Chirang District 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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the

Bodoland Territorial Region The Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) is an Autonomous administrative divisions of India, autonomous division in Assam, India, and a Proposed states and union territories of India#Assam, proposed state in Northeast India. It is made up of five ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

state in the

North-East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

of India.

Etymology

The word "Chirang" has derived from

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 ...

word – "chi" means water and "rang" means "rain". It may also be a copy of

Tsirang District Tsirang District (; ; previously Chirang) is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) of Bhutan. The administrative center of the district is Damphu. Tsirang is noted for its gentle slopes and mild climates. The dzongkhag is also noted for its ric ...

of neighbouring

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

. On the other hand, most of the people regarded the word Chirang is derived from the Bodo word Chirang or Sirang. Si means life and Rang means Money.

History

Duars

Chirang district falls under the Eastern Duars which includes the region between the

Sankosh river Sankosh (also Puna Thsang Chu, and Svarnakosha) is a river that rises in northern Bhutan and empties into the Brahmaputra in the state of Assam in India. In Bhutan, it is known as the Puna Tsang Chu below the confluences of several tributaries ...

and the

Manas river The Manas River (pron: �mʌnəs, known in Bhutan as the Drangme Chhu, is a transboundary river in the Himalayan foothills between southern Bhutan, India, and China. It is the largest of Bhutan's four major river systems, with the other three ...

. Guma,

Bijni Bijni is a town in Chirang district under the jurisdiction of Bodoland Territorial Council which controls the districts of the Bodoland Territorial Region in the state of Assam. History Bijni is one of the Duars under Eastern Duars. Bijni was ...

and Chirang Dooars are three important Dooars in Chirang district.

Under the Kingdom of Bhutan

From early 17th-century present-day Chirang district was under the control of

Kingdom of Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, till the

Duar War The Duar War (or Anglo-Bhutanese War) was a war fought between British India and Bhutan in 1864 to 1865. It has been the only military conflict between the two states since 1774. Background Across the nineteenth century, British India commiss ...

s in 1865 when

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

removed the Bhutanese influence and later the areas were merged to

undivided Goalpara district The Undivided Goalpara district is an erstwhile district of Assam, India, first constituted by the British rulers of Colonial Assam. Establishment Historical background The region was part of Kamarupa in the first millennium, subsequently a part o ...

of the Indian Union in 1949. The

Druk Desi The Druk Desi (, Wylie: 'brug sde-srid; also called Deb Raja)The original title is , Wylie: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. was the title of the secular (administrative) rulers of Bhutan under the dual system of government between the seventeenth and ni ...

(

Dzongkha Dzongkha (; ) is a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script. The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language ...

: འབྲུག་སྡེ་སྲིད་) of

appointed Paro

Penlop Penlop (Dzongkha: དཔོན་སློབ་; Wylie transliteration, Wylie: ''dpon-slob''; also spelled Ponlop, Pönlop) is a Dzongkha term roughly translated as provincial governor. Bhutanese penlops, prior to unification, controlled certain ...

to look after the Duars, who in turn appointed local people as

Subah A ''Subah'' is a term for a province or state in several South Asian languages. It was introduced by the Mughal Empire to refer to its subdivisions or provinces; and was also adopted by other polities of the Indian subcontinent. The word is derive ...

or Laskar, below this was an officer called Kamta who was appointed directly by the Deb Raja of Bhutan.

Present

It is a relatively new district in the

. Chirang district has been carved out from

Bongaigaon district Bongaigaon district (Prpn:ˈbɒŋgaɪˌgãʊ) is an administrative district in the state of Assam in northeastern India. The district headquarters are located at Bongaigaon. The district occupies an area of 1,093 km2. Etymology According ...

in 2004. Sirang was an area which is covered by valuable soil, plants, trees, flora and fauna or the things which are necessary for human life. Thus, it is a place which is important for human life or the place which is just like money or valuable for life and is later come to know Si + Rang = Sirang. After some time, the word articulated to Chirang from Sirang. And thus, the word Sirang is latter known as Chirang.

Geography

Chirang is located in the lower part of

.It is located between longitudes 26.58°N (North) 90.61°E(East). The Chirang region has a plain geology. It additionally has undulating regions and the northern pieces of the area lie on the lower regions of

that has somewhat higher height, which is diminishing towards the southern pieces of the locale. The four sorts of soil found here are

Entisols Entisols are soils, as defined under USDA soil taxonomy, that do not show any profile development other than an A-horizon (or “A” horizon). Entisols have no diagnostic horizons, and are unaltered from their parent material, which could ...

