Gurdaspur district is a district in the Majha region of the state of Punjab, India. Gurdaspur is the district headquarters. It internationally borders Narowal District of Pakistani Punjab, and the districts of Amritsar, Pathankot, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. 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. The district is at the foothills of the Himalayas.
As of 2011 it is the third most populous district of Punjab (out of 22), after Ludhiana and Amritsar. Batala, with 31% of the district's population, is its largest city.
History
thumb|300px|Coin of Dharaghosha, king of the [[Audumbaras, in the Indo-Greek style, from Gurdaspur district, c. 100 BCE.]]
Medieval period
On 14 February 1556 AD, Akbar was crowned as emperor at Kalanaur, a town in the district, after the death of his father Humayun.
This area was used as a base by Banda Singh Bahadur to raid the area up to Lahore. The Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah conducted an expedition against him in 1711, but with only temporary effect. Banda Singh Bahadur fought his last battle against Mughals at Gurdas Nangal and was captured.
On 17 May 1746, the Chhota Ghallughara (smaller Sikh genocide) took place. Approximately 10,000 to 15,000 Sikhs were killed in battle on a single day in Kahnuwan, near Gurdaspur. Under the Lahore governorship of Yahiya Khan, Lakhpat Rai (revenue minister) and Shah Navaz Khan were directed to avenge the killing of Lakhpat Rai's brother, Jaspat Rai. An official decree to exterminate Sikhs was issued.
In about 1633 CE, during the rule of Shah Jahan, the Badshahi canal was constructed for carrying waters to the Shalimar Gardens at Lahore. Maharaja Ranjit Singh constructed Hansali canal to carry waters to the tank of the Golden Temple.
British Raj
thumb|right|280px|Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, which commemorates the first Sikh commune founded by [[Guru Nanak on the right bank of Ravi, went to Pakistan in the Partition of India]]
Gurdaspur district was annexed by the British from its former Sikh rulers after the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848–1849. 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 Pathankot. During the India's first war of independence, on 12 July 1857, battle of Trimmu Ghat was fought between the forces of British and Indian rebel sepoys on the left bank of Ravi. Trimmu Ghat was about 9 miles west of Gurdaspur city in the district. Most of the Indian rebel sepoys were killed in the battle.
According to the 1881 census the population of the 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 Hindus (over 40%) and 91,756 (10%) Sikhs. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who founded the Ahmadiyya movement had followers here.
During the partition of India in 1947 the future of Gurdaspur was highly contested. According to the 1941 census, the population of this district had a narrow 51.14% Muslim majority. Radcliffe Award of the boundary gave only the Shakargarh tehsil of the district to Pakistan, and the rest to India. The Muslim population of the eastern tehsils migrated to Pakistan as refugees, and the Hindus and Sikhs of Shakargarh migrated to Gurdaspur after crossing the Ravi Bridge. They settled and spread in the Gurdaspur district. According to the 1951 census, there were around 2,97,581 displaced persons who had settled in the district, who formed about 34.96% of the district population. Of the total displaced persons 1,59,716 were males and 1,37,865 females. The origin of most of them were pakistani districts of Sialkot (1,93,182), Shakargarh (43,203), Lyallpur (17,783) and Shekhupura (8,826).
Modern India
New tehsil of Dera Baba Nanak was created in 1995 and Dhar Kalan in 1996.
On 14 December 2014, new tehsil of Kalanaur was created. New tehsil of Dinanagar was created in May 2018. Earlier, they were sub-tehsils.
Geography
Location
The Gurdaspur district is in the north of Punjab state. It falls in the Jalandhar division and is sandwiched between rivers Ravi and Beas. The district lies between north-latitude 31°36' and 32°34' and east longitude 74°56' and 75°24' and shares common boundaries with Pathankot district in the north, Beas River in the north-east, Hoshiarpur district in the south-east, Kapurthala district in the south, Amritsar district in the south-west and Pakistan in the north-west. It is a border district of Punjab and lies along India-Pakistan border.
As of 2011, 5.24% of the district area, including Pathankot, consists of forest area.
Government and politics
Politics
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! No.
! Constituency
! Name of MLA
! colspan="2" | Party
!Bench
|-
!4
|Gurdaspur
| Barindermeet Singh Pahra
|
|Opposition
|-
!5
|Dina Nagar (SC)
| Aruna Chaudhary
|
|Opposition
|-
!6
|Qadian
| Partap Singh Bajwa
|
|Opposition
|-
!7
|Batala
| Amansher Singh (Shery Kalsi)
|
|Government
|-
!8
|Sri Hargobindpur (SC)
| Amarpal Singh
|
|Government
|-
!9
|Fatehgarh Churian
| Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa
|
|Opposition
|-
!10
|Dera Baba Nanak
| Gurdeep Singh Randhawa
|
|Government
|}
Tehsil
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Tehsil
|-
! bgcolor="#99ccff" |Sr. No.
