Howrah district (/ˈhrə/, Bengali: [ˈɦao̯ɽa]) is a district of the West Bengal state in eastern India. Howrah district is one of the highly urbanized area of West Bengal. It has thousands of years of rich heritage in the form of the great Bengali kingdom of Bhurshut. The district is named after its headquarters, the city of Howrah.[3]

Howrah
Clockwise from top-left: Belur Math, Andul Road and Danesh Sheikh Junction in Howrah, Santragachhi Lake, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Tarani Majhi Ghat at Raspur, Howrah railway station
Location of Howrah district in West Bengal
Location of Howrah district in West Bengal
Coordinates: 22°34′25″N 88°19′30″E / 22.5736296°N 88.3251045°E / 22.5736296; 88.3251045
Country India
State West Bengal
DivisionPresidency
HeadquartersHowrah
Government
 • SubdivisionsHowrah Sadar, Uluberia
 • CD BlocksBally Jagachha, Domjur, Panchla, Sankrail, Jagatballavpur, Amta I, Amta II, Bagnan I, Bagnan II, Uluberia I, Uluberia II, Shyampur I, Shyampur II, Udaynarayanpur
 • Lok Sabha constituenciesHowrah, Uluberia, Serampore
 • Vidhan Sabha constituenciesHowrah Uttar, Howrah Madhya, Shibpur, Howrah Dakshin, Bally, Sankrail, Panchla, Uluberia Purba, Uluberia Uttar, Uluberia Dakshin, Shyampur, Bagnan, Amta, Udaynarayanpur, Jagatballavpur, Domjur
Area
 • Total1,467 km2 (566 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total4,850,029
 • Density3,300/km2 (8,600/sq mi)
 • Urban
3,074,144
Demographics
 • Literacy83.31 per cent
 • Sex ratio935 /
Languages
 • OfficialBengali[1][2]
 • Additional officialEnglish[1]
Time zoneUTC+05:30 (IST)
Websitehowrah.gov.in

Geography

edit
 
Map of Howrah District

The Howrah district lies between 22°48′ N and 22°12′ N latitudes and between 88°23′ E and 87°50′ E longitudes.[4] The district is bounded by the Hooghly River and the North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts on the east, on the north by the Hooghly district (Arambagh and Shrirampur sub-divisions), and on the south by Midnapore East district (Tamluk sub-division). On the west Howrah district is bordered by the Ghatal sub-division of Midnapore West district, and partly by the Arambagh sub-division of Hooghly district to the north-west, and the Tamluk sub-division of Midnapore East district to the south-west.

Boundaries of the district are naturally determined by Rupnarayan River on west and south-west, and by Bhagirathi-Hooghly river on east and south-east side. On north side, the boundary is an artificial one except for Bally Canal on north-east and Damodar River on north-west.[5]

Annual normal rainfall is 1461 millimetre per year. Annual maximum temperature varies between 32-39 °C, whereas minimum temperature varies between 8-10 °C.

Divisions

edit

Howrah District is split into the Howrah Sadar subdivision and the Uluberia subdivision. The Howrah Sadar subdivision has 1 municipal corporation with 1 municipality and 5 community development (CD) blocks. The Uluberia subdivision has 1 municipality and 9 community development blocks.

Each block consists of a rural area divided into gram panchayats along with census towns.[6] The district has 30 police stations (Howrah Police Commissionerate has 16 general police stations including 1 Women PS, 1 Cyber Crime PS and Howrah Rural PD has 10 general police stations including 1 Women PS, 1 Cyber Crime PS), 157 gram panchayats[7] and 50 census towns.

