Gandaki Province

Gandaki Province (Nepali: गण्डकी प्रदेश [ɡʌɳɖʌki]) is one of the seven federal provinces established by the current constitution of Nepal which was promulgated on 20 September 2015.[1] Pokhara is the province's capital city. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, Bagmati Province to the east, Karnali Province to the west, and Lumbini Province and Bihar of India to the south. The total area of the province is 21,504 km² - about 14.57% of the country's total area. According to the latest census, the population of the province was 2,403,757.[2] The newly elected Provincial Assembly adopted Gandaki Province as the permanent name by replacing its initial name Province no. 4 in July 2018.

Gandaki Province

गण्डकी प्रदेश

Gandaki Pradesh
Province
Location of Gandaki Province
Coordinates: 28°12′34″N 83°59′29″E
Country   Nepal
Formation20 September 2015
Capital cityPokhara
Largest cityPokhara
Districts11
Government
 • BodyGovernment of Gandaki Pradesh
 • GovernorAmik Sherchan
 • Chief MinisterPrithvi Subba Gurung (NCP)
 • High CourtPokhara High Court
 • Provincial AssemblyUnicameral (60 seats)
 • Parliamentary constituencies18
Area
 • Total21,504 km2 (8,303 sq mi)
Area rank4th
Population
 (2011)
 • Total2,403,757
 • Rank6th
 • Density110/km2 (290/sq mi)
 • Density rank6th
Demonym(s)Paschimeli Nepali
Time zoneUTC+5:45 (NST)
GeocodeNP-FO
Official languageNepali
Other language(s)1. Gurung
2. Magar
HDI0.567 (medium)
Literacy74.81%
Sex ratio83.84 ♂ /100 ♀ (2011)
Websiteocmcm.gandaki.gov.np

Etymology
Further information: Gandaki River

Gandaki Pradesh named after the river Gandaki. Gandaki is a major river in the province. This river has Important links with historical Hindu civilization. The Gandaki river is mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. It is said that Valmiki Rishi (sage) wrote the great epic, "Ramayana" here. It is also believed to be the birthplace of Luv & Kush. Its evolution is described in Shiva Purana, Kumarakhand, in the chapter of the killing of Shankhachuda.

History
Further information: Chaubisi rajya and Western Development Region, Nepal

Gandaki Pradesh was known as "Gandak Kshetra" which was established in 1956. Gandak Kshetra was composed by grouping the then 4 districts. Those 4 districts are now divided into many districts. Gandak Kshetra had total area of 5,400 square miles (14,000 km2) and total population was 12 Lakhs.[3] The four districts were:

  1. Lumbini District (Rupandehi, Parasi, Palpa)
  2. Syangja District (Syangja, Nuwakot)
  3. Pokhara District (Tanahun, Kaski)
  4. Gorkha District (Gorkha, Lamjung, Manang)

In 1962, administrative system restructured again and the "Kshetras" system cancelled. The country restructured into 75 development districts and those districts were grouped into zones.[4] In 1972 area of the Gandaki Pradesh named Western Development Region. It had 3 zones and 16 districts.

Geography

The province has an area of 21,773 km2 which is about 14.66% of the total area of Nepal. The state is extends between 27°-20' N ~ 29°-20' N latitude and 82° 52' E ~ 85°-12' E longitude. In terms of terrain, the province is spread over the Himalayan, Hilly and Terai region of Nepal; 5,919 km2 (26.8%) of the area falls under the Himalayan region, 14,604 km2 (67.2%) of the area falls under the Hilly region and 1,310 km2 (6%) of the area falls under the Terai region.[5]

Average temperatures and precipitation for selected communities in Gandaki[6]
Location August

(°F)

 August

(°C)

 January

(°F)

 January

(°C)

 Annual

Precipitation
(mm/in)

Baglung 72.1 22.3 47.5 8.6 1766.1/69.5
Besishahar 72.3 22.4 47.5 8.6 1639.6/64.6
Chapakot 60.2 20.4 46.5 9.6 1766.1/69.5
Modi 60.8 16 33.4 0.8 1094.7/43.1
Pokhara 74.8 23.8 50.4 10.2 2010.3/79.1
Waling 77.5 25.3 54.1 12.3 1962.7/84.5

