Karimganj district is one of the 34 districts of the

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 ...

n state of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Karimganj Karimganj is a city in the Karimganj District of the Indian state of Assam. It is the administrative headquarters of the district. Karimganj city is located at . The area of Karimganj city is 16.09 km2. It has an average elevation of 13 ...

town is both the administrative headquarters district and the biggest town of this district. It is located in southern Assam and borders

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...

and the

Sylhet Division Sylhet Division ( bn, সিলেট বিভাগ) is the northeastern division of Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura to the north, east and south respectively, and by the Bangladeshi divisions ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. It makes up the

Barak Valley The Barak Valley is located in the southern region of the Indian state of Assam. The region is named after the Barak river. The Barak valley consists of three administrative districts of Assam - namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi. The ...

alongside

Hailakandi Hailakandi (pron:ˈhaɪləˌkʌndi) is a town and the district headquarters of Hailakandi district in the Indian state of Assam. Hailakandi is located at . Demography According to the 2011 census, Hailakandi had a population of 33,637. Most ...

and Cachar. Karimganj was previously part of the Sylhet District before the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. It became a district in 1983.

History

After the

Conquest of Gour The Conquest of Sylhet ( bn, শ্রীহট্টের বিজয়, Srīhôtter Bijôy, Conquest of Srihatta) predominantly refers to an Islamic conquest of Srihatta (present-day Sylhet, Bangladesh) led by Sikandar Khan Ghazi, the mil ...

in 1303, many disciples of

Shah Jalal Jalāl Mujarrad Kunyāʾī (), popularly known as Shah Jalal, was a celebrated Sufi figure of Bengal. His name is often associated with the Conquest of Sylhet and the spread of Islam into the region, part of a long history of interactions betw ...

migrated and settled in present-day Karimganj district where they preached Islam to the local people. Syed Abu Bakr migrated to Chhotalekha, Adam Khaki and Shah Syed Badruddin to Badarpur and Shah Sikandar to Bundasil (Deorail). During the 15th century, an independent state was established in the region by a landowner named Malik Pratap, who seceded it from its previous rulers, the

Manikya dynasty The Manikya dynasty was the ruling house of the Twipra Kingdom and later the princely Tripura State, what is now the Indian state of Tripura. Ruling since the early 15th century, the dynasty at its height controlled a large swathe of the north- ...

. This state, named the

Pratapgarh Kingdom The Pratapgarh Kingdom ( bn, প্রতাপগড় রাজ্য) was a Medieval India, medieval state in the north-east of the Indian subcontinent. Composed of the present-day Indian district of Karimganj district, Karimganj, as well ...

, ruled there for several centuries and came into conflict with the neighbouring monarchs of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

and Kachar. Pratapgarh was eventually conquered by the latter during the early 17th century. Karimganj was first established as a subdivision of the Sylhet district with 40 parganas in 1778. The area got its name from Muhammad Karim Chowdhury, a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

''mirashdar'' who originally established a bazaar (known as Karimganj) less than four miles south of the confluence of the Natikhal and

Kushiyara River The Kushiyara River is a distributary river in Bangladesh and Assam, India. It forms on the India-Bangladesh border as a branch of the Barak River, when the Barak separates into the Kushiyara and Surma. The waters that eventually form the Kushiy ...

. However, the Natikhal would become dry in autumn and for this reason, the bazaar was relocated to its present headquarters,

, in the 1870s. During the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

1946–47, a plebiscite was held so as to decide which whether Sylhet region covering entire Sylhet, Moulovi Bazaar, Karimganj would remain in India or join the newly formed Pakistan.

Abdul Matlib Mazumdar Abdul Matlib Mazumder ( bn, আব্দুল মতলিব মজুমদার; 1890–1980) was an Indian freedom fighter and political leader based in undivided Assam State. In 1946, when India was still under British rule, he became a ...

was one of the silent Indian freedom fighters who led a delegation before Radcliffe commission to ensure Greater Sylhet region remained with India/Assam. But on stern demands of the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

, and with support of top leaders of Assam then, plebiscite was held where Sylhet region (including Karimganj) voted to go with Pakistan, winning by a very small margin. The referendum was held in July 1947, and the ayes for Pakistan won by a razor-thin margin. There were allegations of rigging and bogus votes, but that was only to be expected, whichever side won. Sylhet was gifted to

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

with Karimganj being divided and handed over to India/Assam reason stated to let India have proper connectivity with

. The

was made the river border between India & East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Parts of Greater Karimganj including Beani-Bazar,

Barlekha Barlekha ( bn, বড়লেখা, Bôrlekha) is an upazila (sub-district) of Moulvibazar District, located in Bangladesh's Sylhet Division. Etymology Barlekha Upazila is named after Barlekha (formerly 'Barlikha') which means Great ''Likha''. ' ...

