Harishchandrapur I is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Chanchal subdivision of Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

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 rule of the Sena Dynasty, in the 11th-12th century, Gauda was rebuilt and extended as Lakshmanawati (later Lakhnauti), and it became the hub of the Sena 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.” “Pandua then lay on the banks of the Mahananda, which was the major waterway of the sultanate at the time.

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 sub-region largely remains submerged during the monsoons and during the dry season large sections of it turn into mud banks with many shallow marshes scattered around.

[11] Other villages in Harishchandrapur I CD Block included (2011 population in brackets): Tulsihata (3,939), Rashidabad (3,050), Barui (1,419) and Bhingol (2,720).

The decadal growth of population in Harishchandrapur I &II CD Blocks taken together (or Harishchndrapur PS) in 1981-91 was 29.30% and in 1971-81 was 25.13%.

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

[27] As per the Human Development Report for Malda district, published in 2006, the percentage of rural families in BPL category in Harishchandrapur I CD Block was 47.6%.

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

[28] 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… “[28] Livelihoodin Harishchandrapur I CD Block In Harishchandrapur I CD Block in 2011, amongst the class of total workers, cultivators numbered14,687 and formed 20.94%, agricultural labourers numbered 38,171 and formed 54.41%, household industry workers numbered 2,019 and formed 2.88% and other workers numbered 15,276 and formed 21.78%.

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

[32] “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 c/onsiderably across the district… Agricultural land in the Tal and Diara is mostly irrigated and intensively cropped and cultivated… Rainfall in the district is moderate…” [33] Harishchandrapur I CD Block had 93 fertiliser depots, 17 seed stores and 35 fair price shops in 2013-14.

The fund, created by the Government of India, is designed to redress regional imbalances in development.

[41] In 2014, Harishchandrapur I CD Block had 1 rural hospital and 3 primary health centres, with total 70 beds and 8 doctors (excluding private bodies).