Paschim Bardhaman district

Some historians link the name of the district to the 24th and last Jain tirthankara, Mahavira Vardhamana, who came to preach in the area. Alternatively, Bardhamana means a prosperous and growing area. It was a forward frontier zone in the progress of Aryanisation by the people in the Upper Gangetic valley. Paschim means west. ==History==

Microliths found at Birbhanpur, near Durgapur, indicate settlements in the Ajay valley in the Paleolithic/ Mesolithic age, around 5,000 BC. In early historical times Bardhamanbhukti, a part of the Rarh region, was ruled successively by the Magadhas, Mauryas, Kushanas and Guptas. In the 7th century AD, when Shashanka was king, the area was part of the Gauda Kingdom. It was ruled by the Palas and Senas, till Bakhtiyar Khilji captured it in 1199 AD. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire became weak and Murshid Quli Khan became the Nawab of Bengal, owning only nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor. At that time Bardhaman was referred to as chakla, a change from the earlier pargana. Subsequently, during the reign of Alivardi Khan, the Bargis attacked and plundered Bardhaman. Durgapur subdivision was carved out of Asansol subdivision in 1968. The Permanent Settlement ultimately led to the dismemberment of the Bardhaman estate. As the rajas often failed to pay the rent demands, some parts of the estate were auctioned off. However, there were bright spots even in the later period of the rule of Bardhaman zamindary till the abolition of zamindary system in 1954, after independence of the country. Bardhaman district was bifurcated into two districts, Purba Bardhaman and Paschim Bardhaman, on 7 April 2017. ==Geography==

The rocky undulating topography with laterite soil found in Paschim Bardhaman district is a sort of extension of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. For ages the area was heavily forested and infested with plunderers and marauders. The discovery of coal in the 18th century led to industrialisation. Most of the forests in the coal-bearing areas have been cleared but some areas in the eastern part of the district remained thickly forested till more recent times and some are still there. The eastern part of the district gradually slopes down to the rice plains of the agriculturally rich Purba Bardhaman district. ==Administrative divisions==

The district comprises two subdivisions: Asansol Sadar subdivision and Durgapur subdivision. In Paschim Bardhaman district, there are 8 CD block under two subdivision. In Asansol Sadar subdivision, there are 4 CD block - Salanpur, Barabani, Jamuria and Raniganj. In Durgapur subdivision, there are 4 CD block - Andal, Pandabeswar, Faridpur-Durgapur and Kanksa. Other than municipality areas, each subdivision contains community development blocks which, in turn, are divided into rural areas and census towns. In total there are 66 urban units: 2 municipal corporations, 3 municipalities (which have subsequently been absorbed in Asansol Municipal Corporation) and 65 census towns. There are two urban agglomerations (UA). • Asansol, Kulti, Bhanowara, Jamuria, Jemari, Raniganj, Amkula, Murgathaul, Raghunathchak and Ballavpur together form the Asansol UA. • Durgapur UA consists of Durgapur, Arrah, Bamunara, Amlajora, Kanksa, Panagarh, Mankar, Shibpur, Andal, Ukhra, Kajora, Pandabeswar, Ichhapur and Madhaiganj. Asansol Sadar subdivision Asansol Sadar subdivision has 10 police stations, 4 community development blocks, 4 panchayat samitis, 35 gram panchayats, 181 mouzas, 165 inhabited villages, 1 municipal corporation, 3 municipalities and 26 census towns+1 (partly). The single municipal corporation is at Asansol. The municipalities are at: Raniganj, Jamuria and Kulti. The census towns are: Chittaranjan, Hindustan Cables Town, Domohani, Bhanowara, Majiara, Pangachhiya, Charanpur, Kunustara, Topsi, Nimsa, Chinchuria, Kenda, Parasia, Ratibati, Chapui, Jemari (J.K. Nagar Township), Banshra, Belebathan, Chelad, Murgathaul, Amkula, Baktarnagar, Egara, Sahebganj, Raghunathchak, Ballavpur and Kendra Khottamdi (partly). The subdivision has its headquarters at Asansol. According to the Kolkata Gazette notification of 3 June 2015, the municipal areas of Kulti, Raniganj and Jamuria were included within the jurisdiction of Asansol Municipal Corporation. Durgapur subdivision Durgapur subdivision has 6 police stations, 4 community development blocks, 4 panchayat samitis, 27 gram panchayats, 171 mouzas, 151 inhabited villages, 1 municipal corporation and 39 census towns+1 (partly). The single municipal corporation is at Durgapur. The census towns are: Siduli, Khandra, Chak Bankola, Ukhra, Mahira, Dakshin Khanda, Parashkol, Kajora, Harishpur, Palashban, Dignala, Andal (gram), Ondal, Baska, Bilpahari, Ramnagar, Dalurband, Baidyanathpur, Mahal, Konardihi, Nabgram, Sankarpur, Haripur, Chhora, Bahula, Mandarbani, Banagram, Sirsha, Nabaghanapur, Sarpi, Ichhapur, Arra, Gopalpur, Bamunara, Amlajora, Kanksa, Debipur, Prayagpur and Kendra Khottamdi (part). The subdivision has its headquarters at Durgapur. Urban-rural divide The urban-rural divide of the two administrative subdivisions are as follows: Assembly constituencies ==Demographics==

