Gopalganj District, India
Encyclopedia
Gopalganj is the administrative district in the state of Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

 in India. The district headquarter is located in the town of Gopalganj and the district is a part of Saran Division
Saran Division
Saran division is an administrative geographical unit of Bihar state of India. Chapra is the administrative headquarters of the division. Currently , the division consists of Saran District, also called Chapra District, Siwan District, Gopalganj District....

. Languages spoken are Bhojpuri, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

.

History

In decent time the name of Gopalganj was "MUBARAKPUR". An ancient state of "Mallyas" known for their bravery and love for civil liberty serves as the frontier of Gopalganj. In Pre- historic time, Gopalganj was part of Nepal, up to the bank of the Saryu river which bounds Siwan district on South of it. Siwan means the boundary - the Southern boundary of Nepal Kingdom(earlier) .
Gopalganj, which till 1875 was only a tiny hamlet, was made a subdivision of the old Saran district in the same year. It became an independent district on October 2, 1973. The old Saran district included the present districts of Saran, Siwan and Gopalganj.

The history of Gopalganj is a part of the history of old Saran District. The composite Saran district lies on one of the main lines of the Aryan advance.

According to a tradition preserved in Vedic literature, the Videhas marched eastwards from the Saraswati until they reached the banks of the Gandak and were informed by Agni, the God of fire, that their home lay to the east of its broad stream. In obedience to his directions, the Videhas crossed the river and founded a powerful kingdom on its eastern bank ; but it seems likely that some of them settled in Saran, which lay on the line of march, while the majority of them crossed the Gandak.

Gopalganj became a fully-fledged district when it was split from Saran
Saran district
Saran District is one of the thirty-seven districts of Bihar state, India. The district, part of Saran Division, is also known as Chapra district after the headquarters of the district - Chapra...

 in 1976.

Geography

Gopalganj district, India occupies an area of 2033 square kilometres (784.9 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

's Tenerife Island. Total physical area can roughly be put in two categories i.e. Normal Area and Lowly Area (flood affected area). Parts of the six blocks like Gopalganj, Kuchaykot, Manjha, Sidhwalia, Barauli and Baikunthpur are flood affected areas. These areas remain under water in the rainy season. But so far as cultivation and agriculture is concern these areas are called the stock of food grains. Rest of the parts is normal area with full greenery and cultivable land.

Geographical Location of Gopalganj district lies between 26° 12 to 26° 39 North latitudes
83° 54 to 84° 55 East longitudes. The district occupies an area of 2033 km² and has population of 2,149,343 (as of 2001).
Adjoining Districts:
North: East & West Champaran District
South: Siwan & Chappra District
East: East Champaran & Muzaffarpur District
West: Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...



Major Urban Centres:
Gopalganj, Sidhwaliya, Thawe, Hathuwa, Mirganj, Barauli, Kateya, Vijaipur, Jalalpur, Kuchaikote, Sasa Musa, Sipaya Bazar, Manjha Garh(Block), Sawreji, Uchakagoan (Block), Phulwaria, Songdhawa, Hurssepur, Siswa, Uzra naryanpur, Panchdewari Bazar(Block), Bhore Bazar,Bansi Batraha,Misra Batraha,Mirallipur,Mahhamadpur,Badheya,Barhima,Dumariya,Gopalpur.

Climate:
Gopalganj has a varied climate. It is exceptionally hot and dry during summer with temperature reaching as high as 45 degrees Celsius. Gopalganj receives about 500 mm rainfall during monsoons, which is followed by pleasant temperature in winter. District receives an average rainfall of about 290 mm and the temperature varies from 10 to 45 degree Celsius.

Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj
Ministry of Panchayati Raj
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India looking after the ongoing process of decentralization and local governance in the States....

 named Gopalganj one of the country's 250 most backward districts
Poverty in India
Poverty is widespread in India, with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 41.6% of the total Indian population falls below the international poverty line of 1.25 a day...

 (out of a total of 640
Districts of India
A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. Districts are further subdivided, in some cases into Sub-Divisions, and otherwise directly into tehsils or talukas.District officials include:...

). It is one of the 36 districts in Bihar currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Banking

The city has 5 nationalized and 2 cooperative banks.Automated teller machine
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...

