Dima Hasao district (), earlier called North Cachar Hills district, is an administrative district in the state of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, India. As of 2011, it is the least populous district of Assam. Dima Hasao district is one of the two autonomous hill districts of the state of Assam. The district headquarters Haflong is the only hill station in Assam, a tourist destination, also nicknamed the Switzerland of the north-east.

Etymology

"Dima Hasao" means "Dimasa Hills" in the

Dimasa language The Dimasa language is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Dimasa people of the Northeastern Indian states of Assam and Nagaland. The Dimasa language is known to Dimasas as "Grao-Dima" and it is similar to Boro, Kokborok and Garo languag ...

History

The earliest inhabitants of the present district were Mongoloid groups who preferred hilly terrain and practised their own culture, tradition and land rights, governing themselves as independent tribes. As per records of different British historians and officials, North Cachar Hills was already occupied by the Dimasa Kacharis, erstwhile old Kuki tribes viz. Biate, Hrangkhol, Hmar, Sakachep and Zeme Naga tribes, during the

British Rule in India The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

Medieval period

During the medieval period (1500–1854), Dima Hasao was part of the Dimasa Kachari Kingdom called the "Cachar Kingdom", with its capital at

Maibang Maibang (IPA: mai-bang ''mai means rice and bang means much defining a land of prosperity) is a town and a town area committee in Dima Hasao district in the Indian state of Assam. Maibang is also one of the three sub-divisions of Dima Hasao D ...

. The

Dimasa Kingdom The Dimasa Kingdom (also Kachari kingdom) was a late medieval/early modern kingdom in Assam, Northeast India ruled by Dimasa kings. The Dimasa kingdom and others (Kamata, Chutiya) that developed in the wake of the Kamarupa kingdom were examp ...

as per Ahom Buranji, stretched from the Kallang river in

Nagaon Nagaon (previously Nowgong; Assamese নগাঁও), is a town and a municipal board in Nagaon district in the Indian state of Assam. It is situated east of Guwahati. History This division was organised on the both banks of Kalang river ...

to the Kapili river. This includes parts of Cachar and North Cachar (Dima Hasao), the districts of Hojai, Nagaon, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong of

and Dimapur district, in

Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...

Colonial period

In the colonial period, Khaspur in present-day Cachar district was the administrative centre. However an internal schism led to the division of the old Cachar Kingdom into North Kachar and South Kachar. The last Dimasa king, Govinda Chandra Hasnusa, assigned Kashi Chandra the hilly tract of Cachar i.e. roughly Dima Hasao (North Kachar Kingdom), for administrative purposes. Soon the latter declared its independence over the hilly portion. That led to the treacherous murder of Kashi Chandra by Raja Govinda Chandra Hasnusa. Incensed, the son of Kashi Chandra, Tularam, incessantly created political turbulence, asserting his sovereignty over hilly portion of Cachar Kingdom. Finally, with British assistance, Tularam succeeded in carving North Cachar Hills from Cachar Kingdom. David Scott, agent to the British Raj in 1829 made an arrangement to recognise Tularam as the ruler of North Cachar (Dima Hasao). In 1850s, Tularam died and the frequent Angami raids and a grave incident at Semkhor village paved the ground to extend British influence over North Cachar. In 1853, North Cachar was annexed and made part of the Nagaon district of British Assam as a subdivision. In 1867, this sub-division was abolished and apportioned into three parts among the Cachar,

Khasi and Jaintia Hills The Khasi and Jaintia Hills are a mountainous region that was mainly part of Assam and Meghalaya. This area is now part of the present Indian constitutive state of Meghalaya (formerly part of Assam), which includes the present districts of East ...

districts, and

. The present Dima Hasao district, or formerly North Cachar Hills district was included in the old Cachar district, with Asalu being only police outpost. In 1880, this portion was constituted into a sub-division with headquarters at Gunjung under Cachar district. This headquarters was shifted to Haflong in 1895. Since then, Haflong has continued to be the headquarters. In 1951, after the adoption of the

Indian constitution The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...

, North Cachar Hills ceased to be a part of Cachar district, as specified under paragraph 20 of the sixth schedule to the constitution. This part, along with Mikir Hills, constituted a new civil district named "United District of North Cachar and Mikir Hills", which went into effect on 17 November 1951. According to a provision of the sixth schedule, two different councils were later constituted, viz., North Cachar Hills District Council and Mikir Hills District Council. Within those geographical boundaries, North Cachar Hills District Council was inaugurated on 19 April 1952.

