Supaul district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India, and Supaul town is the administrative headquarters of this district. This district occupies an area of 2,410 km2 (931 sq mi). The district was carved out from the erstwhile Saharsa district on 14 March 1991.
History
Supaul, which was previously a part of Saharsa district, is part of the Mithila region. Mithila first gained prominence after being settled by Indo-Aryan people, who established the Mithila Kingdom (also called Kingdom of the Videhas).
During the late Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Videha became one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla. The kings of the Videha Kingdom were called Janakas. The Videha Kingdom was later incorporated into the Vajji confederacy, which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.
Geography
Supaul district occupies an area of 2,425 square kilometres (936 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to Antarctica’s Anvers Island.
Supaul district is bounded by Nepal to the north, Araria district to the east, Madhepura and Saharsa districts to the south and Madhubani district to the west.
Supaul district is a part of Kosi division.
The Koshi River flows through this district, which is regularly affected by the flood caused by this river.
Education
Jawahar Navoday Vidyalaya, Pathra (Supaul) is situated 4 km east of district headquarter. This school is top in the district in producing brilliant and young minds serving in different parts of India contributing towards the advancement of the nation.
R.S.M. Public School is the first self-financed CBSE affiliated school in the district.
Williams High School (Now Supaul High School, established 1898), Supaul is the oldest school in the district.
J K High School Ratauli Jarauli is also a one of oldest public school in Supaul.
There is also a Government Polytechnic College.
Supaul College of Engineering established in 2017.
Notable people
- R K Singh, IAS is a former Indian bureaucrat served as Home Secretary to GoI and a Member of the Indian Parliament since May 2014.
- Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP spokesperson and former Union Minister is also from Supaul.
- Udit Narayan was born in the village of Baisi in the district of Supaul.
- Sharda Sinha
- Lalit Narayan Mishra
- Govind Kumar Singh Fashion Designer
- Prabesh Choudhary Cyber Security Expert
Sub-divisions
Supaul district comprises the following four Sub-divisions:
- Supaul Sadar
- Birpur
- Triveniganj
- Nirmali
Blocks in Supaul District
Total 11 blocks in Supaul District:
- Basantpur (Parts of Birpur Sub-division)
- Raghopur (Parts of Birpur Sub-division)
- Pratapganj (Parts of Birpur Sub-division)
- Supaul (Parts of Supaul Sadar Sub-division)
- Kishanpur (Parts of Supaul Sadar Sub-division)
- Saraigarh-Bhaptiyahi (Parts of Supaul Sadar Sub-division)
- Pipra (Parts of Supaul Sadar Sub-division)
- Triveniganj (Parts of Triveniganj Sub-division)
- Chhatapur (Parts of Triveniganj Sub-division)
- Nirmali (Parts of Nirmali Sub-division)
- Marauna (Parts of Nirmali Sub-division)
Polity
Supaul Lok Sabha is one of the 40 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Bihar state in eastern India. This constituency came into existence in 2008 as a part of the implementation of delimitation of parliamentary constituencies based on the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India constituted in 2002.
Economy
Agriculture is the major occupation of this district and Paddy is the main crop.
In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Supaul as 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). From Dec 2012, Bivha International Child Fund is funding for education in Supaul (koshi division). Several program are funded for education, agriculture from Bivha International School, Bivha Rural Development fund, national banks, NABARD, & World Bank. A dairy farm, which produce approx 1,00,000 litres of milk per day, has been also established by Bivha Corporation in Simrahi Bazar (Supaul). There is also an egg farm, which produces approx 20,000 eggs per day, It is established by M/S Koshi egg layer farm in parsauni village (Supaul). Pamal foundation started operation from its base center located at Bivha Business Center, Simrahi.
