Howrah district (, ) is a district of the

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

state in eastern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Howrah district is one of the highly urbanized area of West Bengal. The urbanised sectors gradually increase the slum populations. Howrah is the third smallest district after

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and

Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...

. It has thousands of years of rich heritage in the form of the great Bengali kingdom of

Bhurshut Bhurshut ( bn, ভুরশুট, Bhurśut) or Bhurishreshtha ( bn, ভূরিশ্রেষ্ঠ, Bhūriśreṣṭha) was a medieval Hindu kingdom spread across what is now Howrah and Hooghly districts in the Indian state of West Bengal ...

. The district is named after its headquarters, the city of

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

Geography

The Howrah district lies between 22°48′ N and 22°12′ N latitudes and between 88°23′ E and 87°50′ E longitudes. The district is bounded by the

Hooghly River The Bhagirathi Hooghly River (Anglicized alternatively spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') or the 'Bhāgirathi-Hooghly', called the Ganga or the Kati-Ganga in mythological texts, is the eastern distributary of the Ganges River in West Bengal, Indi ...

and the North 24 Parganas and

South 24 Parganas South 24 Parganas (Pron: pɔrɡɔnɔs; abbr. 24 PGS (S)), or sometimes South Twenty Four Parganas and Dakshin 24 Parganas, is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Alipore. It is the largest district of West Bengal by ...

districts on the east, on the north by the

Hooghly district Hooghly district () is one of the districts of the Indian state of West Bengal. It can alternatively be spelt ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli''. The district is named after the Hooghly River. The headquarters of the district are at Hooghly-Chinsura (''C ...

(Arambagh and Shrirampur sub-divisions), and on the south by Midnapore East district (

Tamluk Tamluk () is a town and a municipality in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Purba Medinipur district. Though there is some controversy, scholars have generally agreed that present ...

sub-division). On the west Howrah district is bordered by the Ghatal sub-division of

Midnapore West Paschim Medinipur district or West Midnapore district (also known as Midnapore West) is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the Partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur and Purba M ...

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 The Rupnarayan River is a river in India. It begins as the Dhaleswari (Dhalkisor) in the Chhota Nagpur plateau foothills northeast of the town of Purulia. It then follows a tortuous southeasterly course past the town of Bankura, where it is ...

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 Damodar River (Pron: /ˈdʌmoˌdaː/) is a river flowing across the Indian states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Rich in mineral resources, the valley is home to large-scale mining and industrial activity. Earlier known as the Sorrow of Bengal bec ...

on north-west. 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

Howrah District is split into the

Howrah Sadar subdivision Howrah Sadar subdivision is a subdivision of the Howrah district in the state of West Bengal, India. It consists of Howrah municipal corporation and five community development blocs: Bally Jagacha, Domjur, Panchla, Sankrail and Jagatballavpur. T ...

and the

Uluberia subdivision Uluberia subdivision is a subdivision of the Howrah district in the state of West Bengal, India. It consists of Uluberia municipality and nine community development (CD) blocks, including 90 gram panchayats and six census towns. The six census ...

. The

has 1 municipal corporation with 1 municipality and 5 community development (CD) blocks. The

has 1 municipality and 9 community development blocks. Each block consists of a rural area divided into

gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

s along with

census towns In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

. 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 and 50 census towns.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Howrah district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 4,850,029, roughly equal to the nation of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

or the US state of

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. This gives it a ranking of 23rd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

over the decade 2001-2011 was 13.31%. 63.38% of the population lives in urban areas. Haora has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...

of 935

females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

for every 1000 males and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 83.85%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 14.82% and 0.31% of the population respectively. 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

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. Howrah Municipal Corporation - Howrah 050032

Howrah Municipal Corporation - Howrah 050032

Language

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

is the main language in the district.

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Assembly constituencies

The district is divided into 16 assembly constituencies: Sankrail and Uluberia North constituencies will remain reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates. The division is represented in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

by the

Howrah (Lok Sabha constituency) Howrah Lok Sabha constituency ( bn, হাওড়া লোকসভা কেন্দ্র) is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Howrah in West Bengal. All the seven assembly segments of No. 2 ...

and

Uluberia (Lok Sabha constituency) Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Uluberia in West Bengal. All the seven assembly segments of No. 26 Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency are in Howrah district. Assem ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Map of Howrah district
at mapsofindia.com
Howrah district
at West Bengal Tourism {{DEFAULTSORT:Howrah District Districts of West Bengal 1843 establishments in British India Minority Concentrated Districts in India