Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "District Human Development Report: South 24 Parganas". Intro: pp 16-19, 42 Block specific: pp 39-40, 73, 99, 132, 146, 192, 221. Development & Planning Department, Government of West Bengal, 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  14. ↑ "Groundwater Arsenic contamination in West Bengal-India (19 years study )". Groundwater arsenic contamination status of North 24-Parganas district, one of the nine arsenic affected districts of West Bengal-India. SOES. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
  15. ↑ "High arsenic levels in South". The Statesman, 24 June 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
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