Jalpaiguri district (Bengali pronunciation: [dʒɔlpaːiːguɽiː]) is a district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was established in 1869 during British Raj. The headquarters of the district are in the city of Jalpaiguri, which is also the divisional headquarters of Jalpaiguri division.
Jalpaiguri district comprises western Dooars and the major part of the eastern Morang and this area, according to Sailen Debnath, in the ancient time was a part of the kingdom of Kamarupa, and since the medieval period it became a part of Kamata kingdom.[3] Sailen writes that three of the five ancient capitals of Kamatapur were geographically in the district of Jalpaiguri; and the three capitals were at Chilapata, Mainaguri and Panchagarh in sequence. According to him, Hingulavas, the first capital of the next Koch kingdom as well was in Jalpaiguri district. Hingulavas has well been identified with Mahakalguri in Alipurduar Sub-Division.[3]
The Dooars in Jalpaiguri district were under the control of Kingdom of Bhutan from early 17th-century till 1865 when British East India company captured the area in the Duar War under the Treaty of Sinchula and were added to the district of Jalpaiguri in 1869 and later finally to the Indian Union in 1949.
Like all the Duars under Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan, it was under the jurisdiction of Tongso Penlop, below the Tongso Penlop were Subah who in turn appointed Mondal, Laskar or Uzir to look after the Duars.[4]
Jalpaiguri is a part of West Bengal which is situated in North Bengal.
The district situated in the northern part of West Bengal has international borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh in the north and south respectively and district borders with Darjeeling hills in the west and northwest and Alipurduar district and Cooch Behar district on the east.
National protected areas include the Gorumara National Park and the Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary, the Pakhibitan Wildlife Sanctuary, the Baikunthapur Forest, the Khuttimary Forest, etc. reserve forest.
Jalpaiguri is part of monsoon climate zone of South-Eastern Asia. May is the hottest month of this region with average maximum temperature of about 32 °C whereas January is coldest with 11 °C. Highest ever recorded maximum and minimum temperature are 40 °C and 2 °C. The average annual humidity in the district is of 82%. The annual average rainfall is 3160mm. December is the driest month with average rainfall 0.2 mm and July is wettest with 809.3 mm. Number of rainy days are 0 to 1 during November to February and 24 days during July. Thunderstorms are common weather phenomenon during May.
Jalpaiguri district earlier had three sub-divisions – Jalpaiguri Sadar subdivision, Mal subdivision and Alipurduar subdivision. Alipurduar district was created in June 2014 and Jalpaiguri district was left with two subdivisions – Jalpaiguri Sadar and Mal.[5][6]Dhupguri subdivision is a new administrative division of the Jalpaiguri district. It was formed by dividing the Jalpaiguri Sadar subdivision.[7]
There are 16 police stations in the district, viz.:[8]
There are six telephone area codes of Jalpaiguri district. They are 03561, 03562, 03563, 03564, 03565, 03566.
As per order of the Delimitation Commission in respect of the delimitation of constituencies in the West Bengal, the district is divided into seven assembly constituencies:[9]
Malbazar and Nagrakata constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates. Dhupguri, Maynaguri, Jalpaiguri and Rajganj constituencies are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. Along with one assembly constituency from Cooch Behar district, Dhupguri, Maynaguri, Jalpaiguri, Rajganj, Dabgram-Phulbari, and Malbazar constituencies form Jalpaiguri (Lok Sabha constituency), which is reserved for Scheduled Castes.
One can avail train from the major railway stations in the vicinity like New Jalpaiguri railway station/ Jalpaiguri/ Jalpaiguri Road/ New Maynaguri railway station/ New Mal Junction railway station. By road it is connected with rest of the country. Air travel is available up to Bagdogra Airport, and from there it is connected by a 20 km expressway from the district border.
According to the 2011 census Jalpaiguri district had a population of 3,872,846, roughly equal to the nation of Liberia.[11] This gives it a ranking of 66th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 621 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,610/sq mi) . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 33.77%. Jalpaiguri has a sex ratio of 954 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 79.79%.[12]
After bifurcation the district has a population of 2,381,596, of which 752,805 (31.62%) live in urban areas. The residual district has a sex ratio of 956 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have a population of 1,001,572 (42.05%) and 349,592 (14.68%) of the population respectively.[12]
According to the 2011 census, 65.57% of the population spoke Bengali, 12.96% Sadri, 4.90% Nepali, 4.69% Hindi, 2.69% Rajbongshi and 1.39% Kurukh as their first language. Other languages spoken include Santali and Munda.[15] Kurukh and other tribal languages such as Kharia and Mundari were once more widespread among the tea tribes as late as the 1960s, but they have since rapidly shifted to Sadri as their mother tongue.
It is home to Gorumara National Park, which was established in 1994 and has an area of 79 km2 (30.5 sq mi).[16] Apart from Gorumara National Park, the district contains Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary.
This is a list of notable people from Jalpaiguri District.
Liberia 3,786,764 July 2011 est.