Area Subdivision Type Notes
Howrah Municipal Corporation Howrah Sadar Municipal Corporation includes the merged Bally Municipality and total number of wards is sixty six now[8][9]
Bally Jagachha Howrah Sadar CD Block consists of rural area with 8 gram panchayats and six census towns: Bally (different from Bally municipality), Chakapara, Chamrail, Eksara, Khalia and Jagadishpur Durgapur-Avoynagar1, Durgapur-Avoynagar2, Nischinda
Domjur Howrah Sadar CD Block consists of rural area with 18 gram panchayats and sixteen census towns: Domjur, Dakshin Jhapardaha, Khantora, Bhandardaha, Makardaha, Kantlia, Tentulkuli, Salap, Bankra, Nibra, Ankurhati, Bipra Noapara, Kalara, Kesabpur, Natibpur, and Mahiari
Panchla Howrah Sadar CD Block consists of rural area with 11 gram panchayats and seven census towns: Bikihakola, Beldubi, Deulpur, Gangadharpur, Jujersha, Jala-Biswanathpur, Banaharishpur, Chara-Panchla, Panchla, Subharara and Sahapur
Sankrail Howrah Sadar CD Block consists of rural area with 16 gram panchayats and fourteen census towns: Argari, Dhuilya, Andul, Ramchandrapur, Podara, Panchpara, Hatgachha, Jhorhat, Banipur, Mashila, Sankrail, Manikpur, Nalpur, Raghudebbati and Sarenga
Jagatballavpur Howrah Sadar CD Block consists of rural area with 14 gram panchayats and two census town: Mansinhapur and Munsirhat
Uluberia Municipality Uluberia Municipality
Amta I Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area with 13 gram panchayats and Two census town: Amta and Guzarpur
Amta II Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area only with 14 gram panchayats and three census town: Khorop, Narit and Joypur
Bagnan I Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area with 10 gram panchayats and two census towns: Khalor and Bagnan
Bagnan II Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area with 7 gram panchayats and one census town: Naupala
Uluberia I Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area only with 9 gram panchayats.The most important village is Bar-Mongrajpur under Hatgacha-1 G.P.
Uluberia II Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area with 8 gram panchayats and three census towns: Santoshpur, Balaram Pota and Uttar Pirpur
Shyampur I Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area only with 10 gram panchayats
Shyampur II Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area only with 8 gram panchayats
Udaynarayanpur Uluberia CD Block CD block consists of rural area only with 11 gram panchayats

Demographics

edit
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901850,514—    
1911943,502+1.04%
1921997,403+0.56%
19311,098,867+0.97%
19411,490,304+3.09%
19511,611,373+0.78%
19612,038,477+2.38%
19712,417,286+1.72%
19812,966,861+2.07%
19913,729,644+2.31%
20014,273,099+1.37%
20114,850,029+1.27%
source:[10]

According to the 2011 census Howrah district has a population of 4,850,029,[11] roughly equal to the nation of Singapore[12] or the US state of Alabama.[13] This gives it a ranking of 23rd in India (out of a total of 640).[11] The district has a population density of 3,306 inhabitants per square kilometre (8,560/sq mi).[11] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 13.31%.[11] 63.38% of the population lives in urban areas. Haora has a sex ratio of 935 females for every 1000 males[11] and a literacy rate of 83.85%. 63.38% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 14.82% and 0.31% of the population respectively.[11]

Total area in Howrah District is 1467 km2. Total population is 4,273,099 as per census 2001 records. 57.91% of the population live in Howrah Sadar subdivision and rest 42.09% live in Uluberia subdivision. Population Density: 2913 per km2.

Religion

edit
Religions of Howrah District (2011)[14]
Religion Percent
Hinduism
72.90%
Islam
26.20%
Other or not stated
0.90%
Religion in Howrah district
Religion Population (1941)[15]: 75  Percentage (1941) Population (2011)[14] Percentage (2011)
Hinduism   1,184,863 79.50% 3,535,844 72.90%
Islam   296,325 19.88% 1,270,641 26.20%
Others [a] 9,116 0.61% 43,544 0.90%
Total Population 1,490,304 100% 4,850,029 100%

