Karimganj district, officially Sribhumi district,[3] is one of the 35 districts of the Indian state of Assam. The district headquarters and largest town is Karimganj. Located in southern Assam, it shares borders with the Indian state of Tripura and the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. Alongside Cachar and Hailakandi, it forms the Barak Valley region. Historically, the area formed part of Sylhet District, and the Karimganj subdivision was created in 1878 with Karimganj town as its headquarters.[4] Following the Partition of India in 1947, the truncated Karimganj subdivision remained in India and was incorporated into Cachar district as a full-fledged subdivision.[5] It was carved out of Cachar district and upgraded to a separate district on 1 July 1983.[6]

Etymology

Rabindranath Tagore referred to the region as Sribhumi (শ্রীভূমি), and in November 2024, the district was officially renamed to reflect Tagore's vision.[7] Previously known as Karimganj, the district derived its name from Muhammad Karim Chowdhury, a Bengali Muslim mirashdar who established a bazaar (market) near the confluence of the Natikhal and Kushiyara rivers.[8]

History

The present-day district formed part of the historic Sylhet region. From the medieval period, the area successively came under the kingdoms of Kamarupa and Samatata, the Bengal Sultanate, and later the Mughal Empire. Following the grant of the Diwani of Bengal to the British East India Company in 1765, the region became part of British-administered Sylhet district.[9]

The Karimganj subdivision was created in 1878 under Sylhet district, with Karimganj town as its headquarters.[9] The subdivision played a role in the Indian independence movement, including the Chargola Exodus, regarded as one of the earliest organised labour movements in the region.[9]

At the time of the Partition of India in 1947, most of Sylhet district was transferred to East Pakistan following the Sylhet referendum. However, the Ratabari, Patharkandi, Badarpur and part of the Karimganj thana areas remained in India. The truncated Karimganj subdivision was subsequently incorporated into Cachar district of Assam as a full-fledged subdivision.[9] The final boundary award came into effect on 17 August 1947, when the retained areas of the subdivision were formally incorporated into India.[10]

The subdivision was upgraded to a district on 1 July 1983 by a Government of Assam notification issued on 14 June 1983.[9]

Renaming

On 19 November 2024, the Assam Cabinet approved the renaming of Karimganj district as Sribhumi district. According to the state government, the name was adopted in reference to Rabindranath Tagore's description of the region as "Sribhumi" and to reflect its cultural heritage. The renaming was subsequently notified by the Government of Assam.[11]

Protests and objections to renaming

The Assam government’s decision to rename Karimganj district as Sribhumi sparked widespread protests and objections from local residents, civil society groups, and opposition parties. Critics argued that the move lacked public consultation and undermined the district’s historical and cultural identity. Nearly 300,000 people signed a memorandum submitted to the Governor opposing the renaming, calling it politically motivated.[12]

A 12-hour bandh was observed on 3 September 2025, backed by the Congress, Left parties, and several local organisations.[13] Clashes broke out between protesters and police during demonstrations, resulting in injuries and detentions.[14]

In early 2025, more than 200,000 citizens signed another petition urging the government to retain the name Karimganj, describing the renaming as unilateral and harmful to the district’s heritage.[15]

Geography

A typical house of Karimganj

Karimganj district occupies an area of 1,809 square kilometres (698 sq mi),[16] comparatively equivalent to Alaska's Afognak Island.[17] It is bordered on the northeast by Cachar District, east and south by Hailakandi District, south by Mizoram, southwest by Tripura state, and on the west and northwest by Bangladesh. Karimganj, the administrative headquarters and main town of the district, also bears the same name. Karimganj town is located on the northern fringe of the district adjoining Bangladesh by the Kushiyara River.

