District at A glance

Bathinda District is situated in the Southern part of Punjab State in the heart of Malwa region. It forms part of newly created division Faridkot Revenue Commissioners Division and is situated between 29 ^o-33 & 30^o-36 North latitude and 74^o-38 and 75^o-46 East longitude. The district is surrounded with Sirsa and Fatehabad of Haryana State in the south, Sangrur and Mansa district in the East, Moga in the North-east and Faridkot & Muktsar in the North-west.

The district derives its name from the district headquarters town of Bathinda, which is of great antiquity. According to Khalifa Muhammad Hassan, author of History of Patiala, its ancient name was Bikramgarh. According to raverty, Bathinda was known as Tabarhindh (Labb-ut-Twarikh). According to Ibn Batuta it was known as Batrind. The earliest mention of Tabarhindh occurs in the "Jami-Ul-Hakayat" written about 607 Hijri or 1211 AD. According to "Ainai-Barar Bans" Bathinda was built by Bhati Rao, son of Bal Band, who became ruler of Punjab in 336 Bikrami Sambat. He also founded Bhatner. It was also called Whatinda and Bitunda which finally become known as Bhatinda. But its name was changed to Bathinda on the authority of Survey of India to conform to the phonetical expression as locally pronounced. In recent times the town was conquered by Maharaja Ala Singh (near about 1754 AD) and since then it followed the history of erstwhile princely state of Patiala. With the dawn of indendence and merger of Patiala and East Punjab States into a division styled at PEPSU, Bathinda become full fledged district which states has combined even after the merger of PEPSU with erstwhile Punjab State in 1956.

It consists of 285 villages out of which 281 are inhabited and 4 are uninhabited, eight towns and One census town.

According to Surveyor General of India, the district covers an area of 336725 Hectares and is sixth in terms of area in the State .The area figures of the tehsils are as under:-

Name of Tehsil	Area ( in Hectares.)
Bathinda	151845
Rampuraphul	87516
Talwandisabo	97364
Total	336725

 

According to 2001 Census of India, Bathinda district ranks 9 ^th in Punjab with a population of 1183295 which is 4.86 % of the total population of Punjab State. The sex ratio according to census 2001 is 865 females per thousand Male in district which is 19 less than observed in 1991 census, which was 884. Though the rate of population growth is meagre yet the density of population has increased which is 390 per square Kilometer as compared to 290 by 1991 census.

Amongst the States & UTs, Punjab ranks 16 ^th in terms of literacy. Bathinda district have 14 ^th rank in the field of literacy in the state. 61.51% population is literate where as the rate for male and female literacy is 68.31 % and 53.76% respectively.

From Administrative point of view District Bathinda is divided into three Tehsils

1. Bathinda
2. Rampurphul
3. Talwandisabo

These tehsils have been further divided into 8 blocks as under;

No. of Blocks	8(Bathinda, Sangat, Nathana,Rampura, Phul, Maur, Bhagta Bhaika and Talwandisabo)
No. of villages	285
No. of inhabited	281
No.of un-inhabited	4
No.of Census town	1 (Bhisiana)
No.of M.Corporation	1 (Bathinda)
No.of M.Councils	7 (Sangat,Raman Mandi, Maur, Kotfatta, Rampura,Bhuchomandi, Goniana.)

 

 

Medical Institution

Hospitals	12
CHC	4
PHC	22
Dispensaries	80
Mini PHC	19
Sub-Centres	137

Veterinary Institutions

Veterinary Hospitals	87
Vet. Dispensaries	88
Sheep & Wool Extension Centre	3
Poultry Service Station	3

Cattle Census

Total Live Stock	520.6
Cows	131.7
Buffalows	228.9
Others	160.0
Poultry	316.6

Education

Arts, Science, Commerce, Home Science colleges	10
Engg. Tech.& Architecture College.	2
Teacher Training College.	1
ETT. Institutes	1
I.T.Is	2
Senior Secondary Schools.	86
High Schools	128
Elementary Schools	596

Local Bodies

Market Committees	9
Rest House and Dak Bungalows	30
Coop. Agri. Service Societies	164
Other Coop Societies	896
Total Coop Societies	1060

Banking Sector

State Bank of India	15
State Bank of Patiala	43
Punjab National Bank	15
Other Commercial Banks	62
Cooperative Banks	41
Total Banks	176

Miscellaneous

No. of Panchayats	307
No. of Post office	158
No. of Telegram office	14
No. of Telephone Exchanges	79
No. of STD/PCOs	1007
No. of Telephone connections	55787
No. of Stadium	18
No. of Focal Points	33
No. of Radio Station	1
No. of Television Centre	1
No. of Milk Centre	271

Net Area Irrigated(000 Hect.)

Govt. Canals	229
Tubewells	63
Others	-
Net Area Sown	296
Total cropped area	555
Area under Forest	8
Land put to Non-Agriculture use	31

Rural Water Supply

No. of inhabited villages	281
Identified water scarcity villages	279
Balance of scarcity villages where water supply schemes still to be initiated	2

The district lies in the South-western region of the State and in far away from the Shivalik ranges in the North of the state. It is the nearest to the Thar Desert of Rajasthan and also far away from the Major rivers lines that run through the state. Therefore, climatically, the district has a very hot in summer and frequently scorching heat is in full swing. It has a mild rainy season and a dry but embracing winter. Due to the extension of irrigation facilities during the past few decades, the weather has undergone a change.

Dust storms are a regular feature in summer season when the mercury sometime touches over 47 ^o -C in the peak summer in June. The monsoon is scanty and meagre. The average rainfall is 410mm. On the other side the nights as in the desert area are cool and pleasant during December and January & the minimum Temperature at night could touch 0 ^o -C.

The soil in the district is mostly sandy. Being sandy Plain region is dotted with scattered sand dunes which have a tendency to shift towards eastern side. But with the development of latest Technology and machinery the topography is under vast change with respect to various aspects connected with green revolution. Now there are various schemes which are functioning to eradicate the spread of desert.