Pakka Kalanਪੱਕਾ ਕਲਾਂ

Where is Pakka Kalan?

Pakka Kalan is a large village in Talwandi Sabo tehsil of Bathinda district, Punjab, in the Malwa region. The 2011 directory recorded Raman, about 7 kilometres away, as its nearest town; the tehsil headquarters at Talwandi Sabo is about 23 kilometres away and Bathinda city about 26 kilometres. In the census record Pakka Kalan carries village code 035836, covers 3,153 hectares and has PIN code 151401. It falls in the Sangat community development block and has its own gram panchayat, and for political representation it sits in the Talwandi Sabo assembly constituency and the Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency. Villages recorded around it include Amarpura Urf Gurthuri, Sekho and Dunewala. The name itself tells a story: kalan means the larger, and the village's smaller twin survives in the neighbouring settlement recorded as Chak Hira Singhwala Urf Pakka Khurd, khurd being the smaller.

The widest village in Talwandi Sabo tehsil

Pakka Kalan's distinction is its sheer spread. Its 3,153 hectares make it the largest village by recorded area in the whole of Talwandi Sabo tehsil, ahead of every other village in the tehsil directory. By population it stands second in the tehsil, behind only Ramsara and its 13,959 people. A village of this size is a small town that never became one: it keeps its own gram panchayat, its own post office and sub post office, two banks and schools at every level, yet it has stayed a farming village in its work and its land. Even its fallow land makes the point: 430 hectares were recorded as current fallow in 2011, an area bigger than many whole villages of the district.

People and work

The 2011 census counted 8,677 people in Pakka Kalan: 4,526 men and 4,151 women living in 1,632 households, about 5.3 people to a household. Spread over 3,153 hectares, the density works out to about 275 people per square kilometre, low for a village of this population because the land is so wide. The sex ratio was 917 women for every 1,000 men. Children up to the age of six numbered 944, about 11 per cent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 2,722 people, about 31 per cent of the population, and no Scheduled Tribe population was recorded.

The village grew steadily between the censuses, from 7,586 people in 2001 to 8,677 in 2011, a rise of about 14 per cent. Literacy in 2011 stood at 61.21 per cent among residents aged seven and above, with men at 66.96 per cent and women at 54.94 per cent. The census recorded 3,020 workers, about 35 per cent of the village. Of the 2,773 main workers, the largest group, 1,244 people, were cultivators on their own land, ahead of 925 agricultural labourers and 555 other workers in trade, transport and services; a further 247 people were marginal workers. Counting everyone, the village held 1,253 cultivators against 1,115 agricultural labourers, so most of its farm work is still done by the families who hold the land, with wage work close behind.

Land and farming

Farming covers most of Pakka Kalan's wide land, but not all of it. Of the village's 3,153 hectares, 2,325 hectares were net sown area in the 2011 record, and every sown hectare was irrigated, almost all of it from canals (2,300 hectares), with wells and tube-wells adding just 25 hectares. Few villages in this programme are as completely canal-served as this one. About 398 hectares were under non-agricultural uses such as the settlement, roads and ponds, and 430 hectares lay as current fallow. Farm power supply was recorded at 10 hours a day. This is the canal-irrigated wheat, paddy and cotton plain of the Sangat and Talwandi Sabo country, farmed at a scale set by the village's unusual width.

Schools

Education in the village runs through one government primary school, two government middle schools, one government secondary school and one government senior secondary school, so children can study in Pakka Kalan up to Class 12. School listings date both the government senior secondary school and the government primary school to 1920, which would make schooling in the village more than a century old. Private schools recorded in the listings include the New Baba Farid Public School, established in 1995 and teaching to Class 10, and the Bhai Mastan Public School, established in 2003 and teaching to Class 8.

Health and daily services

Health facilities recorded inside the village in 2011 were a primary health centre, a primary health sub-centre, a dispensary and a veterinary hospital, with no community health centre or allopathic hospital. Treated tap water was available in the village, along with total sanitation campaign coverage and a community toilet complex. Pakka Kalan has both a post office and a sub post office of its own. Banking stands inside the village, with a commercial bank branch and a cooperative bank branch, though there was no ATM in the village in 2011. The village also had an internet common service centre, mobile phone coverage, an anganwadi centre and an ASHA health worker: 24 of the census directory's 32 facility fields were positive. One gap stands out for a village of this size: the PDS ration shop was recorded more than ten kilometres away. Domestic electricity supply was recorded at 10 hours a day, and farm supply also at 10 hours.

Faith in Pakka Kalan

No historic shrine of Pakka Kalan itself appears in the directories opened for this page, and religious life in the village is local, centred on its own gurdwaras and temples. The tehsil's great pilgrimage centre is 23 kilometres away at Talwandi Sabo, where Takht Sri Damdama Sahib stands, and the village's religious calendar turns with the gurpurabs and fairs of that wider Malwa circuit.

Getting there

Both public and private bus services run in the village itself. The nearest railway station was recorded more than ten kilometres away, so Pakka Kalan travels by road: Raman town is about 7 kilometres away, Talwandi Sabo about 23 kilometres and Bathinda city about 26 kilometres.

What is the population of Pakka Kalan?

The population of Pakka Kalan was 8,677 at the 2011 census, living in 1,632 households in Talwandi Sabo tehsil of Bathinda district. It had grown from 7,586 in 2001.

Is Pakka Kalan the largest village in Talwandi Sabo tehsil?

By area, yes: its 3,153 hectares are the largest recorded village area in Talwandi Sabo tehsil. By population it is the tehsil's second largest village, behind Ramsara.

Which tehsil is Pakka Kalan in?

Pakka Kalan is in Talwandi Sabo tehsil of Bathinda district, Punjab, in the Sangat block. Its census village code is 035836.