As per the 2011 Census of India data, Paschim Bardhaman district (after bifurcation of Bardhaman district in 2016), had a total population of 2,882,031. There were 1,497,479 (52%) males and 1,384,452 (48%) females. Population below 6 years was 322,268. 2,351,954 (81.61%) lived in urban areas. As per the 2011 census data the total number of literates in Paschim Bardhaman district, after bifurcation of Bardhaman district in 2017, was 2,015,056 (78.75% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 1,136,990 (85.44% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 806,010 (65.55% of the female population over 6 years). Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 628,568 (21.81%) and 161,946 (5.62%) of the population respectively. == Economy ==

Coal mining Coal mining in India first started in the Raniganj Coalfield. In 1774, John Sumner and Suetonius Grant Heatly of the British East India Company found coal near Ethora, presently in Salanpur CD Block. In 1973, the Government of India took over the management of all non-coking coal mines in the country and in 1975 Coal India was formed to manage the coking and non-coking coal mines. Eastern Coalfields has been producing around 30 million tonnes per annum from its open cast mines, it has been modernising its underground mines to produce around 10 million tonnes per annum from its underground mines. Railways Narayankuri ghat, on the Damodar, was used by Carr Tagore & Company for transporting coal to Kolkata by boat in the middle of the nineteenth century. Varying levels of water in the Damodar posed problems for transportation. In order to capture the lucrative coal transport business, East Indian Railway laid lines up to Raniganj in 1855. Asansol has an electric loco shed and an EMU shed. There is a diesel loco shed at Andal and Andal also has a large goods yard, apart from those at Sitrampur and Barakar. Asansol Division of Eastern Railway handles around 1,300 wagons of coal every day. The modernisation and expansion programme of IISCO Steel Plant was implemented with an investment of over Rs 16,000 crore As of 2015, the investment for modernisation was the single largest investment in West Bengal till then. Established in 1918, the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) was amalgamated with SAIL in 2006 and renamed IISCO Steel Plant. Ballavpur Paper Mnfg. Ltd. (earlier Bengal Paper Mill) at Ballavpur started production in 2009 after revamp. Among the other industries at Asansol are: Burn Standard (earlier Indian Standard Wagon), Sen Raleigh cycle factory (not a productive unit any more), Hindustan Pilkington glass factory (not a productive unit any more), Dhakeswari Cotton Mills (not a productive unit any more), Kulti Works of SAIL Growth Division and Hindustan Cables at Rupnarayanpur (not a productive unit any more). Durgapur Steel Plant of Steel Authority of India, set up in the fifties, has a rated capacity of 2.2 million tonnes of crude steel, after expansion and modernisation. The plant is consistently performing at beyond its rated capacity. Durgapur Barrage was built by Damodar Valley Corporation in 1955 and handed over, along with the canal network, to the Government of West Bengal in 1964. Among the other industrial units at Durgpur are: Alloy Steels Plant of SAIL, Durgapur Projects Limited, Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation (not a productive unit any more), Alstom Power Boilers Ltd. (earlier known as ACC-Vickers Babcock and later as ACC-Babcock), Philips Carbon Black Limited, Sankey Wheels (a unit of GKW), Birla Cement (earlier Durgapur Cement Ltd.), Graphite India Limited, Durgapur Chemicals, Bharat Ophathalmic Glass Limited (not a productive unit any more) and Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation (not a productive unit any more). Between 2001 and 2007 Durgapur saw the setting up of around a dozen middle to large scale industrial investment in iron and steel manufacturing sector. The prominent investors are MB Group, Jai Balaji group, SPS group, Adhunik Group of Industries, Neo Metallic, Stolberg India, Super Smelters Ltd, Shyam Steel and UltraTech Cement. Among the industrial areas in the district are: Durgapur Industrial Area, Industrial Complex at Rajbandh, Industrial Estate at Kalyanpur, Asansol, Raniganj Industrial Estate, Panagarh Industrial Park, Aluminium and Non-Ferrous Metal Park and Salanpur Industrial Park. IT industry in the area is slowly picking up with the small IT hubs scattered around Durgapur and Asansol. Along with this the area is running a parallel economy in illegal mining of coal and sand. Various groups of scrupulous individuals are digging mine shafts and extracting coals illegally which are sold to the small scale industries at less than government rates. The illegal sand mining at Damodar river has damaged the natural flow of the river, caused due to rise in demand for construction of houses and factories recently ==Educational institutions==

