Panjgrain Kalanਪੰਜਗਰਾਈਂ ਕਲਾਂ

A canal village of three panchayats

Panjgrain Kalan is a large village in Kot Kapura tehsil of Faridkot district, Punjab, in the Malwa region, standing on the Kot Kapura to Moga road about nine kilometres from Kot Kapura town and some 21 kilometres from Faridkot. The 2011 census counted 10,663 people in 2,101 households across its 2,913 hectares, and the record carries village code 035588. Like Dhaula in Barnala district, it is one census village with more than one centre of local government: three gram panchayats run its parts, named Baba Jiwan Singh Nagar, Dashmesh Nagar Panjgrainkalan and Panj Grain Kalan. For politics the village votes in the Jaitu assembly constituency and the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency.

Religious life and the Baba Jiwan Singh name

One of the three panchayats, Baba Jiwan Singh Nagar, carries the name of Baba Jiwan Singh, the revered Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh Ji's era, and the name keeps that memory in the village's everyday administration. The village's worship centres are the gurdwaras of its quarters, and its schools are where the village's named pattis, its historic quarters, are easiest to see: government primary schools serve Gill Patti, Kewal Patti and the main quarter of the village.

People and work

The 2011 census counted 5,580 men and 5,083 women in Panjgrain Kalan, a sex ratio of 911 women for every 1,000 men, living in 2,101 households at about 5.1 people to a household, a density of about 366 people per square kilometre. Children up to the age of six numbered 1,078, about 10 percent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 3,889 people, about 36 percent of the population, and no Scheduled Tribe population was recorded. Literacy stood at 61.34 percent among residents aged seven and above, with men at 64.15 percent and women at 58.25 percent.

The census recorded 4,943 workers, about 46 percent of the village, the highest working share among the large villages of this part of Malwa. Of the 3,520 main workers, 1,036 cultivated their own land, 966 were agricultural labourers, 901 were other workers in trade, transport and services and 617 worked in household industry, an unusually large number of home based workers for a farming village. A further 1,423 people were marginal workers. Counting main and marginal workers together, agricultural labourers, at 1,320, outnumbered cultivators, at 1,097: this is a village where more families sell their labour in the fields than own the fields they work.

Land and farming

Farming covers almost the whole village. Of Panjgrain Kalan's 2,913 hectares, 2,654 hectares were net sown area in the 2011 record, and every sown hectare was irrigated: 2,651 hectares by canal and just 3 hectares by wells and tube wells. Few villages in the census record are as completely canal watered as this one. With 2,654 of its 2,913 hectares sown, more than nine tenths of the village is farmland. About 259 hectares were under non-agricultural uses such as the settlement and roads. Farm power supply was recorded at 8 hours a day.

Schools, health and everyday services

Panjgrain Kalan has the fullest school network of the large villages covered in this district: 3 government primary schools, 2 government middle schools, 2 government secondary schools and 2 government senior secondary schools, including the girls senior secondary school whose painted gate is pictured above and primary schools at Gill Patti, founded in 1994, Kewal Patti, founded in 1983, and the main quarter, founded in 1950. School listings for the village name both a boys and a girls senior secondary school. The village also has an anganwadi centre, though the nearest ASHA health worker was five to ten kilometres away in 2011.

On health, the 2011 Village Directory recorded a primary health centre inside the village, together with a veterinary hospital for its livestock. What the village did not have in 2011 was a community health centre, a primary health sub-centre, a dispensary or an allopathic hospital. Drinking water came from treated and untreated sources including hand pumps. The village had a sub post office, with the nearest full post office five to ten kilometres away, and mobile phone coverage, but in 2011 it had no internet common service centre and no PDS ration shop in the village itself; both were five to ten kilometres away. A commercial bank and a cooperative bank both had branches in the village, though there was no ATM. Domestic electricity supply was recorded at 18 hours a day.

Getting there

Panjgrain Kalan stands on the Kot Kapura to Moga road and is reached by pucca roads, and the 2011 directory recorded both public and private bus services in the village itself. Kot Kapura town is about nine kilometres away and Faridkot some 21 kilometres. In 2011 the nearest railway station was five to ten kilometres away. Neighbouring villages include Ghaniewala, Dhilwan Kalan, Jeonwala and Sibbian.

What is the population of Panjgrain Kalan?

The population of Panjgrain Kalan was 10,663 at the 2011 census, living in 2,101 households in Kot Kapura tehsil of Faridkot district, Punjab.

What does the village's farming run on?

Canal water. Of the 2,654 irrigated hectares recorded for Panjgrain Kalan in the Census 2011 Village Directory, 2,651 hectares were irrigated by canal and only 3 by wells and tube wells.

What health facilities does Panjgrain Kalan have?

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