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DISTRICT JIND – AN INTRODUCTION ORIGIN AND NAME OF THE DISTRICT
The district derives its name
from its headquarters town Jind that is said to be a corruption of
Jaintapuri. It is also said that this town had been founded at the time of
Mahabharta. According to an old saying the Pandavas built a temple in honour
of Jainti Devi (the goddess of victory), offered prayers for success, and
then launched the battle with the Kauravas. The town grew up around the
temple and was named Jaintapuri (Abode of Jainti Devi) which later on came to
be known as Jind. Location, Boundaries And Area Of The District Location and Boundaries- The district lies in the North of Haryana between
29.03’ and 29.51’ North latitude & 75.53’ and 76.47’ East longitude. On
its East and North-East lie the districts of Panipat, Karnal and Kaithal
respectively. Its boundary line on the North forms the inter-state Haryana-
Punjab border with Patiala and Sangurar districts of Punjab. In the West and
South-West it has a common boundary with district Hisar & Fatehabad and in
its South and South-East lies the district of Rohtak and Sonipat
respectively. Area- The
area of the district is 3,606 square kilometers. Sub-Division & Tahsils The district is divided into three
Sub-Divisionns, Jind Safidon and Narwana. The Jind Sub-Division comprises two
tahsils, viz. Jind and Julana. While the Narwana, Safidon Sub-Divisions
comprises the Narwana & Safidon tahsil respectively .
PHYSIOGRAPHY
The
district of Jind stretching in the northwest to southeast direction occupies
the north-central part of the Haryana. Physiographically, it constitutes a
part of the Punjab-Haryana plain, which is largely flat and featureless and
is formed of Pleistocene and sub-recent alluvial deposits of the
Indo-Gangetic system. Wind action in the past and man’s role in recent times
have played a prominent part in shaping the relief of the district which is located in a transitional zone between
the sub-humid districts Kaithal,
Panipat and Karnal in the east and the semi-arid district Hisar in the west. Broadly speaking, the district is a flat, monotonous
upland plain. It is evident from the fact that the general elevation of the
district ranges between 218 meters and 239 meters above sea level. As the
spot-heights are examined more closely, one discovers that there is no
general and consistent trend in the slope of the area. However, the northern
part of Narwana tahsil presents a saucer like shape having the highest
elevation of 239 meters in the extreme
north near Sanghan village. As
one moves south-westward, the ground level gradually declines reaching its
lowest of 226 meters near the town of Narwana from where it again starts
rising until it reaches 232 meters near Durjanpur village almost on the
district’s border. The southern half of the district, consisting of Jind and Safion tahsils on the other hand
offers a fradual east-to-west slope. The highest point in this part of the
district is reached near village Bahri (232 meters) and the lowest elevation
of 218 meters is met near Rajpura village in the west along the district
border with Hisar district. There are minor undulations in the general physiographic
formation of the district. These undulations characterise the area having
been subject to wind action in the past and owe their existence to the
presence of sand dunes, sand ridges and depressions at places. The sand
dunes/ridges are now stable generally having
a local relief of 2 to 6 meters. The largest and the highest sand dune
of the district lying north-west of Kakrod village (Narwana tahsil) on
Hisar-Jind border is 2 Kilometers long and quarter a kilometer wide and has a
local relief of 6 meters. This is the area where large sand ridges occur the most, particularly to the south-west
of Kakrod village. Other areas where sanddunnes occur frequently are (i) the
area along Hisar border between Sulhera village in the north and Danauda
Khurd village in the south where the local relief ranges between 2 to 5 meters; (ii) the area in the
vicinity of village Ashrafgarh, especially south-west and south of the
village where the sand dunes rise from 2 to 4 meters above the local relief
(iii) the small area lying to south of Julani village (west of Jind town);
and (iv) the area in the proximity of Jai Jai Wanti village in Jind tahsil which has wide undulations but where the local relief
variations do not exceed 4 meters. These sand ridges apart, one also comes across thee depressions at places. The largest of
such depressions lies south of Bhambewa village in Safidon tahsil just on the
district border with sonipat district. This depression extends over 1.5
kilometers of length and about one kilometers of width and is about 5 metres
deep. Another depression occurs north of village Bithmara (Narwana tahsil )
which extends over 1 kilometer in length and about half a kilometer in width. The third lies to south of
Safidon near village Bahaderpur and it extends over one kilometer in length
and kilometer in width. In brief, the district does not offer much physiographic diversity. It is flat, featureless, alluvial upland plain dotted only sporadically with sand dunes and depressions, yielding a local relief of not more than 6 metres either way. Drainage : With regard to the drainage pattern, the complete absence of
major or minor rivers/streams defies any detailed discussion on drainage.
