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North 24 Parganas (abv.24 PGS (N)) or sometimesNorth Twenty Four Parganas is a district in southernWest Bengal, of eastern India. North 24 Parganas extends in thetropical zone fromlatitude 22° 11′ 6″ north to 23° 15′ 2″ north and from longitude 88º20' east to 89º5' east.Barasat is the district headquarters of North 24 Parganas. North 24 Parganas is West Bengal's most populous district[3] and also (since 2014) the most populated district in the whole of India. It is the tenth-largest district in the State by area.
The territory of Greater 24 Parganas were under theSatgaon (ancient Saptagram, now in Hoogly district) administration during theMughal era and later it was included in Hoogly chakla (district under post-Mughal Nawabi rule) during the rule ofMurshid Quli Khan. In 1757, after theBattle of Plassey, NawabMir Jafar conferred the Zamindari of 24 parganas and janglimahals (small administrative units) upon theBritish East India Company. These Parganas are: 1. Akbarpur, 2. Amirpur, 3. Asimabad, 4. Balia, 5. Baridhati, 6. Basandhari, 7. Birati, 8. Calcutta, 9. Dakshin Sagar, 10. Garh, 11. Hathiagarh, 12. Ikhtiarpur, 13. Kharijuri, 14. Khaspur, 15. Maidanmal or Mednimall, 16. Magura, 17. Mayda, 18. Manpur, 19. Murnagacha, 20. Paika, 21. Pechakul, 22. Satal, 23. Shahnagar, 24. Shahpur, and 25. Uttar Pargana (O'Mally, L.S.S. (1914) Bengal District Gazetteers: 24 Parganas. Page 44). Since then, this entire territory is known as '24 Parganas'.
In 1751, the Company assignedJohn Zephaniah Holwell aszemindar of the District.[4] In 1759, after theBengali War of 1756–1757, the Company assigned it toLord Clive as a personal Jaghir (zamindari) and after his death it again came under the direct authority of the company.
In 1793, during the rule ofLord Cornwallis, entireSunderbans were in Twentyfour Parganas. In 1802, some parganas on the western banks of river Hoogly were included into it. These parganas were inNadia earlier. In 1814, a separate collectorate was established in Twenty-four Parganas. In 1817, Falta andBaranagar and in 1820, some portions of Nadia's Balanda and Anwarpur were encompassed to it. In 1824, portions ofBarasat,Khulna and Bakhargunge (now in Bangladesh) were also included to it. In 1824, the district headquarters was shifted from Kolkata to Baruipur, but in 1828, it was removed toAlipore. In 1834, the district was split into two districts – Alipore and Barasat, but later these were united again.
In 1905, some portion of this district around the Sunderbans was detached and linked to Khulna andBarisal. These parts remained inBangladesh territories whereJessore's Bangaon was joined to Twentyfour Pargana after the 1947 partition.[citation needed]
In 1980, an administrative reform committee under the chairmanship of Dr.Ashok Mitra suggested splitting the district into two and as per the recommendation of the committee in 1983, on 1 March 1986, two new districts – North 24 Parganas (24 PGS (N)) andSouth 24 Parganas (24 PGS (S)) were created.The North 24 Parganas which was included in thePresidency division has been formed with five sub-divisions of the Greater 24 Parganas, namelyBarasat Sadar (Headquarters),Barrackpore,Basirhat,Bangaon, andBidhannagar (a satellite township of Kolkata, popularly known as Salt Lake).
On 1 August 2022, theChief Minister of West BengalMamata Banerjee announced to create two more districts namedIchamati district consisting ofBangaon subdivision and a yet unnamed district consisting ofBasirhat subdivision by bifurcating the district for better development and smooth administration purpose.[5]
The district lies within theGanga–Brahmaputra delta. The major distributary of riverGanga that is riverHooghly flows along the western border of the district. There are many other distributary branches, sub-branches of Ganga river and other local rivers, which include theIchhamati,Jamuna, andBidyadhari.
