Purulia I is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Purulia Sadar subdivision of the Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Background 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, Manbhum district was carved out of 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, 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. Geography Bhatbandh is located at . The Purulia I CD block is located in the central part of the district. The Kangsabati River forms the boundary between the Purulia I and Arsha and Purulia II CD blocks. The upper Kangsabati basin has undulating land and the elevation rises from 200 to 300 m and the general slope is from west to east and south-east. The Purulia I CD block is bounded by the Chandankiyari CD block, in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand, and Purulia II and Hura CD blocks on the north, the Puncha and Manbazar I CD blocks on the east, the Barabazar CD block on the south, and the Arsha and Joypur CD blocks on the west. The Purulia I CD block has an area of 281.50 km2. It has 1 panchayat samity, 8 gram panchayats, 101 gram sansads (village councils), 115 mouzas, 105 inhabited villages and 1 census town. Kenda (partly), Purulia (Town) (partly), Arsha (partly) and Purulia (Muffasil) (partly) police stations serve this block. Headquarters of this CD Block is at Chakda, PO Kotlui. Gram panchayats of the Purulia I block/ panchayat samiti are: Bhandarpuara-Chipida, Chakaltor, Dimdiha, Durku, Garafusra, Lagda, Manara and Sonajuri. Demographics Population According to the 2011 Census of India the Purulia I CD block had a total population of 151,188, of which 145,494 were rural and 5,694 were urban. There were 77,858 (51%) males and 73,330 (49%) females. There were 21,984 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The Scheduled Castes numbered 25,936 (17.15%) and the