Its distance from Guwahati – the largest city of Assam - is approximately 330 km by road and about 350 km by rail. Distances to other important cities are as follows: Silchar – 55 km, Shillong – 220 km, Agartala – 250 km. Flanked on two sides by the Kushiyara and Longai rivers, Karimganj town is located just on the Bangladesh border, with the Kushiyara river flowing in between. One prominent feature of the place is a long and winding canal called Noti Khal, meandering through the town. Earlier, it used to be a connecting riverway between Kushiyara and Longai, facilitating river communication and also balancing water levels between the two rivers. Now, however, this canal has been blocked at several places through embankments and landfills to pave the way for road transport and construction works. Karimganj and the Barak valley have been prone to serious flooding for decades. The recent floods that caused significant damage were in 1976, 1988, and 2007.[18][19][20]

Wildlife

The forests of Karimganj were once rich in wildlife but are now vanishing due to hunting, deforestation, and urbanisation.[21] Rare species found in the region include the Tiger, Hoolock gibbon, Porcupine, Golden Langur, Monkey, Fox, Asian Elephant, Giant river otter, macaws, parrots, Parakeets, Hornbill, different types of local and migratory birds, Snakes, Capybara, etc.[22][23] These animals are found mostly in the Patharia Hills reserve forest. Many have suggested it be named an official wildlife sanctuary due to its biodiversity, with another sanctuary being created in the southern part of the forest named Dhaleswari Wildlife Sanctuary.[21][24][25]

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901215,521—    
1911243,399+1.22%
1921251,172+0.31%
1931266,007+0.58%
1941291,320+0.91%
1951378,324+2.65%
1961465,198+2.09%
1971582,108+2.27%
1991827,063+1.77%
20011,007,976+2.00%
20111,228,686+2.00%
source:[26]

According to the 2011 census, Karimganj district has a population of 1,228,686,[2] roughly equal to the nation of Bahrain[27] or the US state of New Hampshire.[28] This gives it a ranking of 392nd in India (out of a total of 640).[2] The district has a population density of 673 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,740/sq mi).[2] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 20.74%.[2] Karimganj has a sex ratio of 961 females for every 1,000 males,[2] and a literacy rate of 79.72%. 8.93% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 12.85% and 0.16% of the population respectively.[2]

Religion

Religion in Karimganj district (2011)[29]
Religion Percent
Islam
 
 56.36%
Hinduism
 
 42.48%
Christianity
 
 0.98%
Other or not stated
 
 0.18%

Religious demographics are as follows:[29]

Population of circles (sub-districts) by religion
Circle Muslims (%) Hindus (%) Christians (%) Others (%)
Karimganj 57.16 42.36 0.22 0.26
Badarpur 64.91 34.49 0.37 0.24
Nilambazar 75.30 24.24 0.35 0.12
Patharkandi 45.74 51.55 2.49 0.23
Ramkrishna Nagar 40.28 58.42 1.21 0.09

According to 2011 Indian Census, the Muslims form majority in the district constituting 56.4% of the population, with Hindus at 42.5% of the population, followed by 1.0% Christians. Small populations of Jain, Buddhists and Sikhs also reside in the district.[29]

Language

Languages in Karimganj district (2011)[30]
  1. Bengali (86.8%)
  2. Hindi (5.70%)
  3. Bishnupriya Manipuri (2.00%)
  4. Bhojpuri (1.65%)
  5. Others (3.81%)

Bengali and Meitei (Manipuri) are the official languages of Karimganj district.[31][32]

According to the 2011 census, 86.84% of the district spoke Bengali, 5.70% Hindi, 2.00% Bishnupriya and 1.65% Bhojpuri as their first language.[30] Bengali is the official language in Karimganj along with the other two districts of Barak valley which includes, Hailakandi and Cachar.[33][34] Although Bengali is the official language, the most common spoken language is Sylheti, often considered as a dialect of Bengali.[35][36] It is also spoken in other districts of the Barak Valley.[37]

Notable minority languages include Bishnupriya and Meitei, Dimasa, and Kokborok. There are also small tribal communities like Hrangkhol, Kuki, Khasi, and Sakachep.