People are mainly engaged in farming, fishing and other agricultural activities. The average size of agricultural landholdings is about 3.2 Bighas. North 24 Parganas is one of the economically developed districts ofWest Bengal, but there is chronic poverty in the southern half of the district (theSundarbans area).
The information technology hub ofKolkata is at this district, which is the centre of some of the notable IT/ITES Indian andmultinational companies. Approximately 1,500 companies have their offices in Sector V.[6] Majority of the corporate offices are situated in Sector V and Sector III. Around 3.5 Lakh (by 2017) people are employed inSalt Lake City.
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The district comprises five subdivisions: Barrackpore, Barasat Sadar, Basirhat, Bangaon and Bidhannagar.
Barasat is the district headquarters. There are 35 police stations, 22 development blocks, 27 municipalities, 200gram panchayats and 1599 villages in this district.[7][8]
Other than municipality area, each subdivision contains community development blocks which in turn are divided into rural areas and census towns. In total there are 48 urban units: 27 municipalities and 20census towns and 1 cantonment board.[8][9]
This subdivision consists of the[7]Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
As per order of theDelimitation Commission in respect of thedelimitation of constituencies in the West Bengal, the district is divided into 33 assembly constituencies:[13][14]
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This district is rich in culture. Many famous places likeDakshineswar Kali Temple,Naihati Boro Maa Kali Temple,Baranagar Math[21] (first monastery of Ramakrishna Order) are situated in this district.
Many places of this district are famous for festivals –
The scale and intensity ofDurga Puja celebrations inBasirhat are among the largest in North 24 Parganas district. In terms of the number of Durga Puja pandals, the city ranks fourth in West Bengal, following Kolkata,Asansol-Durgapur, andSiliguri.[22][23] Other cities likeBaranagar,Barrackpore,Bongaon are also organise many Durga Pujas.
Kali Puja ofBarasat,Madhyamgram andNaihati are also quite famous in whole West Bengal because of its large scale celebration.Habra,Barrackpore,Basirhat,Belgharia also celebrates Kali Puja vibrantly.
Ashoknagar Kalyangarh is famous forJagatdhatri puja.
The electrifiedsuburban rail network of theER is extensive and penetrates far and deep into the neighbouring districts ofKolkata,South 24 Parganas,Nadia,Howrah,Hooghly etc.
TheCircular Rail encircles the entire city of Kolkata, and also used to provide an offshoot to connect the Dum Dum Airport, but now it is limited up to Dum Dum Cantonment. Jessore Road and Biman Bandar railway stations are closed for the construction work of Noapara–Barasat metro corridor (Yellow Line).[24]
Kolkata Metro is also a transport medium for parts of the district. Four stations ofBlue Line are located here,Dum Dum metro station atDum Dum,Baranagar metro station atBaranagar,Dakshineswar metro station atDakshineswar andNoapara metro station atNoapara.[25]
TheNetaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (IATA code:CCU), which is atDum Dum (previously known as Dum Dum Airport) inNorth 24 Parganas, is the only airport serving the cityKolkata. It operates both domestic and international flights. It is a gateway to North-East India, Bangkok, and Bangladesh. The number of people using the airport has consistently increased over the last few years.
