Poonch or Punch (''Prūntčh'' In
Kashmiri) is a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
in the
Jammu Division
The Jammu division (; ) is a revenue and administrative division within Jammu and Kashmir, a union territory of India. It consists of the districts of Jammu, Doda, Kathua, Ramban, Reasi, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur and Samba. Mos ...
of
Jammu and Kashmir, India. With headquarters in the
town of Poonch, it is bounded by the
Line of Control (boundary between Indian and
Pakistan administered Kashmir) on three sides (north, west and south). The
1947-48 war between India and Pakistan divided
the earlier district into two parts. One went to Pakistan and the other became part of the then Indian state of
Jammu and Kashmir.
Geography
Poonch district has a total area of . The district is bordered by
Kulgam district,
Shopian district
Shopian district (), known as Shupyan () in Kashmiri, is a hill district with its administrative division in Shopian town, located in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, since it is situated on the historical road commonly known a ...
and
Budgam district
Budgam district is a district in the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Created in 1979 with its headquarters at Budgam, it is the district with the largest population of Shias in the Kashmir valley.
Administration
Budg ...
in the east,
Rajouri district
Rajouri (or Rajauri) is a district of Jammu region in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Line of Control lies to its west, Poonch to its north, the Reasi district to the east and the Jammu district to its south. Rajouri is ...
to the south and
Baramulla district
Baramulla district or Varmul (in Kashmiri) is one of the 20 districts in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Baramulla town is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district covered an area of in 2001, but it wa ...
and
Haveli district, Pakistan administered Jammu and Kashmir to the north and
Poonch district, Pakistani administered Kashmir to the west.
Administration
The district headquarters is in the
Poonch city. Mr Inder Jeet is the current District Magistrate. Presently, district Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir is divided into six
tehsils
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...
:
*
Haveli Tehsil
The Haveli Tehsil is a tehsil of the Poonch district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is headquartered at the Poonch Town.
History
The History of Poonch District of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir had fou ...
*
Mandi Tehsil
*
Mendhar Tehsil
*
Surankote Tehsil
*
Mankote Tehsil
*
Balakote Tehsil
Each tehsil has its
Tehsildar
In India and Pakistan, a Tehsildar or Mamlatdar is a tax officer accompanied by revenue inspectors. They are in charge of obtaining taxes from a tehsil with regard to land revenue. A tehsildar is also known as an executive magistrate of the relev ...
, who is the administrative head. The district is further divided into eleven. blocks: Poonch, Mandi, Loran Sathra Mendhar, Mankote Balakote, Surankote and Buffliaz. The administrative head of each block is the Block Development Officer (BDO). Each block consists of a number of
panchayat
The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical men ...
s. Recently added One Sub Division(Surnkote), other is Mendhar. Poonch district has a total of 179 villages.
Economy
In 2006 the
Ministry of Panchayati Raj
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a ...
named Poonch one of the country's 250
most backward districts (out of a total of
640).
[ It is one of the three districts in Jammu and Kashmir currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).]
Politics
Poonch district has 3 assembly constituencies: Surankote, Mendhar and Poonch Haveli. On 19 November 2018, the assembly was dissolved by Governor Satya Pal Malik. The former MLA of Poonch Haveli is Shah Mohammed Tantray of JKPDP, Mohammed Akram of Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
represented the Surankote constituency and Mendhar was represented by Javid Rana of Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. Poonch district comes in Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency. The present MP of Jammu–Poonch constituency is Jugal Kishore Sharma of the BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...
.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census Poonch district, India has a population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 476,835, roughly equal to the nation of Suriname. This gives it a ranking of 548th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
over the decade 2001-2011 was 27.97%. Poonch has a sex ratio
The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species d ...
of 893 females
Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...
for every 1000 males (which varies with religion), and a literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
of 68.69%. The district is 90.45% Muslim.
Religion
, the proportions of different religions in the district were as follows: Islam (90.45%), Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
(6.84%), Sikhism
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
(2.35%), Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(0.20%), not stated (0.15%), and others (0.02%).