Since Independence

On 17 November 1951, Mikir Hills and North Cachar Hills District was created with area occupying present Dima Hasao district,

Karbi Anglong Karbi may refer to: Places * Karbi, Armenia * Karbi Anglong Plateau, an extension of the Indian Plate in Assam, India * Karbi Anglong district, a district of Assam, north-eastern India Other uses * Karbi people, an ethnic group of North-eas ...

and

West Karbi Anglong district The West Karbi Anglong district is a district formed out of the existing Donka circle of Karbi Anglong district of Assam in 2016. Hamren is the headquarter of the newly formed district. The district is part of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council a ...

. On 2 February 1970, the government declared an independent administrative district, viz., North Cachar Hills District with the geographical boundary of autonomous North Cachar Hills district council. At present, this autonomous council possesses administrative control over almost all departments of the district except Law and Order, Administration, and Treasury department.

Administration

Dima Hasao comprises three subdivisions: (I) Haflong, (II) Maibang and (III) Diyungbra. The district consists of five Community Development Blocks: (I) Jatinga Valley Development Block, Mahur; (II) Diyung Valley Development Block, Maibang; (III) Harangajao ITD Block, Harangajao; (IV) Diyungbra ITD Block, Diyungmukh; and (V) New Sangbar Development Block, Sangbar. There is one municipality board viz. Haflong and three town committees in Dima Hasao viz. Mahur, Maibang and Umrangso and also mini-towns like Harangajao, Langting and Diyungbra.

Geography

The district headquarters are located at Haflong. Dima Hasao district occupies an area of ., comparable to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's Ilha Grande do Gurupá. It is the second-largest district of

after

. Dima Hasao District is surrounded by

Karbi Anglong district Karbi Anglong district is one of the 34 administrative districts of Assam in India. Diphu is the administrative headquarter of the district. The district is administered by Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council according to the Sixth Schedule of the C ...

and Nagaland on the northeast,

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...

on the east,

Hojai Hojai is a town and a municipal board in Hojai district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. It is located on the banks of the two tributaries of Brahmaputra namely Kapili and Jamuna Etymology The term Hojai means Prie ...

District to the north,

on the northwest,

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...

on the west and

Cachar district Cachar district is an administrative districts of Assam, district in the state of Assam in India. After independence the undivided Cachar district was split into four districts in Assam: Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills), Cacha ...

in the south.

Politics

Dima Hasao district is an autonomous district with Sixth Schedule status granted by the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

. The Dima Hasao District is administered by

North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council The North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC), also known as Dima Hasao Autonomous Council, is an autonomous district council in the state of Assam in India. It was constituted under the provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution o ...

(DHADC). Members of the Autonomous Council (MAC) are elected by people of Dima Hasao. The Political party who has majority MACs form the ruling party. The Autonomous Council is a powerful body and almost all the department of government are under its control except the police and Law & Order is under Assam Government.

Economy

In 2006, the Indian government named Dima Hasao one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the eleven districts in Assam currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Energy

;Kopili HEP Kopili Hydro Electric Project is a power project near Umrangso, involving two dams on Kopili river and Umrong nalla, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of Kopili. There are two power stations as part of Kopili HEP, Khandong Stage I & II (75 MW) and Kopili Stage I & II (200 MW), with total output of 275 MW.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2011 census, Dima Hasao 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 214,102, roughly equal to the nation of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. This gives it a ranking of 588th 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 13.53%. Dima Hasao 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 931

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 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 78.99%.

Ethnic groups

Dima Hasao Dima Hasao district (), earlier called North Cachar Hills district, is an administrative district in the state of Assam, India. As of 2011, it is the least populous district of Assam. Dima Hasao district is one of the two autonomous hill distr ...

is one of the three hill districts in Assam with a tribal majority population, the others being

and West Karbi Anglong. The tribal population in Dima Hasao accounts for about 70.92% of the total population of the district according to the 2011 census, the highest percentage in the state. Scheduled Castes are 2.02%. The major indigenous communities inhabiting the district are Dimasa Kachari, Karbi, Zeme Naga, Hmar, Biate and a number of minor indigenous communities including: Hrangkhol, Khasi-Pnars, Rongmei Naga, Khelma and Vaiphei. The Kuki, Hmar, Biate, Hrangkhol and Vaiphei language speakers belong to the Kuki-Chin ethnic group. Non-indigenous communities includes Kanrupi Bengali,

Gorkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

tribes, Deshwali tribes and few other communities who have made the district their home. As per the language data, the largest non-tribal communities are Bengalis (25,264: change of -7.53% from 2001), Nepalis (13,615: +9.76%), Hindi speakers (9,926: +13.83%), Assamese speakers (4,057: -26.32%), Halam-Kuki/Khelma/Riam (1,940 : +15.41%), Bodo-Kachari (1,604 : -7.82%), Meitei (1,373 : -24.64%), Tripuri (527: -21.11%), and Bishnupriya (401: -14.32%). As of the 2011 census, 67.07% of the population are Hindus, 29.57% Christians and 2.04% Muslims.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 census, 36.00% of the district spoke Dimasa, 14.00%

