Para (community development block)

Para is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Raghunathpur subdivision of the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

The Jaina Bhagavati-Sutra of the 5th century AD mentions that Purulia was one of the sixteen mahajanapadas and was a part of the kingdom known as Vajra-bhumi in ancient times. In 1833, the Manbhum district was carved out of the Jungle Mahals district, with headquarters at Manbazar. In 1838, the headquarters was transferred to Purulia. After independence, when Manbhum district was a part of Bihar, efforts were made to impose Hindi on the Bengali-speaking majority of the district and it led to the Bengali Language Movement (Manbhum). In 1956, the Manbhum district was partitioned between Bihar and West Bengal under the States Reorganization Act and the Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of Territories) Act 1956.

Para is located at 23°31′N 86°31′E / 23.52°N 86.52°E / 23.52; 86.52.

The Para CD block is located in the north-western part of the district. The area becomes undulating with hillocks of hard rocks, which are extended from the high Chota Nagpur Plateau. There are some hills ranging from 150 to 750 meters approximately in altitude.

The Para CD block is bounded by the Raghunathpur II CD block on the north, the Raghunathpur I and Kashipur CD blocks on the east, the Hura and Purulia II CD blocks on the south and the Jhalda II CD block and the Chandankiyari CD block, in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand, on the west.

The Para CD block has an area of 312.59 km². It has 1 panchayat samity, 10 gram panchayats, 136 gram sansads (village councils), 135 mouzas, 118 inhabited villages and 5 census towns. Para and Santaldih (partly) police stations serve this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at Para.

Gram panchayats of the Para CD block/panchayat samiti are: Anara, Bahara, Deoli, Dubra, Jabarra Jhapra I, Jabara Jhapra II, Nadiha Surulia, Para and Udaipur-Joinagar.

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Para CD block had a total population of 200,621, of which 167,997 were rural and 32,624 were urban. There were 103,306 (51%) males and 97,315 (49%) females. There were 29,376 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled Castes numbered 66,751 (33.27%) and the Scheduled Tribes numbered 10,335 (5.15%).