However, it is necessary to mention the entry and termination of Chautang
river into the district near the village Mundh and its termination near
village Bosini into Karnal district after covering about a distance of ten
kilometers in Jind district
GEOLOGY
The
district, by and large, is underlain by the quaternary alluvium, comprising
chiefly clays, sand of various grades, kankar and occasionally gravel and
pebbles. It has been observed that the clayey material generally constitutes
between 31 and 81 percent of the caustic sediments down to a maximum drilled
depth of about 151 meters from the ground level. Granular material comprising
chiefly fine to coarse grained sand with occasional pebbles appear to
be ventricular in shape with their longer axes generally running in
the north-south direction. MINERAL RESOURCES Saltpeter- Saltpeter, commonly known as ‘Shora’ occurs as soil
encrustations in several localities. The encrustations are maximum during dry
months of summer when the evaporation
of water due to capillary action of the soil is maximum. Saltpeter is
economically exploited at Kalayat, Uchana, Narwana, Safidon and Jind. Gypsum- Gypsum has been reported from Julana area . It
occurs as disseminations in the clay bands inter bedded with sandy layers.
The worn burrows in the clay bands are also seen. GROUND WATER
A buried
river channel running in east-north-east to
west-south-west direction has been located in the eastern part of the
area. In Safidon-Jind tract successful tubewells have been constructed within
a depth of 80 meters. Within this depth a thickness of 25 meters to 35 meters
of granular materials comprising coarse sand, gravel and pebble is generally
encountered. The groundwater occurs in a thick zone of saturation in
the alluvium both under confined and unconfined conditions. The shallow zone
with free water surface, which is tapped chiefly by open wells and shallow
tube-wells, is unconfined. The deeper aquifers which are underlain by
extensive confining clays occur under
confined conditions. The depth of water table generally ranges from 0.83 to
39.80 meters. Water table is shallowest in
the areas along canals, particularly the Hansi branch and in the area
immediately to north of the Ghaggar. Water table is deep generally resting
below 30 meters in the central parts of the district. The water table records
a general decline ranging from 0.01 to 2.48 meters during the extreme summer
months. In the area where water level is closer to the land surface, water
logging and soil Stalinizations exist. The deeper aquifers are confined. The cumulative pressure
head of the confined water has been generally recorded in the existing deep
tubewells to vary between 2.5 meters and 11.5 meters from the ground level.
The yield of the tubewells tapping such aquifers to the maximum depth of 998
meters ranges from 0.042 to 0.051 cubic meters per second. In general the groundwater is alkaline in reaction, with
little or no carbonate. The specific conductance of water varies widely
ranging from 470 to 14,280 micro ohm/cm . Except for local patches, the
groundwater is excessively hard. The groundwater in the northern parts of the
district is Magnesium-Calcium, Bicarbonate, Chloride type and that of the
southern parts Sodium Magnesium, Sulphate-Chloride type. SEISMOLOGY
The
Jind district lies in a zone liable to moderate damages due to earthquakes.
The history of past earthquakes shows that although no damaging earthquake
originated near the place, yet the area came under the influence of moderate
to great earthquakes originating in the active seismic belts in the Himalaya, the Sulaiman and Aravali ranges and the
Rann of Kutch. The maximum seismic intensity experienced in this area
was during the Kangra earthquake of 4th April, 1905, when the
intensity reached VI MM. However, the probable maximum intensity of earthquakes
on Modified Mercalli intensity Scale
in the area is not likely to exceed VII MM. The intensity VII MM corresponds
to horizontal ground acceleration range of 18—140 cms/sec. The wide range of
acceleration is due to the fact that acceleration is large on soft filled-up
ground and much less on hard rock. Therefore, it is felt necessary that for
structures founded on well consolidated foundation a provision of seismic
ground acceleration of 7 per cent of gravity may be made. FLORA
This
district is not very rich in flora and there is no natural forest at present.
