Bela Bhela

At the turn of the 20th century, Bela Bhela was described as a large village whose lands were well-cultivated and "amply" irrigated by several tanks and numerous wells.^[3] It had a school and hosted markets twice per week.^[3] Bela Bhela then formed the main village in the zamindari estate of Sardar Narain Singh, a descendant of the Punjabi nobleman Maharaja Chhattar Singh.^[3] It had previously been part of Rana Beni Madho Bakhsh's lands.^[3] The 1901 census recorded a population of 4,803 residents in Bela Bhela; almost all of them were Hindus and many of them belonged to the Ahir community.^[3]

The 1951 census recorded Bela Bhela as comprising 32 hamlets, with a total population of 5,429 people (2,774 male and 2,655 female), in 1,154 households and 1,148 physical houses.^[5] The area of the village was given as 5,453 acres.^[5] 213 residents were literate, 208 male and 5 female.^[5] The village was listed as belonging to the pargana of Rae Bareli South and the thana of Jagatpur.^[5] The village's primary school had an attendance of 182 students as of 1 January of that year.^[5]

The 1961 census recorded Bela Bhela (as "Bela Dhela") as comprising 32 hamlets, with a total population of 6,281 people (3,236 male and 3,045 female), in 1,344 households and 1,240 physical houses.^[6] The area of the village was given as 5,453 acres and it had a medical practitioner at that point.^[6]

The 1981 census recorded Bela Bhela as having a population of 9,003 people, in 1,170 households, and having an area of 2,154.61 hectares.^[4] The main staple foods were listed as wheat and rice.^[4]

The 1991 census recorded Bela Bhela as having a total population of 11,334 people (5,970 male and 5,364 female), in 2,058 households and 2,044 physical houses.^[7] The area of the village was listed as 2,066 hectares.^[7] Members of the 0-6 age group numbered 2,306, or 20% of the total; this group was 50% male (1,162) and 50% female (1,144).^[7] Members of scheduled castes numbered 2,930, or 26% of the village's total population, while no members of scheduled tribes were recorded.^[7] The literacy rate of the village was 25% (2,203 men and 618 women).^[7] 3,969 people were classified as main workers (3,105 men and 864 women), while 580 people were classified as marginal workers (35 men and 545 women); the remaining 6,785 residents were non-workers.^[7] The breakdown of main workers by employment category was as follows: 2,768 cultivators (i.e. people who owned or leased their own land); 634 agricultural labourers (i.e. people who worked someone else's land in return for payment); 33 workers in livestock, forestry, fishing, hunting, plantations, orchards, etc.; 0 in mining and quarrying; 17 household industry workers; 139 workers employed in other manufacturing, processing, service, and repair roles; 30 construction workers; 99 employed in trade and commerce; 51 employed in transport, storage, and communications; and 198 in other services.^[7]