Hindus are the majority population. Muslims, unlike the rest of Bengal, are more concentrated in urban areas than Hindus. Muslims are a significant minority in Panchla (46.62%), Uluberia I (43.92%), Uluberia II (39.36%) and Bagnan I (36.74%) blocks and make up a significant minority (44.79%) in Uluberia city.[14]

 
Howrah Municipal Corporation

Language

edit

Languages of Howrah District (2011)[16]

  Bengali (84.99%)
  Hindi (10.92%)
  Urdu (2.86%)
  Others (1.23%)

According to the 2011 census, 84.99% of the population spoke Bengali, 10.92% Hindi and 2.86% Urdu as their first language. Hindi and Urdu are mainly spoken in urban areas.[16]

Assembly constituencies

edit

The district is divided into 16 assembly constituencies:[17] Sankrail and Uluberia North constituencies will remain reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates. The division is represented in the Lok Sabha by the Howrah (Lok Sabha constituency) and Uluberia (Lok Sabha constituency) .

S No. Name Lok Sabha constituency MLA Party
169 Bally Howrah Rana Chatterjee All India Trinamool Congress
170 Howrah Uttar Gautam Chowdhuri All India Trinamool Congress
171 Howrah Madhya Arup Roy All India Trinamool Congress
172 Shibpur Manoj Tiwary All India Trinamool Congress
173 Howrah Dakshin Nandita Chowdhury All India Trinamool Congress
174 Sankrail (SC) Priya Paul All India Trinamool Congress
175 Panchla Gulsan Mullick All India Trinamool Congress
176 Uluberia Purba Uluberia Bidesh Ranjan Bose All India Trinamool Congress
177 Uluberia Uttar (SC) Nirmal Maji All India Trinamool Congress
178 Uluberia Dakshin Pulak Roy All India Trinamool Congress
179 Shyampur Kalipada Mandal All India Trinamool Congress
180 Bagnan Arunava Sen All India Trinamool Congress
181 Amta Sukanta Kumar Paul All India Trinamool Congress
182 Udaynarayanpur Samir Kumar Panja All India Trinamool Congress
183 Jagatballavpur Srerampur Sitanath Ghosh All India Trinamool Congress
184 Domjur Kalyan Ghosh All India Trinamool Congress

See also

edit

Notes

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Fact and Figures". Wb.gov.in. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  2. ^ "52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). Nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. p. 85. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  3. ^ Howrah Archived 7 September 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Geographical location of Howrah district and its headquarters". Archived from the original on 23 December 2008.
  5. ^ "Howrah, the second largest city of West Bengal and twin of Kolkata is said to have a rich history that dates back to 500 years". Archived from the original on 20 December 2007.
  6. ^ "Population, Decadal Growth Rate, Density and General Sex Ratio by Residence and Sex, West Bengal/ District/ Sub District, 1991 and 2001". West Bengal. Directorate of census operations. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
  7. ^ "Directory of District, Sub division, Panchayat Samiti/ Block and Gram Panchayats in West Bengal, March 2008". West Bengal. National Informatics Centre, India. 19 March 2008. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  8. ^ "About HMC – Howrah Municipal Corporation". About HMC. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  9. ^ Basu, Pritesh (5 January 2016). "HMC sets up 'Mayor's Cop' to monitor civic amenities". www.millenniumpost.in. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  10. ^ Decadal Variation In Population Since 1901
  11. ^ a b c d e f "District Census Handbook: Howrah" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  12. ^ US Directorate of Intelligence. "Country Comparison:Population". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2011. Singapore 4,740,737 July 2011 est.
  13. ^ "2010 Resident Population Data". U. S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2011. Alabama 4,779,736
  14. ^ a b c "Table C-01 Population by Religion: West Bengal". censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  15. ^ "CENSUS OF INDIA, 1941 VOLUME VI BENGAL PROVINCE" (PDF). Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  16. ^ a b "Table C-16 Population by Mother Tongue: West Bengal". www.censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  17. ^ "General election to the Legislative Assembly, 2001 – List of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies" (PDF). West Bengal. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
edit