Kashmir division

Encyclopedia

The Kashmir division is a revenue and administrative division mostly constituting of the Kashmir Valley of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It borders Jammu Division to the south and the union territory of Ladakh to the east, while the Line of Control forms its boundary with the Pakistani-administered territories of Gilgit−Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the north and west.

Srinagar is its main city and also the summer capital of the India’s Jammu and Kashmir. Other main cities are Anantnag, Baramulla, Sopore and Kulgam.

Districts

The Indian administrative districts for the Kashmir Valley were reorganised in 1968, and 2006, each time subdividing existing districts. Kashmir Division currently consists of the following ten districts:

Name of
district		 HQ Area Population
Total
(km2)		 Total
(sq mile)		 Rural
(km2)		 Urban
(km2)		 2001
census		 2011
census
Anantnag Anantnag 3,574 1,380 3,475.8 98.2 778,408 1,078,692
Kulgam Kulgam 410 158 360.2 49.8 394,026 424,483
Pulwama Pulwama 1,086 419 1,047.5 38.6 441,275 560,440
Shopian Shopian 312 120 306.6 5.4 211,332 266,215
Budgam Budgam 1,361 525 1,312.0 49.1 607,181 753,745
Srinagar Srinagar 1,979 764 1,684.4 294.5 1,027,670 1,236,829
Ganderbal Ganderbal 259 100 233.6 25.4 217,907 297,446
Bandipore Bandipore 345 133 295.4 49.6 304,886 392,232
Baramulla Baramulla 4,243 1,638 4,179.4 63.6 843,892 1,008,039
Kupwara Kupwara 2,379 919 2,331.7 47.3 650,393 870,354
Total 15,948 6,158 15,226.4 721.5 5,476,970 6,888,475

Demographics

Religion

Religions in Kashmir Division (2011)
  Islam (96.41%)
  Hinduism (2.45%)
  Sikhism (0.81%)
  Christianity (0.17%)
  Others (0.02%)
  Not Stated (0.14%)

The Kashmir division is largely Muslim (96.41%) with a small Hindu (2.45%) and Sikh (0.81%) population. Among Muslims, about 10% are Shias, remaining being Sunni. Majority of the population is made up of ethnic Kashmiris, with a significant minority of Gujjars and Bakarwals.

Language

Kashmir division: mother-tongue of population, according to the 2011 Census.

  Kashmiri (85.50%)
  Gojri (6.27%)
  Pahari (3.86%)
  Hindi (1.36%)
  Others (3.01%)

The majority of the population speaks Kashmiri (85.50%), while the remainder speaks either Gujari, Pahari or Hindi.

Urdu is also widely understood as a literary language in Kashmir due to it being a medium of instruction in schools.