Bathinda district General information
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 & 30o-36 North latitude and 74o-38 and 75o-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.
Origin of name
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.
Demography
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.
Bathinda at A Glance
Area 3335 Sq. Kms. (According to Director Land Record.)
Population 1183295(Census 2001)
Health care
Hospitals 12
CHC 4
PHC 22
Dispensaries 81
Mini PHC 19
Sub-Centres 137
Education
Arts, Science, Commerce, Home Science colleges 9
Engg. Tech.& Architecture College. 2
Teacher Training College. 1
ETT. Institutes 1
I.T.Is 2
Senior Secondary Schools. 87
High Schools 122
Elementary Schools 586
Climate
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.
Topography
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.