registered a population growth of 12.63 per cent during the 1991-2001 decade. Decadal growth for the combined Midnapore district was 14.87 per cent. Decadal growth in West Bengal was 17.84 per cent. Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in Egra II CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Khejurda (5,265), Erenda (4,208), Dubda (12,885), Paniparul (10,469), Khagda (4,149), Uttar Daidpur (4,133), Bathuari (4,127), Tajpur (5,672), Basudebpur (9,129) and Shyamhari Bar (4,106). Literacy As per the 2011 census the total number of literates in Egra II CD Block was 137,635 (86.47% of the population over 6 years) out of which 76,579 (56%) were males and 60,876 (44%) were females. As per the 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 the 2011 census Hindus numbered 167,273 and formed 93.57% of the population in Egra II CD Block. Muslims numbered 11,317 and formed 6.33% of the population. Others numbered 173 and formed 0.10% 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. Egra II CD Block registered 24.56 on the MHPI scale. The CD Block-wise mean MHPI was estimated at 24.78. Eleven out of twentyfive CD Blocks were found to be severely deprived in respect of grand CD Block average value of MHPI (CD Blocks with lower amount of poverty are better): All