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, 10.00% Zeme, 8.00% Hmar, 6.00% Nepali, 5.00% Kuki, 5.00% Karbi, 3.00%

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

, 2.00% Khasi and 2.00% Assamese as their first language. Dimasa and

Haflong Hindi Haflong Hindi ( hi, हफ़लौंग हिन्दी) is the lingua franca of Dima Hasao district of Assam state of India.Col Ved Prakash, "Encyclopaedia of North-east India, Vol# 2", Atlantic Publishers Distributors;Pg 575, It is a pid ...

(a speech form of Hindi) and

are the main lingua franca in the Dima Hasao.Col Ved Prakash, "Encyclopaedia of North-east India, Vol# 2", Atlantic Publishers & Distributors;Pg 575,

Culture

Dima Hasao District is a land of sensuousness. The district is populated by various tribes and races who maintain their own dialect, culture, customs and way of living. Apart from various tribes, non-tribals also account for a sizable amount of the population. They are mostly government employees, traders, graziers living in urban and semi-urban area. The small and serene villages shelter the lovely people – warm and fascinating – and as colourful as the land itself. The district is home to Dimasa Kacharis, Zeme Naga,

Hmars Hmar, also spelled as Mar, are one of the ethnic peoples of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo living in Northeast Indian state of Manipur and Mizoram, western Myanmar (Burma) and eastern Bangladesh. Population Manipur In the 2011 census, there were 49,081 H ...

, Kukis, Biates, Hrangkhol. Judima is a very important brew made by Dimasa tribals used in ceremonies and festivals is very famous in this region. In sept 2021, Judima got GI tag by Government of India making it the first bree in northeastern part of India to bag this title.

Education

Average literacy rate of Dima Hasao in 2011 were 77.54% compared to 67.62% of 2001. All schools of Dima Hasao are run by the state government or private organisations. English is the primary languages of instruction in most of the schools. The schools are recognised either with Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA), Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) or

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

(CBSE). All Colleges of Dima Hasao are affiliated to

Assam University Assam University is a collegiate central public university located at Silchar, Assam, India. It was founded in the year 1994 by the provisions of an act enacted by the Parliament of India. The Governor of Assam is the Chief Rector and the ...

, a central university, which imparts education in both the general as well as professional streams.

College

* Haflong Government College, Haflong * J.B Hagjer Junior College, Umrangso * B. Bodo Junior College, Maibang * Hills Degree College, Haflong * J.B Hagjer Memorial Junior College, Diyungbra * Maibang Degree College, Maibang * Sengya Sambudhan Junior College, Haflong * M.C.D Junior College, Harangajao.

Schools

Prominent schools in the district: * Ever Green High School, Maibang *Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya,NEEPCO, Umrangso *Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Haflong *Lower Haflong High School. *Trinity High School, Mahur *Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sarkari Bagan, Haflong *Mahur High School, Mahur *St. Agnes Convent Higher Secondary School, Dibarai, Haflong *Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Haflong *CHT Synod Higher Secondary School, Haflong *Tularam Memorial Good Shepherd School, Gunjung *Presbyterian High School, Mahur *Langting High School, Langting *HM St. Mary's High School, Langting *Prabananda Vidya Mandir, Maibang *Raja Gobindh Chandra Aarsh Gurukulum, Diyungbra *Royal Academy, Umrangso *Jamundadevi Saraswati School * Sacred Heart High school, Umrangso * Covenant High School, Bethel, Haflong

Tourism

Dima Hasao is a land with full of natural beauties. Beautiful hilly town Haflong, which is the only hill station of Assam. The village

Jatinga Jatinga (Pron: ʤʌˈtɪŋgə or ʤæˈtɪŋgə ), a village on a ridge, is located in Dima Hasao district, Assam, India. It is south of Guwahati The village is inhabited by about 2,500 Khasi-Pnar people and a few Assamese. Jatinga, Assam h ...

is famous for mysterious suicides of birds. Some notable places of Dima Hasao are Umrangso, Panimur Falls,

, Tumjang Trek at Selkal Peak etc.

Media

Television

Radio

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

, Akashvani Haflong broadcasts from Haflong at 100.02 megahertz on FM band.

Local newspapers

* Haflong Khurang ( Dimasa weekly) *Haflong Times (English weekly) *Dima Hasao Post (English weekly) *Agape (Hmar weekly) *Shoilo Prohori (Bengali Weekly)

References

External links

District Administration website
{{Authority control Districts of Assam 1970 establishments in Assam