! bgcolor="#99ccff" | Subdivision /Tehsil
! bgcolor="#99ccff" | Inhabited Villages
! bgcolor="#99ccff" | Uninhabited Villages
! bgcolor="#99ccff" | Area(km<sup>2</sup>)
! bgcolor="#99ccff" | Population
! bgcolor="#99ccff" | Density Per km<sup>2</sup>
|-
|1.|| Gurdaspur|| 679|| 37|| 1,369|| 744,092||544
|-
|2.|| Batala|| 347|| 5|| 936|| 618,105||660
|-
|3.|| Dera Baba Nanak|| 131|| 6|| 305|| 115,660||379
|-
|4.|| Kalanaur
|-
|5.|| Dinanagar
|-
|| Total|| || 1,157|| 48|| 2,610|| 1,477,857||566
|}
Sub Tehsils (Total : 7)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Sub-Tehsil
|-
! bgcolor="#99ccff" |Sr. No.
! bgcolor="#99ccff" |Sub Tehsil Name
|-
|1.||Kahnuwan
|-
|2.||Sri Hargobindpur
|-
|3.||Qadian
|-
|4.||Fatehgarh Churian
|-
|5.||Dhariwal
|-
|6.||Naushera Majha Singh
|-
|7.||Dorangla
|}
C.D. Blocks (Total : 11)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ C.D. Blocks
|-
! bgcolor="#99ccff" |Sr. No.
! bgcolor="#99ccff" | Block Name
|-
|1.|| Gurdaspur
|-
|2.|| Kalanaur
|-
|3.|| Dhariwal
|-
|4.|| Kahnuwan
|-
|5.|| Dinanagar
|-
|6.|| Batala
|-
|7.|| Fatehgarh Churian
|-
|8.|| Dera Baba Nanak
|-
|9.|| Sri Hargobindpur
|-
|10.|| Qadian
|-
|11.|| Dorangla
|}
Municipal Corporation (Nagar Nigam)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Municipal Corporation Name
|-
! bgcolor="#99ccff" |Sr. No.
! bgcolor="#99ccff" |Corporation Name
|-
|1.|| Batala
|-
|}
Municipal Councils
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Municipal Name
|-
! bgcolor="#99ccff" |Sr. No.
! bgcolor="#99ccff" |Municipal Name
|-
|1.|| Gurdaspur
|-
|2.|| Dhariwal
|-
|3.|| Dinanagar
|-
|-
|4.|| Sri Hargobindpur
|-
|5.|| Dera Baba Nanak
|-
|6.|| Fatehgarh Churian
|-
|7.|| Qadian
|}
Villages
<!---♦♦♦ Only add a village to this list if it already has its own article on the English Wikipedia ♦♦♦--->
<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order ♦♦♦--->
- Abdal
- Bangowani
- Barnala
- Bhoon
- Qila Lal Singh
- Chakarrayian
- Dabanwala
- Khojala
- Ram nagar
- Sahowal
- Talwandi Jheuran
- Vero Nangal
- Zahadpur
- Zahidpur
- Ali Nangal
- Bhagowal
- Daaduwal
- Dalam
- Gunopur
- Kahnuwan
- Mallianwal
- Naagan de dere
- Rorr khehra
- Sarhwali
Demographics
Population
According to the 2011 census Gurdaspur district has a population of 2,298,323, or the US state of New Mexico. This gives it a ranking of 196th in India (out of a total of 640).
Gender
The table below shows the sex ratio of Gurdaspur through the years, according to various census years.
Note:- The figure for 2011 does not include the data of the areas that currently form Pathankot district, which were separated from Gurdaspur on that year, to form a new district.
{|class = "wikitable sortable"
|+Decadal sex ratio of Gurdaspur district by census years
!Year!!Urban!!Rural
|-
|2011||828||818
|-
|2001||762||797
|}
According to the National Family Health Survey - 4 (2015–16), 88.2% of the total women between the ages of 15 and 49 years in Gurdaspur district were literate, this rate was 86.7% for rural areas of the district. For men in the same age group, 90.4% were literate and this rate was 90.7% for rural areas. According to the same survey, 62.7% of the women of the same age group had 10 or more years of schooling and this rate was 57.6% for rural areas.
Rural and Urban
The table below shows the percentage of rural population through the decades.
