| Faridkot district | |
| Settlement Type: | District of Punjab |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  India |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Punjab |
| Subdivision Type2: | Headquarters |
| Subdivision Name2: | Faridkot |
| Established Date: | 13th Century |
| Founder: | Raja Mokalsi |
| Named For: | Sheikh Fariduddin Ganjshakar |
| Leader Title: | Deputy Commissioner |
| Leader Name: | Vineet Kumar, IAS |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 1458 |
| Elevation M: | 196 |
| Population Total: | 617,508 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Rank: | 17 |
| Population Density Km2: | 424 |
| Population Demonym: | Faridkotian, Faridkotiya |
| Demographics Type1: | Languages |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Official |
| Demographics1 Info1: | Punjabi |
| Timezone1: | IST |
| Utc Offset1: | +5:30 |
| Postal Code Type: | PIN |
| Postal Code: | 151203 |
| Area Code Type: | Telephone code |
| Area Code: | +91-1639 |
| Blank1 Name Sec1: | Sex ratio |
| Blank1 Info Sec1: | 1000/890 ♂/♀ |
| Blank2 Name Sec1: | Literacy |
| Blank2 Info Sec1: | 69.60% |
Faridkot district is a district lying in the South-Western part of Punjab, India with Faridkot city as the district headquarters.
The district is named after its headquarters, Faridkot city, which in turn is named in the honor of Baba Farid, who was a Sufi saint and a Muslim missionary. The town of Faridkot was founded during the 13th century as Mokalhar by Raja Mokalsi, the grandson of Rai Munj, a Bhatti Chief of Bhatnair, Rajasthan. According to popular folklore, the Raja renamed Mokalhar to Faridkot after Baba Farid paid a visit to the town. It remained the capital during the reign of Mokalsi's son Jairsi and Wairsi.educational city
The region was a self-governing princely state during the British Raj period.[1] Prior to independence, a large part of the district was under the rule of the Maharaja of Faridkot and later it became a part of the Patiala & East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) in 1948. Before independence the Muslim population was 35% mainly from Jat, Mochi, Arain and Tarkhan castes who migrated to Pakistan and settled mainly in Okara, Kasur, Pakpattan and Bahawalnagar Districts. Faridkot was carved out as a separate district on 7 August 1972 out of the areas of erstwhile Bathinda District(Faridkot Tehsil) and Ferozepur District(Moga and Muktsar Tehsils). Further, in November 1995 the Faridkot District was trifurcated when two of its subdivisions viz. Muktsar and Moga were given the status of independent districts.
Prior to independence large part of the district was under the princely rule of Sikh Maharaja of Faridkot and later it became part of the Patiala & East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) in 1948. Faridkot was carved out as a separate district on 7 August 1972 out of the areas of Bathinda District (Faridkot Tehsil) and Ferozepur District (Moga and Muktsar Tehsils). However, in November 1995, the Faridkot District was trifurcated when two of its subdivisions viz Muktsar and Moga were given the status of independent districts.
Faridkot district is surrounded by district Ferozepur in the North-West, Muktsar in the South-West, Bathinda in the South, and Moga in the West. The District covers an area of 1469 km2. which is 2.92% of the total area of the State and accommodates a population of 552,466, which is 2.27% of the total population of the State. It has three Subdivisions/ Tehsils namely Faridkot, Kotkapura and Jaito and a Sub Tehsil namely Sadiq comprising a total of 171 villages. Faridkot District has two development blocks namely Faridkot and Kotkapura.
In 2020, Faridkot has been made new police division. Earlier, Faridkot was part of Ferozepur police division. Moga and Mukatsar districts were also attached with Faridkot police division.
| No. | Constituency | Name of MLA | Party | Bench | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 87 | Faridkot | Gurdit Singh Sekhon | Government | ||
| 88 | Kotkapura | Kultar Singh Sandhwan | Government | ||
| 89 | Jaitu (SC) | Amolak Singh | Government | ||
The Faridkot district contains 2 Cities Faridkot, Kotkapura. More than 7 towns/villages are quite notable in the Faridkot area such as Jaitu, Bajakhana, Panjgarain Kalan, Deep Singh Wala, Golewala, Jhok Sarkari, Doad, Ghugiana, Sadiq, Chand Bhan, etc. Faridkot is a hub for premier educational institutions. North India's only Medical University, also named after Baba Farid is in Faridkot besides Medical
- Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Engineering and Dental Colleges.
