ਪੱਖੋਪੱਖੋ

On the Barnala to Mansa road

Pakho, known across the area as Pakho Kalan, is a large village in ਤਪਾ tehsil of ਬਰਨਾਲਾ district, Punjab, in the Malwa region. It stands on the Barnala to Mansa road, 22 kilometres from Barnala and 28 kilometres from Mansa, and the census record carries it as village code 040040 across 3,105 hectares. The census name is simply Pakho, but its gram panchayat, its post office and its schools all use the fuller name Pakho Kalan. It has grown steadily without becoming a town: CityPopulation's reading of the census counts 8,968 people in 2001 and 10,376 in 2011. Tapa, about 10 kilometres away, is the nearest town and the tehsil headquarters.

The samadh of Baba Longpuri

One name runs through Pakho's public life: Baba Longpuri. His samadh, the memorial shrine where the saint is remembered, stands in the village, and local listings also record a Dera Baba Inder Das Ji in Pakho Kalan. The Longpuri name is carried furthest by the village's schools: the Sant Baba Longpuri Adarsh Senior Secondary School teaches on the Barnala to Mansa road in the village, and the Saint Longpuri Brilliant School bears the name too, a sign of how deeply the dera tradition is woven into daily life here. Alongside them, the village gurdwara serves the Sikh congregation, as in every large village of the area. Pakho's religious map is therefore a local one: no shrine of national fame, but a saint's samadh and the schools raised in his memory at the centre of village identity.

A martyr's name on the primary school

Pakho also keeps the memory of a soldier. Wikipedia's article on the village names two notable personalities: Jathedar Ajit Singh, whose title marks him as a Sikh leader of his generation, and Shaheed Ranjit Singh. The second name is written into the village itself: its government primary school is called the Shaheed Ranjeet Singh Shaurya Chakra Vijeta Government Primary School, recording that Ranjit Singh was a son of this village who won the Shaurya Chakra, India's gallantry award, and gave his life in service. Few villages carry their pride so plainly in the name of the school their youngest children attend.

People and work

The 2011 census counted 10,376 people in Pakho: 5,393 men and 4,983 women, in 1,963 households at about 5.3 people to a household, a density of about 334 people per square kilometre over the village's farmland. The sex ratio was 924 women for every 1,000 men. Children up to the age of six numbered 1,320, about 13 percent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 4,283 people, about 41 percent of the population, and no Scheduled Tribe population was recorded. Literacy stood at 56.68 percent among residents aged seven and above, with men at 59.34 percent and women at 53.8 percent, the softest figures of any large village in this part of Barnala district, and a reminder that Pakho's growth has been in people more than in schooling.

Work tells the same mixed story. The census recorded 4,260 workers, about 41 percent of the village. Of the 3,050 main workers, the largest group, 1,249, were other workers in trade, transport and services, just ahead of 1,242 cultivators working their own land, with 520 main agricultural labourers. Counting marginal workers too, the village had 1,266 cultivators and 1,163 agricultural labourers. A further 1,210 people were marginal workers, employed for only part of the year, an unusually large seasonal workforce that underlines how much of Pakho still lives by the farming calendar.

Land and farming

Farming covers most of Pakho's land. Of its 3,105 hectares, 2,816 hectares were net sown area in the 2011 record, and 2,586 hectares of that were irrigated. Unusually for Malwa, canals did most of the watering, 1,636 hectares against 950 hectares from wells and tube-wells, and 230 hectares stayed unirrigated. The village also recorded about 32 hectares of forest, 246 hectares under non-agricultural uses such as the settlement, roads and ponds, and a small patch of culturable waste land. Farm power supply was recorded at 8 hours a day.

Schools, health and daily facilities

Education runs deep in Pakho for a village of its literacy figures. The 2011 directory recorded one government school at each level, primary, middle, secondary and senior secondary, and Wikipedia names the set: the Government Senior Secondary School, the Shaheed Ranjeet Singh Shaurya Chakra Vijeta Government Primary School, and the private Saint Bachanpuri International School, Sant Baba Longpuri Adarsh Senior Secondary School and Saint Longpuri Brilliant School. An anganwadi centre and an ASHA worker were also recorded.

Health care is the strongest of any village in this group. The freshly read 2011 Village Directory record lists a community health centre, an allopathic hospital and 2 dispensaries inside the village, with a veterinary hospital for its livestock; there was no primary health centre or sub-centre, the higher facilities doing that work instead. Treated tap water was available. The village had both a post office and a sub post office, a PDS ration shop and mobile phone coverage, and banking in the village itself through a commercial bank branch and a cooperative bank branch. There was no ATM, and the nearest internet common service centre was more than 10 kilometres away. Domestic electricity supply was recorded at 12 hours a day.

Getting there

Pakho is reached by pucca, all-weather roads on the Barnala to Mansa road, and the 2011 directory recorded both public and private bus services in the village itself. The nearest railway station was more than 10 kilometres away. Tapa, the tehsil headquarters 10 kilometres off, and Barnala, the district headquarters, are the practical hubs for administration and onward travel. Neighbouring villages include Rura Khurd, Tajoke and Rura Kalan.

What is the population of Pakho?

The population of Pakho was 10,376 at the 2011 census, living in 1,963 households in Tapa tehsil of Barnala district, up from 8,968 in 2001.

What is Pakho Kalan known for?

Pakho Kalan is known locally for the samadh of Baba Longpuri and the schools that carry his name, and for its government primary school named after Shaheed Ranjeet Singh, a Shaurya Chakra winner from the village.