Kishanganj district

Kishanganj district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India, and Kishanganj town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Kishanganj district is a part of Purnia division.

History

Kishanganj district was formed on 14 January 1990.^[2]

During the Mughal period, the area was part of Nepal and was called Nepalgarh. When on the instructions of the Mughal emperor, Mohammed Reza captured the fort at Nepalgarh, the name was changed to Alamganj. It later became Kishanganj.^[2]

Geography

Kishanganj district occupies an area of 1,884 square kilometres (727 sq mi),^[3] comparatively equivalent to Maui.^[4] Kishanganj district is surrounded by Araria district in the west, Purnia district in the south-west, Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal on the east, and Darjeeling district of West Bengal and Nepal on the north. A narrow strip of West Bengal, about 20 km wide separates it from Bangladesh.^[5]

Kishanganj district is located between 25⁰ 20’ and 26⁰ 30’ north latitudes, and 87⁰ 7’ and 88⁰ 19’ east longitudes.^[2]

Major rivers flowing through the district are Mahananda, Kankai, Mechi, Donk, Ratua and Ramzan Sudhani.^[2]

Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Kishanganj one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).^[6] It is one of the 36 districts in Bihar currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).^[6]

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Kishanganj district has a population of 1,690,948,^[7] roughly equal to the nation of Guinea-Bissau^[8] or the US state of Idaho.^[9] This gives it a ranking of 293rd in India (out of a total of 640).^[7] The district has a population density of 898 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,330 /sq mi) .^[7] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 30.44 %.^[7] Kishanganj has a sex ratio of 946 females for every 1000 males,^[7] and a literacy rate of 57.04 %.^[7]

A vast majority of the people live in the villages. A predominantly Muslim area, with Muslims forming about 70 per cent of the population, there are also Hindus of whom Surajpuris and other backward castes predominate. There also are small Santal pockets.^[10][11] The inhabitants of Kishanganj mostly speaks SURJAPURI/Rajbongshi, which is considered to be a dialect of Bengali language and native to northern Bengal.

Kishanganj district had a literacy rate of 31.02 per cent in 2001, the lowest amongst all the districts of Bihar. The literacy rate of Bihar at 47.53 per cent is amongst the lowest in India, which has a literacy rate of 64.84 per cent. While the male literacy rate in Kishanganj district stood at 42.8 per cent, female literacy at 18.49 per cent was the lowest in India.^[1][11]

See also - Literacy In Bihar

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "District-specific Literates and Literacy Rates, 2001". Registrar General, India, Ministry of Home Affairs. http://www.educationforallinindia.com/page157.html. Retrieved 2010-10-05. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Kishanganj District (Bihar)". Kishanganj district administration. http://kishanganj.bih.nic.in/location.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-08. 
3. ^ Srivastava, Dayawanti et al. (ed.) (2010). "States and Union Territories: Bihar: Government". India 2010: A Reference Annual (54th ed.). New Delhi, India: Additional Director General, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Government of India. pp. 1118–1119. ISBN 978-81-230-1617-7. 
4. ^ "Island Directory Tables: Islands by Land Area". United Nations Environment Program. 1998-02-18. http://islands.unep.ch/Tiarea.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-11. "Maui 1,888km2" 
5. ^ "Kishanganj district map". Maps of India. http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/bihar/districts/kishanganj.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-08. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Ministry of Panchayati Raj (September 8, 2009). "A Note on the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme". National Institute of Rural Development. http://www.nird.org.in/brgf/doc/brgf_BackgroundNote.pdf. Retrieved September 27, 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "District Census 2011". Census2011.co.in. 2011. http://www.census2011.co.in/district.php. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
8. ^ US Directorate of Intelligence. "Country Comparison:Population". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html. Retrieved 2011-10-01. "Guinea-Bissau 1,596,677 July 2011 est." 
9. ^ "2010 Resident Population Data". U. S. Census Bureau. http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php. Retrieved 2011-09-30. "Idaho 1,567,582" 
10. ^ "The Socio-Economic and Political Scenario of Kishanganj District". Azad India Foundation. http://azadindia.org/about-kishan.html. Retrieved 2010-10-08. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "Kishanganj: Bihar’s most backward district in quest for AMU centre". TwoCircles.net. http://www.twocircles.net/2010jul02/kishanganj_bihar_s_most_backward_district_quest_amu_centre.html. Retrieved 2010-10-08. 

External links

• Kishanganj Information Portal