The road network is fairly well developed. Sparsed across by state-highways, it provides a convenient means of transport. NH 12 connects the district with northern and southern region of the state and its sub roadNH 112 connect the district headquarterBarasat with the border townBangaon andPetrapole, the largest land port of India.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 1,016,001 | — |
| 1911 | 1,166,158 | +1.39% |
| 1921 | 1,239,719 | +0.61% |
| 1931 | 1,357,831 | +0.91% |
| 1941 | 1,711,806 | +2.34% |
| 1951 | 2,114,097 | +2.13% |
| 1961 | 3,127,685 | +3.99% |
| 1971 | 4,207,420 | +3.01% |
| 1981 | 5,529,497 | +2.77% |
| 1991 | 7,281,881 | +2.79% |
| 2001 | 8,934,286 | +2.07% |
| 2011 | 10,009,781 | +1.14% |
| source:[26] | ||
According to the2011 census North 24 Parganas district has apopulation of 10,009,781,[3][27] roughly equal to the nation ofBolivia[28] or the US state ofMichigan.[29] This gave it a ranking of second in India (out of a total of640) and first in its state.[3] However, in 2014 theThane district (inMaharashtra), which had been ranked first in India in 2011, was divided into two, thus promoting North 24 Parganas District to first in India. The district has a population density of 2,463 inhabitants per square kilometre (6,380/sq mi).[3] Itspopulation growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 12.86%.[3] North Twenty Four Parganas has asex ratio of 949females for every 1000 males,[3] and aliteracy rate of 84.95%. 57.28% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 21.67% and 2.64% of the population respectively.[3]
| Religion | Population (1941)[32]: 80–81 | Percentage (1941) | Population (2011)[31] | Percentage (2011) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hinduism | 927,418 | 57.09% | 7,396,769 | 73.76% |
Islam | 648,920 | 39.95% | 2,584,684 | 25.52% |
| Tribal religion | 41,105 | 2.53% | 2,930 | 0.03% |
| Others[e] | 6,994 | 0.43% | 69,398 | 0.69% |
| Total Population | 1,624,437 | 100% | 10,009,781 | 100% |
Hinduism is the main religion in the district, and especially dominates urban areas where they are nearly 90% of the population. Most Muslims are rural, and in the rural areas Hindus and Muslims are in equal proportions. In Bongaon and Sandeshkhali regions, Hindus, mainly descendants of refugees from present-day Bangladesh, dominate the rural population. But in the rest of the district, Muslims dominate the rural population.
| CD Block | Hindu | Muslim | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bagdah | 82.00% | 17.42% | 0.58% |
| Bongaon | 78.17% | 20.83% | 1.00% |
| Gaighata | 93.27% | 6.42% | 0.31% |
| Swarupnagar | 52.17% | 47.58% | 0.25% |
| Habra I | 73.51% | 25.81% | 0.68% |
| Habra II | 53.85% | 45.76% | 0.39% |
| Amdanga | 41.30% | 58.48% | 0.22% |
| Barrackpur I | 84.38% | 14.46% | 1.15% |
| Barrackpur II | 77.71% | 21.45% | 0.84% |
| Barasat I | 57.10% | 42.08% | 0.49% |
| Barasat II | 25.93% | 73.81% | 0.26% |
| Deganga | 28.79% | 70.92% | 0.29% |
| Baduria | 34.35% | 65.48% | 0.17% |
| Basirhat I | 31.24% | 68.54% | 0.22% |
| Basirhat II | 29.67% | 70.10% | 0.23% |
| Haroa | 38.76% | 61.12% | 0.12% |
| Rajarhat | 59.41% | 39.90% | 0.69% |
| Minakhan | 48.77% | 50.60% | 0.63% |
| Sandeshkhali I | 69.19% | 30.42% | 0.39% |
| Sandeshkhali II | 77.17% | 22.27% | 0.55% |
| Hasnabad | 43.35% | 56.51% | 0.14% |
| Hingalganj | 87.97% | 11.82% | 0.21% |
| Area not under any Sub-district | 89.17% | 9.84% | 0.99% |
According to the 2011 census, 88.91% of the population spokeBengali, 7.69%Hindi and 2.28%Urdu as their first language.[33]
The district is also home to theBibhutibhushan Wildlife Sanctuary, which was established in 1985 and has an area of 0.6 km2 (0.2 sq mi).[34]
 | This article's list of residentsmay not follow Wikipedia'sverifiability policy. Pleaseimprove this article by removing names that do not have independentreliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this articleand are residents, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriatecitations.(June 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Bolivia 10,118,683 July 2011 est.
Michigan 9,883,640
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