The district has a number of colleges imparting education in engineering, management, medicines, law, science and other technological and general courses. There is only one university in the district namely Kazi Nazrul University. Some of the well known institutes are: • Asansol Girls' College • Asansol Engineering College • Banwarilal Bhalotia College, Asansol • Bidhan Chandra College, Asansol • Deshbandhu Mahavidyalaya • Bengal College of Engineering & Technology Durgapur • Bengal Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital Asansol • Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute Durgapur • Dr. B.C. Roy Engineering College, Durgapur • Dr. B.C. Roy College of Pharmacy & Allied Health Science, Durgapur • Durgapur Government College • Durgapur Institute of Legal Studies • Durgapur Women's College • Gupta College of Technological Sciences, Asansol • IQ City Medical College Durgapur • Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Durgapur • Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol • Kazi Nazrul Islam Mahavidyalaya, Churulia • Law College Durgapur • Michael Madhusudan Memorial College • National Institute of Technology, Durgapur • National Power Training Institute • Shri Ramkrishna Institute of Medical Sciences and Sanaka Hospital • St. Xavier's College, Asansol • Triveni Devi Bhalotia College ==Notable people==

• S. S. Ahluwalia, notable politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) • Swami Ashokananda, monk of the Ramakrishna Math, in charge of the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco from 1932 • Arjun Atwal, Indian professional golfer, the first player born in India to become a member of, and later win a tournament on the U.S.-based PGA Tour • Abhisek Banerjee, former Indian domestic cricketer • Meenakshi Banerjee, Indian cyanobacteriologist and presently works as the head of the Center for Applied Algal Research at Rice University in Houston, Texas • Prayas Ray Barman, cricketer and youngest player to debut in the IPL • Timir Biswas, Indian playback singer of Bengali and Hindi films, lead singer of the band Fakira • Sandip Burman, Tabla Player and Musician • Sudip Chattopadhyay, Indian developmental biologist and biotechnologist • Rana Chowdhary, Indian cricketer • Munmun Dutta, Indian actress and model, best known for her portrayal of Babita Iyer in the Hindi sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah • Alok Krishna Gupta, Indian mineralogist, petrologist • Kazi family of Churulia • Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976), National Poet of Bangladesh • Kazi Sabyasachi (1928–1979), elocutionist • Khilkhil Kazi, singer • Jahanara Khan (born 1967), politician • Aloke Paul, Indian materials scientist • Malcolm Roberts, Australian politician for Pauline Hanson's One Nation • Mika Singh, Indian singer • Vivek Singh, Indian British celebrity chef and restaurateur • Bikash Sinha, Indian physicist, chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur in June 2005 • Sharmila Tagore, Indian film actress • Dilara Zaman, Bangladeshi film and television actress ==Gallery==

File:Sacred Heart Church, Asansol 01.jpg|Sacred Heart Church in Asansol File:Mother Kalyaneshwari Temple, Maithan 77.jpg|Kalyaneshwari Temple in Asansol File:Ghagar Buri Temple, Asansol.jpg|Ghaghar Burhi Chandi Temple in Asansol File:Vivekananda Institute or Durand Institute, Asansol- 01.jpg|Vivekananda Institute (Durand Institute), Asansol File:Rabindra Bhawan, Asansol.jpg|Rabindra Bhawan in Asansol File:Burnpur Nehru Park 1.jpg|Burnpur Nehru Park in Riverside, Asansol File:Maithon Dam.jpg|Maithon Dam File:Statue of Kazi Nazrul Islam, Asansol.jpg|Statue of Kazi Nazrul Islam in Asansol File:Nazrul Academy Churulia.jpg|Nazrul Academy; Churulia, Birth Place of Kazi Nazrul Islam. ==Notes==