Inceptisols Inceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are more developed than Entisols. They have no accumulation of clays, iron oxide, aluminium oxide or organic matter. They have an ...

Alfisols Alfisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. Alfisols form in semi-arid to humid areas, typically under a hardwood forest cover. They have a clay-enriched subsoil and relatively high native fertility. "Alf" refers to aluminium (Al) and iro ...

and

Ultisols Ultisol, commonly known as red clay soil, is one of twelve soil orders in the United States Department of Agriculture soil taxonomy. The word "Ultisol" is derived from "ultimate", because Ultisols were seen as the ultimate product of continuous ...

. The region goes under Lower

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Southwestern China, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Brahmaputra or Luit in Assamese, Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, and ...

Valley Agro-Climatic Zone. The environment is sub-tropical in nature with warm and sticky summer followed by dry and cool winter. The pre and post-storm months are eccentric and experience whimsical precipitation. Champabati River, Aie River and

Manas River The Manas River (pron: �mʌnəs, known in Bhutan as the Drangme Chhu, is a transboundary river in the Himalayan foothills between southern Bhutan, India, and China. It is the largest of Bhutan's four major river systems, with the other three ...

move through the area and join the Brahmaputra Waterway. Numerous different feeders, little creeks and streams course through locale. National protected area- *

Manas National Park Manas National Park is a national park, Project Tiger reserve, and an elephant reserve in Assam, India. Located in the Himalayan foothills, it borders the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan. The park is known for its rare and endangered ende ...

(Part) -

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

. Flora and fauna- In 1990 Chirang district became home to

, which has an area of . It shares the park with four other districts.

Climate

Chirang has a moderate climate. There is a lot of rainfall in the summer, and in the winter it is quite dry again. The average annual temperature for Chirang is 33° (

degrees Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

)and there is about 248 mm of rain in a year. It is dry for 282 days a year with an average

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

of 42% and an UV-index.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Chirang 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 482,162, roughly equal to the nation of

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

. This gives it a ranking of 547th in India (out of a total of

640 Year 640 ( DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...

). 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. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

over the decade 2001-2011 was 11.26%. Chirang 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 969

females An organism's sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and male ...

for every 1000 males, and 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 64.71%. 7.33% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 7.29% and 37.06% of the population respectively.

Religion

Bathous make up the majority, with 37.83%. Hindus are the second largest with 28.67%. Muslims are third with 22.66%.

Language

According to the 2011 census, 37.83% of the population spoke

Boro BORO (Business Objects Reference Ontology) is an approach to developing ontological or semantic models for large complex operational applications that consists of a top ontology as well as a process for constructing the ontology. It was originally ...

, 28.86%

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 ...

, 17.66% Assamese, 4.73% Santali, 4.22% Rajbongshi, 2.51% Nepali, 1.11% Kurukh and 1.06%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

as their first language.

Transportation

Gelephu, India-Bhutan International border Gelephu, India-Bhutan crossing Gelephu is 41 km from

Kajalgaon Kajalgaon is a small town and the district headquarters of Chirang district in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) of Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahm ...

, the headquarter of Chirang, 7 km from

Bongaigaon Bongaigaon () is an industrial town in the Indian state of Assam. Its urban area spans across Bongaigaon and Chirang district. It also acts as the district headquarters of Bongaigaon district and commercial and industrial hub of the west par ...

, 340 km from

Siliguri Siliguri (, ; ), also known as Shiliguri, is a major Tier ii cities in india, tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms the twin cities, Twin Cities with the neighbouring city of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeel ...

Tourism Gallery

* Kalamati The-Himalayan-Stream-in-Kalamati

* Mwnabili Picnic spot & Eco Tourism Mwnabili evening picture

* Nizlaguri Nizwra & Eco Tourism Picnic spot * Aipoali Picnic Spot * Indo-Bhutan Border Maoria Picnic spot % Eco Tourism

Administration

The district has a headquarters in

. There are 479 revenue villages in the district. Major Towns- *

Basugaon Basugaon (IPA:ˈbɑːsʊˌgɑ̃ʊ) is a neighbourhood of Bongaigaon UA and it falls under the Chirang District of Assam, India. It is situated approximately 180 km from Guwahati City in the western part of the Lower Assam Region. The name ...

