Khagaria

Khagaria is a city in India, and the administrative headquarter of Khagaria district. Khagaria is a part of Munger division. The town has a major railway junction on the Barauni Guwahati section of the Indian Railways. National Highway 31 which connects rest of the India to North Eastern region passes through this town. It is connected to other parts of Bihar by another rail line to Saharsa and Samastipur. Building of a major rail bridge across river Ganges in Munger is underway to connect it to south Bihar and Jharkhand directly.

Geography

Khagaria is located at . It has an average elevation of 36 metres (118 feet).khagaria was under munger division till 1980 when it became a district.

Surrounded districts

• North - Saharsa District
• South - Munger and Begusarai District
• East - Bhagalpur and Madhepura District
• West - Begusarai and Samastipur Districts

Subdivisions

• Total Sub-division - 2
• Total Blocks and Circle - 7
• Total Panchayats - 129
• Total Halka - 61
• Total urban Localities - 2
• Total Revenue Villages- 306
• Habitate - 241
• Unhabitate - 69

Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[1] Khagaria had a population of 45,126. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Khagaria has an average literacy rate of 64%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 70%, and female literacy is 58%. In Khagaria, 17% of the population is under 6 years of age.

History

Also known as Farakiya in local region. There is an interesting story behind it. Five centuries ago Akbar, then the king of Mugal empire directed his revenue minister Todarmal to map his entire empire. But he could not map this region now known as Khagaria due to difficult terrain, rivers and dense forests. So, he named it Farakiya (Farak in Urdu means separate). Now there is even a weekly newspaper- 'Farkiyanchal Times' (albeit published arbitrarily).

People and culture

Predominantly a rural district it has a mixed population and colourful culture. Population consist of different castes and communities including Bhumihar Brahmins, other Brahmin sub-castes,barai, Rajput, Kayshtha, Yadav, Koari and Kurmi, Marwari, Muslim and others, but Barai, Yadavs, Koeri and Kurmis are in majority though Muslims constitutes 12% of the total population. Major festivals are Chhat Pooja, Holi, Durga Pooja (Dushehra) and Dipawali. Marriage is intracaste and intra-religion; people here tend to marry within their region only. You will find quite soft spoken and mild mannered people contrary to the general perception about Bihar. Majority of population of Khagaria town is of younger age signifying a shifting population from villages to district center. Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster has one local broadcasting center here with one local channel Awaaz.

Language and dialects

Mainly Angutarap (distorted mix version of Angika & Maithili), though dialect changes every ten kilometres, like any other district of Bihar, the mix language is also known as "theti".

Banks/Financial Institutions

Several national banks (PSU as well as Private) are having presence at Khagaria with their branches. PSU bank branches in Khagaria: (State Bank Of India, Central Bank Of India, Union Bank Of India, Punjab National Bank, UCO Bank, Bank Of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank Of India) Private bank branches in Khagaria: (ICICI Bank) In addition to these, various regional and cooperative banks are located at Khagaria.

Education

Major educational centers are located in the town of Khagaria, which includes educational institutions and vocational institutions where students can learn music, dance, art and craft. Besides many govt. run schools, there are some colleges for the higher education including a women's college. One prestigious center for higher education Koshi College, Khagaria. Kendriya Vidyalaya Khagaria is educational bone and DAV public school, Rose Bud Academy & holy Ganges public school (HGPS) Khagaria has constantly ranked among the top schools of Bihar. Majority of students after finishing higher secondary go to other big cities like Patna or Delhi or kolkata or bangalore for higher education and competitive examinations. Many students from here are now settled abroad. Most of the students study for engineering, medicine and some also go for Union Public Services. Khagaria also has a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya located in Sonbarsha Ghat, nearly 35 km from the district headquarter. It was established in year 1994 by the HRD ministary of India.

Cinema

Khagaria is now left only with three cinemas (Shri Lakshami, Shri Krishna, Shri Ram Talkies) and earlier there was a good cinema hall "Kamal talkies" but now it does not exist and people miss it. Now the oldest one being Sri Laxmi Cinema which was established by Late Sri Nirmal Chandra Gupta in the year 1954 and started its screening at the present campus in the year 1968. The cinema hall being amongst the few entertainment sources in the town holds a key place in the hearts of people of Khagaria. Now lakshmi talkies is using satellite tecnology for broadcasting movies.

References

1. ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01.