Poonch or Punch (''Prūntčh'' In

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Barua ...

) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

in the

Jammu Division The Jammu division (; ) is a revenue and administrative division within Jammu and Kashmir, a union territory of India. It consists of the districts of Jammu, Doda, Kathua, Ramban, Reasi, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur and Samba. Mos ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

, India. With headquarters in the town of Poonch, it is bounded by the Line of Control (boundary between Indian and

Pakistan administered Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encomp ...

) on three sides (north, west and south). The 1947-48 war between India and Pakistan divided the earlier district into two parts. One went to Pakistan and the other became part of the then Indian state of

Geography

Poonch district has a total area of . The district is bordered by

Kulgam district Kulgam district is a district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is located at a distance of towards south-west of Anantnag. The district comprises block, tehsil and town of Kulgam. Location Kulgam is situated near the Pi ...

Shopian district Shopian district (), known as Shupyan () in Kashmiri, is a hill district with its administrative division in Shopian town, located in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, since it is situated on the historical road commonly known a ...

and Budgam district in the east, Rajouri district to the south and

Baramulla district Baramulla district or Varmul (in Kashmiri) is one of the 20 districts in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Baramulla town is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district covered an area of in 2001, but it w ...

and Haveli district, Pakistan administered Jammu and Kashmir to the north and Poonch district, Pakistani administered Kashmir to the west.

Administration

The district headquarters is in the Poonch city. Mr Inder Jeet is the current District Magistrate. Presently, district Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir is divided into six tehsils: * Haveli Tehsil * Mandi Tehsil *

Mendhar Tehsil Mendhar is a tehsil (administrative district) in the Poonch district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is located in the foothills of Pir Panjal range within the Himalayas. The Mendhar Tehsil headquarters is in Mendhar to ...

Surankote Tehsil Surankote Tehsil is a tehsil of the Poonch district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is headquartered at the Surankote. Administration The Surankote tehsil is headquartered at Surankote. Demographics The total project ...

Mankote Mankote is a village and tehsil in Poonch district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The village is located 91 kilometres from the district headquarters in Poonch. Demographics According to the 2011 census of India, Manko ...

Tehsil * Balakote Tehsil Each tehsil has its

Tehsildar In India and Pakistan, a Tehsildar or Mamlatdar is a tax officer accompanied by revenue inspectors. They are in charge of obtaining taxes from a tehsil with regard to land revenue. A tehsildar is also known as an executive magistrate of the relev ...

, who is the administrative head. The district is further divided into eleven. blocks: Poonch, Mandi, Loran Sathra Mendhar, Mankote Balakote, Surankote and Buffliaz. The administrative head of each block is the Block Development Officer (BDO). Each block consists of a number of

panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical menti ...

s. Recently added One Sub Division(Surnkote), other is Mendhar. Poonch district has a total of 179 villages.

Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Poonch one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of

640 Year 640 (Roman numerals, DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

). It is one of the three districts in Jammu and Kashmir currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Politics

Poonch district has 3 assembly constituencies:

Surankote Surankote () is a town in the Surankote Tehsil of the Poonch district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It occupies the Surankote valley, located between the Pir Panjal and ranges within the Himalayas. It receives snowfall in ...

, Mendhar and Poonch Haveli. On 19 November 2018, the assembly was dissolved by Governor Satya Pal Malik. The former MLA of Poonch Haveli is Shah Mohammed Tantray of JKPDP, Mohammed Akram of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

represented the Surankote constituency and Mendhar was represented by Javid Rana of Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. Poonch district comes in Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency. The present MP of Jammu–Poonch constituency is

Jugal Kishore Sharma Jugal Kishore Sharma (born 5 December 1962) is an Indian politician. He was a member of Lower House of Parliament ( Lok Sabha) following the 2014 Indian general election in Jammu and Kashmir, being elected from Jammu constituency as a candidat ...

of the BJP.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Poonch district, India 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 ...

of 476,835, roughly equal to the nation of

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. This gives it a ranking of 548th in India (out of a total of

). 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 27.97%. Poonch 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 de ...

of 893

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 (which varies with religion), and a literacy rate of 68.69%. The district is 90.45% Muslim.

Religion

, the proportions of different religions in the district were as follows: Islam (90.45%),

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global po ...

(6.84%),

Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit= Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fr ...

(2.35%),

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

(0.20%), not stated (0.15%), and others (0.02%). Only 8.1% of the district's population lived in urban areas. The proportions of religions in urban areas differed from the district as a whole, being: Islam (51.38%), Hinduism (32.82%), Sikhism (14.62%), Christianity (0.96%), not stated (0.20%), and others (0.03%). Major clans and ethnicities include

Gujjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

s, Bakerwals, Muslim Jats ,

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, Syeds,

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

s, Paharis,

Kashmiris Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language, living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern ...

and Muslim Rajputs. mostly reside on the slopes of mountains. The inhabitants typically cultivate small plots of land, and own some cattle. Gujjars and Bakerwals (nomadic tribes) speak

Gojri Gojri (, ), also known as Gujari, Gujri, Gojari, or Gojri, is a variety of Rajasthani spoken by the Gurjars and other tribes of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In India, the language is mainly spoken in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, ...

, apart from Kashmiris the rest of the population speak Pahari-Pothwari, Poonchi, Kaghani besides

and only a minuscule population may be speaking Dogri.

Transportation

Air

The

Poonch Airport Poonch Airport (also known as ''Poonch Airstrip'') is an airport located in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Though no scheduled flights operate from Poonch, in 2005, then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad m ...

is a non-operational airstrip located in Poonch which is mainly used by the Indian Army. The nearest airport is Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport in Srinagar which is located around 180 kilometres from Poonch town.

Rail

There is no railway connectivity to Poonch yet. There are plans to build the Jammu–Poonch line in the near future to connect Poonch with

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...

. The nearest major railway station is Jammu Tawi railway station which is located 235 kilometres from district headquarters Poonch.

Road

Poonch district is connected to the summer capital

by the NH 144A alongside other intra-district roads. It also has road connectivity with Srinagar through the picturesque

Mughal Road Mughal Road is the road between Bufliaz, a town in the Poonch district, to the Shopian district, in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The 84-kilometre roadhttp://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=6_12_2008&ItemID=35& ...

. There are plans to upgrade the existing NH 144A to four-lane for faster movement of traffic. A bus across the LOC, the Poonch–

Rawalakot Rawalakot ( ur, ) is the capital of Poonch district in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. It is located in the Pir Panjal Range. History Along with Pallandri, Rawalakot was the focal point of the 1955 Poonch uprising. It was led by the local Sud ...

bus has helped to re-establish ties across the border.

Gallery

Image:Poonch1.jpg Image:Poonch2.jpg Image:Poonch3.jpg Image:Poonch4.jpg Image:Poonch5.jpg

References

External links

Official website of District Poonch

2011 District Census Handbook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poonch District Districts of Jammu and Kashmir Minority Concentrated Districts in India