* Dangtola * Kissan Bazar * Chapaguri Township- *

Dhaligaon Dhaligaon is a Township and a neighbourhood of Bongaigaon, Chirang district, Assam, 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 co ...

Bongaigaon Refinery Township Bongaigaon () is an industrial town in the Indian state of Assam. Its urban area spans across Bongaigaon and Chirang district. It also acts as the district headquarters of Bongaigaon district and commercial and industrial hub of the west part ...

Villages- *

Bengtol Bengtol is a town in Chirang District in the Indian state of Assam. It is governed by Bengtol Gram Panchayat. The nearest city is Bongaigaon, about 25 kilometers away. Demographics Bengtol Town or Bengtol Bazaar Town had a 2011 population of 54 ...

* Soulmary *

Patabari Patabari, commonly known as Patabari Island or Patabari Village, is located in Bengtol Subdivision, Chirang district in Assam, India. Kajalgaon and Bengtol are the district and sub-district headquarters of Patabari. The nearest city is Bongaigao ...

(Island) *

Koila Moila Koila Moila is a village in the Chirang district of Assam state in India.It is situated 31 km away from the district headquarter of Kajalgaon and 202 km from state capital Dispur. Educational institutes * ST Peter's E.M High school * ...

* Panbari * Subaijhar * Dadgari * Gwbwr Bazar * Laimuti F.V * Kashikotra

Education

The district has numerous colleges and higher educational institute. Notable colleges- *

Bengtol College Bengtol College, is the higher educational institution located in the district of Chirang, Assam, India. It is from NH-31 and from Bongaigaon The college is affiliated to Bodoland University. History The concept of establishing Bengtol Colle ...

. *

Bijni College Bijni College is an undergraduate college is situated on the Indo-Bhutan border, Bijni. The college is established in the year 1969 at Bijni of Chirang district in Assam. The college is affiliated to Bodoland University. History Remembering the ...

. * Upendra Nath Brahma College *

Basugaon College } Basugaon College is a higher educational institution in Basugaon, Chirang district of Assam, India. The college was established in 1986 with the aim to provide a valuable education to the society. Assam State government grants the science st ...

All the college's and higher educational institutions are Affiliated to

Bodoland University Bodoland University also known as BU, established in 2009, is a public state collegiate university located in Kokrajhar, Assam, India. It is the first university in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) along with the Lower Assam region (excep ...

Industries

Bongaigaon Refinery Bongaigaon Refinery is an oil refinery and petrochemical complex located in the town of Bongaigaon in the administrative district of Chirang district, Chirang in Assam, India. Sources {{Reflist External linkswww.swaminomics.org
Energy in ...

:The third refinery in Assam, located at

Rivers

Aie River The Aie River is a tributary of the Manas River in the Indian state of Assam. The river originates from Black Mountains (Bhutan), flows through the Chirang district of Assam and joins Manas river at Bangpari of Chirang district. ''Aie'' means ''mo ...

* Lanker River

Notable people

Pwilao Basumatary Pwilao Basumatary (born 5 March 1993) is an Indian people, Indian boxer. She won bronze medal at the International Boxing Association (amateur) Women's Youth & Junior World Championships Antalya 2011. She won bronze medal at the 2nd India Open I ...

Boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. *

Prem Singh Brahma Prem Singh Brahma (; 1952 – 2007) was the former leader of the Bodo Liberation Tigers Force and deputy chief from 1994 to 1996. He later renounced violence and joined the Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of d ...

, former leader of

Bodo Liberation Tigers Force The Bodo Liberation Tigers Force (Abbreviation, abbreviated BLTF), also known as the Bodo Liberation Tigers (abbreviated BLT), was an armed militant group that operated in the Bodo people, Bodo-dominated regions of Assam, India. The BLTF was f ...

. * Kamal Singh Narzary, former MLA *

Chandan Brahma Chandan Brahma is a politician from Assam belonging to the Bodoland People's Front who represented the Sidli Assembly constituency of Kokrajhar district from 2006 until 2021. He was first elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly in 2006 as an ...

, former minister of culture.

References¹

References²

* *

External links

Chirang District Official Website
{{Assam 2004 establishments in Assam Bodoland Cities and towns in Chirang district Districts of Assam