Kashmir division explained

Kashmir division
Settlement Type:Region administered by India as an Administrative division
Image Map1:Kashmir Division in Greater Kashmir.svg
Map Caption1:A map of the Kashmir division (in red) of the Indian UT of Jammu and Kashmir in the Kashmir region.
Coordinates:34.2333°N 114°W
Subdivision Type:Administering country
Subdivision Name:India
Subdivision Type1:Union territory
Subdivision Type2:Districts
Subdivision Name1:Jammu and Kashmir
Subdivision Name2:Anantnag, Baramulla, Budgam, Bandipore, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian and Srinagar.
Parts Type:Historical divisions
P1:Kamraz (North Kashmir)[1]
P2:Yamraz (Central Kashmir)
P3:Maraz (South Kashmir)
Government Type:Division
Leader Title:Divisional Commissioner
Leader Name:Vijay Kumar Bidhuri
Seat Type:Capital
Seat:Srinagar
Unit Pref:Metric
Area Total Km2:15,948
Length Km:135[2]
Length Mi:83.885
Width Km:32
Width Mi:19.884
Elevation M:1620
Elevation Ft:5314
Population Total:6,888,475[3]
Population As Of:2011
Population Density Km2:431.93
Population Demonym:Kashmiris, Koshur
Demographics Type1:Ethnicity and language
Demographics1 Title1:Languages
Demographics1 Info1:Kashmiri, Urdu, Hindi,[4] English,[5] Pahari-Pothwari, Gojri, Shina[6]
Demographics1 Title2:Ethnic groups
Demographics1 Info2:Kashmiri, Pahari, Gujar, Shina
Demographics1 Title3:Religion (2011)
Demographics1 Info3:96.41% Islam,
2.45% Hinduism,
0.81% Sikhism,
0.17% Christianity,
0.16% Others
Timezone1:IST
Utc Offset1:+5:30
Registration Plate:JK
Blank Name Sec1:Highest peak
Blank Info Sec1:Machoi Peak (5458 metres)
Blank1 Name Sec1:Largest lake
Blank1 Info Sec1:Wular lake[7]
Blank2 Name Sec1:Longest river
Blank2 Info Sec1:Jhelum river(725 kilometres)[8]
Website:http://kashmirdivision.nic.in/

The Kashmir division is a revenue and administrative division of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.[9] It comprises the Kashmir Valley, bordering the Jammu Division to the south and Ladakh to the east. The Line of Control forms its boundary with the Pakistani-administered territories of Gilgit−Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the north and west and west, respectively.

Its main city is Srinagar. Other important cities include Anantnag, Baramulla, Sopore and Kulgam.

Districts

The Indian administrative districts for the Kashmir Valley were reorganised in 1968,[10] and 2006,[11] each time subdividing existing districts. Kashmir Division currently consists of the following ten districts:

Name of
district 		HQ Area Population[12]
Total
(km2)		class=unsortableTotal
(sq mile)		class=unsortableRural
(km2)		Urban
(km2)		class=unsortable2001
census		2011
census
3574km2 [13] 1,078,692
410km2 [14] 424,483
1086km2 [15] 560,440
312km2 [16] 266,215
1361km2 [17] 753,745
1978.95km2 [18] 1,236,829
259km2 [19] 297,446
345km2 [20] 392,232
4243km2 [21] 1,008,039
2379km2 [22] 870,354
Total 15948km2 6,888,475

Demographics

Religion

The Kashmir division is largely Muslim (97.06%) with a very small Hindu (2.11%) and Sikh (0.58%) population.[23] Among Muslims, there are Shias and Sunnis secs, majority of whom are made up of ethnic Kashmiris, with a significant minority of Pahari-Pothwari and Gujjar-Bakarwal people mainly living at the border area adjoining Pakistani administrated Kashmir. However, originally the valley had a small but visible minority of Kashmiri Hindu prior to the exodus in the 1990s. It is estimated that there were over 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits who were forced to flee due to intense persecution by Kashmiri Muslim separatists, who saw them as kafirs or infidels. [24]

Language

The majority of the population speaks Kashmiri (85.28%), while the remainder speaks either Gujari, Pahari-Pothwari or Hindi.