, Shahpur and Zakiganj fell under

and Karimganj was given to India.

Geography

Karimganj district occupies an area of , comparatively equivalent to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

Afognak Island Afognak (Alutiiq: ''Agw’aneq''; russian: Афогнак) is an island in the Kodiak Archipelago north of Kodiak Island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is long from east to west and wide from north to south and has a land area of , making ...

. It is bordered on the north east by

Cachar District Cachar district is an administrative districts of Assam, district in the state of Assam in India. After independence the undivided Cachar district was split into four districts in Assam: Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills), Cacha ...

, east and south by

Hailakandi district Hailakandi district is one of the 33 districts of Assam state in north-eastern India. It makes up the Barak Valley alongside Cachar and Karimganj. It was constituted as a civil subdivision on 1 June 1869. Subsequently, it was upgraded to a dis ...

, south by

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...

, southwest by

state, and on the west and northwest by

, the administrative headquarters and main town of the district also bears the same name, that is, Karimganj. Karimganj town is located on the northern fringe of the district adjoining Bangladesh, by the river Kushiyara. Its distance from

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

- the largest city of

- is approximately 330 km by road and about 350 km by rail. Distances of other important places are :

Silchar Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is located south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832 when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar. ...

- 55 km,

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a ...

- 220 km, Agartala - 250 km. Flanked on two sides by the rivers Kushiyara and Longai, Karimganj town is located just on the Bangladesh border with the river Kushiyara flowing in between. One prominent feature of the place is a long and winding canal called Noti Khal meandering through the town. Earlier, it used to be a connecting river way between Kushiyara and Longai facilitating river communication and also balancing of water-levels between the two rivers. Now, however, this canal has been blocked at several places through embankments and landfills to pave way for road transport and construction works. Karimganj and the Barak valley has been prone to serious flooding for decades. The recent floods that did significant damage were in 1976, 1988 and 2007. The forests of Karimganj were once rich in wildlife but now vanishing due to human onslaught.Talukdar, N.R., Choudhury, P. (2017). Conserving wildlife wealth of Patharia Hills reserve Forest, Assam, India: a critical analysis. ''Global Ecology and Conservation'' 10:126–138. Rare species found are Tiger, Hoolock gibbon, Porcupine, Golden Langur (Hanuman), Monkey, Fox, Asian Elephant, Giant river otter, macaw parrots, Parakeets, Hornbill, Maina, different types of local and migratory birds, Snakes, Coypubara (2nd largest rodent in world) etc., have been recorded. The Patharia hills reserve forest of the district is the habitat of many mammals and was recommended to upgrade as 'Patharia hills wildlife sanctuary'. The southern part was also recommended as 'Dhaleswari' wildlife sanctuary.

Economy

Karimganj town is an important centre of trade and commerce in the North East India. Its river port, with elaborate infra-structures like cargo-terminal, jetty, warehouses etc., is capable of handling large volumes of cargoes carried by steamers plying through river ways via Bangladesh. Karimganj is also a border trade centre and import-export business worth crores of rupees is carried out through the custom trade point at Dakbangla Ghat in the town and Sutarkandi Custom Station. Karimganj is an agricultural district. Historically, tea has been the major agricultural product of Cachar region including Karimganj.

Administration

Divisions

Karimganj District has one sub-division. The district has 5

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...

s or development circles (

, Badarpur, Nilambazar,

Patharkandi Patharkandi is a township located in Karimganj district in the Indian state of Assam. It is 350 kilometres south of the state capital Guwahati and 32 kilometres south of the district headquarters Karimganj. Politics Patharkandi is part of the Pa ...

and

Ramkrishna Nagar Ramkrishna Nagar, most commonly known as R.K Nagar is a small municipality township situated around 47km from Karimganj, India. The topography of the area comprises undulating hillocks. It is well connected by bus service from Karimganj and sha ...