(ATM) facilities are provided by SBI
SBI
The initialism SBI could mean:*Sound Business, Inc. a non-profit organization. College and Career Preparation for A. Philip Randolph Campus High School* SBI Group, a financial services company of Japan...

, Canara Bank
Canara Bank
Canara Bank is a state-owned financial services company in India. It was established in 1906, making it one of the oldest banks in the country. As on 2009 November, the bank had a network of 3057 branches, spread across India...

, ICICI
Ičići
Icici is a small place located in the north-east part of Istria, Croatia . It is located under a mountain Učka, on the north part of the Adriatic Sea....

, Punjab National Bank
Punjab National Bank
Punjab National Bank , was founded in 1894 and is currently the second largest state-owned commercial bank in India ahead of Bank of Baroda with about 5000 branches across 764 cities. It serves over 37 million customers. The bank has been ranked 248th biggest bank in the world by the Bankers...

, Central Bank of India
Central Bank of India
Central Bank of India , a government-owned bank, is one of the oldest and largest commercial banks in India. It is based in Mumbai...

, Axis Bank
Axis Bank
Axis Bank Limited, formerly UTI Bank, is a financial services firm that had begun operations in 1994, after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established...

, ICICI Bank
ICICI Bank
ICICI Bank Ltd. is India's second largest financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries in the areas of...

, Bank of India
Bank of India
Bank of India is a state-owned commercial bank with headquarters in Mumbai. Government-owned since nationalization in 1969, It is India's 4th largest bank, after State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda. It has 3415 branches, including 29 branches outside India...

, Union Bank
Union Bank
Union Bank was established in 1991 and had its headquarters in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Prior to the merger with Standard Chartered Bank , it was Pakistan's eighth largest bank and had 65 branches in some 22 cities, about US$2 billion in assets, and about 400,000 customers.In 2006, Standard...

, Allahabad Bank
Allahabad Bank
Allahabad Bank , , which began operations in 1865, has its head-quarters in Kolkata. Currently the bank has 2500 branches across the country. The Chairman and Managing Director of the bank is Shri J. P. Dua. The bank has a branch in Hong Kong and a representative office in Shenzen.-19th...

, UCO Bank
UCO Bank
Uco Bank, formerly United Commercial Bank, established in 1943 in Kolkata, is one of the oldest and major commercial bank of India. Ghanshyam Das Birla, an eminent Indian industrialist, during the Quit India movement of 1942, had conceived the idea of organizing a commercial bank with Indian...

, Andhra Bank
Andhra Bank
Andhra Bank was registered on 20 November 1923 and commenced business on 28 November 1923 with a paid up capital of Rs 1.00 lakh and an authorised capital of Rs 10.00 lakhs. The Bank crossed many milestones and the Bank's Total Business as on 30.06.2008 stood at Rs.83,256 Crores with a Clientele...

,, and United Bank
United Bank
United Bank Limited is one of the largest commercial banks in Pakistan having more than 1,100 online branches inside the country. Its 15 branches outside the country are in the United States of America, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and Republic of Yemen. It also has representative offices in Tehran,...

. SBI Gopalganj also provides an internet banking facility.

Transport

The city doesn't have good transport facilities. Public transport in the city is largely dependent on private buses. Taxis
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...

 and rickshaws
Auto rickshaw
An auto rickshaw or three-wheeler is a usually three-wheeled cabin cycle for private use and as a vehicle for hire. It is a motorized version of the traditional pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw...

 are available for hire throughout the day. Narrow and congested roads and the mix of vastly differing types of vehicles have made a problem in the city traffic. It is connected by rail by a loop line origination from Chhapra. Thawe near Gopalganj town, is a rail junction. Sabeyan Hawai Adda is an airport in Gopalganj.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census
2011 census of India
The 15th Indian National census was conducted in two phases, houselisting and population enumeration. Houselisting phase began on April 1, 2010 and involved collection of information about all buildings...

 Gopalganj district, India has a population
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...

 of 2,558,037 , roughly equal to the nation of Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

 or the US state of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. This gives it a ranking of 163rd in India (out of a total of 640
Districts of India
A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. Districts are further subdivided, in some cases into Sub-Divisions, and otherwise directly into tehsils or talukas.District officials include:...

