Khiron is a village and corresponding community development block in Rae Bareli district, Uttar Pradesh, India.[2] Located on the main Raebareli-Unnao road,semari Khiron is an old Muslim town that historically served as the seat of a pargana.[3] As of 2011, the village has a population of 9,955, in 1,714 households.[2] It has six primary schools and one medical clinic.[2] It serves as the headquarters of a nyaya panchayat that also includes 11 other villages.[4]
Khiron hosts an annual mela at the Balbhadreshwar Mahadeo temple[3] on Phalguna Badi 13; the festival is part of Shivratri and is dedicated to the worship of Shiva.[5] Vendors bring various everyday items to sell at the fair.[5] Khiron also hosts markets twice per week, on Mondays and Thursdays; the main items traded are cloth and vegetables.[5]
History
Khiron was fortified and made the seat of a pargana during the reign of Asaf-ud-Daula; the headquarters had previously been at Satanpur since its foundation and fortification by the Bais raja Sathna.[3] Khiron was also historically the seat of a taluqdari estate belonging to a Janwar dynasty, and there were also several Kayasthqanungo families, including many descended from Rai Sahib Rai, who had been a chakladar under the Nawabs of Awadh.[3] Rai Sahib Rai had built a fort at Khiron whose ruins still exist.[3] There is also the tomb of Fateh Shahid, a companion of the Muslim folk hero Sayyid Salar Masud.[3]
The population of Khiron declined sharply in the late 1800s from 3,408 in 1869 to 2,669 in 1901.[3] At the 1901 census, there were 559 Muslims, almost entirely Pathans.[3] Turn-of-the-century Khiron had a large primary school, a cattle pound, a branch post office, and two bazars called Balbhaddarganj and Raghunathganj, holding markets twice per week.[3] There was a large tank to the north and east of the town, as well as some kankar quarries and plenty of orchards.[3]
The 1951 census recorded Khiron as comprising 10 hamlets, with a total population of 2,939 people (1,474 male and 1,465 female), in 593 households and 593 physical houses.[6] The area of the village was given as 1,925 acres (779 ha)s.[6] 338 residents were literate, 295 male and 43 female.[6] The village was listed as belonging to the pargana of Khiron and the thana of Gurbakshganj.[6]
The 1961 census recorded Khiron as comprising 10 hamlets, with a total population of 3,210 people (1,679 male and 1,531 female), in 590 households and 536 physical houses.[5] The area of the village was given as 1,925 acres (779 ha)s and it had a post office at that point.[5] There was a dispensary run by a local body with five male beds and one female bed; It had one grain mill, and four small manufacturers of clothing.[5] Average attendance of market was 500 and for the festival it was 400.[5]
The 1981 census recorded Khiron as having a population of 5,243 people, in 946 households, and having an area of 973.76 hectares (2,406.2 acres).[7] The main staple foods were listed as wheat and rice.[7]
The 1991 census recorded Khiron as having a total population of 6,296 people (3,317 male and 2,979 female), in 1,127 households and 1,124 physical houses.[4] The area of the village was listed as 57 hectares (140 acres).[4] Members of the 0-6 age group numbered 1,262, or 20% of the total; this group was 52% male (658) and 48% female (604).[4] Members of scheduled castes numbered 2,029, or 32% of the village's total population, while no members of scheduled tribes were recorded.[4] The literacy rate of the village was 35% (1,581 men and 642 women).[4] 1,757 people were classified as main workers (1,613 men and 144 women), while 213 people were classified as marginal workers (all women); the remaining 4,326 residents were non-workers.[4] The breakdown of main workers by employment category was as follows: 828 cultivators (i.e. people who owned or leased their own land); 290 agricultural labourers (i.e. people who worked someone else's land in return for payment); 27 workers in livestock, forestry, fishing, hunting, plantations, orchards, etc.; 0 in mining and quarrying; 42 household industry workers; 66 workers employed in other manufacturing, processing, service, and repair roles; 12 construction workers; 200 employed in trade and commerce; 34 employed in transport, storage, and communications; and 258 in other services.[4]