According to the 2011 census Faridkot district has a population of 617,508,[2] roughly equal to the nation of Solomon Islands[3] or the US state of Vermont.[4] This gives it a ranking of 519th in India (out of a total of 640).[2] The district has a population density of 424PD/sqkm.[2] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 12.18%.[2] Faridkot has a sex ratio of 889 females for every 1000 males,[2] and a literacy rate of 70.6%. Scheduled Castes made up 38.92% of the population.[2]
The table below shows the sex ratio of Faridkot district through decades.
| 2011 | 890 | |
| 2001 | 883 | |
| 1991 | 883 | |
| 1981 | 879 | |
| 1971 | 866 | |
| 1961 | 849 | |
| 1951 | 856 |
The table below shows the child sex ratio of children below the age of 6 years in the rural and urban areas of Faridkot district.
| 2011 | 844 | 854 | |
| 2001 | 797 | 820 |
| 1901[7] | 1911[8] [9] | 1921[10] | 1931[11] | 1941[12] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52,721 | 55,397 | 66,658 | 92,880 | 115,070 | |||||||
| 35,996 | 37,105 | 44,813 | 49,912 | 61,352 | |||||||
| 35,778 | 37,377 | 38,610 | 20,855 | 21,814 | |||||||
| 406 | 409 | 473 | 550 | 800 | |||||||
| 11 | 6 | 107 | 167 | 247 | |||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Others | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Total population | 124,912 | 130,294 | 150,661 | 164,364 | 199,283 | ||||||
The table below shows the population of different religions in absolute numbers in the urban and rural areas of Faridkot district.Note:- The separation of Moga and Muktsar district from Faridkot in 1995 caused significant changes in the population numbers after that year.
| Hindu | 1,12,625 | 28,738 | 97,765 | 21,937 | 1,97,618 | 98,506 | |
| Sikh | 1,00,593 | 3,69,196 | 93,290 | 3,33,814 | 1,42,770 | 9,87,591 | |
| Muslim | 1,503 | 1,622 | 729 | 1,010 | 447 | 4,697 | |
| Christian | 743 | 484 | 543 | 396 | 1,181 | 1,209 | |
| Other religions | 1,587 | 417 | 1,244 | 164 | 15,538 | 656 |
At the time of the 2011 census, 91.79% of the population spoke Punjabi and 6.91% Hindi as their first language.[14]
The number of registerd doctors in the Faridkot district were 1,345 and 2,997 registered nurses, as of year 2018.[15] [16]
The table below shows the data from the district nutrition profile of children below the age of 5 years, in Fridkot, as of year 2020.
| Stunted | 13,534 | 28% | 35% | |
| Wasted | 4,931 | 10% | 23% | |
| Severely wasted | 1,328 | 3% | 11% | |
| Underweight | 9,973 | 21% | 27% | |
| Overweight/obesity | 1,313 | 3% | 1% | |
| Anemia | 32,889 | 76% | 61% | |
| Total children | 48,111 |
The table below shows the district nutrition profile of Fridkot of women between the ages of 15 to 49 years, as of year 2020.
| Underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m^2) | 31,663 | 16% | 11% | |
| Overweight/obesity | 76,581 | 39% | 24% | |
| Hypertension | 50,788 | 26% | 12% | |
| Diabetes | 29,369 | 15% | NA | |
| Anemia (non-preg) | 123,249 | 63% | 43% | |
| Anemia (preg) | 6,298 | 58% | 27% | |
| Total women (preg) | 10,907 | |||
| Total women | 194,368 |
The table below shows the current use of family planning methods by currently married women between the age of 15 and 49 years, in Faridkot district.
| Female sterilization | 48.1% | 46.6% | 48.7% | |
| Male sterilization | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.2% | |
| IUD/PPIUD | 11.1% | 11.8% | 10.9% | |
| Pill | 2.4% | 2.2% | 2.5% | |
| Condom | 12.1% | 19.6% | 9.5% | |
| Any modern method | 73.9% | 80.1% | 71.7% | |
| Any method | 81.5% | 85.0% | 80.3% | |
| Total unmet need | 5.6% | 2.3% | 6.8% | |
| Unmet need for spacing | 4.1% | 1.4% | 5.1% |