Begusarai

Begusarai District is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India, and Begusarai town is the administrative headquarters of this district.

It was named after the caretaker of one of the inns (known as SARAI in Urdu & Hindi) established by Sher Shah  Suri for the travellers. The caretaker of this place was BEGU, hence it became Begusarai.

It was established in 1870 as of Munger District. In 1972, it was given district status. Simaria village is the birthplace of famous Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. However most people know Munger as his birthplace as Begusarai was the part of Munger during his birth and much of his lifetime. Begusarai is the part of historic Mithila region.

Begusarai district occupies an area of 1,918 square kilometres (741 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to Indonesia’s Biak Island. The district lies on the northern bank of river Ganga. Begusarai district is a part of Darbhanga division. It is located at latitudes 25.15N & 25.45N and longitudes 85.45E & 86.36E.

National Protected Area

• Kanwar Lake Bird Sanctuary

Divisions

Sub-Divisions

Begusarai district comprises the following Sub-Divisions:

• Begusarai and
• Manjahaul
• Ballia
• Bakhari
• Teghara
• Munger
• Samstipur
• Rosra

Parliamentary Constituency

It has one Lok Sabha seat Begusarai (Lok Sabha constituency). Patna (Lok Sabha constituency) was dissolved in Indian general election, 2009 after delimitation.

In 2006 the Indian government named Begusarai 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).

Agriculture: Kharif: Paddy, Arahar, Urad. Rabi: Wheat, Macca, Gram, Masur, Mater, Mustard, Tisi, Sunflower.

Cash Crops : oilseeds, tobacco, jute, potato, red chilies, tomato and andi. Of late, the district has developed fruit farming like mango, guava and notable among them is litchi (strawberry look alike but unlike strawberry it is grown on full fledged tree growing up to 30 feet (9.1 m) in height and nearly 60-70 sq meter in area).

Industry: Indian Oil Refinery- Barauni, Thermal power station- Barauni and hundreds of small industrial units in the private sector. A fertilizer plant in Barauni under HFC Ltd. was closed in 2003.

Barauni is the main rail head and originating place of many trains. It is connected to south Bihar by Rajendra Bridge which serves both as road and railway. NH 28 and NH 31 meet at Zero mile also known as Dinkar Chowk. There are bus services for long distance places by government owned Bihar State Road Transport Corporation. There also many private bus services to places in other cities of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Local bus services are run by private hands and government bus services are not there.

According to the 2011 census Begusarai district has a population of 2,954,367 roughly equal to the nation of Armenia or the US state of Mississippi. This gives it a ranking of 128th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 1,540 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,000 /sq mi) . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 25.75%. Begusarai has a sex ratio of 894 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 0.23%.

Rivers: Ganga, Budhi Gandak, Balan, Bainty, Baya and Chandrabhaga.

Kanwar Jheel: Kabar Jheel one of the Asia’s largest fresh water lake, also famous for Birds’ sanctuary.
Noteworthy : Bridge across Ganges at Barauni, Resting spot for migratory birds, Industrial complex at Barauni

NAULA GARH (86° 04′ 00″/25° 33′ 15″) Naula Birpur Begusarai 20 km. North, North – East from Begusarai district head quarters. Mound The mound is almost intact. The expansion and landscape is remarkable. The road interscts the mound in two parts. The remains of fortifications had been explored several times by A.I.H.Culture and Archaeology department of G. D. College, Begusarai. The Northern mound is remarkable for its landscape with natural and man – made water channels. Pottery – N.B.P., Black slipped, Burnt (Plain & Polished), Red ware (Plain & Polished), Internal Black & External Red type. Vessels – Heavy type storage vessel, water jar, Dish, cookware, small and large Plate, bowl, Deep Pan, Flat pan etc. It is situated only 3½ km westward of the block headquarters Birpur. This enormous mound expands in almost 1½ Km. long area, right from Bhit in the East to Fansiari Tola in Makhwa panchayat in the west. Balan in the East and Bainti in the south creates a remarkable topology for the mound. Both the rivers join in the east almost 1 km. from the centre. In fact, the mound is divided in different parts –

The central fortified area of 360 acres (1.5 km²), 1,400 acres (5.7 km²) and 800 acres (3.2 km²). Sodhri mound measuring 400m x 100m to the north of the Gudh (fort) and The mound of Dih and Bhit to the east of the fortified area. The A.I.H. culture and Archaeology Dept. Of G. D. College, Begusarai under supervision of prof. R. K. chowdhary had explored and surveyed this huge area in 1950-52. A local resident Shri Arvind Prasad Singh, who owns most of the main mound part donated coins and the antique collection from this mound to the museum of G. D. College, Begusarai. A black stone broken sculptures with inscription of Vigraha Pala III has been displayed in the K.P.J.A. Museum of the A.I.H. Archaeology Deptt., G. D. College, Begusarai. The concerned inscription is narrated in G. D. College, Buletin – 2.

All colleges of the district are affiliated to Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Darbhanga. Most famous colleges are G.D.College, Co-Operative College and Mahila College. IGNOU and Nalanda Open University are running its correspondence courses in GD College and Co-operative college. Cyberschool, A School of Computer and information sciences is being run at St. Paul’s School. In higher education this district is generally ranked among the best ones in Bihar. There are three Kendriya Vidyalaya, located at IOCL colony, HFC colony and Garhara. There are many schools affiliated to CBSE, New Delhi. Other good schools include St. Paul’s School, BR DAV Public School, DAV public School,Ramnik Baba PD Academy Bhardwaj Gurukul(Boarding School), Takshila etc. One medical college, Shiv Kumari Ayurvedic Medical college for ayurvedic medical studies is located nearest to Begusarai railway station. There are many coaching places for 10+2 level in Lohianagar, Pokharia, Sarvodaya Nagar (east of Kali Asthan chowk). BSS Intermediate High School,Girls School, Bishnupur and B P High school are other well known schools, RKH School is also considered a best & old high school located in Chhourahi Bakhadda .