All existing forests are man-made and they are concentrated along the rail,
road and canal strips. There are only
two compact forests and these are known as Bir Bara Ban and Bithmara Excape
respectively. This district is
very poor as far as species of medicinal plants are concerned except for
Viter negundo L and Adhatoda zeylanica Medic. Which have medicinal value. The Aquatic flowering plants are
poorly represented. The national bird of India, the
common peafowl, pavo cristatus (Linnaeus) is quite common and is seen in orchards, fields and gardens of the
district. CLIMATE
The
climate of this district is on the whole dry, hot in summer and cold in
winter. The year may be divided into four seasons. The cold season from
november to march is followed by hot season which lasts till the onset of the
south-west monsoon. The monsoon withdraws by 15 September and is followed by
the Post-monsoon or the transition period. Rainfall- The
average rainfall over the district as a whole is 55 cm. It generally
increases from south or south-west to east or north-east. Over 70 per cent of
the annual rainfall is received during the monsoon months of July to
September. July and August are the rainiest months, together accounting for
over 50 per cent of the annual rainfall. Per-monsoon rainfall in June
constitutes just about 10 per cent of the annual normal. Some precipitation,
constituting about 10 per cent of the annual rainfall, is also received
during the winter months of December to Februrary in association with western
disturbances which pass across the district or its neighborhood from west to
east, affecting the weather over the district in this season. The variation
in annual rainfall from year to year is large. In 48 years during 1901 to
1948, Jind which is the only station in the district with a long period of
rainfall record, had 220 per cent of the annual normal rain in 1933 and only
29 per cent in 1939. Considering the rainfall in individual years during 48
years, it was less than 80 per cent
of the annual normal in 15 years,
including one spell of consecutive 5 years and one of consecutive two years. The average number of rainy days for the
district is only 25 out of which 18 days are confined to the months of June to September and 4 days to the winter
months of December to March. This shows that rainfall occurs mainly as showers. The heaviest rainfall recorded in the district in 24
hours was 225.5 mm at Jind on 11th July 1953. Temperature- There
is no meteorological observatory in the district, On the basis of
records of the observatories in the
neighboring districts where similar climatic conditions prevail, it is stated
that from the beginning of March, temperature increases rapidly till June
which is generally the warmest month. The mean daily maximum temperature
during June is around 41C and the mean daily minimum around 27C. The heat in
summer in intense. On individual days, the day temperature may occasionally
exceed 47 or 48 C. Scorching dust laden winds which blow during the hot
season render the weather very tiring. Afternoon thunder showers which occur
on some days bring some relief although only temporarily. With the onset of
the monsoon by the end of June or beginning of July there is a drop in the day temperature but the nights are
nearly as warm as in June. Due to the increase humidity in the air, the
weather is oppressive between the rains. After the withdrawal of the monsoon
by about the middle of September there is a decrease in temperature, the fall
in the night temperature being more rapid. After October both day and night
temperature decreases rapidly. January is usually the coldest month with the
mean daily maximum temperature at about 21 C , and the mean daily minimum at
about 6 C in the cold season. Particularly in January and February, cold
winds in the wake of passing western disturbances affect the district and the
minimum temperature occasionally drops down to below the freezing point of
water. Humidity- During
the south-west monsoon-season July to September, the relative humidity is
high, being over 75-80 per cent in the morning and 55 to 65 per cent in the
afternoon. High humidity of more than 70 per cent also prevails during the
winter months of December to February. It is comparatively drier during the
rest of the year. April and May constitute the driest part of the year when
in the afternoon the relative humidity is 20 per cent or even less. Cloudiness- The
sky is moderately clouded mainly in July and August. Cloudiness decreases
rapidly by october. In the period of November to May, the sky is mostly clear
or lightly clouded, except during passage of western disturbances in the cold
season when the sky becomes cloudy for a brief spell of a day or two. From
June onwards cloudiness increases. Winds- Winds are generally
light, with some stregthing in force during late summer and early monsoon
season. In the south-west monsoon season, winds from the south-west and west
are more common, with the easterlies and south-easterlies blowing on some
days. In the post-monsoon and winter season, south-easterlies and westerlies
are common in the mornings while northerlies and north-westerlies are predominant
in the afternoons. During summer, winds are from west or south-west in the
morning. In the afternoons, winds blow from directions between west and
north. Special Weather Phenomena- Thunderstorms,
in association with pre-monsoon and monsoon rains occur mostly during June to
September. During the winter also, a few thunderstorms occur in association
with the western disturbances. A few thunderstorms may be accompanied by
hail. Occasional duststorms occur during the hot season. Fog is rare and
occurs only in winter. Last Revised On
9/02/2001
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