Bathinda is the largest district of the south-western Malwa, with tehsils at Bathinda, Rampura Phul, Talwandi Sabo and Maur.
It holds Qila Mubarak, one of the oldest forts in India, where Razia Sultan was imprisoned in 1240; Takht Sri Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo; the thermal power stations; a refinery; and the largest concentration of cotton acreage in Punjab.
It is the district most associated with the cancer train reporting and with the pesticide and groundwater contamination studies of the Malwa.
It is a railway junction of long standing, which is why it grew, and it has more villages recorded in the state's own listings than most districts.
What is not recorded: the epidemiology of the belt, which is the most contested claim in Punjab's public argument about itself, and the archaeological sequence of the fort mound.
The district holds the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant at Bathinda, closed in 2018, and the refinery at Phulokhari, opened in 2012, which is the largest single industrial investment ever made in Punjab.
Talwandi Sabo, in this district, holds Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, where the final recension of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji was dictated.
Bathinda has one of the largest military and air force presences in the state, and that establishment is a substantial part of the town's economy.