Government and administration
Main articles: Provincial governments of Nepal, Provincial Assembly of Gandaki Pradesh, and Cabinet of Gandaki Province

The Governor acts as the head of the province while the Chief Minister is the head of the provincial government. The Chief Judge of the Pokhara High Court is the head of the judiciary.[7] The present Governor, Chief Minister and Chief Judge are Baburam Kunwar (governor), Prithvi Subba Gurung (chief minister) and Purushottam Bhandari.[8][9] The province has 60 provincial assembly constituencies and 18 federal House of Representative constituencies.[10]

Gandaki Pradesh has a unicameral legislature, like that of the other provinces in Nepal. The tenure of provincial assembly is of five years. The Provincial Assembly of Gandaki Pradesh is temporarily housed at the Urban Development Training Centre in Pokhara.[11]

Administrative subdivisions
See also: Districts of Nepal, List of cities in Nepal, and List of gaupalikas of Nepal

Gandaki province is divided into 11 districts, which are listed below. A district is administrated by the head of the District Coordination Committee and the District Administration Officer. The districts are further dived to municipalities or rural municipalities. The municipalities include one metropolitan city and 26 municipalities. There are 58 rural municipalities in the province.[12]

  1. Baglung District[13]
  2. Gorkha District
  3. Kaski District
  4. Lamjung District
  5. Manang District
  6. Mustang District
  7. Myagdi District
  8. Nawalpur District
  9. Parbat District
  10. Syangja District
  11. Tanahun District

Demographics

Castes in Gandaki Pradesh

  Brahmins (21.5%)
  Magar (20.9%)
  Chhetri (13.4%)
  Gurung (8.4%)
  Kami (8.7%)
  Newar (4.3%)
  Sarki (4.1%)
  Damai (3.9%)
  Tamang (2.1%)
  Tharu (1.7%)
  Other Castes (10%)

Religion in Gandaki Pradesh

  Hinduism (82.89%)
  Buddhism (13.68%)
  Christianity (1.56%)
  Islam (0.77%)
  Bon (0.50%)
  Prakṛti (0.27%)
  Others (0.33%)

The province has a population of 2,403,016 which is just about 9.06% of the total population of Nepal. The population density is about 110 persons per square kilometre. The province has a population growth rate of -0.33%. The sex ratio is 89 males for 100 females, with a total of 948,028 males and 1,144,124 females recorded in 2011. The urban population of the region is 1,452,186 (60.5%) and the rural population is 943,652 (39.5%). About 50.1% of the population in the province are independent population.[5]

Language

According to the 2011 Nepal census there are total 88 languages spoken in Gandaki Pradesh. Nepali, Magar, Tharu, Gurung, Kumal, Darai, Ghale, Thakali etc are main languages which is spoken by communities in Gankldaki Pradesh. Mostly spoken language is Nepali which is spoken by 68.885 percent people of Gandaki Pradesh. Magar is secondly most spoken language with percentage of 9.025 and Gurung is third mostly spoken language with percentage of 7.855.[14]

See also

References
  1. "Nepal Provinces". statoids.com. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  2. "Gandaki Province in Nepal population". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  3. नेपालको जिल्ला प्रशासन पुनर्गठनको रिपोर्ट, २०१३ (PDF). Nepal: Nepal Govt. pp. 38, 39, 40.
  4. "Memorial Step of King Mahendra in 1st Poush 2017 BS". reviewnepal.com. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  5. "Province Profile" (PDF). Government of Province No. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-28. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  6. "Nepal Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase)". Weatherbase. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  7. "High Courts get their chief judges". Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  8. "Prithvi Subba Gurung appointed as Province 4 CM - The Himalayan Times". The Himalayan Times. 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  9. "President of Nepal administers oath to Chiefs of seven provinces | DD News". ddnews.gov.in. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  10. "CDC creates 495 constituencies". The Himalayan Times. 2017-08-31. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  11. "First Provincial Assembly meeting of province 4 begins". Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  12. "स्थानिय तह". 103.69.124.141. Archived from the original on 2018-08-31. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
  13. http://parliament.gov.np/np/ncd.html
  14. "गण्डकी प्रदेशको भाषिक स्थिति" [Linguistic status of Gandaki Pradesh]. www.annapurbapost.com (in Nepali). Annapurna Post. 7 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.