Hingalganj (community development block)

Hingalganj
হিঙ্গলগঞ্জ সমষ্টি উন্নয়ন ব্লক
Community development block
Hingalganj

Location in West Bengal, India

Coordinates: 22°28′15″N 88°58′38″E / 22.470803°N 88.977346°E / 22.470803; 88.977346Coordinates: 22°28′15″N 88°58′38″E / 22.470803°N 88.977346°E / 22.470803; 88.977346
Country  India
State West Bengal
District North 24 Parganas
Area
 • Total 230.40 km2 (88.96 sq mi)
Elevation 7 m (23 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 175,545
 • Density 760/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Languages
 • Official Bengali, English
Literacy (2011)
 • Total literates 119,630 (76.85%)
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 743435 (Hingalganj)
Telephone/STD code 03217
Vehicle registration WB-23, WB-24, WB-25, WB-26
Lok Sabha constituency Basirhat
Vidhan Sabha constituency Hingalganj
Website north24parganas.nic.in

Hingalganj is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Basirhat subdivision of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Hingalganj police station serves this block. Headquarters of this block is at Hingalganj. It is located 69 km from Barasat, the district headquarters.

Geography

Location

Surrounded by rivers on all sides, this small island, Hingalganj is located at 22°28′15″N 88°58′38″E / 22.470803°N 88.977346°E / 22.470803; 88.977346.

Hingalganj CD Block is bounded by Hasnabad CD Block in the north, Kaliganj and Shyamnagar upazilas in Satkhira District of Bangladesh in the east, Sundarbans in the south and the lower portion of the west, Canning II CD Block in South 24 Parganas district in the lower portion of the west, and Sandeshkhali I and Sandeshkhali II CD Blocks in the upper portion of the west.[1][2]

Area

Hingalganj CD Block has an area of 230.40 km2.[3]

Physical features

North 24 Parganas district is part of the Gangetic delta, lying east of the Hooghly River. The country is flat. It is a little raised above flood level and the highest ground borders the river channels. The rivers in the district were formerly distributaries of the Ganges but their mouths have long been filled up and blocked. The area is described as a sort of a drowned land broken by swamps. Land in the north-east of the district is higher than that of the rest of the district. The sturdy peasants raise crops of rice, jute and sugarcane from the alluvial soil. There are clumps of palm and fruit trees in which village homesteads nestle. Industrial activity is concentrated in the narrow strip of land along the Hooghly River. The south-eastern part of the district gradually merges into the Sunderbans.[4] Parts of the metropolitan city of Kolkata extend over southern part of the district.

Sundarbans

The Sundarbans is a flat lowland susceptible to the tidal waves along the 260 km shoreline of the Bay of Bengal. The total expanse of Sundarbans is about 2.05 million hectares (8,000 square miles). Of this, only 0.42 million hectares (1,629 square miles or 10,43,000 acres) are under the reserve forests including about 0.19 million hectares covered by creeks and channels. The area is prone to natural calamities such as cyclones, thunderstorms with occasional hail and floods. There are more than 63,400 km of embankments but the floods caused by high tidal bores, often wash away much of the embankments, already weakened and broken by earlier cyclonic storms.[5]

In May 2009, the district was hit by high speed cyclone named Aila and subsequent rainfall which continued for two days. This created a disaster in 20 out of 22 blocks of the district. 10 out of 27 municipalities of the district were also severely affected.[5]

Six CD Blocks of North 24 Parganas are included in the Sundabans area – Hingalganj, Hasnabad, Sandeskhali I and II, Minakhan and Haora.[5]

Gram panchayats

Gram panchayats of Hingalganj block/ panchayat samiti are: Bishpur, Hingalganj, Rupamari, Dulduli, Jogeshganj, Sahebkhali, Gobindakati, Kalitala and Sandelerbil.[6]

Dulduli gram panchayat has two parts in the two island. One part is in the main island where the block office is situated and the other part is in the island where the Sahebkhali, Gobindakathi, Kalitala and Jogeshganj are situated .

Demographics

As per 2011 Census of India Hingalganj CD Block had a total population of 174,545, of which 159,469 were rural and 15,076 were urban. There were 88,937 (51%) males and 85,608 (49%) females. Population below 6 years was 18,880. Scheduled Castes numbered 115,227 and Scheduled Tribes numbered 12,743.[7]

As per 2001 census, Hingalganj block has a total population of 156,568 out of which 80,487 were males and 76,081 were females. Hingalganj block registered a population growth of 10.03 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade. Decadal growth for the district was 22.40 per cent.[3] Decadal growth in West Bengal was 17.84 per cent.[8]

Census towns and large villages

There are two census towns in Hingalganj CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Hingalganj (8,179) and Bankra (6,897).[7]

Large villages in Hingalganj CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Durgapur Baylani (7,115), Bispur (6,643), Rupmari (4,717), Bhandarkhali (5,832), Sandelerbil (10,401), Mamudpur (8,942), Sahebkhali (5,792), Ramapur (6,357), Madhabkati (4,304), Patghara (6,270), Jogeshganj (7,082), Parghumti (6,581), Shridhar Kati (7,687), Malekanghumti (5,398), Kalitala (6,609) and Samsernagar (4,394).[7]