Note:- The separation of the areas in the current Pathankot district in 2011, may have significantly changed the numbers and figures for that year.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+Percentage of rural population in Gurdaspur district by years
Note:- The separation of the areas in the current Pathankot district in 2011, may have significantly changed the numbers and figures for that year.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+Rural and Urban population of Gurdaspur in absolute numbers by years Before Partition, Undivided Gurdaspur district had a slight Muslim majority with a large Hindu minority and smaller Sikh and Christian populations. The area which now forms the current district had a Muslim majority and a large Sikh minority, with smaller Hindu and Christian populations.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Religion in Gurdaspur District (2011 district borders)
! rowspan="2" |Religious<br>group
! colspan="2" |1941
! colspan="2" |2011
|-
!
!
!
!
|-
| Islam 15x15px
| 380,775
| 53.72%
| 13,350
| 0.82%
|-
| Sikhism 19x19px
| 193,108
| 27.24%
| 950,016
| 58.58%
|-
| Hinduism 16x16px
| 90,412
| 12.75%
| 476,095
| 29.36%
|-
| Christianity 21x21px
| 43,176
| 6.09%
| 169,295
| 10.44%
|-
| Others
| 1,401
| 0.20%
| 12,969
| 0.80%
|-
!Total Population
!708,872
!
!1,621,725
!
|}
The table below shows the population of different religions in absolute numbers in the urban and rural areas of Gurdaspur district.
!Religion!!Urban (2011)!!Rural (2011)!!Urban (2001)!!Rural (2001)!!Urban (1991)!!Rural (1991)
|-
|Hindu||4,78,989||5,95,343||3,79,724||6,16,522||2,51,831||4,76,531
|-
|Sikh||1,40,536||8,62,338||1,28,697||8,06,266||66,020||6,09,380
|-
|Christian||26,151||1,50,436||21,668||1,27,315||8,713||90,924
|-
|Muslim||8,292||5,351||4,329||807||1,540||164
|-
|Other religions||5,351||11,512||807||2,246||164||510
|}
thumb|right|Populations of Muslim and Non-Muslims in Gurdaspur District, based on Census Data. In the 1881 Census, Non-Muslims were in majority, at 52.49%. While the Non-Muslims had a slight majority, the proportion of the Muslim population increased in the following decades. By the 1930s, Muslims were the majority population in the District.|251x251px
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Religious groups in Gurdaspur District (British Punjab province era)
! rowspan="2" |Religious<br>group
! colspan="2" |1881
! colspan="2" |1891
! colspan="2" |1901
! colspan="2" |1911
! colspan="2" |1921
! colspan="2" |1931
! colspan="2" |1941
|-
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-
! Islam 15px
| 391,400
|
| 459,039
|
| 463,371
|
| 408,216
|
| 422,877
|
| 493,216
|
| 589,923
|
|-
! Hinduism 15px
| 359,329
|
| 396,582
|
| 380,636
|
| 284,017
|
| 258,823
|
| 255,949
|
| 290,774
|
|-
! Sikhism 15px
| 72,395
|
| 85,837
|
| 91,756
|
| 121,078
|
| 137,625
|
| 178,471
|
| 221,261
|
|-
! Christianity 15px
| 463
|
| 2,400
|
| 4,471
|
| 23,365
|
| 32,832
|
| 43,243
|
| 51,522
|
|-
! Jainism 15px
| 108
|
| 64
|
| 72
|
| 73
|
| 20
|
| 15
|
| 25
|
|-
! Zoroastrianism 15px
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 28
|
| 22
|
| 12
|
| 2
|
| 6
|
|-
! Buddhism 15px
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 3
|
| 2
|
| 0
|
|-
! Judaism 15px
|
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
|-
! Others
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
| 0
|
|-
! Total population
! 823,695
!
! 943,922
!
! 940,334
!
! 836,771
!
! 852,192
!
! 970,898
!
! 1,153,511
!
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="15" |
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Religion in the Tehsils of Gurdaspur District (1941)
In 2020–21, there were a total of 7,740 registered Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) and Artisan units in Gurdaspur district, which provided employment to 56,298 people. There were 9 registered Medium and Large industrial Unit, which provided employment to 2,709 people.
In 2010–11, there were 7,840 registered industrial units which provided employment to 55,541 people. The major export items of large scale industries in Gurdaspur were rice, sugar and knitting yarn.
The table below shows the number of registered working factories and workers employed by selected manufacturing industries in Gurdaspur district as of 2017.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+Number of registered working factories and workers employed by selected manufacturing industries in Gurdaspur district in 2017
!Industry!!Factories!!Workers
|-
|Chemicals and chemical products||1||3
|-
|Non-metallic mineral products||9||81
|-
|Beverages||13||109
|-
|Food products and Beverages products||16||202
|}
Health
As of 2018, the number of registered doctors in the Gurdaspur district were 1,642 and registered nurses were 6,118. Which means the average population served per doctor for that year was 1,058. In the year 2017, Gurdaspur district recorded 12 malaria cases, which was tenth lowest in Punjab.
The table given below shows the population served per doctor in Gurdaspur district, by years.
