ਸ਼ੇਰੋਨਸ਼ੇਰੋਂ

Ten thousand people, three kilometres from Sunam

Sheron is a large village in ਐਤਵਾਰ tehsil of ਸੰਗਰੂਰ district, Punjab, in the Malwa region, lying just 3 kilometres from Sunam town and about 18 kilometres from Sangrur, the district headquarters. The census record carries it as Sheron (12) (Part), village code 039796, across 3,352 hectares in the Sunam block, with its own gram panchayat. Readers should not confuse it with the Sheron of Tarn Taran district, a different village altogether. Sheron has grown steadily toward its neighbouring town: the census counted 8,434 people here in 2001 and 10,143 in 2011, and with Sunam's streets that close, the village lives much of its daily life in the town's orbit while keeping its own panchayat, schools and fields.

Religious life in Sheron

No shrine of more than local fame is recorded in Sheron, and its religious life is the everyday village kind: its own gurdwara and temples serve the mohallas and mark the festivals of the year, while for the historic shrines of the area residents look to Sunam, 3 kilometres away, the old town whose gurdwaras and temples draw worshippers from across the tehsil. The record is written here as it stands: Sheron is a big, working farming village on a town's doorstep, and its identity rests on its fields, its health centre and its schools rather than on a famous shrine.

People and work

The 2011 census counted 10,143 people in Sheron: 5,430 men and 4,713 women, in 1,897 households at about 5.3 people to a household, a density of about 303 people per square kilometre. The sex ratio was 868 women for every 1,000 men, the lowest of the villages in this group. Children up to the age of six numbered 1,104, about 11 percent of the village. Scheduled Castes made up 3,287 people, about 32 percent of the population, and no Scheduled Tribe population was recorded. Literacy stood at 54.29 percent among residents aged seven and above, with men at 57.62 percent and women at 50.44 percent, the softest figures of this group and a reminder that Sheron's growth has run ahead of its schooling.

Work, by contrast, is unusually settled. The census recorded 3,209 workers, about 32 percent of the village. Of the 3,064 main workers, the largest group, 1,427, were cultivators working their own land, ahead of 792 main agricultural labourers and 682 other workers in trade, transport and services. Counting marginal workers too, the village had 1,459 cultivators and 846 agricultural labourers. Only 145 people were marginal workers, the smallest seasonal fringe of any village in this group: in Sheron, work is overwhelmingly year-round main work, most of it on the village's own farms.

Land and farming

Sheron's farming is fully watered. Of the village's 3,352 hectares, 3,104 hectares were net sown area in the 2011 record, and every sown hectare was irrigated: 1,882 hectares from wells and tube-wells and 1,222 hectares from canals, groundwater doing the larger share. About 248 hectares lay under non-agricultural uses. The directory's commodity record lists wheat and maize as the village's farm produce and atta, flour, as its manufactured product, the mark of the flour milling that serves the Sunam side of Sangrur district. Farm power supply was recorded at 6 hours a day.

Schools, health and daily facilities

Sheron has one government school at each level, primary, middle, secondary and senior secondary, so children can study in the village up to Class 12, and the private side adds a private primary school and 4 private pre-primary schools. An anganwadi centre and an ASHA worker were also recorded.

Health is Sheron's quiet strength. The freshly read 2011 Village Directory record lists a community health centre inside the village, recorded in the District Census Handbook detail with a doctor and a paramedic in position, together with a dispensary, also staffed, and a veterinary hospital for livestock; there was no primary health centre, sub-centre or allopathic hospital, the health centre doing that work instead. Day to day care also came from 5 non-government medical practitioners and a traditional practitioner. Drinking water came from untreated tap water. The village had both a post office and a sub post office, a PDS ration shop, an agricultural marketing society and an agricultural credit society, and banking in the village itself through a commercial bank branch and a cooperative bank branch. There was no ATM, the nearest being 5 to 10 kilometres away, and the nearest internet common service centre was in the same band. Domestic electricity supply was recorded at 12 hours a day.

Getting there

Sheron stands on the road network west of Sunam: a state highway and major district roads serve the village, with pucca, all-weather roads, and the 2011 directory recorded both public and private bus services in the village itself, with taxis available as well. The nearest railway station was 5 to 10 kilometres away, at Sunam. Sunam, the tehsil headquarters 3 kilometres off, handles most administration and shopping, and Sangrur, about 18 kilometres away, is the district hub. Neighbouring villages include Shahpur Kalan, Namol, Jharon and Bharur.

What is the population of Sheron?

The population of Sheron was 10,143 at the 2011 census, living in 1,897 households in Sunam tehsil of Sangrur district, up from 8,434 in 2001.

Does Sheron have a hospital?

Sheron has a community health centre and a dispensary inside the village, recorded in 2011 with staff in position, and a veterinary hospital. The 2011 directory recorded no primary health centre, sub-centre or allopathic hospital in the village; larger hospital care is in Sunam and Sangrur.