Kals

Where is Kals?

Kals is a small farming village in Patti tehsil of Tarn Taran district in Punjab, India. It lies in the Majha region close to the India and Pakistan border belt, about 4 kilometres from Khem Karan, its nearest town. The village falls in the Valtoha community development block and has its own gram panchayat. In the census record it carries village code 038106. Though only 699 people live there, the village covers 644.53 hectares, most of it farmland.

Population and households

The 2011 census counted 699 people in Kals: 369 men and 330 women, living in 121 households, an average of about 5.8 people per household. Because the village land is so large for its population, the density works out to only about 108 people per square kilometre, among the lowest in the district. The sex ratio was 894 women for every 1,000 men. Children up to the age of six numbered 90, about 13 per cent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 134 people, about 19 per cent of the population, and no Scheduled Tribe population was recorded.

Literacy in 2011 stood at 52.71 per cent among residents aged seven and above, well below the Punjab average, with men at 59.69 per cent and women at 44.98 per cent. The census recorded 209 workers, about 30 per cent of the village. Farming dominates work almost completely: 152 of the workers were cultivators working their own land, and 33 were agricultural labourers. Only 24 workers were recorded outside agriculture, in household industry and other work combined.

Land and farming

Land is the village's wealth. Of Kals's 644.53 hectares, 581.37 hectares were net sown area in the 2011 record, and every sown hectare was irrigated: canals watered 480.97 hectares and wells and tube wells the remaining 100.40 hectares. About 63.16 hectares were under non-agricultural uses such as the village settlement, roads and ponds. Farm power supply was recorded at eight hours a day, and the large cultivated area per family makes Kals a village of landholders rather than labourers.

Schools and facilities

The Census 2011 Village Directory gives the fullest picture of village facilities, and for Kals it is a thin one, as is common for small border villages. The village had one government primary school, an anganwadi centre and an ASHA health worker. For middle school, children travelled within about five kilometres, and for secondary and senior secondary school five to ten kilometres. The directory recorded no health centre, dispensary or veterinary hospital in the village.

Some services were closer than the village's size might suggest. Kals had its own post office in the 2011 record, and a private bus service ran in the village, while the nearest public bus service was five to ten kilometres away and the nearest railway station within about five kilometres. Drinking water came without a tap supply in that record, and no bank branch or ATM was recorded; the nearest banks were five to ten kilometres away. In 2011 the directory also recorded no mobile phone coverage in the village, with the nearest coverage five to ten kilometres away, a measure of how remote this border village then was.

Getting there

Kals is about 4 kilometres from Khem Karan, its nearest town, and is reached by pucca, all-weather roads. The 2011 directory recorded a private bus service in the village and the nearest railway station within about five kilometres, on the line that serves the Khem Karan border belt. For district work, residents travel to Patti, the tehsil headquarters, or to Tarn Taran town.

What is the population of Kals?

The population of Kals was 699 at the 2011 census, living in 121 households. It is a small village spread over a large farming area of 644.53 hectares.

What facilities does Kals have?

According to the Census 2011 Village Directory, Kals has a government primary school, an anganwadi centre and a post office. Older children travel to nearby villages for middle and secondary school, and the record shows no health centre or bank branch inside the village.