Netrokona Sadar ( bn, নেত্রকোণা সদর) is an

upazila An ''upazila'' ( bn, উপজেলা, upôzela, lit=sub-district pronounced: ), formerly called ''thana'', is an administrative region in Bangladesh, functioning as a sub-unit of a district. It can be seen as an analogous to a county or a ...

(sub-district) of

Netrokona District Netrokona ( bn, নেত্রকোণা) is a district of the Mymensingh Division in northern Bangladesh. Etymology The headquarters of Netrokona District was located at the end of the Mogra River and was called Natorkona. Many people believe ...

under

Mymensingh Division Mymensingh Division ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ বিভাগ) is one of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It has an area of and a population of 11,370,000 as of the 2011 census. It was created in 2015 from districts prev ...

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 ...

Geography

Netrakona Sadar is located at . It has 87575 households and total area 340.35 km². The upazila is bounded by

Durgapur Durgapur () is a planned tier-II urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the fourth largest urban agglomeration after Kolkata, Asansol and Siliguri in West Bengal ...

and

Kalmakanda Kalmakanda ( bn, কলমাকান্দা), originally Karamakhanda, is an upazila of Netrokona District in the Division of Mymensingh Division, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Geography Kalmakanda is located at . It has 39275 households in total a ...

upazilas on the north, Kendua and Gauripur upazilas on the south, Barhatta and

Atpara Atpara ( bn, আটপাড়া) is the smallest upazila of Netrokona District, in the Division of Mymensingh, Bangladesh. History When the Baro-Bhuiyans were in power in Bengal, Atpara was a part of the Sarkar Bazuhar. It later became part o ...

upazilas on the east,

Purbadhala upazila Purbadhala ( bn, পূর্বধলা) is an upazila of Netrokona District in the Division of Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Geography Purbadhala is located at . It has 44799 households and total area 308.3 km2. It is bounded by Durgapur and Ka ...

on the west.

History

Present-day Netrokona Sadar was ruled by a Koch king named Ganesh. The area was introduced to Islam by an 11th-century preacher by the name of

Shah Sultan Rumi Shāh Sulṭān Qamar ad-Dīn Rumī ( bn, শাহ সুলতান কমর উদ্দিন রুমী, ar, ), was an 11th-century Sufi Muslim figure who in scholarly tradition, is believed to have been the first Sufi who visited and ...

who arrived in 1053 CE. After gaining the king's respect, Rumi was given a few villages, in particular Madanpur, as a rent-free area. Rumi was buried in Madanpur in 1075. In opposition to

Company rule in India Company rule in India (sometimes, Company ''Raj'', from hi, rāj, lit=rule) refers to the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when ...

, a group of rebels known as the

Pagal Panthis The Pagal Panthis (lit. 'followers of the mad path') were a socio-religious order that emerged in the late 18th-century in the Mymensingh region of Bengal (now located in Bangladesh). Adherents of a syncretic mixture of Hinduism, Sufism and Animi ...

emerged in

Greater Mymensingh Mymensingh Division ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ বিভাগ) is one of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It has an area of and a population of 11,370,000 as of the 2011 census. It was created in 2015 from districts prev ...

in 1764 lasting up until 1852. Natorkona was one of the main locations effected by the Pagal Panthis. In response, a police outpost (''

thana Thana means "police station" in South Asian countries, and can also mean the district controlled by a police station. * Thanas of Bangladesh, former subdistricts in the administrative geography of Bangladesh; later renamed ''upazila'' * in (Briti ...

'') was set up by the British officers at Natorkona to assist their allied

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

s in suppressing the Pagal Panthi revolt. It is said that when the Pagal Panthis looted the outpost, the officers relocated to Kaliganj Bazar in Satpai

mouza In Bangladesh, Pakistan and parts of India a mouza or mauza (also mouja) is a type of administrative district, corresponding to a specific land area within which there may be one or more settlements. Before the 20th century, the term referred to a ...

which is the site of the present Netrokona Sadar police station. However, the name of the ''thana'' remained as Natorkona, later being corrupted to Netrokona. In 1829, the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

tried to takeover the Shah Sultan Rumi estate. This was contested by the guardians of the shrine who provided an old

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

document dating from 1082 CE. In response, the government abandoned the plan and granted the estate to the document holder; Syed Jalaluddin. Netrokona was made a

in 1938 and made the capital of Netrokona Mahakuma in 1882. Amidst the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

, influential nationalist

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...

gave a speech at the Methar Patti grounds on 15 March 1939. The All India Peasant Conference was held from 8 to 10 April 1945 at the Parar grounds. During the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

, the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

captured 4 people and shot them dead at the Trimohani Bridge on29 April 1971. A battle took place on 9 December leading to the death of three freedom fighters. The Pakistani army was finally defeated in Netrokona Sadar in a last encounter at the Agricultural Farm where two freedom fighters were also killed. In 1983, the Netrokona thana was upgraded to an upazila and it was made the capital of the

in 1984.

Demographics

According to the

2011 Bangladesh census In 2011, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, conducted a national census in Bangladesh, which provided a provisional estimate of the total population of the country as 142,319,000. The previous decennial census was the 2001 census. Data were reco ...

, Netrokona Sadar Upazila had 81,435 households and a population of 372,785. 95,156 (25.53%) were under 10 years of age. Netrokona Sadar has a literacy rate (age 7 and over) of 45.97%, compared to the national average of 51.8%, and a sex ratio of 993 females per 1000 males. 91,936 (24.66%) lived in urban areas. As of the

1991 Bangladesh census In 1991, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, conducted a national census in Bangladesh. They recorded data from all of the districts and upazilas and main cities in Bangladesh including statistical data on population size, households, sex and age ...

, Netrakona Sadar has a population of 265643. Males constitute 51.36% of the population, and females 48.64%. This Upazila's eighteen up population is 134197. Netrakona Sadar has an average literacy rate of 28.4% (7+ years), and a national average of 32.4% literate.

Administration

Netrokona Thana was formed in 1874 and it was turned into an upazila in 1983. Netrakona Sadar Upazila is divided into Netrakona Municipality and 12

union parishad Union council ( bn, ইউনিয়ন পরিষদ, translit=iūniyan pariṣad, translit-std=IAST), also known as union parishad, rural council, rural union and simply union, is the smallest rural administrative and local government unit ...

s: Amtala, Challisha, Dakshin Bishiura, Kailati, Kaliara Gabragati, Lokkhiganj, Madanpur, Medni, Maugati, Rauha, Singhar Bangla, and Thakurakona. The union parishads are subdivided into 255 mauzas and 332 villages. Netrakona Municipality is subdivided into 9 wards and 51

mahalla is an Arabic word variously translated as district, quarter, ward, or "neighborhood" in many parts of the Arab world, the Balkans, Western Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and nearby nations. History Historically, mahallas were autonomous social ins ...

Notable people

Abu Abbas Muhammad Zaidan (10 December 1948 – 8 March 2004), also known as Abu Abbas ( ar, أبو العباس ''Abū ʿAbbās'' ) or Muhammad Abbas, was (with Tal'at Ya'qoub) the founder and a leader of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) Organiz ...

(d. 2009), politician *

Mujibur Rahman Khan Mujibur Rahman Khan (23 October 1910 – 5 October 1984) was a Bangladeshi journalist, litterateur and politician. Education and career Khan passed the Entrance examination from Anjuman High School in 1928 and Bachelor of Arts in 1934 from Ana ...

(1910-1984), journalist and litterateur * Rashid Uddin (1889-1964), Baul mystic *

(d. 1075), Muslim missionary

References