Tufanganj II
Tufanganj-II is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in Tufanganj subdivision of Cooch Behar district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography. Falimari, a constituent panchayat of the block, is located at . Topographically Cooch Behar district is generally plain land which is low and marshy at some places. “Considering the nature of general surface configuration, relief and drainage pattern, distribution of different types of soil, climatic condition, the formation of geology and forest tracts, the district Koch Bihar falls under Barind Tract. The physiology of this area consists of alluvial soil , generally blackish brown in colour and composed of sand, clay and silt. The soils are loose and sandy throughout the district.” The Himalayan formations in the north end beyond the boundaries of this district. There are no hills/ mountains here. It has a large network of rivers flowing from north-west to south and south-east. The Teesta flows through Mekhliganj CD block before entering Bangladesh. The Jaldhaka and its connected river-streams form a large catchment area in the district. It virtually divides the district into two unequal parts and meets the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. The Himalayan rivers flowing  through Cooch Behar district change courses from time to time. In 1876, W.W. Hunter mentioned the Dharla and the Torsha as the same stream with two names. However, since the advent of the 20th century, these are two different streams meeting the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. The hill-streams of Cooch Behar carry debris and silt from the Himalayas and are shallow. During the monsoons the speed of flow of the rivers almost doubles and the rivers overflow the banks causing floods and devastation. The Raidak I and II, and Sankosh are the major rivers causing floods in the Tufanganj I  and II CD blocks. The Tufanganj II CD block is bounded by the Alipurduar II and Kumargram CD blocks in Alipurduar district on the north, the Gossaigaon Revenue Circle/ Tehsil in Kokrajhar district and Agamoni revenue circle/tehsil in Dhubri district of Assam on the east, the Tufanganj I CD block on the south and west. The Tufanganj II CD block has an area of 265.69 km. It has 1 panchayat samity, 11 gram panchayats, 141 gram sansads (village councils), 54 mouzas, 53 inhabited villages and 1 census towns. Bakshirhat police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD block  is at Chhota Laukuthi. There are 11 Gram Panchayats under Tufanganj-II Development Block/Panchayat Samity. Gram panchayats of Tufanganj II block/ Panchayat samity are: Barokodali I, Barokodali II, Bhanukumari I, Bhanukumar II, Falimari, Mahiskuchi I, Mahiskuchi II, Rampur I, Rampur II, Salbari I and Salbari II. Demographics. Population. According to the 2011 Census of India, the Tufanganj II CD block had a total population of 186,726, of which 181,246 were rural and 5,480 were urban. There were 96,222 (52%) males and 90,504 (48%) females. There were 21,429 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled  Castes numbered 100,378 (53.76%) and the Scheduled Tribes numbered 3,966 (2.12%). According to the 2001 census, Tufanganj II block had a total population of 167,428, out of which 85,249 were males and 82,179 were females. Tufanganj II block registered a population growth of 13.60 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade. Census towns in the Tufanganj II CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Chhota Laukuthi (5,480). Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in the Tufanganj II CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Rampur (18,270), Najiran Deutikhada (4,340), Jaldhoa (5,042), Singimari (4,459), Takoamari (4,346), Rasikbil (4,223), Bara  Salbari (8,224), Salbari (9,415), Basraja Pratham Khanda (6,251), Mahiskuchi (7,192), Falimari (11,385), Bhanukumari (14,340), Dhldabri (4,582), Bhandijalas (5,002), Bara Kodali (5,009), Nakarkhana (4,169), Bala Kuthi (5,424), Mansai (6,046) and Debgram (4,242). Other villages in the Tufanganj II CD block include (2011 census figures in brackets): Jhingapuni (3,277). Literacy. According to the 2011 census, the total number of literate persons in the Tufanganj II CD block was 125,207 (75.75% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 70,041 (82.12% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 55,166 (68.95% of the female population over 6 years ). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 13.17%. See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate Language and religion. According to the "District Census Handbook, Cooch Behar, 2011 census," as of 2001, Bengali was the mother-tongue of 90.3% of the population of Cooch Behar district, followed by Hindi (1.6%), Telugu (0.6%), Sadan/ Sadri (0.2%), Bhojpuri (0.1%), Kurukh/ Oraon (0.1%), Nepali/ Gorkhali (0.1%) and Santali (0.1%). Marwari, Rajbansi, Munda, Rabha, Rajasthani, Assamese and Koch were the mother- tongues of smaller proportion of the population. People with other mother-tongues formed 6.9% of  the population. The proportion of those whose mother-tongue was Bengali declined from 96.1% in 1961 to 90.3% in 2001 and the proportion of those with other mother tongues increased from 0.2% in 1961 to 6.9% in 2001. According to the West Bengal Official Language Act 1961 and the West Bengal Official Language (Amendment Act) 2012, the Bengali language is to be used for official purposes in the whole of West Bengal. In addition to Bengali, the Nepali language is to be used for official purposes in the three hills subdivisions, namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, in the district of  Darjeeling, and Urdu is to be used for official purposes in district/subdivision/ block/ municipality where the population speaking Urdu exceeds 10% of the total population. The English language will