). The district has a population density of 1258 PD/sqkm . Its population growth rate
Family planning in India
Family planning in India is based on efforts largely sponsored by the Indian government. In the 1965-2009 period, contraceptive usage has more than tripled and the fertility rate has more than halved , but the national fertility rate is still high enough to cause long-term population growth...

 over the decade 2001-2011 was 18.83 %. Gopalganj has a sex ratio
Sex ratio
Sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. The primary sex ratio is the ratio at the time of conception, secondary sex ratio is the ratio at time of birth, and tertiary sex ratio is the ratio of mature organisms....

 of 1015 females
Women in India
The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful...

 for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate
Literacy in India
Literacy in India is key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate grew to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was a greater than sixfold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%, and India currently has the...

 of 67.04 %.

Based on the 2010 Census:
Population: 2,558,037 (2.62% of the state)
Density of population: 1258
Men: 1,269,677 (49.89%)
Women: 1,288,360 (50.12%)
Urban population: 130,536 (6.07%)
Rural population: 2,018,807 (93.93%)
% of Scheduled Castes: 12.43%
% of Scheduled tribes: 0.29%
Sex ratio: 1015

Culture

Fairs and Festivals :- Four main fairs are held in the district which attract a number of devotees not only from within the district but also from the rest of the state. These are: the Shri Rama Navami, Holi fair at Gopalganj town,Fair During Muharram at Madhwalal Mirganj is very famous and brings devotees from all over India. held during the Hindu month of Kartik; the Navaratri-Mahalaxmi fair at Gopalganj town during Navaratri (October–November); Dasshera and Deepawali.
Thawe Durga Mandir, Jalalpur Durga Mandir and Krishna Temple are very popular religious places.
The Jama Masjid at Islamiya Muhalla Gopal ganj is the biggest mosque of the district it also has a madrassa for educating young minds of the district.
Bhojpuri and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 are the main languages spoken here.The main places of interests are Thawe, Jalalpur, Dighwa-dubauli, Husepur, Lakdi Dargah, and Shivpur(lachhwar) Durga Mandir.

Notable personalities

Gopalganj has been a major player in the politics of Bihar and has produced great leaders such as:
  • Smt. Ram Dulari Sinha
    Ram Dulari Sinha
    Ram Dulari Sinha is a former Indian parliamentarian and Union Minister. She was one of the few women Governors of India, and was appointed the role of Governor of Kerala from 23 February 1988 to 12 February 1990....

     of the Indian National Congress, Former Union-Minister, and Former Governor (Governor of Kerala) and a prominent freedom fighter.
  • Abdul Ghafoor first and only Muslim chief minister of Bihar,(1973 to 1975).
  • Smt. Rabri Devi
    Rabri Devi
    Rabri Devi served three terms as the Chief Minister, of Bihar, India, as a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party, between 1997 and 2005...

    , Ex. Chief Minister of Bihar, wife of Mr.Laloo Prasad Yadav
  • Mr.Laloo Prasad Yadav Ex. Chief Minister of Bihar and Ex. Rail Minister of India

Politics


Smt. Ram Dulari Singh popularly known as Smt. Ram Dulari Sinha
Ram Dulari Sinha
Ram Dulari Sinha is a former Indian parliamentarian and Union Minister. She was one of the few women Governors of India, and was appointed the role of Governor of Kerala from 23 February 1988 to 12 February 1990....

 was born in a small village Manikpur in this district, she made her parents and village proud when she did her masters in the pre-independence era when hardly any girl child use to go to school and even did masters in another subject and became the first woman in Bihar to have done double M.A, but the irony is such that Smt. Rabri Devi of the same district an illiterate woman became the first woman Chief Minister of Bihar. Smt. Ram Dulari Sinha of the Indian National Congress was involved in the freedom struggle, she became union minister and later became the Governor of Kerela, who was an honest politician and a dedicated congress woman. Today her son Dr. Madhurendra Kumar Singh of the Indian National Congress is involved in politics and is holding the leadership of Sheohar and Sitamarhi Districts and the adjoining areas of East Champaran and Muzzafarpur Districts.
Mr. Abdul Gafoor was an honest politician who became the Chief Minister of Bihar. When J.P started the movement against the then congress government he quoted that "nobody in the Bihar congress was honest except Smt. Ram Dulari Sinha, Shri. Abdul Gafoor an the then speaker of the Bihar assembly and the rest are corrupt" (it was part of the speech which was witnessed by a massive crowd at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna on 5 June 1975).