Only 8.1% of the district's population lived in urban areas. The proportions of religions in urban areas differed from the district as a whole, being: Islam (51.38%), Hinduism (32.82%), Sikhism (14.62%), Christianity (0.96%), not stated (0.20%), and others (0.03%).
Major clans and ethnicities include Gujjar
Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradi ...
s, Bakerwals, Muslim Jats , Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, Syeds, Punjabis, Paharis, Kashmiris
Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language, living mostly, but not exclusively, in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern ...
and Muslim Rajput
Muslim Rajputs are the descendants of Rajputs of Northern regions of the Indian subcontinent who are followers of Islam. They converted from Hinduism to Islam from the medieval period in India onwards, retaining historically Hindu surnames suc ...
s. mostly reside on the slopes of mountains. The inhabitants typically cultivate small plots of land, and own some cattle. Gujjars
Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...
and Bakerwals (nomadic tribes) speak Gojri
Gojri (, ), also known as Gujari, Gujri, Gojari, or Gojri, is a variety of Rajasthani spoken by the Gurjars and other tribes of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In India, the language is mainly spoken in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, ...
, apart from Kashmiris the rest of the population speak Pahari-Pothwari
The Indo-Aryan language spoken on the Pothohar Plateau in the far north of Pakistani Punjab, as well as in most of Pakistan's Azad Kashmir and in western areas of India's Jammu and Kashmir, is known by a variety of names, the most common of wh ...
, Poonchi, Kaghani besides Punjabi and only a minuscule population may be speaking Dogri
Dogri ( Name Dogra Akkhar: ; Devanagari: डोगरी; Nastaliq: ; ) is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, with smaller groups of speakers in adjoining regions of western Himachal Prad ...
.
Transportation
Air
The Poonch Airport is a non-operational airstrip located in Poonch which is mainly used by the Indian Army. The nearest airport is Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport
Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport also known as Srinagar Airport and Budgam Airbase, is an international airport serving Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is owned by the Indian Air Force, and the Airports Author ...
in Srinagar which is located around 180 kilometres from Poonch town.
Rail
There is no railway connectivity to Poonch yet. There are plans to build the Jammu–Poonch line in the near future to connect Poonch with Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...
. The nearest major railway station is Jammu Tawi railway station
Jammu Tawi (station code: JAT) is a railway station in Jammu city in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Background
Jammu Tawi is the largest railway station in Jammu and Kashmir. It is a major railhead for other places in the re ...
which is located 235 kilometres from district headquarters Poonch.
Road
Poonch district is connected to the summer capital Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...
by the NH 144A alongside other intra-district roads. It also has road connectivity with Srinagar through the picturesque Mughal Road. There are plans to upgrade the existing NH 144A to four-lane for faster movement of traffic. A bus across the LOC, the Poonch– Rawalakot bus has helped to re-establish ties across the border.
Gallery
Image:Poonch1.jpg
Image:Poonch2.jpg
Image:Poonch3.jpg
Image:Poonch4.jpg
Image:Poonch5.jpg
See also
* 1947 Poonch Rebellion
In spring 1947, an uprising against the Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir broke out in the Poonch jagir, an area bordering the Rawalpindi district of West Punjab and the Hazara district of the North-West Frontier Province in the fut ...
* 1963 Poonch Indian Air Force helicopter crash
On Friday, 22 November 1963, an Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopter of the Indian Air Force crashed in Poonch district enroute to Poonch town, killing all six people on board. Six distinguished officers of the Indian Armed Forces were on board, ...
* Poonchi (disambiguation)
* Moghul road
* Pir Panjal
The Pir Panjal Range ( Kashmiri: ) is a group of mountains in the Lesser Himalayan region, running from east-southeast (ESE) to west-northwest (WNW) across the Indian territories of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and then Pakistan's ...
* Poonch Division
The Poonch Division ( ur, ) is a first-order administrative division of the Pakistani dependent territory of Azad Kashmir. It comprises the portion of the former Poonch District of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir that came under Pakista ...
(Pakistan)
References
External links
Official website of District Poonch
2011 District Census Handbook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poonch District
Districts of Jammu and Kashmir
Minority Concentrated Districts in India