), two urban areas (Karimganj and Patahrkandi) 3 towns (Karimganj, Badarpur, and Patahrkandi), 7 community development blocks (North Karimganj, South Karimganj, Badarpur,

, Ramkrishna Nagar, Dullavcherra and Lowairpoa), 7 police stations (

, Badarpur, Ramkrishna Nagar,

, Ratabari, Nilambazar, and Bazarichara), 96

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 bo ...

s, and seven anchalik panchayats. There are five

Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The Legislative Assembly comprises 126 Me ...

constituencies in this district: Ratabari, Patharkandi, Karimganj North, Karimganj South, and Badarpur. Ratabari is designated for scheduled castes. All five are in the

Karimganj Lok Sabha constituency Karimganj Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam state in north-eastern India, covering Karimganj and Hailakandi districts in the Barak Valley. This constituency is reserved for the candidates belonging to the s ...

Transport

Another view of New BG station, Karimganj Junction

Karimganj town is linked via both rail and road transport with the rest of India. Karimganj town is a railway junction and broad gauge lines connecting Tripura with Assam pass through this station.

Badarpur railway station Badarpur railway station serves the Indian city of Badarpur in Assam. It belongs to Lumding railway division of Northeast Frontier Railway of India. It is located at Karimganj district in the state of Assam. It is one of the oldest station of ...

is the biggest junction of the district. The most popular mode of passenger transport, however, is by road. A good number of buses - mostly night services - ply between Karimganj and

daily. Direct long-distance bus services are also available to Shillong, Agartala,

Aizawl Aizawl (; Mizo: ) is the capital of the state of Mizoram in India. Aizawl was officially established on 25 February 1890. With a population of 293,416, it is the largest city in the state. It is also the centre of administration containing all ...

and so on. Communication with Silchar, Badarpur,

and other nearby places is also mainly dependent on road transport, with services by all sorts of light and heavy vehicles available at frequent intervals. The nearest airport is Kumbhirgram (85 km) near Silchar - the headquarters of the adjacent district of Cachar. Karimganj town is also an important river port and has seasonal cargo and freight transport links with

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 ...

through river ways via Bangladesh.

Sutarkandi international border crossing

Sutarkandi international border crossing on

Bangladesh–India border The Bangladesh–India border, known locally as the International Border (IB), is an international border running between Bangladesh and India that demarcates the eight divisions of Bangladesh and the Indian states. Bangladesh and India share ...

on Karimganj-

Beanibazar Beanibazar ( bn, বিয়ানীবাজার, Biyanībazar, Morning Market) is an upazila (sub-district) of Sylhet District in northeastern Bangladesh, part of the Sylhet Division. The area is the successor of the territory of Panchakhanda ...

route is in Karimganj district of Assam in India.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2011 census Karimganj 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 1,228,686, roughly equal to the nation of

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

or the US state of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. This gives it a ranking of 392nd 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 20.74%. Karimganj 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 d ...

of 961

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 ...

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 79.72%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 12.85% and 0.16% of the population respectively.

Religion

Religious demographics are as follows: * Muslims ( Star and Crescent

) - 692,489 * Hindus (

) - 521,962 * Christians ( ChristianitySymbol

) - 11,990. According to 2011 Indian Census, the

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

form a slight majority in the district constituting 56.4% of the population, with

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

at 42.5% of the population, followed by 1.0% Christians. Small populations of Jain, Buddhists and Sikhs also reside in the district.

Language

According to the 2011 census, 86.84% of the district spoke

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 ...

, 5.70%

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 ...

, 2.00%

Bishnupriya Manipuri Bishnupriya Manipuri, also known as simply Bishnupriya, is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Bengali–Assamese languages, Bengali–Assamese linguistic sub-branch. It is a creole language, creole of Bengali language and Meitei languag ...

and 1.65%

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

as their first language. Karimganj is one of several districts in Assam where

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken o ...

is spoken by the majority of the population, as also in some other districts such as Cachar, Halaikandi and

Hojai Hojai is a town and a municipal board in Hojai district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. It is located on the banks of the two tributaries of Brahmaputra namely Kapili and Jamuna Etymology The term Hojai means Prie ...

. Bengali is the official language in Karimganj along with the other two districts of Barak valley such as Hailakandi and Cachar. Notable minority languages include

and Meitei. There are also a small tribal communities like Hrangkhol, Kuki, Khasi,

Tripuri Tripuri refer to: *Tripuri people, an ethnic group in India and Bangladesh, also known as Tipra people **Tripuri language **Tripuri nationalism **Tripuri calendar **Tripuri culture **Tripuri cuisine **Tripuri dances **Tripuri dress **Tripuri games ...

and Sakachep.

