were males and 81,747 were females. Bhagabanpur II block registered a population growth of 15.78 per cent during the 1991–2001 decade. Decadal growth for the combined Midnapore district was 14.87%. Decadal growth in West Bengal was 17.84%. Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in Bhagabanpur II CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Bahadurpur (5,205), Kismat Bajkul (17,964), Jukhia (4,291) and Bhupatinagar (5,149). Other villages in Bhagabanpur II CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Ita Baria (3,758), Basudeb Berya (3,321), Dakshin Baroj Part I (278), Dakshin Baroj Part II (1,517) and Uttar Baroj (1,247). Literacy As per 2011 census the total number of literates in Bhagabanpur II CD Block was 155,251 (90.98% of the population over 6 years) out of which 83,947 (54%) were males and 71,304 (46%) were females. The literacy rate of Bhagabanpur II CD Block is the highest amongst all CD Blocks in Purba Medinipur district. As per 2011 census, literacy in Purba Medinipur district was 87.02%. Purba Medinipur had the highest literacy amongst all the districts of West Bengal in 2011. See also – List of West Bengal districts ranked by literacy rate Language and religion As per the 2001 census, Bengali was the mother-tongue of 90.5% of the population of Purba Medinipur district, followed by Santali (4.6%), Hindi (1.4%), Kurmali Thar (0.7%), Urdu (0.6%), Telugu (0.6%), Odiya (0.4%), Mundari (0.2%), Koda/ Kora (0.1%), Munda (0.1%), Nepali (0.1%) and others (0.3%). Census information about language is available at the district level or above only. The West Bengal Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, 2012, included Hindi, Santhali, Odiya and Punjabi as official languages if it is spoken by a population exceeding 10 per cent of the whole in a particular block or sub-division or a district. Subsequently, Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi and Kurmali were also included in the list of minority languages by the West Bengal Official Language (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018. However, as of 2019, there is no official / other reliable information about the areas covered. In 2011 census Hindus numbered 187,575 and formed 97.61% of the population in Bhagabanpur II CD Block. Muslims numbered 4,161 and formed 2.17% of the population. Others numbered 426 and formed 0.22% of the population. Rural poverty The District Human Development Report for Purba Medinipur has provided a CD Block-wise data table for Modified Human Poverty Index of the district. Bhagabanpur II CD Block registered 22.26 on the MHPI scale. The