Egra II

Overview

Purba Medinipur district is part of the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain and Eastern coastal plains. Topographically, the district can be divided into two parts – (a) almost entirely flat plains on the west, east and north, (b) the coastal plains on the south. The vast expanse of land is formed of alluvium and is composed of younger and coastal alluvial. The elevation of the district is within 10 metres above mean sea level. The district has a long coastline of 65.5 km along its southern and south eastern boundary. Five coastal CD Blocks, namely, Khejuri II, Contai II (Deshapran), Contai I, Ramnagar I and II, are occasionally affected by cyclones and tornadoes. Tidal floods are quite regular in these five CD Blocks. Normally floods occur in 21 of the 25 CD Blocks in the district. The major rivers are Haldi, Rupnarayan, Rasulpur, Bagui and Keleghai, flowing in north to south or south-east direction. River water is an important source of irrigation. The district has a low 899 hectare forest cover, which is 0.02% of its geographical area.

Location

Bathuary, a constituent panchayat of Egra II block, is located at 21°51′42″N 87°38′24″E.

Egra II CD Block is bounded by Patashpur II CD Block in the north, Contai III and Contai I CD Blocks in the east, Ramnagar II CD Block in the south and Egra I CD Block in the west.

It is located 69 km from Tamluk, the district headquarters.

Area and administration

Egra II CD Block has an area of 184.71 km². It has 1 panchayat samity, 8 gram panchayats, 134 gram sansads (village councils), 117 mouzas and 115 inhabited villages. Egra police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD Block is at Madhabpur.

Gram panchayats

Gram panchayats of Egra II block/ panchayat samiti are: Basudevpur, Bathuary, Deshbandhu, Dubda, Manjushree, Paniparul, Sarbodaya and Vivekananda.

Population

As per 2011 Census of India Egra II CD Block had a total population of 178,763, all of which were rural. There were 92,578 (52%) males and 86,185 (48%) females. Population below 6 years was 19,596. Scheduled Castes numbered 36,376 (10.93%) and Scheduled Tribes numbered 428 (0.24%).

As per 2001 census, Egra II block had a total population of 156,413, out of which 80,102 were males and 76,311 were females. Egra II block registered a population growth of 12.63 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade. Decadal growth for the combined Midnapore district was 14.87 per cent.Decadal growth in West Bengal was 17.84 per cent.

Villages

Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in Egra II CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Khejurda (5,265), Erenda (4,208), Dubda (12,885), Paniparul (10,469), Khagda (4,149), Uttar Daidpur (4,133), Bathuari (4,127), Tajpur (5,672), Basudebpur (9,129) and Shyamhari Bar (4,106).

Literacy

As per 2011 census the total number of literates in Egra II CD Block was 137,635 (86.47% of the population over 6 years) out of which 76,579 (56%) were males and 60,876 (44%) were females.

As per 2011 census, literacy in Purba Medinipur district was 87.02%. Purba Medinipur had the highest literacy amongst all the districts of West Bengal in 2011. 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 2011 census Hindus numbered 167,273 and formed 93.57% of the population in Egra II CD Block. Muslims numbered 11,317 and formed 6.33% of the population. Others numbered 173 and formed 0.10% of the population.

In 2011, Hindus numbered 4,343,972 and formed 85.24% of the population in Purba Medinipur district. Muslims numbered 743,436 and formed 14.59% 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 the District Human Development Report of Purba Medinipur: the density of population (2001 census) at 1,028 persons per  km² was higher than the West Bengal average of 903 persons per  km². It is an overwhelmingly rural district with the urban population being only 7.23% of the total population. The scheduled castes form 19.05% of the total population and the scheduled tribes 5.41%, the former or the two together being the lowest in the state.

