Kokrajhar
Kokrajhar is a town in the Bodoland Territorial Region, an autonomous territory in Assam, one of the North Eastern states of India.
History
Under the Kingdom of Bhutan
From the early 17th century to 1865, the Kokrajhar district was under the control of the Kingdom of Bhutan, until the Duar Wars in 1865, when the British removed the Bhutanese influence and later the areas were merged into the undivided Goalpara district of the Indian Union in 1949.Geography
Kokrajhar is located at. It has an average elevation of 38 metres.Demographics
As per 2011 Indian census, Kokrajhar had a population of 34,136.Indian census, Kokrajhar had a population of 31,152. Males constitute 52% of the population and females constitute 48% of the population. Kokrajhar has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 71%: male literacy is 84%, and female literacy is 74%. In Kokrajhar, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age. The district has 3 sub divisions Kokrajhar, Gossaigaon and Parbotjhora.
Language
is the most spoken language at 17,693 speakers, followed by Bodo at 8,549, Hindi spoken by 2,946 people and Assamese at 2,752, with smaller but significant number of Bhojpuri, Rajbanshi, Nepali and Marwari speakers.Transportation
is situated west from Kokrajhar town.Kokrajhar is served by the government owned Assam State Transport Corporation, Bodoland Transport Services and many private bus operators.
The Kokrajhar railway station lies on the New Jalpaiguri–New Bongaigaon section of Barauni–Guwahati line under the Northeast Frontier Railway with services to important cities of the country like Guwahati, Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai etc.
Important trains like Rajdhani Express, Kamrup Express, Brahmaputra Mail, North East Express, Vivek Express, Kolkata – [Guwahati Garib Rath Express|Garib Rath Express], Avadh [Assam Express] etc. have their stoppage at Kokrajhar railway station.
Education
The town has many schools and colleges with English being the sole medium of instruction in higher education. All the colleges under the jurisdiction of Bodoland Territorial Council is affiliated under Bodoland University since 2017.Secondary schools
Universities and colleges
- Bodoland University, Kokrajhar
- Kokrajhar University
- Commerce College, Kokrajhar
- Science College, Kokrajhar
- Bineswar Brahma Engineering College, Kokrajhar
- Central [Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar]
- Kokrajhar [Medical College and Hospital]
Politics
Kokrajhar consists of three assembly constituencies: Kokrajhar East, Kokrajhar West and Gossaigaon, which all are part of Kokrajhar (Lok Sabha constituency).Joyanta Basumatary from United [People's Party, Liberal] is the current member of Lok Sabha from Kokrajhar [Lok Sabha constituency].
Notable personalities
- Halicharan Narzary, national footballer
- Hagrama Mohilary, ex chief of BTC and chairperson of Bodoland People's Front
- Durga Boro, footballer
- Bineshwar Brahma, politician, poet, teacher
- Apurna Narzary, national footballer