| Voice of Patiala : Jatwinder
Garewal

The biggest and common challenge faced by me is that I always get
to hear that you are “Andha” (blind in Hindi). I am
doing PG in Hindi, the common problem faced by me and other visually
impaired is the unavailability of books in Braille at college level.
This limitation of books is because we do not have many Braille
presses. Our state Braille press is out of order due to some technical
problem.
Patiala District
Area, Population & Sex Ratio
Geographical Area : 3627.0 Km2
Population in Patiala (Census 2011)
Total Population
Total : 18,92,282
Male : 10,02,112
Female : 8,90,170
Disabled population
Total disabled population : 26461
In seeing : 8785
In speech : 1531
In hearing : 1233
In movement : 10404
Mental : 4508
Rank ( VoiceOfBharat.org Analysis
)
Backwardness : 433
Sex Ratio Rank : 79
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 -2006)
Disability : 362 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 204 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Water : Flouride in Groundwater above permissible limits

Brief About Patiala District
Patiala district is one
of the famous princely states of erstwhile Punjab. Forming the south-eastern
part of the state, it lies between 29°49’ and 30°47’ north latitude,
75°58’ and 76°54' east longitude.
It is surrounded by the districts
of Fatehgarh Sahib & Rupnagar and the Union Territory of Chandigarh
in the north, Sangrur district in the west, Ambala and Kurukshetra
districts of neighbouring state of Haryana in the east and Kaithal
district of Haryana in the south.
By Rail:
From New Delhi, take
New Delhi-Bhatinda Inter City Express or the Shatabdi Express to
Ambala, and then hire a taxi for the drive to Patiala. (Book taxi
in advance.)
By Road:
Patiala lies just off
the excellent National Highway #1 (Delhi-Amritsar) and is about
250 Km from Delhi. The journey via Ambala Cantt. takes about 5 hours.
You can also drive to Patiala from Chandigarh, via Zirakpur (on
NH 22), and Rajpura.
Accommodation:
Patiala has a few budget
and 3-star hotels. However, Chandigarh and Ludhiana, both over an
hour's drive away, offer varied options, including deluxe hotels.
People
Patiala district is a
predominantly rural district.. As per the 2001 census, an overwhelming
65% lived in rural areas and only 35% lived in urban areas.
After the partition of India
in 1947, a large number of refugees from west Punjab came and settled
in Patiala district. The single largest group of refugees was from
Bahawalpur. Apart from this, a sizeable number came from Gujjranwala
and Sheikhpura. According to the 1951 census, the total number of
displaced persons in the district was 1,19,518.
The Sikhs and the Hindus are
the predominant communities in the district. The Sikh form 55% of
the population while the Hindus form 42%, the remaining being the
Christians, the Muslim, the Jains and the Buddhists.
Geographically, Punjab is divided
into four regions, know as Malwa. Majha, Doaba and Puadh. Patiala
district falls in the Puadh region and standard dialect spoken in
the district is known as Puadhi. Although this dialect is almost
the same in grammar as the standard dialect of Punjabi language,
the distinguishing character of this dialect is that ,to a very
large extent, it is influenced by Hindi spoken in the adjoining
districts which now a part of Haryana.
Area
Patiala district with
an area of 3625 Sq. kms. is the 5th largest district
of the Punjab (area wise) after Ferozepur, Amritsar, Sangrur and
Ludhiana as per 2001 census.
Administrative Sub-divisions
:-
Patiala district is sub-divided
into 5 sub-divisons/tehsils, 4 sub-tehsils and 9 blocks. There are
in all 1084 villages as per Census 2001 and 1069 panchayats in the
district.
Topography
The district forms a
part of the Indo- Gangetic plain and consists of three types of
region :-
- The Upland Plain.
- The Cho-infested Foothill Plain.
- The Floodplain of the Ghaggar River
Apart from this, the district
has a complex drainage system consisting of canals and rivers. The
river Ghaghar is the most important water channel of the district.
It is essentially a seasonal stream, remaining dry during most part
of the year. However, during the rainy session, it remains in spate,
often flooding the adjoining villages, causing damage to crops,
livestock and at times to houses and human lives. A number of subsidiary
rivulets join the Ghaggar River, the most important ones being the
Tangri Nadi, Patiala-Wali-Nadi, Sirhind Choe and the Jhambowali
Choe.
Apart from the natural drainage
line, the district also has three important canals- The Bhakra Main
Line canal, the Nawana Branch, and the Ghaghar Link. These canals
provide much needed irrigation water to the district. Before these
canals were constructed, Patiala district was a water scarce area.
These irrigation canals have helped to transform the parched fields
into fertile, double-crop lands.
Climate
The Climate here is typical
of Punjab plain i.e. very hot in summer and very cold in winter.
The district is generally dry and hot, with monsoon lasting three
months. Both summer and winter are severe. The annual average rainfall
is 688mm. On an average there are 61 rainy days. The variation in
rainfall is appreciable. The month of May is the hottest with the
mean monthly maximum temperature of 43.1oCelsius. January
is the coldest month with mean monthly minimum temperature of 2.1oCelsius.
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