Sirohi district

Sirohi district is a district of Rajasthan state in western India. The town of Sirohi is the district headquarters. Abu Road is the largest city in Sirohi District in terms of area and population.
As of 2011 it is the third least populous district of Rajasthan, after Jaisalmer and Pratapgarh.

History

In 1948, Sirohi was taken over by Bombay State from 15 January 1949 to 25 January 1950. Shortly thereafter, on 25 January 1950, the former state was partitioned with Abu Road tehsil and part of Delwara tehsil being joined to Bombay and the remaining portion merging with Rajasthan. At that time an area of 787 km² consisting of Abu Road tehsil and a part of Delwara tehsil was merged with then Bombay state, but it was returned to Sirohi district of Rajasthan State on 1 November 1956.
Sirohi is also called as "Dev Nagari" since ancient times because of many temples and shrines in the district. Sirohi is also famous for manufacturing of double edged Sirohi sword, from the time of the Chauhan Deora rulers until 1947.

Geography

The district has an area of 5136 km². It is bordered on the west by Jalor District, on the north by Pali District, on the east by Udaipur District, and on the south by Banaskantha District of Gujarat.
It has an area of 5139 km. Sirohi district is situated at the south-west part of Rajasthan between parallel of 24° 20′ and 25° 17′ North Latitude and 72° 16′ and 73° 10′ East Longitude.
Sirohi District is broken up by hills and rocky ranges. The granite massif of Mount Abu divides the district into two portions, running from north-east to south-west. The south and south-east part of the district, which lies between Mount Abu and the main spine of the Aravallis, is mountainous and rugged, and is drained by the West Banas River. Abu Road, a station on the main Delhi-Ahmedabad rail line, lies in the valley of the West Banas. Dry deciduous forest is common in this part of the district, and the higher elevations of Mount Abu are covered in conifer forests. Abu Road is the biggest city and the main financial hub of Sirohi District. Sirohi district has the fewest villages in Rajasthan.
The portion of the district west and north of Mount Abu is drier, lying in the rain shadow of the mountain, which blocks the southwest monsoon. The southwest corner of the district is drained by the Sukri river, an intermittent stream that drains the western slope of Mount Abu. The northwestern portion of the district is drained by tributaries of the Luni River. The Northwestern thorn scrub forests cover the western and northern portion of the district. Warada is the last village of Sirohi located on Sirohi–Siyana Road.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Sirohi district has a population of 1,036,346, roughly equal to the nation of Cyprus or the US state of Rhode Island. This gives it a ranking of 437rd in India. The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 21.86%. Sirohi has a sex ratio of 938 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 56.02%. 20.13% of the population live in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 19.48% and 28.22% of the population respectively.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 census, 76.47% of the population spoke Marwari, 7.54% Hindi, 7.04% Rajasthani and 6.44% Garasia as their first language.

Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Sirohi one of the country's 250 most backward districts. It is one of the twelve districts in Rajasthan currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.

Administrative setup

There are five Sub Divisions in the Sirohi district: Abu Road, Sirohi, Mount Abu, Sheoganj, Pindwara and Reodar, while five tehsils are Abu Road, Sirohi, Sheoganj, Pindwara, and Reodar. Five of the above tehsils have Panchayat Samitis. A total of 162 Gram Panchayts are there for 518 villages in the district and five Nagar Palikas are there for Sirohi, Sheoganj, Pindwara, Abu Road and Mount Abu. There are three sub-tehsils: Bhavri in Pindwara, Kalandri in Sirohi, and Mandar in Reodar tehsils respectively.