Bagar, also
Bagad, a term meaning the "dry country",
[Nonica Datta, "Forming an identity", The Tribune, 3 July 1999.] is a reference to a region in north-western
India in north
Rajasthan, West
Haryana, south-west
Punjab, India where the
Bagri language is spoken and which is inhabited by the
Bagri people. The region is characterised by sandy tracks and shifting sand dunes which are now irrigated by canals.
Etymology
Bagar means the
prairie (grazing shrubs and grassland) of northern
Rajputana,
[Elaine King,1998, Tales & legends of India, Page 61.] which likely comes from
eponymous Arabic word "baqar" or "bagar" (بقرة) meaning "cow" (sacred to Hindus),
[2002, Abubakar Garba, "State, city and society: processes of urbanisation", University of Maiduguri – Centre for Trans Saharan Studies, Archaeological Association of Nigeria, Page 82.] derived from the Arabic word "cattle".
[Mohamet Lawan, 1997, No travel is little, Page 66.] Baggara in Arabic means "cattle herders".
[Deepak Kumar Behera, Georg Pfeffer, 2002, The concept of tribal society, Page 284.][Jemera Rone, Brian Owsley, Human Rights Watch/Africa, 1996, Behind the Red Line: Political Repression in Sudan, Page 274.] Bagar tract refers to the semi-arid semi-fertile rain-fed sandy shrubby grassland tract at the confluence of
arid Thar Desert and fertile bangar and khadir areas of Indo-Gangetic Plain, which as historically inhabited by the cattle herders who remained semi-nomadic until they began to adapt to settled life in the
Medieval India. Before the adoption of the Arabic name bagar, the area was earlier known as
Jangladesh during the
Vedic era of
Mahabharata and even in early medieval times at least until the end of Hindu reign of Prithviraj Chauhan.
Bagar tracts
Bagar (Hindi: बागड़) region is characterised by Bagar tracts which are long strips of shifting sand dunes called
tibba (
टिब्बा) and relatively semi-fertile lands and the area between them is called
lal (
लाळ) in northern districts of
Rajasthan and along the northwestern districts of
Haryana.
Geography
The Bagar region has potentially very fertile
alluvial soil interspersed with highly permeable very sandy tracts in several places with
water table more than 100 feet below ground containing
brackish water usually unfit for human consumption, where
frequent during the warm summer months from April till the end of July when
monsoon arrives.
Previously, the drinking water availability in the Bagar tract was solely based on the rain & wells and irrigation was possible only in the small areas of Ghaggar basin of Bagar region in districts of Fatehabad, Sirsa, Hanumangarh, Sri Ganganagar and Anupgarh where the seasonal Ghaggar river flows.
Earlier Western Yamuna Canal and after 1963 Bhakra Nangal Dam canal system provides the water for irrigation in most of Haryana including all of the Bagar region falling in Haryana on its western border.
The Ganga canal in 1927 and in 1984 Indira Gandhi Canal irrigation also known as Rajasthan Canal brought the water of Sutlej and Beas rivers to the fields of Rajasthan including its Bagar tract, stabilizing the sand dunes and soil erosion by preventing the expansion of desert.[E. Walter Coward, 1980, "Irrigation and Agricultural Development in Asia: Perspectives from the social sciences", Cornell University press, page 302, .]
Geographically, the Bagar region lies between the:
-
Malwa, Punjab to the north,
-
The Shekhawati region and the Marwar region of Rajasthan to the south.
-
The Aravali Range to the southeast in the Charkhi Dadri district & Tosham tehsil of Bhiwani district,
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Ahirwal region of Haryana also in the southeast.
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The eastern border in bounded to the Haryanavi speaking region of haryana.
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In the west of Bagar region lies the Rohi(रोई)/Cholistan desert in Pakistan's Punjab province, with a few Bagri speakers in Pakistan's Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar districts.
| + Geographical extent of Bagar region. |
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Anupgarh district,
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Sri Ganganagar district,
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Hanumangarh district,
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Khajuwala, Chhatargarh, Loonkaransar, Pugal, Dungargarh and Bikaner tehsils of Bikaner district,
-
Taranagar, Sardarshahar, Rajgarh, Sidhmukh, Bhanipura, Ratangarh and Churu tehsils in Churu district.
[Gusain, Lakhan: Reflexives in Bagri. Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1994]
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Bagri language
Bagri (
बागड़ी), a
dialect of overlapping Rajasthani language, Haryanvi language and
Punjabi language of the Indo-Aryan family, is spoken by about five million speakers residing in Bagar region of
Rajasthan,
Haryana and Punjab states in India.
Politics of Bagar Region (Constituencies and MLA)
There are 40 Constituencies of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan legislative assemblies where the
Bagri language is spoken by majority of the population.
-
In Punjab, there 4 constituencies of Fazilka and Sri Muktsar Sahib in South Punjab where Bagri speakers decide the fate of elections. Out of 4 constituencies only 1 constituency is reserved for Scheduled caste.
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In Haryana, there are 15 constituencies in north west haryana which comes under the Bagar region out of which 2 constituencies are reserved for Scheduled caste.
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In Rajasthan, there are 21 constituencies of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly which comes under the Bagar region in North Rajasthan. Meanwhile, 4 constituencies out of 21 constituencies are reserved for Scheduled caste.
