Junagadh district is a district of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. Its administrative headquarters is the city of

Junagadh Junagadh () is the city and headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar (the state capital), it is the seventh largest city in the state. It i ...

Geography

The district is located on the

Kathiawar Kathiawar (), also known as Saurashtra, is a peninsula in the south-western Gujarat state in India, bordering the Arabian Sea and covering about . It is bounded by the Kutch district in the north, the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest, and by the ...

peninsula in western Gujarat. It is surrounded by Gir Somnath district (southeast), Rajkot district (north), Porbandar District (north-west), and Amreli district (east). To the south and west is the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

Porbandar Porbandar is a city and the headquarters of Porbandar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama. It was the former capital of the Porbandar State, Porbandar princely state. Porbandar and Chhaya, ...

was earlier a part of this district, before the Porbandar district was carved out of Junagadh district. Junagadh has a mountain range called Girnar which is a place of pilgrimage for

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

Divisions

Taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

as of Junagadh are Junagadh City, Bhesan subdistrict, Junagadh Rural, Keshod - in this taluka only one Ari-port on this entire JUNAGADH district, Malia, Manavadar, Mangrol, Mendarda, Vanthali, and Visavadar.

Transportation

Junagadh is well connected by road and railway networks. It is about 100 km from Rajkot and 350 km from

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

. National highway 8D connects Junagadh to Rajkot via Jetpur. Junagadh railway station is also well connected with Rajkot, Ahmedabad. It is in the city area. Junagadh also has an airport at Keshod which has limited connectivity with

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. The district has a long shoreline and has ports including Veraval, Mangrol, and Chorwad. However, it has limited use other than the fishery industry. As of October 2011, the government of India had given its approval for a ropeway on Mount and in 2021 it was completed and was inaugurated by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

. In the past, helicopter service was available for Mount Girnar but it is now discontinued.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Junagadh district has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 2,743,082, roughly equal to the nation of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

or the US state of

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. This gives it a ranking of 142nd 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 12.01%. Junagadh has a

sex ratio A sex ratio is 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. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 952 females for every 1000 males. It had a literacy rate of 67.7% in 2001 which increased to a

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of 76.88% in 2011. The divided district has a population of 1,525,605, of which 573,403 (37.59%) lived in urban areas. Junagadh had a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are 151,971 (9.96%) and 37,810 (2.48%) of the population respectively. Hindus are 1,348,315 (88.38%) and Muslims 170,338 (11.17%) of the population respectively. Gujarati was the predominant language, spoken by 97.44% of the population.

Politics

Notable personalities

* Narsinh Mehta (1414?–1481?), poet-saint, born in Talaja, Bhavnagar * Putlibai Gandhi, mother of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

* Keshubhai Patel (1928–2020), politician who served as Chief Minister of Gujarat, born in Visavadar in Junagadh * Dhirubhai Ambani (1932–2002), business magnate and entrepreneur, born at Chorwad, Junagadh * Rajendra Shukla (1942–), poet, born at Bantwa, Junagadh * Parveen Babi (1949–2005), Bollywood actress, born at Junagadh * Nawab Muhammad Mahabat Khan

Flora and fauna

Junagadh contains the Gir Forest National Park, which is the only home to Asiatic lions. Mount Girnar is also declared a forest reserve for bamboo. Girnari Giddh, the long-billed vultures, are found only on Girnar, as the Girnar region alone accounts for about 25 per cent of the species and about 10 per cent of the total vulture population in the

state.

Education

Educational and research institutions in the district include: * Junagadh Agricultural University * Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta University * GMERS Medical College and Hospital, Junagadh * Directorate of Groundnut Research

References

External links

Official websiteJunagadh Collectorate official website

Junagadh Jilla Panchayat official website
* {{Authority control Districts of Gujarat