Mehtaਮਹਿਤਾ

Chowk Mehta: a village known across Punjab

Mehta is a large village in Baba Bakala tehsil of Amritsar district, Punjab, in the Majha region. The 2011 census counted 10,481 people in 2,005 households, and the record carries village code 037798. What sets Mehta apart is its ground: all those people live on just 727 hectares, a density of about 1,442 people per square kilometre, closer to a small town than to a village. Across Punjab the settlement is known not simply as Mehta but as Chowk Mehta, or Mehta Chowk, the name of its market crossing and its post office. It grew quickly between the censuses, from 8,801 people in 2001 to 10,481 in 2011. The directory recorded Batala, about 12 kilometres away, as its nearest town, and the tehsil headquarters is Baba Bakala, the historic town where Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji was proclaimed Guru in 1664.

The Damdami Taksal at Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash

Mehta's fame rests on one institution. Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash, at Chowk Mehta, is the headquarters of the Damdami Taksal, the Sikh seminary that teaches santhiya, the correct reading of Gurbani, its vichar, or analysis, and its recitation. The Taksal traces its origin to 1706, when Guru Gobind Singh Ji is said to have founded a school of scriptural learning at Sabo Ki Talwandi, later headed by Baba Deep Singh Ji. It has been described as a seminary, even a moving university, of the Sikh countryside, because for much of its history its teachers travelled from village to village with their students.

The Mehta centre belongs to the Bhindran line of the Taksal, founded in 1906 by Sant Sundar Singh and raised by Sant Gurbachan Singh Khalsa of Bhindran Kalan, who trained a generation of gianis, Sikh scholars, through his mobile seminary. His successor Sant Kartar Singh Khalsa established Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash at Mehta and led the Mehta branch from 1969, and in 1977 Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale became the Taksal's jathedar, leading it through the turbulent years that followed. The jathedar today is Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa. Students still come to Chowk Mehta from across Punjab and the diaspora to learn the reading and meaning of the Guru Granth Sahib, and on the Taksal's great gathering days the congregation here swells far beyond the village.

People and work

The 2011 census counted 5,516 men and 4,965 women in Mehta, a sex ratio of 900 women for every 1,000 men, living in 2,005 households at about 5.2 people to a household. Children up to the age of six numbered 1,168, about 11 percent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 3,037 people, about 29 percent of the population, and no Scheduled Tribe population was recorded. Literacy stood at 75.58 percent among residents aged seven and above, with men at 78.75 percent and women at 72.13 percent.

The census recorded 4,253 workers, about 41 percent of the village, a high share for a rural settlement. Of the 3,289 main workers, the largest group by far, 1,492, were other workers in trade, transport and services, followed by 805 agricultural labourers, 710 cultivators on their own land and 282 in household industry. A further 964 people were marginal workers, employed for only part of the year, a large pool of seasonal work. Counting main and marginal workers together, 1,040 people worked as agricultural labourers against 768 cultivators: in Mehta the fields employ more hired hands than landholding families, and the village's living comes from its market crossing, its roads and its seminary.

Land and farming

Of Mehta's 727 hectares, 582 hectares were net sown area in the 2011 record, and every sown hectare was irrigated: 193 hectares by canal and 389 hectares by wells and tube wells. About 145 hectares, a fifth of the whole village, were under non-agricultural uses such as the settlement, its market and its roads. Farm power supply was recorded at 8 hours a day.

Schools, health and everyday services

Education in the village runs through 2 government primary schools, one government middle school, one government secondary school and one government senior secondary school, so children can study in the village up to Class 12, in the shadow of the Taksal's own long tradition of learning. The village also has an anganwadi centre and an ASHA health worker.

On health, the 2011 Village Directory recorded only a dispensary inside Mehta, together with a veterinary hospital for its livestock. For a settlement of more than ten thousand people, there was no community health centre, no primary health centre, no sub-centre and no allopathic hospital in 2011: its health facilities were much thinner than its size would suggest. Drinking water came from untreated tap water supplies; treated tap water was not available, though total sanitation campaign coverage was recorded.

Mehta had its own post office, mobile phone coverage and an internet common service centre. Banking was partly served: a cooperative bank branch and an ATM stood in the village in 2011, but there was no commercial bank branch, the nearest being more than ten kilometres away, and no PDS ration shop inside the village either. Domestic electricity supply was recorded at 12 hours a day.

Getting there

Mehta is reached by pucca, all-weather roads, and the 2011 directory recorded both public and private bus services in the village itself. Batala, about 12 kilometres away, is the nearest town recorded in the directory. Baba Bakala is the tehsil headquarters, and Amritsar city, the district headquarters, lies about 40 kilometres away. In 2011 the nearest railway station was more than ten kilometres away. Neighbouring villages include Udho Nangal, Nangli, Usman and Rajdhan.

What is the population of Mehta?

The population of Mehta was 10,481 at the 2011 census, living in 2,005 households in Baba Bakala tehsil of Amritsar district, Punjab.

Why is Mehta called Chowk Mehta?

The settlement is known across Punjab as Chowk Mehta, or Mehta Chowk, after its market crossing. The name travelled with the Damdami Taksal, whose headquarters at Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash stands at the chowk.

What health facilities does Mehta have?

The Census 2011 Village Directory recorded a dispensary and a veterinary hospital inside Mehta. The village had no community health centre, primary health centre, sub-centre or allopathic hospital in 2011.