Deganga (community development block)

History

The saga of the Vidyadhari River, which flows through the Deganga area, has been part of local folklore since time immemorial. The river had formed a major navigation route for earlier civilisations. In the 3rd century BC, the nearby river port of Chandraketugarh was on the banks of this river. There still are tell-tale signs of that bygone era, and efforts are on near Berachampa to find more evidence of a lost civilization, possibly Meryan. The source of the river is located near Haringhata in Nadia. Later it winds down through the area before meeting at Roymangal at the confluence of Sundarbans.

Location

Berachampa, with the CD Block offices, is located at 22°41′36″N 88°40′41″E.

Deganga CD Block is bounded by Habra I CD Block in the north, Baduria and Basirhat I CD Blocks in the east, Haroa CD Block in the south and Barasat I and Barasat II CD Blocks in the west.

Area

Deganga CD Block has an area of 201.05 km².

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. Parts of the metropolitan city of Kolkata extend over southern part of the district.

Gram panchayats

Deganga is an intermediate panchayat (local self-government) under North 24 Parganas district. Village panchayats under it are – Amulia, Berachampa I & II, Chakla, Champatala, Chaurashi, Deganga I & II, Hadipur-Jikhra I & II, Kolsur, Nurnagar and Sohai-Shetpur.

Land acquisition fear

Villagers in West Bengal are greatly worried about acquisition of land for industry. In March 2007, Sasthi Charan Ghosh, Block Development Officer, decided to inspect a fenced-up plot near Kalianibil in Deganga in connection with a plywood company's plans to set up a factory there. Later they were to meet to decide on the company's application. Barely had they finished the inspection when rumours spread that government officials were measuring land for acquisition. Over 1,000 villagers ambushed cars carrying the officials. Police rushed in to rescue them, but failed to stop the mob from setting ablaze two vehicles belonging to the circle inspector and zilla parishad. A number of policemen were injured.

2010 anti-Hindu riots

The 2010 Deganga riots began on 6 September when a muslim mob resorted to arson and violence on the Hindu localities of Deganga, Kartikpur and Beliaghata under the Deganga police station area. The violence began late in the evening and continued throughout the night into the next morning. The district police, Rapid Action Force all failed to stop the mob violence, Central Reserve Police Force was finally deployed. The Central Reserve Police Force staged a flag march on the Taki Road, while Islamist violence continued unabated in the interior villages off the Taki Road, till Wednesday in spite of army presence and promulgation of prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC. The violence finally calmed down on 9 September after Several of Hindu business establishments and residences were looted, destroyed and burnt, dozens of Hindus were severely injured and several Hindu temples were desecrated and vandalized.

Demographics

As per 2011 Census of India Deganga CD Block had a total population of 319,213, of which 309,550 were rural and 9,663 were urban. There were 163,154 (51%) males and 156,059 (49%) females. Population below 6 years was 39,415. Scheduled Castes numbered 39,027 and Scheduled Tribes numbered 2,560.

Deganga (village) had a population of 3,377 as per 2011 census.

In the 2001 census, Deganaga community development block had a population of 276,049 out of which 141,545 were males and 134,504 were females.

Census towns and large villages

There is only one census town in Deganga CD Block (2011 census figure in brackets): Deulia (9,633).

Large villages in Deganga CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Fazilpur (4,084), Sohai (4,858), Biswanathpur (4,585), Kaliani (5,525), Chyandana (7,188), Khejurdanga (4,370), Belgachhia (4,026), Subrnapur (6,380), Parpatna (6,558), Uttar Kalsur (9,051), Dakshin Kalsur (6,731), Basudebpur (4,580), Matikumra (4,651), Amulia (4,443), Alipur (7,801), Kaukepara (8,707), Nandipara Kuchemora (4,936), Jadabpur (6,390), Chandpur (8,780), Keadanga (4,682), Hadipur Churijhara (9,971), Jhikra (4,315) and Abjan Nagar (5,544).

Literacy

As per 2011 census the total number of literates in Deganga CD Block was 222,866 (79.65% of the population over 6 years) out of which 118,553 (53%) were males and 104,313 (47%) were females.

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

See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate

Language

Bengali is the local language in these areas.

Religion

In the 2011 census Muslims numbered 226,397 and formed 70.92% of the population in Deganaga CD Block. Hindus numbered 91,893 and formed 28.79% of the population. Others numbered 923 and formed 0.29% of the population.

In 1981 Muslims numbered 109,691 and formed 63.53% of the population and Hindus numbered 62,898 and formed 36.40% of the population. In 1991 Muslims numbered 159,109 and formed 67.65% of the population and Hindus numbered 74,819 and formed 31.96% of the population in Deganga CD Block. (In 1981 and 1991 census was conducted as per jurisdiction of the police station.)

In the 2011 census, Hindus numbered 7,352,769 and formed 73.46% of the population in North 24 Parganas district. Muslims numbered 2,584,684 and formed 25.82% of the population. In West Bengal Hindus numbered 64,385,546 and formed 70.53% of the population. Muslims numbered 24,654,825 and formed 27.01% of the population.

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.

Deganga CD Block had a population density of 1,363 persons per km². It was ranked 8 amongst the 22 CD Blocks for density of population in 2001. It had a literacy rate of 68.34%, rank 14. Male literacy rate was 74.88% and female literacy rate was 61.42%. Percentage distribution of main workers in Deganga CD Block was cultivators 27.63, agricultural labourers 29.03, household industry workers 3.70 and other workers 39.64 (non-agricultural, non-household). 14.29% of households in this CD Block lived below poverty line.

In the Deganga CD Block 19 villages had secondary schools and for 97.22% villages a college was more than 5 km away. Deganga had 13 high schools with 13,416 students and 158 teachers. It had 8 higher secondary schools with 8,646 students and 62 teachers.

In Deganga CD Block, 93.52% of the villages had electricity for domestic use, 88.89% villages had paved approach roads, 88.89% villages had primary schools, 1.85% 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 Deganga CD Block, 95 villages had tube wells for drinking water and 13 villages had tap water. Deganga CD Block had 331 km surfaced roads and 184 km unsurfaced roads.

North 24 Parganas is one of the leading districts in the formation and development of self-help groups. In Deganga there were 801 such groups. The major activities done by these groups were kantha-stitching, hand embroidery, vegetable-dye and paper bag making. Deganga CD Block had 5 health centres and 37 sub-centres.

Healthcare

Deganga is one of the areas where groundwater is affected by arsenic contamination. In Kolsur in Deganga area, Pal Trockner's arsenic removal technology was used at an expenditure of over Rs 30 million. Experts feel that the entire expenditure has gone waste. Aqua Welfare Society, a non government organization (NGO), has been providing arsenic safe water to the local through rain water harvesting. They are providing the water through modified dugwells, the water which is treated with chlorine regularly. AWS has organised several interactive workshops including one on water at Kolsur High School, on 26 November 2006. The participants were informed that by 2009 the state government had planned to provide water through pipelines that would either be treated river water or water from the third aquifer (deep tubewell) that is arsenic free. However, it was also mentioned that the remote villages where it would be difficult to provide the pipelines the villagers would need to use alternate sources for their drinking water.