Tinsukia district () is one of the 34 administrative districts 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 India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The district headquarters is located at Tinsukia city. The district occupies an area of 3790 km².

Towns

Digboi Digboi (IPA: ˈdɪgˌbɔɪ) is a town and a town area committee in Tinsukia district in the north-eastern part of the state of Assam, India Crude oil was discovered here in late 19th century and first oil well was dug in 1866. Digboi is known a ...

* Doomdooma * Jagun * Kakopathar * Lido Town *

Makum Makum (IPA: mɑːkəm) is a town and a town area committee in Tinsukia district in the Indian state of Assam. It should not be mistaken for Makum Pathar (the place near Digboi where, crude oil was first struck in Asia). It is the meeting point o ...

* Margherita *

Sadiya Sadiya is a town in Tinsukia district, Assam. It was the capital of the Chutia Kingdom and after the downfall of the kingdom it became the seat of the ''Sadiya-khowa-Gohain'' of the Ahom kingdom. Extensive remains of buildings and fortifica ...

* Tinsukia

History

The area of the present district was an integral part of the

Chutiya kingdom The Chutia Kingdom (also Sadiya) was a Medieval India#Late medieval era, late medieval state that developed around Sadiya in present Assam and adjoining areas in Arunachal Pradesh."(T)he Chutiyas seem to have assumed political power in Sad ...

during the medieval period. After the defeat of the Chutias, the Ahoms placed ''Sadiya-khowa gohain'' to rule the region. Later, the Matak kingdom rose in its place after the Moamoria rebellion. The older name of Tinsukia city was ''Bengmara''. It was later made the capital of the Motok Kingdom when a member of the former Chutia royal family named Sarbananada Singha established his capital at Rangagarh situated in the bank of river Guijan. In 1791 AD, he transferred his capital to the city of Bengmara. Bengmara was built by King Sarbananda Singha with the help of his Minister, Gopinath Barbaruah (alias Godha). The city was built in the middle of the present city of Tinsukia. It was declared the 23rd district of Assam on 1 October 1989 when it was split from

Dibrugarh Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam i ...

. Several tanks were dug in the days of Sarbananda Singha viz. Chauldhuwa Pukhuri, Kadamoni pukhuri, Da Dharua Pukhuri, Mahdhuwa Pukhuri, Bator Pukhuri, Logoni Pukhuri, Na-Pukhuri, Devi Pukhuri, Kumbhi Pukhuri, and Rupahi Pukhuri. Apart from these ponds, there are many ancient roads constructed in different parts of the Muttack territory. Godha-Borbaruah road, Rangagarah road, Rajgor road, and Hatiali road were main roads within the territory. In 1823, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

first discovered tea plants in Sadiya and the first tea plantation was started in Chabua near Tinsukia. The name Chabua comes from "Chah-Buwa"/tea plantation. In 1882, the

Dibru–Sadiya Railway Dibru–Sadiya Railway (DSR) ( as, ডিব্রু-শদিয়া ৰেলৱে) was one of the pioneering railway companies in British India and the first railway service of Assam in north-east India. History This metre-gauge rail ...

was opened to traffic by the Assam Railway & Trading Company, centred on Tinsukia, and a turning point in the economic development of north-east India.

Economy

Tinsukia is an industrial district of Assam. The Oldest oil refinery in India is situated at

and places like Margherita and Ledo are famous for open cast coal mining. It is one of the most important tea-growing and processing districts in the country. Thereby, Tinsukia district has a long history of extractive industries spanning tea, coal, oil, timber, and plywood. The timber and plywood industries was halted by the Supreme Court of India when it imposed a blanket ban in 1996. Sociologist Sanjay Barbora and Geologist Sarat Phukan who grew up in eastern Assam assert,

Three crucial industrial activities – tea plantations, oil drilling sites, and collieries – that epitomised 19th and 20th century colonialism, are layered into this energised landscape.

Tinsukia is one of the premier commercial centres in

. It is an industrial district, yet it produces a sizeable amount of tea, oranges, ginger, other citrus fruits and paddy (rice). The district also has a cosmetic plant of

Hindustan Unilever Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a consumer goods company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a subsidiary of Unilever, a British company. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents, personal care products, water puri ...

(HUL).

Transport

Tinsukia is well connected by airway, national highway and railway. It is 532 km by road from

Dispur Dispur (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Assam and is a suburb at Guwahati. It became the capital in 1973, when Shillong the erstwhile capital, became the capital of the state of Meghalaya that was carved out of Assam. Dispur is the ...

, the state capital of Assam. The nearest airport is Dibrugarh Airport which is about 40 km from Tinsukia with daily connection from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

and

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. The New Tinsukia railway station connects Tinsukia with the rest of the country.

