Rajkot district is one of the 33 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

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. Located in Saurashtra peninsula,

Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of ...

city is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is the third-most advanced district in Gujarat and the fourth most populus. This district is surrounded by

Morbi district Morbi district is in the state of Gujarat, India. It was formed on August 15, 2013, along with several other districts, on the 67th Independence Day of India. Morbi city is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district has 5 taluk ...

in north,

Surendranagar Surendranagar Dudhrej is a municipality in Surendranagar district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. Dudhrej municipality is directly connected with Wadhwan city and Wadhwan municipality. Etymology Dudhrej was o ...

and

Botad Botad is a city and district headquarters of Botad district, Gujarat, India. It is about 92 km from Bhavnagar and 133 km From Ahmedabad by road distance. Botad district is made from Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar. Erstwhile, it was part of ...

districts in east,

Amreli Amreli is a city and a municipality in Amreli district in Indian state of Gujarat. History It is believed that during 534 AD Amreli existed was formerly known as Anumanji, Amlik and then Amravati. The city is named in ancient Gujrati as ''A ...

and

Junagadh Junagadh () is the headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar (the state capital), it is the seventh largest city in the state. Literally t ...

districts in south and

Porbandar Porbandar is a city in the States and territories of India, Indian state of Gujarat, perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama. It is the administrative center of the Porbandar District and it was the former capi ...

Jamnagar district Jamnagar District is a district of Gujarat in Western India. Its headquarters are located in the eponymous city of Jamnagar. It hosts the production facilities of large Indian companies such as Reliance. Among its attractions are several palac ...

in west. The district occupies an area of 11203 km².

Origin of name

The district is named after its headquarters, Rajkot city. The name of the city of Rajkot (literally means the city of princes) was probably derived fro
Raju Sandhi
the co-founder of the erstwhile princely state of

in 1620.

Geography

The city is situated between 23°08' North latitude and 20º58' North latitude and 71º40' East longitude and 70º20' East longitude.

has relatively pleasant climate. The climate does not exhibit a lot of extremities. The summer spans from March to June. The temperature at this time varies between 20 °C and 40 °C. The rainy season spans from July to September. The average amount of rainfall received by the place is 550 mm. The winter months are October to February.

Divisions

The district comprises 11

taluka 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 administr ...

s. These are Paddhari, Lodhika, Dhoraji, Rajkot, Jam Kandorna, Upleta, Jetpur, Kotda Sangani, Jasdan, Vinchhiya and Gondal. About 600 villages are in Rajkot District as per 2011 census data. There are 8

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

constituencies in this district: Rajkot East, Rajkot West, Rajkot South, Rajkot Rural, Jasdan, Gondal, Jetpur and Dhoraji. Tankara, Wankaner, Rajkot East, Rajkot West, Rajkot South, Rajkot Rural and Jasdan constituencies are part of Rajkot Lok Sabha constituency. Gondal, Jetpur and Dhoraji are part of Porbandar Lok Sabha constituency. Morbi is part of Kachchh Lok Sabha constituency.

Transport

Rajkot Airport Rajkot Airport is a public airport located at Rajkot, Gujarat, India. Rajkot Airport is the 4th busiest airport in Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara. Airlines and destinations Modernisation plans Rajkot Urban Development Author ...

, located near Rajkot city provides air connectivity with

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, and

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. The only port of this district was the

Port of Navlakhi Navlakhi Port is an all-weather lighterage non-major intermediate port. It is situated on the southwest end of the Gulf of Kutch in Hansthal Creek, India. The Port is about 45 km from Morbi and 160 km from Kandla. Navigation is permitt ...

, an all-weather lighterage port located on the southwest end of the

Gulf of Kutch The Gulf of Kutch is located between the peninsula regions of Kutch and Saurashtra, bounded in the state of Gujarat that borders Pakistan. It opens towards the Arabian Sea facing the Osman Gulf. It is about 50 km wide at the entrance bef ...

, which now belongs to Morbi district that was introduced later. The National Highway 8A links Morbi with

Kandla Kandla, now officially Deendayal Port Authority, is a seaport and town in Kutch district of Gujarat state in Western India, near the city of Gandhidham. Located on the Gulf of Kutch, it is one of India's major ports on the west coast. It is ab ...

