Toba Tek Singh District (Urdu: ضلع ٹوبہ ٹیک سنگھ, Punjabi: ضلع ٹوبھا ٹیک سنگھ) is a district of Faisalabad Division in the Punjabprovince of Pakistan. It is located between 30°33' to 31°2' Degree north latitudes and 72°08' to 72°48' Degree longitudes.[3] It became a separate district in 1982.[4]
Etymology
The city and district is named after a Sikh religious figure Tek Singh. Legend has it that Tek Singh, a kind-hearted man served water and provided shelter to the worn out and thirsty travelers passing by a small pond (Toba in Punjabi) which eventually was called Toba Tek Singh, and the surrounding settlement acquired the same name.[3] There is also a park here named after Singh.[5]
History
British Raj
Toba Tek Singh was developed by the British toward the end of the 19th Century when a canal system was built. People from all over the Punjab (from the current Pakistani and Indian Punjab) moved there as farmlands were allotted to them. Most of the people who migrated there belonged to Lahore, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts.
The Imperial Gazetteer of India described the tehsil of Toba Tek Singh as follows:
Tehsil of the new Faisalabad District, Punjab, lying between 30°50' and 31°23' N. and 72° 20' and 72°54' E., with an area of 865 square miles (2,240 km2). The population in 1906 was 148,984. It contains 342 villages, including Toba Tek Singh (population, 1,874), the headquarters, and Gojra (2,589), an important grain market on the Wazirabad-Khanewal branch of the North-Western Railway. The land revenue in 1905-6 amounted to Rupees 470,000. The tehsil consists of a level plain, wholly irrigated by the Chenab Canal. The soil, which is very fertile in the east of the tehsil, becomes sandy towards the west. The boundaries of the tehsil were somewhat modified at the time of the formation of the new District of Faisalabad (formerly called Lyallpur).[6]
The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while the Muslim refugees from India settled in the Toba Tek Singh District.
After independence
During the 1970s, when many Pakistani cities were renamed to change names given after British Rulers to their original or native names, or to names more acceptable to the local population (for example, Montgomery was renamed to its old original name Sahiwal), Toba Tek Singh remained one of the very few cities to maintain its original name mainly because of noble reputation of Tek Singh. In 1982, Toba Tek Singh, formerly a subdivision, was separated from Faisalabad District and became a separate district.[3]
in 1970, the historical Kisan Conference saw 200,000 Kisans (peasants) and progressive people from the whole country gathered in Toba Tek Singh. The conference had a great impact on the political history of Pakistan and led to the land reforms during the regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Demography
The exterior of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Toba Tek Singh, Punjab, Pakistan
Toba Tek Singh is located in central Punjab and occupies 3252 square kilometers and is made up of large areas of lowlands that flood frequently during the rainy season; the floods originate from the Ravi River that runs along the southern and southeastern borders. During the British Raj, Toba Tek Singh had a sizeable Sikh population, much of which migrated to India after the partition in 1947, while many Muslim refugees from present-day India settled in the Toba Tek Singh District.[4]
At the time of the 2017 census, Toba Tek Singh had a sex ratio of 991 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 67.32% - 73.85% for males and 60.83% for females. 441,971 (20.17%) lived in urban areas. 557,461 (25.44%) were under 10 years of age.[12] In 2023, the district had 391,861 households and a population of 2,511,963.[1]
At the time of the 2023 census, 96.2% of the population spoke Punjabi and 2.48% Urdu as their first language.[13]
Toba Tek Singh People
As per University of Agriculture, Faisalabad research, after Karachi, Toba Tek Singh is the second hub of poultry products in Pakistan. Farmers grow orange (kinoo) gardens and have a major role in the export of oranges from Pakistan. Many Toba people are overseas Pakistanis and these make a major contribution to the Pakistani economy.[14][15]
Administration
The district of Toba Tek Singh is administratively subdivided into four tehsils and 82 Union Council.
Amjad Javed Saleemi Ex-Inspector General, Punjab Police (October 2018 to April 2019).
Riaz Fatyana MNA (PTI) NA-113 Chairman Standing Committee on Law and Justice, Member Public Accounts Committee, Convener SDG's, Member NACTA EX Minister for Education, Finance and Information, Punjab.
Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry MNA NA112-NA93, Minister Postal and Communication Services (2017-18), Member Public Accounts Committee.
^ abc"Toba Tek Singh District". District Government Toba Tek Singh website. 2 February 2007. Archived from the original on 24 March 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
^Divisions/Districts of PakistanArchived 2006-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Note: Although divisions as an administrative structure has been abolished, the election commission of Pakistan still groups districts under the division names
^Toba Tek Singh tehsil of erstwhile Lyallpur district, which roughly corresponds to the present district. District and tehsil borders may have shifted slightly over time.
