Sheosagar, also spelled Shiusagar or Shivsagar, is a village and corresponding

community development block In India, a community development block (CD block) or simply Block is a sub-division of District, administratively earmarked for planning and development. In tribal areas, similar sub-divisions are called tribal development blocks (TD blocks). T ...

Rohtas district Rohtas District is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar States and territories of India, state, India. It came into existence when Shahabad district, Shahabad District was bifurcated into Bhojpur & Rohtas in 1972. Administrative headquart ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, India. As of 2011, the village of Sheosagar had a population of 2,065, in 345 households, while the entire block had a population of 176,080. The nearest major city is

Sasaram Sasaram (), also spelled as Shahasaram, is a historical city and a municipal corporation region in the Rohtas district of Bihar state in eastern India. The city served as the capital of the Sur dynasty during Sher Shah Suri's rule over India in ...

, the capital of Rohtas district.

Geography

Located in the western part of Rohtas district, Sheosagar block is geographically diverse, encompassing both parts of the

plain and areas of the Rohtas plateau, at the eastern end of the

Vindhya Range The Vindhya Range (also known as Vindhyachal) () is a complex, discontinuous chain of mountain ridges, hill ranges, highlands and plateau escarpments in west-central India. Technically, the Vindhyas do not form a single mountain range in the ...

. The area generally slopes downward toward the northeast.

Demographics

Sheosagar is an entirely rural block, with no major urban centres. The

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of the block in 2011 was 929, which was slightly higher than the average of 918 in all of Rohtas district. This ratio was more equal among 0- to 6-year-olds, with 953 females for every 1000 males; again, this was a bit higher than the district average of 931 for this age group. Members of scheduled castes made up 22.78% of the block's population (40,118 individuals), a slightly higher proportion than the district average of 20.11%. Members of scheduled tribes constituted 1.11% of the population (1,962 individuals), which was about equal to the district average of 1.12%. The

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of Sheosagar block was 71.79%, which was slightly below the district average of 72.5%. Literacy was substantially higher among males (81.42%) than among females (61.37%); however, the 20.05% gender gap in literacy was slightly less pronounced than the district average of 21.04%. The village of Sheosagar had a population of 2,065 in 2011, of whom 363 (17.58%) were in the 0–6 age group. The literacy rate of the town was 62.95%, with 1,300 people able to read and write (750 male and 550 female).

Employment

A majority of Sheosagar block's workforce was employed in agriculture, with 22.33% of the workforce being cultivators who owned or leased their own land and another 52.85% being agricultural labourers who worked someone else's land for wages. A further 4.14% were engaged in household industries, and all other forms of work accounted for the remaining 20.68% of the workforce. In Sheosagar itself, there was a total workforce of 660 (483 men and 177 women) in 2011, of whom 442 (398 men and 44 women) were main workers and 218 (85 men and 133 women) were marginal workers. Between the two categories combined, there were 51 cultivators, 207 agricultural labourers, 45 household industry workers, and 357 other workers.

Amenities

Of the 153 inhabited villages in Sheosagar block, 90 had

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

, which was 58.82% of them; this was a lower rate than the district average of 70.24%. However, the population served by these schools consisted of 84.23% of the block's population, which was also lower than the Rohtas district average of 91.92%. Only 3 villages had medical facilities, which, at 1.96%, was far below the district average of 22.25%; the population they served was only 3.21% of the district, which was still far below the district average. Both percentages, in fact, were the lowest among all blocks in Rohtas district. All 153 villages had access to clean

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

. 24 villages had

post offices Post, POST, or posting may refer to: Postal services * Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries ** An Post, the Irish national postal service ** Canada Post, Canadian postal service ** Deutsche Post, German posta ...