. The National Highway 8B connects Rajkot with

. The National Highway 8D links Jetpur with

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Rajkot 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 3,804,558, roughly equal to the nation of

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

or the US state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. This gives it a ranking of 68th 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 19.87%. Rajkot 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 924

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 82.2%. After bifurcation the population was 3,015,229. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were 235,749 and 19,160 which is 7.82% and 0.64% of the population respectively. In the divided district Hindus were 2,753,712 (91.33%) while Muslims were 222,649 (7.38%) and Jains were 28,297 (0.94%). At the time of the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, 96.31% of the population in the district spoke

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

and 1.95%

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 ...

as their first language. It had a population of 3,169,881 of which 51.29% were urban as of 2001. The literacy rate is 74.85% (2001 census).

Culture

The District has a considerable population of Sindhi Speaking people and Sindhi tribes such as Sammas, Jadejas etc. There are also some graves of Samma princes of Sindh from

Samma Dynasty The Samma dynasty ( sd, سمن جو راڄ, ) was a Medieval India, medieval Sindhis, Sindhi dynasty in the Indian subcontinent, that ruled Sindh, as well as parts of Kutch, Punjab region, Punjab and Balochistan (region), Balochistan from 135 ...

, that ruled Sindh from 1350 AD to 1520 AD.

Politics

Notable personalities

* Dhumaketu (1892–1965) Writer. Born in Virpur. *

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...

: Born in

, Mahatma Gandhi grew up in Rajkot and maintained his permanent home in Rajkot for the majority of his life. *

Jalaram Bapa Jalaram Bapa ( gu, જલારામ બાપા) popularly known as Bapa ( gu, બાપા) (4 November 1799 (Samvat 1856) – 23 February 1881 (Samvat 1937)) was a Hindu saint from Gujarat, India. He was born on 4 November 1799, one week a ...

: Hindu saint. Born in Virpur. *

Shrimad Rajchandra Shrimad Rajchandra (11 November 1867 – 9 April 1901) was a Jain poet, mystic, philosopher, scholar and reformer. Born in Vavaniya, a village near Morbi, he claimed to have recollection of his past lives at the age of seven. He performed '' ...

: Spiritual mentor of Mahatma Gandhi, Famous Jain philosopher and thinker *

Cheteshwar Pujara Cheteshwar Arvind Pujara (born 25 January 1988) is an Indian international cricketer who plays Test cricket for India and represents Saurashtra in domestic cricket. He is a right-handed batter and is known for his disciplined batting style. ...

: Indian National Cricketer. *

Karsan Ghavri Karsan Devjibhai Ghavri (born 28 February 1951) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 39 Test matches and 19 One Day Internationals from 1974 to 1981. He played in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups. Ghavri started his career playing Ranji Tr ...

: Indian National Cricketer. *

Pankaj Udhas Pankaj Udhas (born 17 May 1951) is an Indian ghazal and playback singer. He started his career with a release of a ghazal album titled ''Aahat'' in 1980 and subsequently recorded many hits like ''Mukarar'' in 1981, ''Tarrannum'' in 1982, ''Mehf ...

: Notable Ghazal and Bollywood Singer. *

Manhar Udhas Manhar Udhas is a Hindi and Gujarati language singer and Bollywood playback singer. Early life Manhar Udhas is the eldest son of Keshubhai Udhas and Jituben Udhas, and the elder brother of singers Pankaj Udhas and Nirmal Udhas. He completed his ...

: Notable Ghazal and Bollywood Singer. * Niranjan Shah: Former Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) *

Vijay Rupani Vijaybhai Ramniklalbhai Rupani (born 2 August 1956) is an Indian politician who served as the 16th Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2016 to 2021 for two terms. He is a member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, representing Rajkot West. He is a ...

: Gujarat State Chief Minister * Sairam Dave: A popular hasya kalakar (comedian) * Osman Mir: Popular folk singer * Ramesh Mehta: Gujarati film comedian *

Hemu Gadhavi Hemu Gadhavi, also spelled Hemu Gadhvi, (4 September 1929 – 20 August 1965) was a Gujarati singer, songwriter, composer, dramatist, and actor. He was an exponent of folk-music of Saurashtra. Early life and family : Hemu Gadhavi was born ...

: Famous folk Singer

Notes

External links

Rajkot district collectorate website
{{Authority control Districts of Gujarat