Sakhiraਸਖੀਰਾ

Where is Sakhira?

Sakhira is a village in Tarn Taran tehsil of Tarn Taran district in Punjab, India. It lies in the Majha region, about 12 kilometres from Tarn Taran town, which is both the tehsil and district headquarters and the nearest town. The village falls in the Naushera Pannuan community development block and has its own gram panchayat, also called Sakhira. In the census record it carries village code 038017. The village covers 488 hectares, and India Post lists a branch post office in Sakhira with PIN code 143415.

Population and households

The 2011 census counted 2,266 people in Sakhira: 1,226 men and 1,040 women, living in 425 households, an average of about 5.3 people per household. Spread over 488 hectares, the population density works out to about 464 people per square kilometre. The sex ratio was 848 women for every 1,000 men. Children up to the age of six numbered 259, about 11 per cent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 713 people, about 31.5 per cent of the population, and no Scheduled Tribe population was recorded.

Literacy in 2011 stood at 65.97 per cent among residents aged seven and above, with men at 70.93 per cent and women at 60.30 per cent. The census recorded 663 workers, about 29 per cent of the village. A decade earlier, the 2001 census had counted 2,229 people, so Sakhira grew by only 37 residents in ten years, a nearly flat line at a time when many villages around it were growing faster.

Land and farming

Farming shapes life in Sakhira. Of the village's 488 hectares, 429 hectares were net sown area in the 2011 record, and every sown hectare was irrigated: canals watered 299 hectares and wells and tube wells the remaining 130 hectares. A further 59 hectares were recorded as forest area. The main crops listed for the village are wheat, paddy and cattle feed, the standard rotation of the Majha plains. The village directory also recorded an agricultural credit society and a regular market in the village, and electricity supply for farm use of eight hours a day in summer and ten in winter.

Schools and facilities

The Census 2011 Village Directory gives the fullest picture of village facilities, and its record for Sakhira is a strong one for education: one government pre-primary school, one government primary school, one government middle school, one government secondary school and one government senior secondary school, so children can study in the village from nursery to Class 12. An anganwadi centre and an ASHA health worker were also recorded in the village.

For health care the record is thinner. The 2011 directory listed no hospital, primary health centre, health sub-centre or dispensary inside the village, so treatment meant travelling to Tarn Taran. Drinking water came from hand pumps, tube wells and boreholes, and river or canal water, with open drainage in the village. The directory recorded mobile phone coverage and landline connections, but no bank branch or ATM in the village; the nearest banks were within about five kilometres. It also recorded the nearest post office as five to ten kilometres away, although India Post now lists a branch post office in Sakhira itself.

Getting there

Sakhira is about 12 kilometres from Tarn Taran town, reached by road. The 2011 village directory recorded pucca and all-weather roads, a state highway and a district road within five kilometres, and autos, taxis, vans and tractors available in the village. The nearest public bus service was recorded five to ten kilometres away, and the directory also listed a railway station for the village. Tarn Taran town remains the practical hub, with the district offices, the nearest degree college and onward road and rail connections.

Religious places

The village's religious centre is Gurdwara Baba Mai Das, the asthan of Baba Mai Das Ji, whom Sikh tradition remembers as a preacher of Majha blessed by Guru Amar Das Ji. The gurdwara hosts the village's annual jod mela in memory of Baba Lakhpat Sahib Ji, a gurmat samagam built around an evening of katha. At the 2026 mela, held on Thursday 8 October, Giani Gurnoor Singh Ji Khalsa of Damdami Taksal performed the katha, and the programme was organised by the Sikh sangat of the village.

Notable people

Sakhira is the birthplace of Sukhdev Singh Sakhira (1951 to 1986), a preacher of the Damdami Taksal who became a leading figure in the Khalistan Commando Force during the militancy that followed the 1984 attack on Sri Darbar Sahib. He was killed in Amritsar on 5 May 1986. His cremation was held at Gurdwara Baba Mai Das in the village and was attended by thousands of people, and his death is still commemorated in Sakhira each year.

What is the population of Sakhira?

The population of Sakhira was 2,266 at the 2011 census, living in 425 households. The 2001 census had counted 2,229, so the village grew by just 37 people over the decade.

What facilities does Sakhira have?

According to the Census 2011 Village Directory, Sakhira has government schools at every level from pre-primary to senior secondary, an anganwadi centre, an agricultural credit society and a regular market. It had no hospital or bank branch inside the village in that record. India Post lists a branch post office in the village today, with PIN code 143415.