Puncha (community development block)

Puncha is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Manbazar 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 16 mahajanapadas and part of the Vajrabhumi kingdom. 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.

Puncha is located at 23°07′23″N 86°39′11″E / 23.123°N 86.653°E / 23.123; 86.653.

The Puncha CD block is located in the eastern part of the district. The Kangsabati River forms the boundary between the Puncha and Hura CD blocks. The lower Kangsabati basin has degraded lowlands.

The Puncha CD block is bounded by the Hura CD block on the north, the Hirbandh CD block, in the Bankura district, on the east, the Manbazar I CD block on the south, and the Purulia I CD block on the west.

The Puncha CD block has an area of 330.11 km². It has 1 panchayat samity, 10 gram panchayats, 97 gram sansads (village councils), 109 mouzas and 99 inhabited villages. Puncha (partly) and Kenda (partly) police stations serve this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at Puncha.

Gram panchayats of the Puncha block/panchayat samiti are: Bagda, Chandra, Chhirudih, Jambad, Kenda, Lakhra, Na-para, Panipathar, Pirrah and Puncha.

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Puncha CD block had a total population of 123,855, all of which were rural. There were 62,676 (51%) males and 61,179 (49%) females. Therewere 16,012 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled Castes numbered 18,006 (14.54%) and the Scheduled Tribes numbered 30,641 (24.74%).