Awankhaਅਵਂਖਾ

A village in a town's orbit

Awankha is a village in Dinanagar tehsil of Gurdaspur district, Punjab, in the Majha region, standing about 2 kilometres from Dinanagar town. Few villages of its size sit so close to a town, and the closeness shapes everything about it: its work, its schools and its daily journeys. In 2011 Awankha counted 9,722 people in 1,946 households on 1,130 hectares, roughly 860 people to the square kilometre. Its census village code is 027852 and its PIN code is 143531. The villages recorded around it include Manj, Jhakhar Pindi, Udhipur and Talwandi 288.

Four panchayats, one village

The 2011 census recorded a single gram panchayat for Awankha, named Awankha itself. The village has since outgrown that arrangement. Current panchayat listings divide Awankha among four gram panchayats: Ahluwal, Awankha, Dera Jattan Shamb Abadi and Kothe Elahibaksh, a sign of a settlement that keeps adding neighbourhoods as it leans toward Dinanagar. Awankha grew from 9,060 people in 2001 to 9,722 in 2011, steadier growth than the city-edge villages of the south, but growth all the same.

The four names tell the village's own story. Punjab's villages often grew this way, as separate deras and kothe, the camp settlements and hamlets of particular families, spread toward each other until the revenue map held a single village with several hearts. Awankha's panchayat names preserve exactly that pattern: a dera of the Jattan, a kotha named Elahibaksh, the Ahluwal quarter and the original Awankha core, each now returning its own sarpanch to govern its streets.

People and work

The 2011 census counted 9,722 people in Awankha: 5,142 men and 4,580 women. The sex ratio was 891 women for every 1,000 men. Children up to the age of six numbered 1,033, about 11 percent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 5,444 people, 56 percent of the population. Literacy is Awankha's strength: 79.12 percent of residents aged seven and above could read and write, 84.29 percent of men and 73.33 percent of women, well above the Punjab village average.

Work has largely left the fields. The census recorded 3,137 workers, about a third of the village. Of the 2,315 main workers, 1,670 were other workers in trade, services, transport and wage work tied to Dinanagar and the Gurdaspur road, against only 344 cultivators and 216 agricultural labourers. Counting the 822 marginal workers, cultivators and farm labourers together were still a minority of everyone who worked. Farming continues on Awankha's land, but the pay packet here mostly comes from the town.

Land and farming

Of Awankha's 1,130 hectares, 965 hectares were net sown area in 2011, and every sown hectare was irrigated: 597 hectares by canal and 368 hectares by wells and tubewells. Land under non-agricultural use took 165 hectares, the houses, roads and lanes of the settlement itself. It is a complete irrigation cover that few villages match, and it keeps the farming side of Awankha productive even as its workers look to the town.

Schools, health and daily services

Awankha is well served for a village. The 2011 Village Directory recorded a primary health centre and a dispensary inside the village, with an ASHA health worker and an anganwadi centre. Government schools stand at every level, primary, middle, secondary and senior secondary, private schools work alongside them and a private pre-primary school serves the youngest children. For study beyond school, the nearest degree college is at Dinanagar. Drinking water comes from treated and untreated tap water supply. Both a post office and a sub post office are in the village, and a commercial bank branch serves it, though there was no ATM in 2011; a co-operative bank is within 5 kilometres. A public distribution system shop covers rations, and mobile phone coverage is available.

Getting about is easy. Public and private bus services both run through the village on pucca, all-weather roads, and the nearest railway station is within 5 kilometres, at Dinanagar. Power supply in 2011 ran to 12 hours a day for domestic use and 10 hours for agriculture. For everything the village itself does not hold, the town fills the gap: Dinanagar's markets, its tehsil offices, its college and its station are all within a short ride, which is why Awankha's own record can stay lean without its people going without.

Worship in Awankha

Awankha's places of worship reflect a village of more than one faith. Directory listings for the village name a gurdwara, the Pandori Dham temple and Dayanand Math, and Christian congregations as well: a Church of North India church, a Pentecostal Mission church and another listed simply as Awankha Church. None is a shrine of wider fame, but together they serve the village's own families, and they mark Awankha as a place where several traditions have long lived side by side.

What is the population of Awankha?

The population of Awankha was 9,722 at the 2011 census, in 1,946 households. It had grown from 9,060 in 2001.

How far is Awankha from Dinanagar?

Awankha is about 2 kilometres from Dinanagar town, in Dinanagar tehsil of Gurdaspur district. Its PIN code is 143531.

How many gram panchayats does Awankha have?

The 2011 census recorded one gram panchayat. Current listings divide the village among four: Ahluwal, Awankha, Dera Jattan Shamb Abadi and Kothe Elahibaksh.

What health facilities does Awankha have?

A primary health centre and a dispensary were recorded inside the village in 2011, along with an ASHA worker and an anganwadi centre.