Administration

Divisions

Karimganj district has one subdivision and five revenue circles (tehsils): Karimganj, Badarpur, Nilambazar, Patharkandi and Ramkrishna Nagar. The district contains two statutory towns, Karimganj and Patharkandi, seven police stations (Karimganj, Badarpur, Ramkrishna Nagar, Patharkandi, Ratabari, Nilambazar and Bazaricherra), and 95 gram panchayats.

Politics

There are five Assam Legislative Assembly constituencies in the district: Ram Krishna Nagar, Patharkandi, Karimganj North, Karimganj South, and Badarpur. Of these, Ram Krishna Nagar is reserved for Scheduled Castes.[38] All five constituencies are part of the Karimganj Lok Sabha constituency.[39]

Judiciary

The district judiciary is headed by the District and Sessions Judge, Sribhumi. The judicial establishment traces its origins to the post-1857 period, when civil and criminal courts were established at Latu village. In 1886, the courts were shifted to Karimganj town. Following the creation of Karimganj district in 1983, a separate District and Sessions Court was established for the district.[40]

As of 2026, the district judiciary comprises 11 courts functioning under the District and Sessions Judge, including civil and criminal courts. The district also has three Foreigners’ Tribunals.

Economy

Karimganj is an agricultural district

The town of Karimganj is an important centre of trade and commerce in northeastern India. Its river port is capable of handling large volumes of cargo carried by ships coming through rivers via Bangladesh. Karimganj is also a border trade centre and import-export business worth crores of rupees carried out through the custom trade point at Dakbangla Ghat in the town and the Sutarkandi Custom Station.

Karimganj is an agricultural district. Historically, tea has been the major agricultural product of the Cachar region including Karimganj.[41]

Transport

The nearest airport is Kumbhirgram (85 km) near Silchar, in Cachar. Karimganj town is also an important river port and has seasonal cargo and freight transport links with Kolkata through river ways via Bangladesh.

Railway

New BG station, Karimganj Junction

Karimganj town is linked via both rail and road transport with the rest of India. Karimganj town has a railway junction, with broad gauge lines connecting Assam with Tripura pass through this station. Badarpur railway station is the biggest junction of the district.

Road

The most popular mode of passenger transport is road. A good number of buses - mostly night services - ply between Karimganj and Guwahati daily. Direct long-distance bus services are also available to Shillong, Agartala, and Aizawl. Communication with Silchar, Badarpur, Patharkandi and other nearby places is also mainly dependent on road transport, with services by all sorts of light and heavy vehicles available at frequent intervals.

Sutarkandi international border crossing

The district is home to the Sutarkandi International border crossing, which is on Bangladesh–India border on Karimganj-Beanibazar route.

