Paschim Medinipur district


Paschim Medinipur district or West Midnapore district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the Partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur and Purba Medinipur. On 4 April 2017, the Jhargram subdivision was converted into a district.

Geography

Overview

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 amongst the districts of the state, next to South 24-Parganas. It ranks third in terms of rural population following South 24-Parganas and Murshidabad. It ranked fourth in terms of percentage of tribal population following Jalpaiguri, Purulia and Dakshin Dinajpur in 2011.
Broadly speaking, there are two natural divisions of the district. NH 14 and NH 16 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 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 are flood prone. Water logging during the rainy season affects Ghatal and the southern parts of Kharagpur subdivion and results in loss of crops in such areas as Sabang, Pingla and Narayangarh CD Blocks. 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

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

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 are 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.

Economy and politics

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Paschim Medinipur one of the country's 250 most backward districts. It is one of the eleven districts in West Bengal currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.
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:
SubdivisionHeadquarters
Area
km2		Population
Rural
population %
Urban
population %
Medinipur SadarMidnapore2,441.501,435,32186.0513.95
KharagpurKharagpur2,913.172,293,90985.6714.33
GhatalGhatal953.091,047,67987.9412.06

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 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, 29 development blocks, 8 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 12 urban units: 8 municipalities and 4 census towns.

Kharagpur subdivision

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. The district has a population density of . 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%.

Culture

Tourism

Universities and colleges

The table below 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.