Khagaria

Khagaria district is one of the thirty eight districts of Bihar State and Khagaria town is the administrative headquarter of this district. Khagaria is a part of Munger Division. The town has a major raiway junction on the Barauni Guwahati section of the Indian Railways. NH31 which connects rest of the India to North Eastern region passes through this town.It is connected to other parts of Bihar by another rail line to Saharsa and Samastipur. Building of a major rail bridge across river Ganga in Munger is underway to connect it to south Bihar and Jharkhand directly.

Headquarter: Khagaria

Area: 1486sq.km

Sub-Division: Khagaria, Gogari, Parwatta, Alauli, Khagaria, Chautham, Beldaur, Mansi

Agriculture: Paddy, Wheat, Maize, Banana Rivers – Ganges, Koshi, Budhi Gandak, Bagmati, kali Koshi, Kamla Balan, Kareh

Population: 1,276,677

Geography
Khagaria is located at 25°30’N 86°29’E25.5°N 86.48°E[1]. It has an average elevation of 36 metres (118 feet).khagaria was under munger division till 1980 when it became a district.

Demographics
As of 2001 India census[2], Khagaria had a population of 45,126. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Khagaria has an average literacy rate of 64%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 70%, and female literacy is 58%. In Khagaria, 17% of the population is under 6 years of age.

History
Also known as Farakiya in local region. There is an interesting story behind it. Five centuries ago Akbar, then the king of Mugal empire directed his revenue minister Todarmal to map his entire empire. But he could not map this region now known as Khagaria due to difficult terrain, rivers and dense forests. So, he named it Farakiya (Farak in Hindi means separate). Now there is even a weekly newspaper- ‘Farkiyanchal Times’ (albeit published arbitrarily).

People and Culture
Predominantly a rural district it has a mixed population and colourful culture. Population consist of different castes including Bhumihar Brahmins, other Brahmin sub-castes,barai, Rajput, Kayshtha, Yadav, Koari and Kurmi, Marwari and others, but barai,Yadavs, Koeri and Kurmis are in majority. Major festivals are Chat Pooja, Holi, Durga Pooja (Dushehra) and Dipawali. Marriage is intracaste; People here tend to marry within their region only. You will find quite soft spoken and mild mannered people contrary to the general perception about Bihar. Majority of population of Khagaria town is of younger age signifying a shifting population from villages to district center. Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster has one local broadcasting center here with one local channel Awaaz.

Language and Dialects
Mainly Angika, but mostly its Vajjika (distorted version of angika) & Maithili though dialect changes every ten kilometers, like any other district of Bihar, the mix language is also known as “theti”.

Education
Major educational centers are located in the town of Khagaria, which includes educational institutions and vocational institutions where students can learn music, dance, art and craft. Besides many govt. run schools, there are some colleges for the higher education including women’s college. one prestigious center for higher education Koshi College, Khagaria.Kendriya vidyalaya khagaria is educational bone and DAV public school & holy ganges public school(HGPS) Khagaria has constantly ranked among the top schools of Bihar. Majority of students after finishing higher secondary go to other big cities like Patna or Delhi for higher education and competitive examinations.[citation needed] District has a distinct reputation for producing IAS officers constantly. Many students from here are now settled abroad and doing great.

Cinema
Khagaria is now left only with three cinemas the oldest one being Sri Laxmi Cinema which was established by Late Sri Nirmal Chandra Gupta in the year 1954 and started its screening at the present campus in the year 1968. The cinema hall being amongst the few entertainment sources in the town holds a key place in the hearts of people of khagaria and sri Laxmi Cinema is providing the same for more than 40 years. In the present scenario when bhojpuri and angika films are doing very well in bihar Sri Laxmi Cinema is leaving no stone unturned to provide its audience a view of their favourate stars by holding the premier shows in presence of full cast and crew of the film.sri krishna is another cinima hall owned by gautam kumar gupta,is also providing good entertainment to public by showing bollywood movies.