Gauda was once the "capital of the ancient bhukti or political division of Bengal known as Pundravardhana which lay on the eastern extremity of the Gupta Empire."

During the Turko-Afghan period, "the city of Lakhnauti or Gauda continued to function initially as their capital but was abandoned in 1342 by the Ilyas Shahi sultans in favour of Pandua because of major disturbances along the river course of the Ganga."

However, when the Mahananda too began to veer away from the site of Pandua in the mid-15th century, Gauda was rebuilt and restored to the status of capital city by the Hussain Shahi sultans"... With the ascent of Akbar to the Mughal throne at Delhi... the Mughals annexed the ancient region of Gauda in 1576 and created the Diwani of Bengal.

[1] With the advent of the British, their trading and commercial interests focussed on the new cities of Malda and English Bazar.

With the partition of Bengal in 1947, the Radcliffe Line placed Malda district in India, except the Nawabganj subdivision, which was placed in East Pakistan.

"The Tal region gradually slopes down towards the south-west and merges with the Diara sub-region… (it) is strewn with innumerable marshes, bils and oxbow lakes."

The Mahananda River flows along the northern and a major portion of the eastern boundary of the CD Block.

[11] As per 2011 Census of India, Chanchal I CD Block had a total population of 204,740, of which 119,170 were rural and 5,570 were urban.

[12] Other villages in Chanchal I CD Block included (2011 population in brackets): Alihanda (960), Kharba (3,744) and Mahananadapur (3,311).

[13] The decadal growth of population in Kharba PS orChachal I & II CD Blocks taken together in 1991-2001 was 22.98%.

The decadal growth of population in Kharba PS or Chanchal I &II CD Blocks taken together in 1981-91 was 26.75% and in 1971-81 was 22.39%.

However, unlike the densely populated southern regions of West Bengal, urbanisation remains low in Malda district.

[28] As per the Human Development Report for Malda district, published in 2006, the percentage of rural families in BPL category in Chanchal I CD Block was 50.0%.

Official surveys of households living in absolute poverty in Malda district have been found to be around 39%.

[29] According to the report, "An overwhelmingly large segment of the rural workforce depends on agriculture as its main source of livelihood, the extent of landlessness in Malda has traditionally been high because of the high densities of human settlement in the district… Although land reforms were implemented in Malda district from the time they were launched in other parts of West Bengal, their progress has been uneven across the Malda blocks… because of the overall paucity of land, the extent of ceiling-surplus land available for redistribution has never been large… The high levels of rural poverty that exist in nearly all blocks in Malda district closely reflect the livelihood crisis… "[29] Livelihoodin Chanchal I CD Block In Chanchal I CD Block in 2011, amongst the class of total workers, cultivators numbered 15,994 and formed 20.55%, agricultural labourers numbered 41,532 and formed 53.37%, household industry workers numbered 1,983 and formed 2.55% and other workers numbered 18,317 and formed 23.54%.

It includes factory, mining, plantation, transport and office workers, those engaged in business and commerce, teachers, entertainment artistes and so on.

[33] "Because of its alluvial soils and the abundance of rivers, large and small, Malda has been an important agricultural region since antiquity, leading to dense human settlement within the boundaries of the district.

But the shifting of rivers and overall ecological change have left an inevitable stamp on the present patterns of human settlement, as a consequence of which settlement densities vary considerably across the district… Agricultural land in the Tal and Diara is mostly irrigated and intensively cropped and cultivated… Rainfall in the district is moderate…" [34] Chanchal I CD Block had 89 fertiliser depots, 17 seed stores and 43 fair price shops in 2013-14.

[35] 25,500 hectares of land in Malda district produces mango varieties such as langra, himasagar, amrapali, laxmanbhog, gopalbhog and fazli.

[39] In 2014, Chanchal I CD Block had 1 hospital, 2 primary health centres and 1 nursing home with total 131 beds and 11 doctors (excluding private bodies).