Mandi district

Mandi district is one of the central districts of Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. The town of Mandi is the headquarters of the district.

The main native language is Mandeali.

As of 2011, it is the second most populous district of Himachal Pradesh (out of 12), after Kangra.

Demographics

Population

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a.
1901 228,721
1911 236,038 +0.32%
1921 239,376 +0.14%
1931 265,873 +1.06%
1941 303,685 +1.34%
1951 310,626 +0.23%
1961 384,259 +2.15%
1971 515,180 +2.98%
1981 644,827 +2.27%
1991 776,372 +1.87%
2001 901,344 +1.50%
2011 999,777 +1.04%
source:

According to the 2011 census, Mandi district has a population of 999,777 roughly equal to the nation of Fiji or the US state of Montana. This gives it a ranking of 446th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 253 inhabitants per square kilometre (660/sq mi).

Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 10.89%. Mandi has a sex ratio of 1012 females for every 1000 males and a literacy rate of 82.81%. 6.27% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 29.38% and 1.28% of the population respectively.

Religion

Religions in Mandi district (2011)
Religion Percent
Hinduism
98.16%
Islam
0.95%
Sikhism
0.41%
Other or not stated
0.48%
Religious groups in Mandi State (British Punjab province era)
Religious
group
1901[7] 1911[8][9] 1921[10] 1931[11] 1941[12]
Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. % Pop. %
Hinduism [a] 170,304 97.85% 178,115 98.35% 181,358 98.01% 199,935 96.37% 227,463 97.79%
Islam  3,187 1.83% 2,799 1.55% 3,462 1.87% 6,351 3.06% 4,328 1.86%
Buddhism  510 0.29% 164 0.09% 76 0.04% 138 0.07% 208 0.09%
Sikhism  41 0.02% 26 0.01% 142 0.08% 899 0.43% 583 0.25%
Christianity  3 0% 4 0% 10 0.01% 141 0.07% 11 0%
Jainism  0 0% 2 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Judaism  0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 1 0% 0 0%
Zoroastrianism  0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Others 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Total population 174,045 100% 181,110 100% 185,048 100% 207,465 100% 232,593 100%
Note: British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.

Language

Languages of Mandi district (2011)

  Mandeali (59.11%)
  Pahadi (33.32%)
  Hindi (4.10%)
  Others (3.47%)

At the 2011 census, 59.11% of the population in the district identified their first language as Mandeali, 33.32% opted for Pahari (a term broadly applicable to most Indo-Aryan languages of Himachal and Uttarakhand), while 4.1% chose Hindi, 0.66% – Punjabi and 0.47% – Kangri.

Subdivisions

Mandi district Divived in to 12 Sub divisions:

  • Mandi Sadar
  • Balh
  • Sundar Nagar
  • Sarkaghat
  • Dharampur
  • Joginder Nagar
  • Padhar
  • Gohar
  • Thunag
  • Karsog
  • Balichoki
  • Kotli

Villages in the district include Janjheli, which falls in Thunag Tehsil. It is near Kullu-Manali, around 80 km from Bhunter Airport, 90 km from Kullu and 67 km from Mandi. It has thick deodar forests, sprawling apple orchards, and springs. It is a trekking/hiking outpost. Shikari Devi is a tourist spot. It hosts Himachal Cultural Village, an ethnic village highlighting the culture of Himachal Pradesh.

Politics

No. Constituency Member Party Remarks Reference
26 Karsog (SC) Hira Lal Bhartiya Janata Party
27 Sundernagar Rakesh Jamwal Bhartiya Janata Party
28 Nachan (SC) Vinod Kumar Bharatiya Janata Party
29 Seraj Jai Ram Thakur Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Minister
30 Darang Jawahar Thakur Bharatiya Janata Party
31 Jogindernagar Prakash Rana Bharatiya Janata Party Defected From Independent To BJP[16]
32 Dharampur Mahender Singh Bharatiya Janata Party Jal Shakti Minister
33 Mandi Anil Sharma Bharatiya Janata Party MPP and Power Minister (27.12.2017–13.04.2019) [17]
34 Balh (SC) Inder Singh Bharatiya Janata Party [18]
35 Sarkaghat Inder Singh Bharatiya Janata Party Chairman, Subordinate Legislation Committee [19]

Education

Universities and colleges

IIT Mandi Campus Jan 2020
  • Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT Mandi)
  • Jawaharlal Nehru Government Engineering College
  • Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cluster University
  • Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College & Hospital Mandi
  • College of Horticulture and Centre of Excellence for Horticulture Research and Extension, Thunag
  • Atal Bihari Vajpayee University of Medicine and Health Sciences (upcoming)

Schools

  • Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mandi

Polytechnics

  • Govt Polytechnic Sundernagar
  • Industrial Training Institute (ITI) Mandi

Sports

The district is home to the Bandy Federation of India which is a member of the IOC recognized Federation of International Bandy.

Famous People

  • Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Mohit Kumar, Professor for “Computational Intelligence in Automation (apl)” at the University of Rostock, Germany, Key Researcher Data Science and Research Team Lead AI Regulations and Sec
    urity at Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Austria.[23]