The table below shows the data from the district nutrition profile of children below the age of 5 years, in Gurdaspur, as of year 2020.
{| class = "wikitable sortable"
|+ District nutrition profile of children under 5 years of age in Gurdaspur, year 2020
!Indicators!!Number of children (<5 years)!! Percent (2020)
|-
|Stunted||43,739||25%
|-
|Wasted||16,481||9%
|-
|Severely wasted||7,883||5%
|-
|Underweight||26,648||15%
|-
|Overweight/obesity||11,353||7%
|-
|Anemia||1,09,852||70%
|-
|Total children||1,74,398||
|}
The table below shows the district nutrition profile of Gurdaspur of women between the ages of 15 and 49 years, as of year 2020.
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+District nutritional profile of Gurdaspur of women of 15–49 years, in 2020
!Method!!Total (2015–16)!!Rural (2015–16)
|-
|Female sterilization||42.1%||44.7%
|-
|Male sterilization||0.4%||0.0%
|-
|IUD/PPIUD||4.1%||3.8%
|-
|Pill||1.8%||2.6%
|-
|Condom||20.1%||19.5%
|-
|Any modern method||68.5%||70.7%
|-
|Any method||74.5%||76.6%
|-
|Total unmet need||5.2%||5.5%
|-
|Unmet need for spacing||2.7%||2.8%
|}
The table below shows the number of road accidents and people affected in Gurdaspur district by year.
{| class = "wikitable sortable"
|+Road accidents and people affected in Gurdaspur district by year
!Year!!Accidents!!Killed!!Injured!!Vehicles Involved
|-
|2022||191 ||161||101||242
|-
|2021||178||156||79||234
|-
|2020||178||158||92||266
|-
|2019||227||162||109||308
|}
Notable people
Science and Academia
- Naresh Trehan, a cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon
- Ishfaq Ahmad - Pakistani nuclear physicist
- Bhai Ram Singh - An influential architect
- Sucha Singh Gill, an economist with areas of expertise in development economics, international economics and economy of Punjab
- Sardul Singh Guraya, a biologist, known for his contributions in the fields of reproductive physiology and developmental biology
Sports
- Dinesh Khanna - Badminton player
- Surjit Singh Randhawa - hockey player
- Manpreet Gony - cricketer
- Prabhjot Singh (Indian hockey player)
- Shivil Kaushik - cricketer
Military
- Capt. Gurbachan Singh Salaria - Param Vir Chakra awardee, posthumous
- Lt. Navdeep Singh - Ashoka Chakra awardee, posthumous
- Dilbagh Singh - Air Chief Marshal
- Admiral Sureesh Mehta, 19th Chief of the Indian Navy (31 October 2006 until 31 August 2009) and the first service chief in the Indian armed forces to be born after Indian Independence
- Lt. Col. Sarbjit Singh Kalha, Indian Companion of the Distinguished Service Order
Art and Entertainment
- Dev Anand - Indian actor
- Premchand Dogra - Bodybuilder, Mr. Universe, Mr. India
- Chetan Anand - director
- Vijay Anand - director
- Vinod Khanna - Indian actor
- Shiv Kumar Batalvi - Punjabi writer
- Romesh Sharma - Indian Actor and producer
- Jasbir Jassi - Bhangra singer
- Guru Randhawa - Punjabi singer
- Preet Harpal - Punjabi singer and actor
- Iqbal Bahu - Pakistani Sufi singer
- Alla Rakha - Tabla player
- Gurpreet Ghuggi - actor and comedian-turned-politician
- Ranjit Bawa - Punjabi singer and actor
- Nimrat Khaira - Punjabi singer and actress
- Satinder Satti - anchor-singer
- Varinder Singh Ghuman - bodybuilder
- Principal Sujan Singh - Punjabi writer
- Sobha Singh - painter
- Mumtaz Mufti - Urdu writer
- Nasim Hijazi - Urdu novelist, historian and writer.
- Sunanda Sharma - Punjabi singer and actress
- Harnaaz Sandhu - Miss Universe 2021
- AP Dhillon - Singer/songwriter, music producer
Politics
- Ashwani Kumar - Former Union Minister
- Robert Masih Nahar - Spanish senator
- Teja Singh (singh sabha movement)
- Pratap Singh Bajwa - Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab
Other
- Teja Singh Akarpuri - Jathedar of Akal Takht
- Baba Jaimal Singh - Punjabi spiritual leader
- Mirza Nasir Ahmad (Khalifatul Massih III)
- Mirza Tahir Ahmad (Khalifatul Massih IV)
- Mirza Ghulam Ahmad - Founder of the Ahmaddiya movement
- Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (Khalifatul Massih II)
- Ghulam Ahmed Pervez - Islamic scholar