Araria

Araria district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India, and Araria town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Araria district is a part of Purnia division. The district occupies an area of 2830 km². It has a view point of Mount Kangchenjunga (One of the great peack of Himalayan series).

During the British period, the area where one Mr. Forbes’s Bungalow was located was called “Residential Area”, which people called as R. Area. Over a period of time, R. Area acquired the pronunciation Arariya.

The territory of the present-day district became Araria sub-division of the erstwhile Purnia district in 1964. Araria district was formed in January 1990 as one of the administrative districts of under Purnia Division.

Araria district occupies an area of 2,830 square kilometres (1,090 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to Russia’s Zemlya Georga.

The major rivers of this district are Kosi, Suwara, Kali and Koli.

In 2006 the Indian government named Araria one of the country’s 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the 36 districts in Bihar currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Main agricultural produces of this district are Paddy, Maize and Jute.

This district has a number of Jute mills.

Sub-Divisions

Araria district comprises the following Sub-Divisions:

• Araria and
• Forbesganj

Araria sub-division comprises 4 blocks: Araria, bhargama, Siktti and Raniganj. Frobesganj sub-division comprises 5 blocks: kursakanta, Forbesganj, Bhargama,raniganj and Narpatganj. raniganj and bhargama are under the joint jurisdiction of both the sub-divisions.

Thers are six Vidhan Sabha constituencies in this district: Narpatganj, Raniganj, Forbesganj, Araria, Jokihat and Sikti. All of these are part of Araria Lok Sabha constituency.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Araria district has a population of 2,806,200, roughly equal to the nation of Jamaica or the US state of Utah. This gives it a ranking of 139th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 992 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,570 /sq mi) . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 30%. Araria has a sex ratio of 921 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 55.1%.

Notable People

Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’, novelist and story writer, belonged to Araria.