Mr.Laloo Prasad Yadav and his wife Smt. Rabri Devi
Rabri Devi
Rabri Devi served three terms as the Chief Minister, of Bihar, India, as a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party, between 1997 and 2005...

 are also from the same district. Mr.Yadav became the Chief Minister of Bihar and later when Mr. Yadav was convicted in the fodder scam and send to prison his wife Smt. Rabri Devi took over as the Chief Minister and continued till 2005. Mr.Yadav also became Railway Minister in the U.P.A Government.

Education

Initially Gopalganj had little to offer in terms of good quality education to its residents. Presently Schools and colleges in the city are either run by the government or by private trusts and individuals. The schools are each affiliated with either the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE), or the Bihar School Examination Board. English is the medium of instruction in most private schools; though government run schools offer both English and Hindi. After completing their secondary education, which involves ten years of schooling, students typically enroll at Higher Secondary School
Junior college
The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...

 in one of the three streams—Arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...

, Commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...

 or Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

. Gopalganj is best suitable for school level studies and has many notable schools like D.A.V. Middle School,D.A.V High School,Kendriya Vidyalaya
Kendriya Vidyalaya
Kendriya Vidyalaya, is a system of central government schools under the Ministry of Human Resource Development ....

, Sainik School
Sainik School
The Sainik Schools are a system of schools in India established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society. They were conceived in 1961 by V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of India, to rectify the regional and class imbalance amongst the Officer cadre of the Indian Military, and to...

,Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya gopalganj and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Govt. Residential High School,Hathwa, are playing the vital role in shaping the talent. After Higher Secondary, students have not much option for continuing their studies further here. The city has 290 primary schools, 100 secondary schools, 8 higher secondary schools, 5 colleges, 1 Industrial training institute
ITI
Different meanings of ITI include:* Indian Telephone Industries Limited* The Institute of Translation & Interpreting, which is a professional association representing translators and interpreters in the United Kingdom....

, and 1 polytechnic college but no other institutions of higher learning, not even a single university and medical/engineering institution.

Health services

The city has 17 Hospitals, 19 primary health centres, and 80 sub-centres. The district has a network of government-run health facilities consisting of the district hospital. Rural hospitals, primary health centres, sub-centres and dispensaries provide basic healthcare to the rural population. The city has good communication facilities also. It has a fully computerized head post office and other 41 branch post offices, 11 telegraph offices and many telecom service providers like Aircel
Aircel
Aircel group is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India. The Aircel group is a joint venture between Maxis Communications Berhad of Malaysia and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited, whose current...

, Airtel, Idea cellular
Idea cellular
Idea Cellular, usually referred to as Idea, is an Indian wireless telecom company based in Mumbai, India. Idea is the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India, in revenue terms, and recorded of over 98.4 million customers as of August 2011....

, Vodafone, Uninor
Uninor
Uninor is a mobile operator in India. The company holds Unified Access Service licences to offer mobile telephony services in each of India’s 22 telecom circles, and has received spectrum to roll out services in 21 of these...

, MTS, S-Tel, Tata Indicom
Tata Indicom
Tata Teleservices Limited is a Indian broadband and telecommunications provider based in Mumbai, India. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate...

, Docomo
DoCoMo
DoCoMo is a trademark of the NTT DoCoMo corporation of Japan, used in its home market and in India in partnership with Tata Teleservices. It is an acronym of the phrase "Do communications over the mobile network."See also the following mobile phone operators:...

, Reliance Infocomm, and the state owned BSNL
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is a state-owned telecommunications company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is the largest provider of fixed telephony and fourth largest mobile telephony provider in India, and is also a provider of broadband services...

.

Media

There is also a local FM radio station named Radio Rimjhim and TV broadcasting channel.There are over five cinema halls
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 that screen movies in Bhojpuri and Hindi. Popular news papers include Dainik Jagran
Dainik Jagran
Dainik Jagran is a Hindi language daily broadsheet newspaper in India. According to the IRS Q1 2010, Dainik Jagran ranks No. 1 among the dailies with a Total Readership of 54,254,000.-Overview:...

, Dainik Hindustan, Aaj, Prabhat Khabar, Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....

, Sahara Samay, Times of India, etc.

Sports

The city owns indoor and outdoor stadiums namely Ambedkar Bhavan and Minz Stadium respectively.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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