Health care Institutions

Public hospitals

Civil Hospital

ESIS Hospital

Private hospitals

* City Hospital & Research Center * Deys Nursing Home * Borthakur Nursing Home * RC Agarwal Memorial Hospital * Saint Lukes Hospital * Jeewan Jyoti Nursing Home * Swastik Nursing Home * Pinewood Hospital * Biroja Hospital * Lifeline Hospital

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Tinsukia 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 using a ...

of 1,327,929, roughly equal to the nation of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

or 4.22 percent of the total population of Assam. This gives it a ranking of 371st 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 14.51%. Tinsukia 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 948

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 70.92%. Scheduled Castes and Tribes made up 2.84% and 6.18% of the population respectively. Hindus were 1,181,347 (88.96%), Christians 76,877 (5.79%), Muslims 40,000 (3.64%) as of 2011. The majority are Assamese. There are also other immigrant communities like Bihari and Bengali. Tinisukia is a multi cultural district. According to the 2011 census, 47.81% of the population spoke Assamese, 14.1% Sadri, 10.21% Bengali, 8.54%

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 ...

, 7.51% Nepali, 2.3% Bhojpuri, 2.11% Odia and 1.46% Mising as their first language. Several other languages are spoken in Tinsukia district such as Khamti and Tai Phake.

Culture

* Bihu *

Durga Puja Durga Puja ( bn, দুর্গা পূজা), also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsava, is an annual Hindu festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga and is also celebrated ...

Kali Puja Kali Puja, also known as Shyama Puja or Mahanisha Puja, is a festival originating from the Indian subcontinent, dedicated to the Hinduism, Hindu goddess Kali. It is celebrated on the new moon day (Dipannita Amavasya) of the Hindu calendar month ...

* Karam * Tusu Festival * Chhath Puja *

Ali Ai Ligang Ali-Aye-Ligang or Ali-Ai-Ligang ''(in Assamese: আলি আঈ লৃৃৃগাং )'' a spring festivity associated with agriculture celebrated by the Mising or Mishing tribal people of Assam and other Northeast indian states on the occasi ...

* Moran Bihu * Medam Mephi

Tourism

Dibru Saikhowa National Park is famous for birds and is a

biodiversity hotspot A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the c ...

with over 350 species of avifauna providing unique habitat for globally threatened species. A safe haven for extremely rare white-winged wood duck and many migratory birds. Its feral horses are precisely sufficient to make the visitor wild. Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the last remaining lowland tropical wet evergreen forests of Assam. It spreads over an area of 300 km². in the southern and eastern parts of the district. It is home to various types of wildlife like the

hoolock gibbon The hoolock gibbons are three primate species of genus ''Hoolock'' in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae, native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, Myanmar, and Southwest China. Description Hoolocks are the second-largest of the gibbons, after ...

pig-tailed macaque The pig-tailed macaques are two macaque sister species. They look almost identical and are best distinguished by their parapatric ranges: * Northern pig-tailed macaque, ''Macaca leonina'' (Bangladesh to Vietnam, south to northern Malaysia) * Sout ...

slow loris Slow lorises are a group of several species of nocturnal strepsirrhine primates that make up the genus ''Nycticebus''. Found in Southeast Asia and bordering areas, they range from Bangladesh and Northeast India in the west to the Sulu Archip ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

, clouded leopard, and hornbill.

Places of interest

*Digboi : Digboi boasts of two modern wonders of the world – a hundred-year-old oil field still producing and the world’s oldest operating oil refinery. Tucked amid blue hills and undulating plains carpeted with emerald green tea plantations, Digboi still retains its colonial ambiance. It’s simply breathtaking to have a bird’s eye view of Digboi from the famous Ridge Hill point. On clear days, one can also see the snow-covered mountains of the eastern Himalayas. *National Oil Park : Digboi also has an oil museum and a wildlife sanctuary of unsurpassed beauty. Going down the hill, visitors will come across oil derricks of various types and other devices still declaring the glory and marvel of the now outdated innovations of the last forties. If one comes down from the hill on the other side, one will have the greatest sight of his lifetime. One may also bump across a herd of elephants or a Royal Bengal Tiger, besides some rare species of birds. *War Cemetery : The most dramatic event in Digboi’s history took place during the World War II when the belligerent Japanese came close to within three days marching distance of Digboi. These images come back as one kneels at the headstones at the Digboi War Cemetery. *Margherita : The centre of tea gardens, plywood factories, and coal mines, with many picnic spots dotting the sandy banks of the River Dihing. Cool, misty and away from the mainland, breathing in the aroma of fresh tea leaves is an experience, both rare and heartwarming. The tea gardens here are perhaps the best in the world. *Sports : The 18-hole golf course developed by the Scottish pioneers in their immutable style. In fact, Digboi can almost be called a Golfing Resort with as many as eight golf courses within close proximity, each with its own individual character and challenges.

Flora and fauna

In 1999 Tinsukia district became home to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, which has an area of . It shares the park with

Dibrugarh district Dibrugarh (Pron:ˌdɪbru:ˈgor:) is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located within the city of Dibrugarh, which the district itself is named for. The district occupies an area of 3381&nbs ...

References

External links

District Administration website
{{Coord, 27, 29, 22.07, N, 95, 21, 36.52, E, display=title Districts of Assam 1989 establishments in Assam