Urdu is also widely understood as a literary language in Kashmir due to it being a medium of instruction in schools.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Spoken Kashmiri: A Language Course . 1 February 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161129222358/http://www.koshur.org/Kashmiri/introduction.html . 29 November 2016 . live .
  2. Encyclopedia: Vale of Kashmir valley, India. 2016-07-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20160804074900/https://www.britannica.com/place/Vale-of-Kashmir. 4 August 2016. live . Encyclopædia Britannica.
  3. Web site: Demography of Jammu and Kashmir State . J&K; Envis Centre, Department of Ecology Environment and Remote Sensing J&K . 18 December 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180222105221/http://www.jkenvis.nic.in/administrative_demography.html . 22 February 2018 . dead .
    This used the Digest of Statistics, 2011-12 for its data source.
  4. Web site: The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020. The Gazette of India. 27 September 2020.
  5. Web site: Parliament passes JK Official Languages Bill, 2020 . Rising Kashmir . 23 September 2020 . 23 September 2020.
  6. http://www.bolbosh.net/shina.php Shina, bolbosh
  7. Encyclopedia: Wular Lake | lake, India . 1 February 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170202125413/https://www.britannica.com/place/Wular-Lake . 2 February 2017 . live . Encyclopædia Britannica.
  8. Encyclopedia: Jhelum River | river, Asia . 1 February 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170202125406/https://www.britannica.com/place/Jhelum-River . 2 February 2017 . live . Encyclopædia Britannica.
  9. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary sources (a) through (d), reflecting due weight in the coverage. Although "controlled" and "held" are also applied neutrally to the names of the disputants or to the regions administered by them, as evidenced in sources (f) through (h) below, "held" is also considered politicized usage, as is the term "occupied," (see (i) below).
    (a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent ... has been the subject of dispute between India and Pakistan since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, the last two being part of a territory called the Northern Areas. Administered by India are the southern and southeastern portions, which constitute the state of Jammu and Kashmir but are slated to be split into two union territories.";
    (b) (subscription required) Quote: "Aksai Chin, Chinese (Pinyin) Aksayqin, portion of the Kashmir region, at the northernmost extent of the Indian subcontinent in south-central Asia. It constitutes nearly all the territory of the Chinese-administered sector of Kashmir that is claimed by India to be part of the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir state.";
    (c) C. E Bosworth, University of Manchester Quote: "KASHMIR, kash'mer, the northernmost region of the Indian subcontinent, administered partlv by India, partly by Pakistan, and partly by China. The region has been the subject of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan since they became independent in 1947";
    (d) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute betw een India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China."
    (e) Quote: "We move from a disputed international border to a dotted line on the map that represents a military border not recognized in international law. The line of control separates the Indian and Pakistani administered areas of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir.";
    (f) (subscription required) Quote: "... China became active in the eastern area of Kashmir in the 1950s and has controlled the northeastern part of Ladakh (the easternmost portion of the region) since 1962.";
    (g) Quote: "J&K: Jammu and Kashmir. The former princely state that is the subject of the Kashmir dispute. Besides IJK (Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The larger and more populous part of the former princely state. It has a population of slightly over 10 million, and comprises three regions: Kashmir Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh.) and AJK ('Azad" (Free) Jammu and Kashmir. The more populous part of Pakistani-controlled J&K, with a population of approximately 2.5 million. AJK has six districts: Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Bagh, Kodi, Rawalakot, and Poonch. Its capital is the town of Muzaffarabad. AJK has its own institutions, but its political life is heavily controlled by Pakistani authorities, especially the military), it includes the sparsely populated "Northern Areas" of Gilgit and Baltistan, remote mountainous regions which are directly administered, unlike AJK, by the Pakistani central authorities, and some high-altitude uninhabitable tracts under Chinese control."
    (h) Quote: "Kashmir’s identity remains hotly disputed with a UN-supervised “Line of Control” still separating Pakistani-held Azad (“Free”) Kashmir from Indian-held Kashmir.";
    (i) Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'."
  10. Book: Demystifying Kashmir . Navnita Chadha . Behera . Pearson Education India . 2006 . 978-8131708460 . 28.
  11. News: Jammu and Kashmir to have eight new districts . Indo-Asian News Service . 6 July 2006.
  12. Census of India 2011, Provisional Population Totals Paper 1 of 2011 : Jammu & Kashmir . Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
    Annexure V, Ranking of Districts by Population Size, 2001 - 2011.
  13. District Census Handbook Anantnag, Part A . 9 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
    District Census Handbook Anantnag, Part B . 12, 22 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
  14. District Census Handbook Kulgam, Part A . 10 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
    District Census Handbook Kulgam, Part B . 12, 22 . Census of India 2011 . 16 June 2014 . 21 November 2020.
    Part B page 12 says the area of the district is 404 km2, but page 22 says 410 km2.
  15. District Census Handbook Pulwama, Part B . 12, 22 . Census of India 2011 . 16 June 2014 . 21 November 2020.
  16. District Census Handbook Shupiyan, Part A . 10 . Census of India 2011 . 16 June 2014 . 21 November 2020.
    District Census Handbook Shupiyan, Part B . 12, 22 . Census of India 2011 . 16 June 2014 . 21 November 2020.
    Part B pages 12 and 22 say the district area is 312.00 km2, but Part A page 10 says 307.42 km2.
  17. District Census Handbook Badgam, Part A . 10, 46 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
    District Census Handbook Badgam, Part B . 11, 12, 22 . Census of India 2011 . 16 June 2014. 21 November 2020.
    Part A says the district area is 1371 km2, Part B says 1371 km2 (page 11) and 1361 km2 (page 12s and 22).
  18. District Census Handbook Srinagar, Part A . 11, 48 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
    Part A page 48 says the district area was 2228.0 km2 in 2001 and 1978.95 km2 in 2011.
  19. District Census Handbook Ganderbal, Part B . 11, 12 and 22 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
    Part B page 11 says the district area is 393.04 km2, but pages 12 and 22 say 259.00 km2.
  20. District Census Handbook Bandipora, Part A . 10, 47 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
    District Census Handbook Bandipora, Part B . 11, 20 . Census of India 2011 . 16 June 2014 . 21 November 2020.
  21. District Census Handbook Baramulla, Part A . 11 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
    District Census Handbook Baramulla, Part B . 22 . Census of India 2011 . 16 June 2014 . 21 November 2020.
  22. District Census Handbook Kupwara, Part A . 7 . Census of India 2011 . July 2016 . 21 November 2020.
    District Census Handbook Kupwara, Part B . 11, 12 . Census of India 2011 . 16 June 2014 . 21 November 2020.
  23. Web site: Population by religion community – 2011. Census of India, 2011. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. https://web.archive.org/web/20150825155850/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW00C-01%20MDDS.XLS. 25 August 2015.
  24. Web site: The Plight of Kashmiri Pandits. Praxis - The Fletcher Journal of Human Security. Praxis - The Fletcher Journal of Human Security, Tuft's University.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kashmir division".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.