Notable people

* Siddique Ahmed, MLA of Karimganj South * Syed Mujtaba Ali, author, journalist, travel enthusiast, academic, scholar and linguist *

Syed Murtaza Ali Syed Murtaza Ali (1 July 1902 – 9 August 1981) was a Bangladeshi writer. He was the elder brother of writer and linguist Syed Mujtaba Ali. He is noted for his works relating to the histories of Chittagong, Sylhet and Jaintia. Background and e ...

, author, and historian * Radheshyam Biswas, former MP for

* Abdul Munim Choudhury, former MLA of Karimganj South *

Achyut Charan Choudhury Achyut Charan Choudhury ( bn, অচ্যুৎচরণ চৌধুরী; 5 February 1866 – 25 September 1953) was a Bengali writer and historian. Though he wrote several books regarding Vaishnav Hinduism, Choudhury is most well known for h ...

, historian * Khaled Choudhury, theatre personality *

Najib Ali Choudhury Najib Ali Choudhury ( bn, নজিব আলী চৌধুরী) was a 19th-century Bengalis, Bengali Islamic scholar and teacher. He was notable for his founding of the Madinatul Uloom Bagbari, the first madrasa in the Barak Valley region. ...

, Islamic scholar and founder of Assam's first madrasa (

Madinatul Uloom Bagbari The Madinatul Uloom Bagbari Najibia Alia Madrasa ( ar, المدرسة العالية النجيبية مدينة العلوم بباغباري) or Madinatul Uloom Bagbari (also known as the Darul Uloom Bagbari), is a madrasa located in Assam, In ...

) *

Dwarka Nath Das Dwaraka Nath Das is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha the lower house of Indian Parliament from Karimganj, Assam in 1991 and 1996. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a ...

, former MP for

Mission Ranjan Das Mission Ranjan Das is a Bharatiya Janata Party politician from Assam. He has been elected in Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, the ...

, former MLA of Karimganj North (1991–1996) & (1999–2006) * Nepal Chandra Das, former MP for

* Gurusaday Dutt, folklorist *

Ketaki Prasad Dutta Ketaki Prasad Dutta was an Indian politician belonging to Indian National Congress. He was elected as MLA of Karimganj North Vidhan Sabha Constituency in Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislat ...

, former president of the District Sports Association, Karimganj * Shukhendu Shekhar Dutta, former MLA of

Zohurul Hoque Zohurul Hoque ( bn, জহূরুল হক; 11 October 1926 – 18 January 2017) was an Indian Islamic scholar and doctor known for his translations of the Qur'an into the Bengali, Assamese and English languages. He later moved to Muscat in ...

, translator of the Qur'an into Bengali, Assamese and English * Adam Khaki, 14th-century Sufi missionary *

Aziz Ahmed Khan Aziz Ahmed Khan (born 1978) is an Indian politician. In 2016, he was elected as MLA of Karimganj South Vidhan Sabha constituency in Assam Legislative Assembly. He is an All India United Democratic Front politician. Just before the 2021 Assemb ...

, former MLA of Karimganj South *

Bijoy Malakar Bijoy Malakar is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly from Ratabari in the 2019 by election as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. By-elections happen due to Kripanath Mallah Kripanath Mallah (born 15 ...

, MLA of Ratabari *

Kripanath Mallah Kripanath Mallah (born 15 October 1973) is an Indian politician serving as the Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from Karimganj constituency of Assam. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He had been elected in Assam Legislativ ...

, MP of

, former Deputy Speaker in the

* Sambhu Sing Mallah, former MLA of Ratabari * Krishnendu Paul, MLA of

* Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, MLA of Karimganj North * Ramapayare Rabidas, former MLA of Ratabari * Kartik Sena Sinha, former MLA of

* Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya, former MP for

* Madhusudhan Tiwari, former MLA of

(1991–1996) * Abu Saleh Najmuddin, former MLA of Badarpur (1991–1996), (1996–2001), and former Minister of

. * Jamal Uddin Ahmed (MLA)

Notes

References

External links

Karimganj District official website

KarimganjTown

Karimganj District KARIMGANJ ONLINE

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karimganj District Districts of Assam 1983 establishments in Assam Minority Concentrated Districts in India