Dibrugarh district

Etymology

Dibrugarh derived its name from Dibrumukh. The name derived from the mouth (mukh) of the river Dibru or Dibru (Dimasa kachari word for Blister) during the reign of Suhungmung, Pharsengmung Borgohain, Chao Siulung, Kilong fought against the Sutiya king who was defeated in the battle and surrendered before the Ahom King.

History

Dibarumukh was a renowned encampment of Ahoms during Ahom Sutiya War. Dibrugarh became a separate district when it was split from Lakhimpur in 1976. On 1 October 1989 Tinsukia district was split from Dibrugarh.

Geography

Dibrugarh district occupies an area of 3,381 square kilometres (1,305 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to Russia's Vaygach Island. The district extends from 27° 5' 38" N to 27° 42' 30" N latitude and 94°33'46"E to 95°29'8"E longitude. It is bounded by Dhemaji district on the north, Tinsukia district on the east, Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh on the south-east and Sibsagar district on the north and south-west. The area stretches from the north bank of the Brahmaputra, which flows for a length of 95 km through the northern margin of the district, to the Patkai foothills on the south. The Burhi Dihing, a major tributary of the Brahmaputra with its network of tributaries and wetlands flows through the district from east to west. There is a large tract of Tropical Rainforest in its eastern and southern regions, which is a part of the Dehing Patkai wildlife sanctuary.

Economy

Tea and oil are the major revenue earners for the district. Beside these many rice and oilseed mills exist. Also there are some coal mining and petroleum production industries.

Agriculture

The majority of the population are occupied in farming of rice, sugar-cane, pulses, and fish farming.

Dibrugarh has the world's largest area covered by tea gardens. The entire district is surrounded by tea plantations and has tea factories. Many tea gardens are more than 100 years old.

Industry

The world's oldest running oil refinery is situated in Digboi (Tinsukia District). The entire district has many oil and natural gas rigs owned by the Oil India Limited and Oil and Natural Gas Commission.

The headquarters of Oil India Limited is located in Duliajan, 50 km from Dibrugarh Town.

Administrative

The Administrative System is divided into:

1. Village (1361)
2. Block (7)
3. Gaon Panchayats (93)
4. Zilla Parishad (1)

In the lower-house (Lok Sabha) of the Indian Parliament, Dibrugarh is one constituency and represented by one elected Member of the Parliament.

Notable towns

Revenue Circles

Police Stations

There are seven Assam Legislative Assembly constituencies in this district: Moran, Dibrugarh, Lahowal, Duliajan, Tingkhong, Naharkatia, and Chabua. Chabua is in the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency, whilst the other six are in the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency.

Transport

Dibrugarh is well linked by roads, railway (Dibrugarh railway station), airway (Mohanbari Airport) and waterway. There are four airfields, which were used by the British against Japanese forces in Burma during World War II.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Dibrugarh district has a population of 1,327,748, roughly equal to the nation of Mauritius or the US state of Maine. This gives it a ranking of 367th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 393 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,020/sq mi) . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 12.04%. Dibrugarh has a sex ratio of 952 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 76.22%.

Hindus 1,075,878 (90%), Muslims 53,306 (4.5%), Christians 45,040. The main communities inhabiting the district includes Tea tribes(Adivasi), Ahoms, Sutiya, Sonowal Kacharis, Muttock, Moran people, Bengali etc. There are also some Tai speaking Buddhist communities like Tai Phake, Khamti and Khamyang.

More than half of the district's population consists of Adivasi community.

Language commonly used in the district are Assamese, English, Hindi and Bengali.

Flora and fauna

In 1999 Dibrugarh district became home to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, which has an area of 340 km² (131.3 sq mi). It shares the park with Tinsukia district. It is also home to the Padumani-Bherjan-Borajan Wildlife Sanctuary, which was established in 1999 and has an area of 7.2 km² (2.8 sq mi).

Education

The district is the pivot of higher education in the entire North East India. Right from the British India period the district has been a center for learning. The Assam Medical College was established by a personal grant from Dr. John Berry White after he retired as the civil surgeon of Lakhimpur district. The medical school, "John Berry White Medical School" was set up in 1900 at Dibrugarh, and thus this premier institute started its history, and marked a new era in education. Assam Medical College has the pride of having the first Radiology department in India, as in 1910 two X-Ray machine (One 10MA and another 15MA) was bought from England, only 15 years after the discovery of X-Rays by Professor Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895-96. These two were the first X-Ray machines in India.

Apart from medical, the other higher fields of learning in the district are Pharmacology, Geology and Applied Geology and Petroleum Technology. All these courses are offered by Dibrugarh University, which was established in 1965.

Beside the University, other centres for learning are:

1. Dibrugarh Poly-technique (offering various diploma courses in Electrical, Civil and Mechanical fields).
2. Regional Medical Research Centre -RMRC (a centre for scientific and research in Bio-medical sciences where major health problems and its causes are studied).

The district came to national prominence for education in 2009 with Gaurav Agarwal of the Assam Valley School topping the country in the Class XII board examinations conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.

Notable personalities