Rajasthan
Following is the list of the constituencies and the candidates from Bhartiya Janata Party,
Congress party
and the Independent candidates
appeared in 2023 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election
from the
Bagri speaking region of Rajasthan.
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|
| 2023 | 21 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 2018 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 3 |
| 2013 | 21 | 1 | 10 | 16 | 8 | 4 |
|
+Source: | Constituency
! colspan="5" | Winner
! colspan="5" | Runner Up
!rowspan="2" | Margin |
|
|
| 1 | Sadulshahar (1) | Gurveer Singh Brar | | 74,433 | 37.58 | Om Bishnoi | | 58,973 | 29.77 | 15,460 |
| 2 | Ganganagar (2) | Jaydeep Bihani | | 81,001 | 44.66 | Karuna Ashok Chandak | | 51,222 | 28.24 | 29,779 |
| 3 | Karanpur (3) | Rupinder Singh Kooner | | 94,950 | 48.55 | Surender Pal Singh | | 83,667 | 42.78 | 11,283 |
| 4 | Suratgarh (4) | Dungar Ram Gedar | | 1,16,841 | 55.87 | Rampratap Kasania | | 66,382 | 31.74 | 50,459 |
|
| 5 | Raisinghnagar (SC- 5) | Sohan Lal Nayak | | 79,586 | 37.08 | Balvir Singh Luthra | | 65,561 | 30.54 | 14,025 |
| 6 | Anupgarh (SC-6) | Shimla Devi | | 1,02,746 | 53.18 | Santosh Bawri | | 64,865 | 33.58 | 37,881 |
|
| 7 | Sangaria (7) | Abhimanyu Poonia | | 98,341 | 47.40 | Gurdeep Singh | | 56,331 | 27.15 | 42,010 |
| 8 | Hanumangarh (8) | Ganeshraj Bansal | | 89,323 | 37.03 | Amit Sahu | | 79,625 | 33.01 | 9,698 |
| 9 | Pilibanga (SC-9) | Vinod Kumar | | 1,43,091 | 57.84 | Dharmendra Kumar | | 87,818 | 35.50 | 55,273 |
| 10 | Nohar (10) | Amit Chachan | | 1,03,623 | 43.22 | Abhishek Matoria | | 1,02,728 | 42.85 | 895 |
| 11 | Bhadra (11) | Sanjeev Beniwal | | 1,02,748 | 44.68 | Balwan Poonia | | 1,01,616 | 44.19 | 1,132 |
|
| 12 | Khajuwala (SC-12) | Vishwanath Meghwal | | 91,276 | 51.47 | Govind Ram Meghwal | | 73,902 | 41.67 | 17,374 |
| 13 | Bikaner West (13) | Jethanand Vyas | | 98,648 | 54.51 | Bulaki Das Kalla | | 78,454 | 43.35 | 20,194 |
| 14 | Bikaner East (14) | Sidhi Kumari | | 89,917 | 53.07 | Yashpal Gehlot | | 70,614 | 41.68 | 19,303 |
| 15 | Lunkaransar (16) | Sumit Godara | | 60452 | 29.98 | Rajendra Moond | | 51583 | 25.58 | 8869 |
| 16 | Dungargarh(17) | Tarachand Saraswat | | 65,690 | 32.55 | Manglaram Godara | | 57,565 | 28.52 | 8,125 |
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| 17 | Sadulpur (19) | Manoj kumar | | 64,368 | 32.92 | Krishna Poonia | | 61,794 | 31.60 | 2,574 |
| 18 | Taranagar (20) | Narendra Budania | | 1,08,236 | 49.52 | Rajendra Rathore | | 97,891 | 44.78 | 10,345 |
| 19 | Sardarshahar(21) | Anil Kumar Sharma | | 99,582 | 42.27 | Rajakaran Choudhary | | 77,250 | 32.79 | 22,332 |
| 20 | Churu (22) | Harlal Saharan | | 99,432 | 50.05 | Rafique Mandelia | | 92,558 | 46.59 | 6,874 |
| 21 | Ratangarh (23) | Poosaram Godara | | 1,09,383 | 53.69 | Abhinesh Maharshi | | 79,720 | 39.13 | 29,663 |
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Haryana
Following is the list of constituencies and Members of Legislative Assembly from the
Bagri speaking region of North Western Haryana.
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| Fatehabad
! 1 | Tohana -(39) | Paramvir Singh | | Indian National Congress | | INDIA | | |
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| Sirsa district
! 4 | Kalanwali – (42) | Shishpal Singh | | Indian National Congress | | INDIA | | Scheduled caste |
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| Hisar district
!9 | Adampur (46) | Chander Parkash | | Indian National Congress | | INDIA | |
|
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| Bhiwani district
! 13 | Loharu (54) | Rajbir Fartia | | Indian National Congress | | INDIA | | |
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| Charkhi Dadri
!15 | Badhra (55) | Umed Singh | | Bharatiya Janata Party | | NDA | |
Punjab
Following is the list of constituencies and MLA in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from
Fazilka district and southern part of Sri Muktsar Sahib district with the significant presence of
Bagri Speakers in South Punjab, India.
|
|
| Fazilka district
!1 | Fazilka – (80) | Narinderpal Singh Sawna | | Government |
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| Sri Muktsar Sahib
!4 | Lambi – (83) | Gurmeet Singh Khudian | | Government |
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