Demographics
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 350,636 | — |
| 1911 | 361,484 | +0.31% |
| 1921 | 349,040 | −0.35% |
| 1931 | 369,329 | +0.57% |
| 1941 | 372,219 | +0.08% |
| 1951 | 431,547 | +1.49% |
| 1961 | 663,339 | +4.39% |
| 1971 | 854,589 | +2.57% |
| 1981 | 1,087,762 | +2.44% |
| 1991 | 1,342,841 | +2.13% |
| 2001 | 1,732,578 | +2.58% |
| 2011 | 2,229,076 | +2.55% |
| source:[14] | ||
According to the 2011 census Supaul district has a population of 2,229,076,roughly equal to the nation of Latvia or the US state of New Mexico. This gives it a ranking of 204th in India (out of a total of 640) districts.The district has a population density of 919 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,380/sq mi). Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 28.62%. Supaul has a sex ratio of 925 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 59.65%.
At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 76.31% of the population in the district spoke Maithili, 12.84% Hindi, 9.30% Urdu and 1.25% Bengali as their first language.
Urban and Rural Supaul
Supaul District urban population 2011
Out of the total Supaul population for 2011 census, 4.74 percent lives in urban regions of district. In total 105,558 people lives in urban areas of which males are 55,788 and females are 49,770. Sex Ratio in urban region of Supaul district is 892 as per 2011 census data. Similarly child sex ratio in Supaul district was 932 in 2011 census. Child population (ages 0–6) in urban region was 17,654 of which males and females were 9,140 and 8,514. This child population figure of Supaul district is 16.38% of total urban population. The average literacy rate in Supaul district as per census 2011 is 72.74%, of which males and females are 80.78% and 63.64% literates respectively. In actual number 63,939 people are literate in the urban regions, of which males and females are 37,684 and 26,255 respectively.
Supaul District rural population 2011
As per 2011 census, 95.26% population of Supaul districts lives in rural areas of villages. The total Supaul district population living in rural areas is 2,123,518 of which males and females are 1,099,495 and 1,024,023 respectively. In rural areas of Supaul district, sex ratio is 931 females per 1000 males. If child sex ratio data of Supaul district is considered, figure is 945 girls per 1000 boys. Child population in the age 0-6 is 419,703 in rural areas of which males were 215,813 and females were 203,890. The child population comprises 19.63% of total rural population of Supaul district. Literacy rate in rural areas of Supaul district is 56.89% as per census data 2011. Gender wise, male and female literacy stood at 69.03 and 43.82 percent respectively. In total, 969,344 people were literate of which males and females were 609,988 and 359,356 respectively. All details regarding Supaul District have been processed by us after receiving from Govt. of India. We are not responsible for errors to population census details of Supaul District.[19]
Culture
The well-known historical and religious place, namely Durga Sthan, parsarma lies in Supaul district and it is only 10 km (6 mi) away from the district headquarters.
- Rajbiraj (10 km towards north in Nepal, is a historic city which houses the famous 8th century Rajdevi Temple and close to Chinnamasta shakti Peeth. It also has lot of displays of the region’s culture. It is just off the Kunauli border.
Vishnu Mandir, temple based on south indian architecture and dedicated to lord Vishnu has become a major tourist destination in the district. This adds a south Indian essence to the Mithila culture of the area. It is situated on the national highway 106.
Transportation
- Supaul is well connected to other cities by road as two national highways pass through it namely 106 and 57. NH57 connects it to major cities like Silchar, Gauhati Siliguri, Forbesganj, Mujjafarpur, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Porbandar. There are regular buses to the state’s capital Patna and the national capital, Delhi.
- Currently rail transport is available in the whole district. It earlier existed in the form of narrow gauge connecting it to Saharsa and Forbesganj. But the conversion of narrow gauge into broad gauge is happening at a tremendous pace. Soon it will be connected not only to Forbesganj and Saharasa but also to Darbhanga, Mujjafarpur and many other cities of India.
- The then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002 led the foundation stone of New Kosi Mahasetu Bridge which was washed away in heavy flood and severe India-Nepal earthquake in 1934.New bridge was inaugurated in 2020 by Narendra Modi which was constructed at a cost of Rs. 516 crore. The length of the bridge is 1.9 Km. With this bridge Forbesganj and Saharasa and Raghopur – Saraigarh DEMU became first train to cross this bridge.