continue to be used for official purposes as it was being used prior to the enactment of these laws. The West Bengal Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, 2012, included Hindi, Santhali, Odiya and Punjabi as official languages if it is spoken by a population exceeding 10 per cent of the whole in a particular block or sub-division or a district. Subsequently, Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi and Kurmali were also included in  the list of minority languages by the West Bengal Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018. However, as of 2020, there is no official / other reliable information about the areas covered. Census 2011 provides language data only at the district and above level. In the 2011 Census of India, Hindus numbered 159,830 and formed 85.60% of the population of Tufanganj II CD block. Muslims numbered 26,416 and formed 14.15% of the population. Christians numbered 194 and formed 0.10% of the population. Others numbered 286 and formed 0.15% of the population. Rural poverty. Based on a study of the per capita consumption  in rural and urban areas, using central sample data of NSS 55th Round 1999-2000, Cooch Behar district had a rural poverty ratio of 25.62%. According to a World Bank report, as of 2012, 20-26% of the population of Cooch Behar, Birbhum, Nadia and Hooghly districts were below poverty line, marginally higher than the level of poverty in West Bengal, which had an average 20% of the population below poverty line. Economy. Livelihood. In the Tufanganj II CD block in 2011, among the class of total workers, cultivators numbered 21,309 and formed 28.70%, agricultural labourers numbered 25,114 and formed  33.82%, household industry workers numbered 4,582 and formed 5.77% and other workers numbered 23,550 and formed 31.72%. Total workers numbered 74,255 and formed 39.77% of the total population, and non-workers numbered 112,471 and formed 60.23% of the population. Infrastructure. There are 53 inhabited villages in the Tufanganj II CD block, as per the "District Census Handbook", Cooch Behar, 2011. 100% villages have power supply. 52 villages (98.11%) have drinking water supply. 21 villages (39.62%) have post offices. 50 villages (94.34%) have telephones (including landlines, public call offices and mobile phones). 30 villages (56.60%) have pucca (paved) approach roads and  26 villages (49.06%) have transport communication (includes bus service, rail facility and navigable waterways). 4 villages (7.55%) have agricultural credit societies and 7 villages (13.21%) have banks. Agriculture. Agriculture is the primary mode of living in the district. The entire Cooch Behar district has fertile soil and around half of the cultivated land in the district is cropped twice or more. Paddy (rice) and jute are the largest producing crops, followed by potatoes, vegetables and pulses. There are 23 tea gardens on glided slopes. There are some coconut, areca nut and betel leaf plantations. 77.6% of the land holdings are  marginal. In 2012-13, there were 51 fertiliser depots, 1 seed store and 32 fair price shops in the Tufanganj II CD block. In 2012–13, the Tufanganj II CD block produced 37,813 tonnes of Aman paddy, the main winter crop, from 16,422 hectares, 13,548 tonnes of Boro paddy (spring crop) from 4,069 hectares, 418 tonnes of Aus paddy (summer crop) from 272 hectares, 4,329 tonnes of wheat from 1,616 hectares, 34,588 tonnes of jute from 3,179 hectares and 23,813 tonnes of potatoes from 799 hectares. It also produced pulses and oilseeds. In 2012-13, the total area irrigated in the  Tufanganj II CD block was 4,305 hectares, out of which 50 hectares were irrigated by private canal water, 490 hectares by tank water, 358 hectares by river lift irrigation, 172 hectares by deep tube wells, 2,184 hectares by shallow tube wells, 501 hectares by open dug wells, 550 hectares by other means. Pisciculture. Being a river-bound district, pisciculture is an important economic activity in the Cooch Behar district. Almost all the rivers originating in the Himalayas have a lot of fish. The net area under effective pisciculture in 2010-11 in the Tufanganj II CD block was 182.49 hectares . 12,375 persons were engaged in the profession and approximate annual production was 17,845 quintals. Banking. In 2012-13, Tufanganj II CD block had offices of 2 commercial banks and 5 gramin banks. Transport. Tufanganj II CD block has 8 ferry services and 5 originating/ terminating bus routes. The New Cooch Behar-Golokganj branch line passes through this block and there are stations at Tufanganj and Bakshirhat. Education. In 2012-13, Tufanganj II CD block had 143 primary schools with 13,101 students, 32 middle schools with 21,905 students, 6 high schools with 6,991 students and 10 higher secondary schools with 13,299  students. Tufanganj II CD block had 1 general degree college with 904 students and 381 institutions for special and non-formal education with 14,210 students. See also – Education in India According to the 2011 census, in the Tufanganj II CD block, among the 53 inhabited villages, 1 village did not have a school, 35 villages had two or more primary schools, 23 villages had at least 1 primary and 1 middle school and 12 villages had at least 1 middle and 1 secondary school. Bakshirhat Mahavidyalaya was established in 2005 at Bakshirhat. Healthcare. In 2013, Tufanganj II CD block had  1 block primary health centre and 2 primary health centres with total 24 beds and 5 doctors (excluding private bodies). It had 32 family welfare subcentres. 8,469 patients were treated indoor and 37,192patients were treated outdoor in the hospitals, health centres and subcentres of the CD block. Bakshirhat Block Primary Health Centre, with 10 beds at Bakshirhat, is the major government medical facility in the Tufanganj II CD block. There are primary health centres at Salbari (with 4 beds) and Rampur (with 10 beds).