Rohtas district

Summary

Rohtas District is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India. It came into existence when Shahabad District was bifurcated into Bhojpur & Rohtas in 1972. Administrative headquarter of the district is Sasaram.[3] Rohtas district has the highest literacy in Bihar. The literacy rate of Rohtas district which is 73.37% as per 2011 census is highest among all 38 districts of Bihar.

Rohtas District
Tomb of Sher Shah Suri
Location of Rohtas district in Bihar
Location of Rohtas district in Bihar
Country India
StateBihar
DivisionPatna
HeadquartersSasaram
Government
 • Lok Sabha constituenciesSasaram, Karakat, Buxar
 • District MagistrateDharmendra Kumar, Indian Administrative Service
 • Superintendent of PoliceAshish Bharti, Indian Police Service
 • Divisional Forest OfficerPradyumn Gaurav, Indian Forest Service
Area
 • Total3,847.82 km2 (1,485.65 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total2,959,918
 • Density770/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Demographics
 • Literacy73.37%
 • Sex ratio914
Languages
 • Official
Time zoneUTC+05:30 (IST)
PIN
821311 (Rohtas)[2]
ISO 3166 code06188
Major highwaysNH 2
WebsiteOfficial District Website
Rohtas Plateau, an extension of the Vindhya formation, is abundant in limestone and shales, providing raw materials to the local cement industry.

Rohtas district also has one of the highest forest cover among all 38 districts of Bihar.[citation needed]

The Rohtas district is a part of Patna Division, and it has an area of 3850 km², a population of 2,959,918 (2011 census), and a population density of 763 persons per km². Languages spoken here are Bhojpuri, Hindi and English.[3]

History edit

Rohtas district was created in 1972, when the former Shahabad district was divided in two. It corresponded to the former district's sub-divisions of Sasaram and Bhabua. In 1991, Bhabua was split off as a separate district, which was renamed Kaimur district in 1994.[4]

The district is a part of the Red Corridor.[5]

Geography edit

Rohtas district occupies an area of 3,851 square kilometres (1,487 sq mi).[6] This makes it the 4th-largest district in Bihar.[7]

Rohtas district can be divided into two major natural areas. In the north and northeast is the Sasaram Plain, an alluvial plain sloping gently downward toward the northeast. Its average height ranges from 72m above sea level in the north to 153m above sea level in the south. The plains cover all of Dinara, Dawath, Bikramganj, Nasriganj, Nokha, and Dehri Blocks, as well as parts of Sasaram, Sheosagar, and Rohtas Blocks. There are scattered woodlands in the east, in Sasaram Block. In the southern part of the district is the Rohtas Plateau, which is an eastern flank of the Vindhya plateau with an average elevation of 300m above sea level. It covers parts of Nauhatta, Rohtas, Sheosagar, Sasaram, and Chenari Blocks. This area is hilly, with occasional forests throughout. Several streams flow toward the north, including the Durgawati, the Bajari, the Koel, and the Sura. The Rohtas Plateau is less well suited for agriculture due to the uneven, rocky and gravelly soils as well as the forest cover. A variety of long grasses grow naturally on the plateau, including pear grass, kus, and khas khas.[4]

Throughout Rohtas district, the soils are generally classified as ustalfs, ochrepts, orthents, fluvents, and psamments.[4]

Sub-divisions edit

Rohtas district is divided into 19 community development blocks, which are grouped together into 3 sub-divisions based at Sasaram, Bikramganj, and Dehri, respectively.[4]

The 19 CD Blocks are as follows:[4]

There are 10 towns in Rohtas district, as follows:[4]

Town name Class Population (in 2011)
Koath Nagar panchayat 18,890
Bikramganj Nagar panchayat 48,465
Nasriganj Nagar panchayat 23,819
Nokha Nagar panchayat 27,302
Bhardua Census town 5,317
Chanari Census town 6,569
Sasaram Nagar Nigam 147,408
Dehri Nagar parishad 137,231
Saraiya Census town 8,260
Telkap Census town 4,504
Karagahar Census town 10,170

There are 246 gram panchayats in Rohtas district as of 2011.[4]

Politics edit

District No. Constituency Name Party Alliance Remarks
Rohtas 207 Chenari Murari Prasad Gautam BJP NDA Switched from INC to BJP
208 Sasaram Rajesh Kumar Gupta RJD MGB
209 Kargahar Santhosh Kumar Mishra INC MGB
210 Dinara Vijay Yadav RJD MGB
211 Nokha Anita Devi RJD MGB
212 Dehri Fateh Bahadur Singh RJD MGB
213 Karakat Arun Singh CPI(ML)L MGB