. 117 had telephone services, which at 76.47% was substantially higher than the district average of 47.7%; as much as 87.05% of the block's population had telephone access. 71 villages had transport communications (bus, rail, or navigable waterways). 18 villages had banks, and 16 had agricultural credit societies. 80 villages had permanent pucca roads. 134 villages had access to electricity, which was 87.58% of them, slightly higher than the district average of 82.24%; 94.15% of the block's population lived in villages with access to electricity. However, only 14.43% of block residents had

electric light Electric light is an artificial light source powered by electricity. Electric Light may also refer to: * Light fixture, a decorative enclosure for an electric light source * Electric Light (album), ''Electric Light'' (album), a 2018 album by James ...

s; most (84.84%) households relied on

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

for lighting instead. 53.43% of the block's household lived in permanent houses made of

pucca ''Pucca'' (; ) is a South Korean media franchise from the South Korean company Vooz. The titular protagonist, Pucca, is the niece of three Korean men who run a noodle restaurant called Goh-Rong in Sooga Village, a small village in the mountains. ...

materials in 2011, while 31.57% lived in semi-permanent houses and 14.7% lived in temporary houses made of kutcha materials. A large majority of households (90.83%) mainly used

hand pump Hand pumps are manually operated pumps; they use human power and mechanical advantage to move fluids or air from one place to another. They are widely used in every country in the world for a variety of industrial, marine, irrigation and lei ...

s for drinking water, with 3.47% using mainly

tap water Tap water (also known as running water, piped water or municipal water) is water supplied through a Tap (valve), tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used f ...

and 4.41% using mainly

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

s. A large majority of households had no toilet in their home, with 80.93% relying on

open defecation Open defecation is the human practice of defecating outside ("in the open") rather than into a toilet. People may choose fields, bushes, forests, ditches, streets, canals, or other open spaces for defecation. They do so either because they do ...

; 14.4% had toilets connected to

septic tank A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatment ...

s and 1.45% had toilets connected to sewer systems. 23.5% of households had a kitchen in their home, while 70.26% did not. (The remainder mostly cooked outside the house.) Most households (73.44%) primarily used

cowdung cake Cow dung, also known as cow pats, cow poop or cow manure, is the waste product (faeces) of bovine animal species. These species include domestic cattle ("cows"), bison ("buffalo"), yak, and water buffalo. Cow dung is the undigested residue of pl ...

as fuel for cooking, while another 16.97% used mainly

firewood Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not heavily processed, and is in some sort of firelog, recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellet fuel, pellets. ...

. 53.39% of households had access to banks. 24.99% of households had radios, 17.13% had televisions, 0.52% had computers with internet access, 5.14% had computers with no internet access, 1.66% had

landline A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

telephones and 57.63% had cell phones (1.63% had both types of phone), 35.9% had bicycles, 7.71% had

motor scooter A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, a transmission that shifts without the operator having to operate a clutch lever, a platform for their feet, and with a method of operation that emph ...

s, motorcycles, or

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle eng ...

s, 11.84% had

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

s, and 27.76% had none of the aforementioned assets. On 5 July 2017, Sheosagar block was declared "Open Defecation Free", with toilets installed in 16,232 households during the ODF campaign of the preceding six months. It was the sixth block in Rohtas to achieve this status. The village of Sheosagar possessed two primary schools and four

middle schools Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

. It had one medical centre. It did not have

; water in the village was supplied by

. There were no

public toilets A public toilet, restroom, bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils or pris ...

. There was a post office. Sheosagar was served by

phone access as well as mobile phone coverage, and it had Internet access. There was bus service and a railway station. Residents had access to

automobiles A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

and

tractors A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

. The village was connected to

national highways National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in Eng ...

as well as

state highways A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

. It had pucca roads. There was an agricultural credit society. Sheosagar village possessed a daily mandi, but a weekly

haat Haat Bazaar () is an open-air market that serves as a trading venue for local people in rural areas and towns mainly in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India. Haat bazaars are conducted on a regular basis, usually once, twice or thrice a week, a ...

did not meet here. It had a

community centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

and a recreation centre with access to

sports field A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in Australian, American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For mo ...

s, and there was a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

. 38 hectares were under cultivation, which was all irrigated by

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

Villages

The sub-district of Sheosagar contains 153 inhabited villages and 46 uninhabited ones, for a total of 199 villages:

References

External links

Map of the village of Sheosagar
{{Rohtas district Cities and towns in Rohtas district