Araria district

During the British Raj, the area was under the administration of a British district collector and municipal commissioner, Alexander John Forbes (1807-1890) of East India Company. Forbes had a bungalow at the same location. Consequently, the area was known as 'residential area' also abbreviated as 'R-area'. Over time, the name transformed to 'Araria' and the neighbouring subdivision came to be known as 'Forbesganj'.^[2]

Araria district is a part of the Mithila region.^[3] Mithila first gained prominence after being settled by Indo-Aryan peoples who established the Mithila Kingdom (also called Kingdom of the Videhas).^[4]

During the late Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Kingdom of the Videhas became one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla. The kings of the Kingdom of the Videhas were called Janakas.^[5] The Mithila Kingdom was later incorporated into the Vajjika League, which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.^[6] The territory of the district became Araria sub-division of the former Purnia district in 1964. Araria district was formed in January 1990 as one of the administrative districts of under Purnia Division.^{[citation needed]}

Araria district occupies an area of 2,830 square kilometres (1,090 sq mi).^[14]

National Highway 27 runs through the district.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006 the Indian government named Araria one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640)^[15] and it is also in the list of 112 aspirational districts of India by NITI Aayog. It is one of the 36 districts in Bihar receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).^[15]

According to the 2011 census Araria district has a population of 2,811,569,^[17] roughly equal to the nation of Jamaica^[18] or the US state of Utah.^[19] This gives it a ranking of 139th in India (out of a total of 640).^[17] The district has a population density of992 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,570/sq mi) .^[17] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 30%.^[17] Araria has a sex ratio of 921 females for every 1000 males,^[17] and a literacy rate of 55.1%.^[17] 6.00% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 13.61% and 1.38% of the population respectively.^[17]

Hinduism is the majority religion. Muslims are majority in Araria and Jokihat blocks, and are in near-majority in Palasi block.^[20]

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 28.71% Urdu, 25.05% Hindi, 20.57% Maithili, 2.17% Bengali, 2.10% Kulhaiya, 1.91% Surjapuri and 1.05% Santali as their first language. The main language is Maithili, mainly the Thethi and Eastern Maithili dialects, although most people record their language as Hindi or Urdu in the census. There is a presence of Surjapuri speakers in Sikti and Palasi, and Kulhaiya is a major Maithili dialect spoken by the Kulhaiya Muslim community in this district.^[21]

The district is divided into two subdivisions, Forbesganj subdivision and Araria subdivision.^{[citation needed]}

• Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', novelist and story writer.
• Family of Mohammed Taslimuddin
  • Mohammed Taslimuddin Former Union Minister of State^[22]
  • Mohammed Shahnawaz Alam, Indian politician and MLA
  • Sarfaraz Alam, Indian politician and MLA
• Subrata Roy, chairman of Sahara Group
• Quaiser Khalid IPS, Maharashtra Cadre, Poet, Educationist^[23]

• Districts of Bihar
• Araria Lok Sabha constituency