Batticaloa District ( ; ) is one of the 25

districts 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, subdivisions ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, the second level

administrative division Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a

District Secretary A Government Agent (GA) or a District Secretary is a Sri Lankan civil servant of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service appointed by the central government to govern a certain district of the country. The GA is the administrative head of public servic ...

(previously known as a Government Agent) appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the district is the city of

Batticaloa Batticaloa (, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu'', ; , ''Maḍakalapuwa'', ) is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the Batticaloa District. The city is the seat of the Eastern Univers ...

Ampara District Ampara District (; ) is one of the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, districts of Sri Lanka, the second-level administrative divisions of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a Government Agent (Sri Lanka), Distric ...

was carved out of the southern part of Batticaloa District in April 1961.

Geography

Batticaloa District is located in the east of Sri Lanka in the Eastern Province. It has an area of .

Administrative units

Batticaloa District is divided into 14 Divisional Secretary's Division (DS Divisions), each headed by a Divisional Secretary (previously known as an Assistant Government Agent). The DS Divisions are further sub-divided into 346 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GN Divisions).

Demographics

Population

Batticaloa District's population was 525,142 in 2012. The population of the district mostly Sri Lankan Tamil. The population of the district, like the rest of the east and

north North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

, was affected by the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. The war killed an estimated 100,000 people. Several hundred thousand Sri Lankan Tamils, possibly as much as one million,

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

during the war. Many Sri Lankan Tamils also moved to the relative safety of the capital

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. The war also caused many people from all ethnic and religious groups who lived in the district to flee to other parts of Sri Lanka, though most of them have returned to the district since the end of the civil war.

Ethnicity

Religion

Poverty

In 2016 the district was one of the poorest in Sri Lanka and had the fourth-highest incidence of

extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...

according to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

Politics and government

Local government

Batticaloa District has 12

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

of which one is a Municipal Council, two are Urban Councils and the remaining nine are Divisional Councils (Pradesha Sabhai or Pradeshiya Sabha).

Notes

References

External links

Batticaloa District Secretariat
{{Provinces and Districts of Sri Lanka Districts of Sri Lanka