Dakshin 24 Pargana

Dakshin District 24 Pargana ; দক্ষিণ চব্বিশ পরগণা জেলা
State	West Bengal
Division :	Presidency
Administrative headquarters :	Alipur
Area :	9,960 km²
Residents :	8,161,961 (2011 census)
Website :	s24pgs.gov.in

Mud house, cowshed and fields

The district Dakshin 24 Pargana ( Bengali দক্ষিণ চব্বিশ পরগণা জেলা ) or South 24 Parganas ("southern 24 Parganas ") is part of the Indian state of West Bengal . The capital is the city of Alipur , just a few kilometers southwest of Calcutta , which is one of the most expensive residential areas in India.

geography

The district Dakshin 24 Pargana, located in the delta of the Ganges, borders in the south on the Bay of Bengal , in the west on the Hugli river and the districts Purba Medinipur and Haora and in the north and east on the district Uttar 24 Pargana . The average height is around 5 m above sea level. d. M .; the climate is mostly humid and rainy , especially in the monsoon months from June to October. The largest cities in the district are Maheshtala (approx. 450,000), Budge Budge (approx. 80,000) and Diamond Harbor (approx. 45,000) on Hugli as well as Rajpur Sonarpur (approx. 430,000) and Baruipur (approx. 55,000) inland.

population

Official population statistics have only been kept and published since 1991.

year	1991	2001	2011
Residents	5,715,030	6,906,689	8,161,961

Hindus predominate mainly in the rural villages (about 63% of the total population); in the cities, the proportion of Muslims (approx. 35.5% of the total population) is also significant. As is usual with censuses in northern India, the male population exceeds the female share by around 5%. Approx. 75% of the people live in rural villages and only about 15% live in cities.

economy

The district is largely agriculturally oriented; the soils of the Sundarbans are fertile, but crops (mainly rice and sugar cane ) are threatened by floods and storms. Cattle breeding and fishing are also carried out on a small scale. The region around the capital Alipore is partially industrialized.

history

Jatar Deul Temple

The fertile alluvial land in the Ganges Delta prompted people to settle down early on - settlements are archaeological as early as the 2nd / 3rd Century proven, but they were washed away again and again. During the Mughal period and under British rule , the jungle landscape was used as a hunting area. In 1757 the Bengal Nawab ceded 24 lands to the British East India Company . The British were the first to try to establish an administration in the vast area.

Attractions

Landscape of the Sundarbans

The main attraction of the district is the mangrove landscape of the Sundarbans , criss-crossed by numerous watercourses . In 1984 the 1330 km² Sundarbans National Park was established, which has become an internationally known tourist destination because of its flora and fauna ( Bengal tigers , birds, butterflies, etc.). It was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987 and forms a natural unit with the part that was placed under protection in 1997 to the east of Bangladesh .
Approx. 5 km from the small town of Raidighi is the Jatar Deul Tower Temple, which belongs to a subgroup of the Bengali temples .