Notable people

See also

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Jahagirdar, Vaidehi (21 November 2024). "Assam govt issues notification on renaming Karimganj district to Sribhumi". India TV News. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "District census 2011 - Karimganj" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. 2011.
  3. ↑ Kalita, Kangkan (20 November 2024). "Karimganj now Sribhumi: Assam renames district to honour Tagore's vision". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  4. ↑ "History". Government of Assam. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  5. ↑ "History". Government of Assam. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "History". Government of Assam. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  7. ↑ Parashar, Utpal (19 November 2024). "Karimganj district renamed as Sribhumi, honours Tagore's vision: Himanta Sarma". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  8. ↑ "Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma announces renaming of Karimganj district; it will now be called Sribhumi". Mint. 20 November 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "History". Government of Assam. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  10. ↑ "Why Assam's Karimganj flew a Pakistan flag for 3 days in August 1947". Hindustan Times. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  11. ↑ Kalita, Kangkan (20 November 2024). "Karimganj now Sribhumi: Assam renames district to honour Tagore's vision". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  12. ↑ "Assam: Memorandum submitted to Governor opposing the renaming of Karimganj to Sribhumi". India Today NE. 31 December 2024.
  13. ↑ "12-hr bandh called in Sribhumi on Sept 3 over dist's name change". The Times of India. August 2025.
  14. ↑ "Protesters, Cops Clash During Bandh Over Renaming Assam's Karimganj District". NDTV. 6 September 2025.
  15. ↑ "Assam: 2.17 lakh Sribhumi citizens write to Governor to retain old name". The Sentinel Assam. 2 January 2025.
  16. ↑ Srivastava, Dayawanti et al. (ed.) (2010). "States and Union Territories: Assam: Government". India 2010: A Reference Annual (54th ed.). New Delhi, India: Additional Director General, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Government of India. p. 1116. ISBN 978-81-230-1617-7. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  17. ↑ "Island Directory Tables: Islands by Land Area". United Nations Environment Program. 18 February 1998. Retrieved 11 October 2011. Afognak 1,809km2
  18. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ↑ Phanindra Goyari. "Flood Damages and Sustainability of Agriculture in Assam." Economic and Political Weekly 40, no. 26 (2005): 2723-729. .
  20. ↑ "Web Archives". www.worldbank.org. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  21. 1 2 Talukdar, N.R., Choudhury, P. (2017). Conserving wildlife wealth of Patharia Hills reserve Forest, Assam, India: a critical analysis. Global Ecology and Conservation 10:126–138.
  22. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1999). Status and Conservation of the Asian elephant Elephas maximus in north-eastern India. Mammal Review 29(3): 141-173.
  23. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (2004). Vanishing habitat threatens Phayre's leaf monkey. The Rhino Found. NE India Newsletter 6:32-33.
  24. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1983). Plea for a new wildlife refuge in eastern India. Tigerpaper 10(4):12-15.
  25. ↑ Choudhury, A.U. (1983). Plea for a new wildlife sanctuary in Assam. WWF - India Newsletter 4(4):15.
  26. ↑ "Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India". www.censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  27. ↑ US Directorate of Intelligence. "Country Comparison:Population". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2011. Bahrain 1,214,705 July 2011 est.
  28. ↑ "2010 Resident Population Data". U. S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 18 November 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011. New Hampshire 1,316,470
  29. 1 2 3 "Table C-01 Population By Religion: Assam". census.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  30. 1 2 "Table C-16 Population By Mother Tongue: Assam". censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
  31. ↑ "Govt withdraws Assamese as official language from Barak valley". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 9 September 2014. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  32. ↑ Purkayastha, Biswa Kalyan (24 February 2024). "Assam recognises Manipuri as associate official language in four districts". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  33. ↑ Ahmed, Ohi Uddin (2019). "The Mahimal Community of Sylhet-Cachar Region:A Historical Study with Special Reference to the Regional Ecology". History Research Journal. 5 (5): 1116.
  34. ↑ Gourav Singh (2019). "The Mahimal Community of Sylhet-Cachar Region: A Historical Study with Special Reference to the Regional Ecology". History Research Journal. 5 (5): 1116.
  35. ↑ Gope, Amalesh (2018). "The phoneme inventory of Sylheti: Acoustic evidences". Journal of Advanced Linguistic Studies. 7.
  36. ↑ Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 81. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID 149759441. Along the linguistic continuum of eastern Indic languages, Sylheti occupies an ambiguous position, where it is considered a distinct language by many and also as a dialect of Bengali or Bangla by some others
  37. ↑ Tuṅga, Sudhāṃśu Śekhara (1995). Bengali and Other Related Dialects of South Assam. Mittal Publications. p. 56. ISBN 978-81-7099-588-3.
  38. ↑ "List of Assembly Constituencies showing their Revenue & Election District wise break-up" (PDF). Chief Electoral Officer, Assam. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  39. ↑ "List of Assembly Constituencies showing their Parliamentary Constituencies wise break-up" (PDF). Chief Electoral Officer, Assam. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  40. ↑ "History". Sribhumi District Judiciary. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  41. ↑ Socio-economic and Political Problems of Tea Garden Workers: A Study of Assam. Mittal Publications. 1 January 2006. p. 66. ISBN 978-81-8324-098-7.

24°52′00″N 92°21′00″E / 24.8667°N 92.3500°E / 24.8667; 92.3500

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karimganj_district