Pulwama district

This article is about the district. For its eponymous headquarters, see Pulwama.

The Pulwama district is an administrative district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.^[1] It is located to the south of Srinagar. Its district headquarters are situated in the city of Pulwama. It is located in the central part of the Kashmir Valley.^[5]

Pulwama district Pulwom, Pulgom
District of Jammu and Kashmir administered by India
The Islamic University of Science and Technology in Awantipora, 2015
Interactive map of Pulwama district
Pulwama district is in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region[1] It is in the Kashmir division (bordered in neon blue).
Coordinates (Pulwama): 33.87°N 74.90°E / 33.87; 74.90
Administering country	India
Union territory	Jammu and Kashmir
Headquarters	Pulwama
Area [2]
• Total	1,090 km2 (420 sq mi)
Elevation	1,630 m (5,350 ft)
Population  (2021(estimated))
• Total	650,429
• Density	600/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
• Literacy [citation needed]	65.3%
Languages
• Official	Kashmiri, Urdu, Hindi, Dogri, English[3][4]
Website	http://pulwama.gov.in

Administration

In 1979 Anantnag district split in two, with one part remaining as Anantnag district, and the other part becoming Pulwama district.^[6] When created, Pulwama district had 550 villages, grouped in five subdistricts (tehsils): Shopian, Awantipora, Pampore, Pulwama, and Tral.^[7] After Shopian district was created in 2007, Pulwama district had 331 villages and four subdistricts.^[7] According to the district administration, the area of the district is 420 square miles (1,090 km²).^[2]

Pulwama district currently has eight subdistricts,^[8] with 327 villages (eight of which are uninhabited):^[2]

Tehsils

The Pulwama district contains eight tehsils:

• Awantipora Tehsil
• Pampore Tehsil
• Pulwama Tehsil
• Tral Tehsil
• Rajpora Tehsil
• Aripal Tehsil
• Shahoora (Litter) Tehsil
• KakaporaTehsil

This district consists of five development blocks: Tral, Keller, Pampore, Pulwama and Kakapora.^[9] Each block consists of a number of panchayats.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Pulwama district has a population of 560,440,^[10] roughly equal to the nation of Solomon Islands^[11] or the US state of Wyoming.^[12] This gives it a ranking of 537th in India (out of a total of 640).^[10] The district has a population density of 598 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,550/sq mi).^[10] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 29.18%.^[10] Pulwama has a sex ratio of 912 females for every 1000 males^[10] (though this varies with religion), and is lower than the national average of 940, and a literacy rate of 64.3%.^[10]

Sex Ratio in Pulwama District in 2011 Census.[13] (no. females per 1,000 males)
Religion (and population)			Sex Ratio
Muslim (pop 535,159)			952
Hindu (pop 13,840)			106
Sikh (pop 9,440)			847
Other (pop 2,001)			500
Total (pop 560,440)			912

Religion in Pulwama district (2011)[14]
Religion			Percent
Islam			95.49%
Hinduism			2.47%
Sikhism			1.68%
Other or not stated			0.36%

Pulwama district: mother-tongue of population, according to the 2011 Census.^[15]

  Kashmiri (91.30%)

  Gojri (3.96%)

  Punjabi (1.38%)

  Hindi (1.25%)

  Others (2.11%)

Pulwama district: religion, gender ratio, and % urban of population, according to the 2011 Census.[13]
	Hindu	Muslim	Christian	Sikh	Buddhist	Jain	Other	Not stated	Total
Total	13,840	535,159	1,109	9,440	35	6	18	833	560,440
	2.47%	95.49%	0.20%	1.68%	0.01%	0.00%	0.00%	0.15%	100.00%
Male	12,515	274,104	818	5,111	26	4	10	476	293,064
Female	1,325	261,055	291	4,329	9	2	8	357	267,376
Gender ratio (% female)	9.6%	48.8%	26.2%	45.9%	25.7%	33.3%	44.4%	42.9%	47.7%
Sex ratio (no. of females per 1,000 males)	106	952	356	847	–	–	–	750	912
Urban	7,388	72,353	223	364	12	3	4	115	80,462
Rural	6,452	462,806	886	9,076	23	3	14	718	479,978
% Urban	53.4%	13.5%	20.1%	3.9%	34.3%	50.0%	22.2%	13.8%	14.4%

At the time of the 2011 census, 91.30% of the population spoke Kashmiri, 3.96% Gojri, 1.38% Punjabi and 1.25% Hindi as their first language.^[15]

Healthcare

District has got one of the best health care system in The State/Union Territory. District has 1 DNB Deemed District Hospital Pulwama, 3 Sub-District Hospitals and numerous other health institutions. One tertiary Healthcare institute is under construction in Awantipora Tehsil of the district. It will be the largest hospital in Kashmir province/division.

Pencil District

The district is widely recognized as the leading producer of slates in the country. Approximately 70 percent of the slate production in India originates from this district and is subsequently supplied to various pencil manufacturing companies. This distinctive characteristic has earned Pulwama the reputation of being the primary hub for slate production, making a significant contribution to the pencil industry. The village of Oukhoo in Pulwama district has been bestowed with the title of 'Pencil Village' by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his "Mann ki Baat" address.^[16]

Transport

District Pulwama is well connected with various transport modes.

National Highway 44 and National Highway 444 pass through Pulwama District.

There are 4 railways stations and 1 halt station located in the district. The district railway Headquarter is located at Awantipora Railway Station.

