Kokrajhar

This article is about the municipality in India. For its namesake district, see Kokrajhar district.

Kokrajhar (ˌkɒkrəˈʤɑ:) is a town in the Bodoland Territorial Region, an autonomous territory in Assam, one of the North Eastern states of India.^[2][3][4]

Kokrajhar
Town
Kokrajhar Location in Assam, India Show map of Assam Kokrajhar Kokrajhar (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 26.4°N 90.27°E / 26.4; 90.27
Country	India
State	Assam
Territorial Region	Bodoland
District	Kokrajhar
Divisions	10 wards
Government
• Type	Municipal Board
• Body	Kokrajhar Municipality Board
Elevation	38 m (125 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	34,136
Languages
• Official	Bodo[1]
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	783370
Telephone code	03661
Vehicle registration	AS-16
Sex ratio	52:50 ♂/♀
Literacy	89.96%

History

Under the Kingdom of Bhutan

Southern Boundary of Bhutan contained the present Kokrajhar district before the 1865 Duar War

From the early 17th century to 1865, the Kokrajhar district was under the control of the Kingdom of Bhutan,^[5] 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 26.4°N 90.27°E / 26.4; 90.27.^[6] It has an average elevation of 38 metres (124 feet).

Climate

Climate data for Kokrajhar
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	30 (86)	33 (91)	38 (100)	40 (104)	38 (100)	40 (104)	37 (99)	37 (99)	37 (99)	35 (95)	32 (90)	28 (82)	40 (104)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	23 (73)	25 (77)	30 (86)	31 (88)	31 (88)	31 (88)	32 (90)	32 (90)	31 (88)	30 (86)	27 (81)	24 (75)	29 (84)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	10 (50)	12 (54)	15 (59)	20 (68)	22 (72)	25 (77)	25 (77)	25 (77)	24 (75)	21 (70)	16 (61)	11 (52)	19 (66)
Record low °C (°F)	−2 (28)	−3 (27)	4 (39)	11 (52)	16 (61)	18 (64)	20 (68)	21 (70)	20 (68)	9 (48)	0 (32)	−1 (30)	−3 (27)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	11.4 (0.45)	12.8 (0.50)	57.7 (2.27)	142.3 (5.60)	248.0 (9.76)	350.1 (13.78)	353.6 (13.92)	269.9 (10.63)	166.2 (6.54)	79.2 (3.12)	19.4 (0.76)	5.1 (0.20)	1,717.7 (67.63)
Source: wunderground.com[7]

Demographics

Religion in Kokrajhar town (2011)^[8]

1. Hindu (94.8%)
2. Muslim (2.1%)
3. others (3.1%)

As of 2001^[update] Indian census,^[9] 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

Languages spoken in Kokrajhar (2011)^[10]

1. Bengali (53.11%)
2. Bodo (25.03%)
3. Hindi (11.79%)
4. Assamese (8.06%)
5. others (1.79%)

Bengali is the most spoken language at 18,130 speakers, followed by Bodo at 8,549, Assamese is spoken by 2,752 people and Hindi at 4,024.

Languages of kokrajhar district by circle

Circle	Bodo	Bengali	Assamese	Santali	Hindi	Others
Kokrajhar (Pt)	92125	63756	40480	21103	11333
Gossaigaon (Pt)	76262	60576	34405	73103	7994
Dotma	53292	30310	49785	3833	2724
Bhowraguri	7465	37195	30225	1735	348

Transportation

Rupsi Airport is situated 66 kilometres (41 mi) 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, 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

• Don Bosco School, Kokrajhar
• U. N. Academy, Kokrajhar
• D N Himatsingka High School

Universities and colleges

• Bodoland University, Kokrajhar
• Kokrajhar Government College
• 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).^[11]

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

See also

• Kokrajhar (Lok Sabha constituency)