Literacy

As per 2011 census the total number of literates in Hingalganj CD Block was 119,630 (76.85% of the population over 6 years) out of which 66,858 (56%) were males and 52,722 (44%) were females.[7]

As per 2011 census, literacy in North 24 Parganas district was 84.06 (including urban areas outside the CD Blocks).[9] Literacy in West Bengal was 77.08% in 2011.[10] Literacy in India in 2011 was 74.04%.[10]

Language

Bengali is the local language in these areas.[1]

Human Development Report

According to Census 2001, 54% of the population of North 24 Parganas district lived in the urban areas. The district had 1,571 inhabited villages spread over 22 community development blocks. In the urban area there were 27 municipalities, 20 census towns, 7 urban outgrowths and one town under Cantonment Board. The North 24 Parganas district Human Development Report opines that in spite of agricultural productivity in North 24 Parganas district being rather impressive 81.84% of rural population suffered from shortage of food. The number of families living below the poverty line varied widely from block to block. Even in some municipal areas, such as Baduria, Gobardanga, Taki, Basirhat, Bangaon and Habra surveys have revealed large percentage of people living in poverty. Several poverty alleviation schemes are under implementation mostly at the block level. North 24 Parganas district with a population density of 2,192 persons per square km, was the third densest in West Bengal, after Kolkata and Howrah. The high density of population in the district is largely because of large scale migration of refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan, particularly in the period 1947 to 1955. In 2004, life expectancy at birth of a female was 71 years and that of a male was 66 years. With a literacy rate of 68.74% in 2001, the district was second only to Kolkata in the state in literacy. There were 6,139 habitations in the rural areas of North 24 Parganas. Out of these 2,331 habitations have primary schools within the villages and another 3,334 habitations have primary schools within 1 km. There are 474 habitations with primary schools beyond 1 km from the village. There were 258 high schools in the rural areas of the district.[11]

Hingalganj CD Block had a population density of 655 persons per km2. It was ranked 22 amongst the 22 CD Blocks for density of population in 2001. It had a literacy rate of 70.07%, ranking of 11. Male literacy rate was 81.34% and female literacy rate was 58.18%. Percentage distribution of main workers in Hingalganj CD Block was cultivators 30.12, agricultural labourers 27.28, household industry workers 8.39 and other workers 33.21 (non-agricultural, non-household). 44.50% of households in this CD Block lived below poverty line.[11]

In the Hingalganj CD Block none of the villages had secondary schools and for 93.18% villages a college was more than 5 km away. Hingalganj had 16 high schools with 10,364 students and 257 teachers. It had 7 higher secondary schools with 8,929 students and 205 teachers.[11]

In Hingalganj, one of the six CD Blocks in the Sundarban area, 25% of the villages had electricity for domestic use, 63.64% villages had paved approach roads, 90.91% villages had primary schools, 15.91% of the villages had maternity and child welfare centres, and 100% villages had drinking water. The tube well is the source of drinking water in 1,244 out of 1,572 villages in the district. In Hingalganj CD Block, 26 villages had tube wells for drinking water, 17 villages had tap water and 1 tank water. Hingalganj CD Block had 49 km surfaced roads and 92 km unsurfaced roads.[11]

North 24 Parganas is one of the leading districts in the formation and development of self-help groups. In Hingalganj there were 846 such groups. The major activities done by these groups were fishing and poultry. Hingalganj CD Block had 4 health centres and 42 sub-centres.[11]

Healthcare

Hingalganj CD Block is one of the areas where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination. In the southern part of the CD Block water from shallow tube wells is saline and so there are only deep tube wells with no arsenic. Aresenic is there in the shallow tube wells in the northern part of the CD Block.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 "Hingalganj Block". onefivenine. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "North 24 Parganas District". Map Gallery – CD Blocks. North 24 Parganas district administration. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Census of India 2001, Provisional Population Totals, West Bengal, Table - 4". North Twenty Four Parganas District (11). Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2010-10-25.
  4. ↑ LSS O’Malley. "Bengal District Gazzetteers: 24 Parganas". p 1-4. Google Books. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "District Human Development Report: North 24 Parganas" (PDF). p 250. Development & Planning Department, Government of West Bengal, 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  6. ↑ From Basirhat subdivision page.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "C.D. Block Wise Primary Census Abstract Data(PCA)". West Bengal – District-wise CD Blocks. Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Provisional Population Totals, West Bengal. Table 4". Census of India 2001. Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  9. ↑ "District Census 2011". Population Census 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  10. 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.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "District Human Development Report: North 24 Parganas" (PDF). Intro Pp 3, 6, 8, 22, 38, 202; Block specific Pp 20, 22, 27, 28, 31, 86, 89, 123, 145, 151, 189. Development & Planning Department, Government of West Bengal, 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  12. ↑ "Groundwater Arsenic contamination in West Bengal-India (20 years study )". Groundwater arsenic contamination status of North 24-Parganas district, one of the nine arsenic affected districts of West Bengal-India. SOES. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
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