Educational institutions

Some of the notable educational institutions of Pulwama district:

• AIIMS Awantipora
• Boys Government Degree College, Pulwama
• Islamic University, Awantipora
• Women's College, Pulwama
• Paramount Institute of Education
• Govt. GNM Nursing College, Pulwama
• Phoenix Paramedical College, Pulwama
• Dolphin Paramedical College, Pulwama

Kashmir's First Synthetic hockey turf

Pulwama district in the southern Kashmir valley has achieved a significant milestone with the installation of the first synthetic hockey turf in the entire valley. This state-of-the-art stadium has been constructed to meet the growing demand for hockey facilities in the Kashmir division. The stadium has been constructed at Government Boys Higher Secondary School Pulwama, with an investment of Rs 5 crore, as part of the sports facilities enhancement plan by the government of Jammu and Kashmir. This initiative aims to improve the sporting infrastructure in the region and provide better opportunities for athletes to excel in their respective disciplines.^[17]

Anand of Kashmir

The district stands out in milk production, and is the top milk producing district in Jammu and Kashmir, which has earned it the nickname "Anand of Kashmir". According to official data, Pulwama recorded milk production of 31 crore litres in 2020, which was distributed throughout Jammu and Kashmir. In the year 2017-18, Pulwama produced 28.04 crore litres of milk. On a daily basis, Pulwama currently produces 8.5 lakh litres of milk.^[18]

Land use

The "reporting area" is the area for which data on land use classification are available. When Pulwama district was created in 1979 it had a "reporting area" of 380 square miles (980 km²).^[7] After the creation of Shopian district in 2007, the "reporting area" of Pulwama district was reduced to 240 square miles (610 km²).^[7]

Classification of use	Area in 2016–2017[19]		% total area
	sq miles	sq km
Forests	1.6	4	0.4%
Area under non-agricultural uses (roads, railways, buildings, rivers, canals)	32.4	84	8%
Barren and un-culturable land (mountains, deserts, etc.)	9.8	25	2%
Permanent pastures and other grazing lands	23.0	60	5%
Land under miscellaneous tree crops, etc.	4.3	11	1%
Culturable waste land (land that could be cultivated, that has not been cultivated in the last five years)	14.0	36	3%
Fallow lands other than current fallows (fallow for more than one year, which had been cultivated with the past five years)	0.7	2	0.2%
Current fallows (fallow this year, but cultivated the previous year)	24.6	64	6%
Net area sown (the total area sown with crops and orchards)	124.7	323	30%
Reporting area	234.6	608	56%
No data	186.1	482	44%
Total area[2]	420.9	1,090	100%
Definitions of land use classifications are given at: "Nine-fold classification of Land Use", Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, retrieved 22 July 2020

See also

• Anantnag district
• Kulgam district
• Shopian district
• Budgam district

References

1. 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) Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 15 August 2019 (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) Pletcher, Kenneth, Aksai Chin, Plateau Region, Asia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 16 August 2019 (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) "Kashmir", Encyclopedia Americana, Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006, p. 328, ISBN 978-0-7172-0139-6 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) Osmańczyk, Edmund Jan (2003), Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: G to M, Taylor & Francis, pp. 1191–, ISBN 978-0-415-93922-5 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) Talbot, Ian (2016), A History of Modern South Asia: Politics, States, Diasporas, Yale University Press, pp. 28–29, ISBN 978-0-300-19694-8 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) Kashmir, region Indian subcontinent, Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved 15 August 2019 (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) Bose, Sumantra (2009), Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Harvard University Press, pp. 294, 291, 293, ISBN 978-0-674-02855-5 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) Fisher, Michael H. (2018), An Environmental History of India: From Earliest Times to the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, p. 166, ISBN 978-1-107-11162-2 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) Snedden, Christopher (2015), Understanding Kashmir and Kashmiris, Oxford University Press, p. 10, ISBN 978-1-84904-621-3 Quote:"Some politicised terms also are used to describe parts of J&K. These terms include the words 'occupied' and 'held'."
2. "About District", Pulwama District, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, retrieved 22 July 2020
3. "The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020" (PDF). The Gazette of India. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
4. "Parliament passes JK Official Languages Bill, 2020". Rising Kashmir. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
5. "Pulwama", District Administration, Pulwama, Jammu And Kashmir. Developed And Hosted By National Informatics Centre, Ministry Of Electronics & Information Technology, Government Of India, retrieved 19 January 2021
6. "About District/", District Anantnag, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, retrieved 23 July 2020
7. "District background". Pulwama District, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
8. "About District/ Administrative Setup/ Tehsil", Pulwama District, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, retrieved 22 July 2020
9. Statement showing the number of blocks in respect of 22 Districts of Jammu and Kashmir State including newly Created Districts Archived 2008-09-10 at the Wayback Machine dated 2008-03-13, accessed 2008-08-30
10. "District Census 2011". Census2011.co.in. 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
11. US Directorate of Intelligence. "Country Comparison:Population". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2011. Solomon Islands 571,890 July 2011 est.
12. "2010 Resident Population Data". U. S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 30 September 2011. Wyoming 563,626
13. C-1 Population By Religious Community – Jammu & Kashmir (Report). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
14. "Pulwama district population". Census India 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
15. C-16 Population By Mother Tongue – Jammu & Kashmir (Report). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
16. "Oukhoo in J-K's Pulwama is known as India's 'Pencil Village'". 6 October 2022.
17. "Government spends crores to build first International Hockey Stadium in Kashmir". 23 September 2021.
18. "Pulwama emerges as Anand of Kashmir". 16 September 2020.
19. "Demography", Pulwama District, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, retrieved 22 July 2020
    Note that this is marked square kilometres, but the numbers are actually hectares.

External links

• Official website