Gurdaspur district
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gurdaspur district is a district in the state of Punjab, situated in the northwest part of India. Gurdaspur is the district headquarters. It borders Narowal District of Pakistani Punjab, Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir, the Punjab districts of Amritsar and Hoshiarpur, and Chamba and Kangra districts of Himachal Pradesh. Two main rivers Beas and Ravi passes through the district. The Mughal emperor Akbar is said to have been enthroned in a garden near Kalanaur, a historically important town in the district.[1]
The current M.P.(member of Parliament) of Gurdaspur is Vinod Khanna ,the famous Bollywood actor of yesteryears who once famously remarked during his election campaign "Main Gurdaspur ko Paris mein badal doonga"(I will turn Gurdaspur into Paris).
[edit] History
During British Rule the district of Gurdaspur was a subdivision of Lahore Division, the district itself was administratively subdivided into four tehsils: Gurdaspur, Batala, Shakargarh and the disputed claimed Pathankot. According to the 1881 census the population of district was 823,695 this had risen by over 100,000 to 943,922 in the 1891 census. However the 1901 census recorded a fall in population - 940,334, this was largely due to emigration - some 44,000 settlers settling in Chenab colony. According to the 1901 census there were 463,371 Muslims (49%), 380,636 Sikhs (over 40%) and 91,756 (10%)Hindus. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who founded the Ahmadiyya movement had followers here.[2] In 1947 as part of the partition of British India - Punjab was divided between Pakistan and India, Shakargarh Tehsil became part of Sialkot District which was part of the West Punjab province of Pakistan whilst the rest of the district, retaining the name Gurdaspur, became part of India's East Punjab state.[3] The division of the district was followed by a population transfer between the two nations, with Muslims leaving for Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs arriving.
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