Economy edit

Economy of the district is agriculture based. Rice, wheat and maize are the main crops. Rohtas is also called the "Rice bowl of Bihar". Until 1980, Dalmianagar was one of the major industrial cities in India. It had sugar, vegetable oil, cement, paper, and chemical factories but now they are closed.[8]

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Rohtas one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).[9] It is one of the 36 districts in Bihar have received funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).[9]

Demographics edit

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901606,016—    
1911575,964−0.51%
1921560,894−0.26%
1931616,315+0.95%
1941719,901+1.57%
1951831,133+1.45%
19611,024,133+2.11%
19711,286,983+2.31%
19811,583,280+2.09%
19911,927,736+1.99%
20012,464,243+2.49%
20112,959,918+1.85%
source:[10]
Religions in Rohtas district (2011)[11]
Religion Percent
Hinduism
89.37%
Islam
10.15%
Other or not stated
0.48%

According to the 2011 census Rohtas district has a population of 2,959,918,[12] roughly equal to the nation of Armenia[13] or the US state of Mississippi.[14] This gives it a ranking of 127th in India (out of a total of 640).[12] In Bihar, it is ranked 17th out of 38 in terms of population.[7] The district has a population density of 763 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,980/sq mi), ranking 34th out of 38 in Bihar (the state's density is 1,106 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,860/sq mi).[7] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 20.22%.[12] Rohtas has a sex ratio of 918 females for every 1000 males, which ranks 22nd out of 38 in Bihar (the state ratio is also 918). 14.45% of the population live in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 18.57% and 1.07% of the population respectively.[7]

The literacy rate in Rohtas district was 73.37% as of 2011 which is highest among all 38 districts of Bihar. The literacy rate was higher for men than for women: 82.88% of men but only 62.97% of women in the district could read and write. Literacy also was higher in urban areas than rural ones. The highest literacy rate in Rohtas district could be found in the town and sub-district of Dehri - 77.70% of the district's total population, and 81.2% of the population of the town proper, was literate. The lowest literacy rate was in the entirely rural CD block of Nauhatta, where 63.07% of the population could read and write.[4]

A majority of the working population of Rohtas district was employed in agriculture in 2011, with 23.58% being cultivators who owned or rented their own land and 43.85% being agricultural laborers who worked someone else's land for wages. Another 5.25% of the district's workforce was employed in household industries, and all other forms of employment accounted for the remaining 27.33%.[4]

Languages edit

Languages in Rohtas district (2011)[15]

  Bhojpuri (87.67%)
  Hindi (7.47%)
  Urdu (4.38%)
  Others (0.48%)

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 87.67% of the population in the district spoke Bhojpuri, 7.47% Hindi and 4.39% Urdu as their first language.[15]

Flora and fauna edit

In 1982 Rohtas district became home to the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary, which has an area of 1,342 km2 (518.1 sq mi).[16]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  2. ^ Rohtas
  3. ^ a b "District Rohtas, Government of Bihar | Rice bowl of Bihar | India". Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Census of India 2011: Bihar District Census Handbook - Rohtas, Part A (Village and Town Directory)". Census 2011 India. pp. 19, 25–28, 44, 47–48, 51, 58, 60, 94. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  5. ^ "83 districts under the Security Related Expenditure Scheme". IntelliBriefs. 11 December 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  6. ^ Srivastava, Dayawanti; et al., eds. (2010). "States and Union Territories: Bihar: Government". India 2010: A Reference Annual (54th ed.). New Delhi, India: Additional Director General, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Government of India. pp. 1118–1119. ISBN 978-81-230-1617-7.
  7. ^ a b c d "Census of India 2011: Bihar District Census Handbook - Rohtas, Part B (Village and Town Wise Primary Census Abstract)". Census 2011 India. p. 13. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Economy | District Rohtas, Government of Bihar | India". Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  9. ^ a b Ministry of Panchayati Raj (8 September 2009). "A Note on the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme" (PDF). National Institute of Rural Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  10. ^ "Table A-02 Decadal Variation in Population Since 1901: Bihar" (PDF). census.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  11. ^ "Table C-01 Population by Religion: Bihar". censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  12. ^ a b c "District Census Handbook: Rohtas" (PDF). Census of India. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  13. ^ US Directorate of Intelligence. "Country Comparison:Population". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2011. Armenia 2,967,975 July 2011 est.
  14. ^ "2010 Resident Population Data". U. S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2011. Mississippi 2,967,297
  15. ^ a b "Table C-16 Population by Mother Tongue: Bihar". censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  16. ^ Indian Ministry of Forests and Environment. "Protected areas: Bihar". Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2011.

External links edit

  • Official website