South Garo Hills is an administrative

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 counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

in the state of

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. As of 2011 it is the least populous district of Meghalaya (out of 7). The district was established in 1992.

Geography

The district headquarters are located at Baghmara. The district occupies an area of 1850 km². South Garo Hills has only 5 assembly constituency at that time but presently it has 3.

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 South Garo Hills one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the three districts in Meghalaya currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Districts

Administrative divisions

South Garo Hills district is divided into four blocks:

Demographics

According to the 2011 census South Garo Hills district 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 usi ...

of 142,334, roughly equal to the nation of

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Ameri ...

. This gives it a ranking of 604th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 41.19%. South Garo Hills 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 dev ...

of 944

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 72.39%. Scheduled Tribes make up 94.31% of the population.

Languages

Garo Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...

is the main language. Some speakers of other languages record their language as Garo in the census. Languages spoken here include A'Tong, a

Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spea ...

language spoken by 10,000 people in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

and India.

Flora and fauna

In 1986 South Garo Hills district became home to Balphakram National Park, which has an area of . It shares

Nokrek National Park Nokrek National Park, the core area of Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, is a national park located approximately 2 km away from Tura Peak in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, India. UNESCO added the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve to its list of Bio ...

(, established in 1986) with two other districts. It is also home to the Siju and Baghmara Pitcher Plant

Wildlife Sanctuaries A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

. At least one species of gecko, Cyrtodactylus karsticolus is endemic to the area.

References

External links

Official district government website
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Garo Hills District Districts of Meghalaya 1992 establishments in Meghalaya Autonomous regions of India