The agricultural sector is the lifeline of a predominantly rural economy. It is largely dependent on the Low Capacity Deep Tubewells (around 50%) or High Capacity Deep Tubewells (around 27%) for irrigation, as the district does not have a good network of canals, compared to some of the neighbouring districts. In many cases the canals are drainage canals which get the backflow of river water at times of high tide or the rainy season.

In 2007-08, around 85% of the mouzas in the district had electric connections and around 40% of rural households had electricity. Over 90% of the rural households had access to toilet facility. In rural areas the tubewell was taken to be a reliable source of drinking water till arsenic contamination put a question mark on it. Piped water supply is a distant dream for rural people. In the rural areas of the district 6% households enjoy piped drinking water supply facility. In Purba Medinipur, around 70% of the people have a low standard of living.

The average size of land holding in Purba Medinipur, in 2005-06, was 0.73 hectares against 1.01 hectares in West Bengal. In 2001, agricultural workers plus cultivators formed 55.41% of the total workers (main plus marginal). For rice cultivation, the area cultivated under Aman (or winter crop) is one and a half times that of the area under Boro (or summer crop). Purba Medinipur’s net district domestic product derives one fifth of its earnings from fisheries, the highest amongst all the districts of West Bengal. Betelvine is a major source of livelihood in Purba Medinipur district, particularly in Tamluk and Contai subdivisions. Betelvine production in 2008-09 was the highest amongst all the districts and was around a third of the total state production. In 2008-09, Purba Mednipur produced 2,789 tonnes of cashew nuts from 3,340 hectares of land.

The report has provided CD Block-wise data for Modified Human Poverty Index of the district. The information has been modified to suit this page and published in the table alongside. The CD Block-wise mean MHPI is estimated at 24.9. 11 out of 25 CD Blocks are found to be severely deprived in respect of grand CD Block average value of MHPI (CD Blocks with lower amount of poverty are better): All the CD Blocks of Haldia and Contai subdivisions appeared backward, except Ramnagar I & II, of all the blocks of Egra subdivision only Bhagabanpur I appeared backward and in Tamluk subdivision none appeared backward.

(Note: Certain topics, such as Literacy, Education, Healthcare etc., are not covered here and are covered elsewhere in this page.)

Infrastructure

In 2003-04 Egra II CD Block had 50 hectares of canals. Egra II CD Block had 37 km of surfaced roads under PWD, 12 km of surfaced roads under Zilla Parishad and 200 km of surfaced roads and 300 km unsurfaed roads under Gram Panchayat and Panchayat Samiti.

Agriculture

In 2003-04 the farmers of Egra II CD Block could be classified as follows: Bargadars 10.02%, patta (document) holders 23.63%, small farmers 13.24%, marginal farmers 20.30% and agricultural labourers 32.82%.

As of 2003-04, Egra II CD Block had 4,074 hectares vested land, out of which 2,718 hectares was distributed amongst 11,873 persons.

In 2003-04 net area sown in Egra II CD Block was 15,249 hectares and the area in which more than one crop was grown was 8,215 hectares.

In 2003-04 Egra II CD Block produced 21,910 tonnes of Aman paddy from 14,370 hectares, 18,090 tonnes of Boro paddy from 6,200 hectares and 440 tonnes potato from 20 hectares.

Pisciculture

In Egra II CD Block 1,128 hectares was the nett area under effective pisiculture and 1,076 persons were engaged in the profession. Approximate annual production in 2003-04 was 19,747 qtl.

Transport

Egra II CD Block has 1 terminating/ originating bus route.The nearest railway station is 23 km from district headquarters.

Education

In 2003-04, Egra II CD Block had 110 primary schools with 14,509 students, 2 middle schools with 681 students, 13 high schools with 9,111 students and 8 higher secondary schools with 8,757 students. Egra II CD Block had 289 institutions with 9,896 students for special and non-formal education. Egra II CD Block had 119 mass literacy centres

Healthcare

Egra II CD Block had 4 health centres and 25 clinics with 49 beds and 5 doctors in 2003.