Kushtia District (1947–1984)

Undivided Kushtia District (Bengali: অবিভক্ত কুষ্টিয়া জেলা) or Greater Kushtia District (Bengali: বৃহত্তর কুষ্টিয়া জেলা) was a district consisting of Kushtia Sub-Division, Meherpur Sub-Division and Chuadanga Sub-Division of Greater Nadia District separated from Nadia District during the creation of East Pakistan in 1947.[1]

Kushtia District
কুষ্টিয়া জেলা
Undivided Kushtia District on the map of Bangladesh
Undivided Kushtia District on the map of Bangladesh
DivisionKhulna
Area
 • Total
3,495.75 km2 (1,349.72 sq mi)
Population
 (2022)
 • Total
4,088,123
Postal Code
03 District

History

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In 1725, the region of Kushtia was under the Zamindars of Natore. Later the British East India Company included Kushtia in Jessore District in 1776. But in 1828 it was included in Pabna District.[2] In 1861, Kushtia Sub-Division was established due to Indigo revolt and in 1871, Kushtia Sub-Division with Kumarkhali Upazila and Khoksa Upazila was included in Nadia District. Pre-independence Nadia had five subdivisions: Krishnagar sadar, Ranaghat, Kushtia, Meherpur and Chuadanga. Due to some cartographic error in 1947, large part of Nadia except Nabadwip initially were included into East Bengal, Pakistan (now Bangladesh) due to it being a Muslim majority district in the 1941 census of British India. Due to protests rectification was made and on the night of 17 August 1947, Ranaghat, Krishnanagar, Shikarpur in Karimpur and Plassey were placed in West Bengal, India as Nabadwip district[3][4][5] and the district in East Bengal was formed as Nadia district. It was then consisted of 3 subdivisions. These are Kushtia, Chuadanga and Meherpur.[6] In October 1947, Nadia District Magistrate Syed Murtaza Ali changed the name of the district to Kushtia District to avoid confusion.[7] Then in 1984, after 13 years of the independence of Bangladesh, Chuadanga and Meherpur districts were separated as separate districts and the present Kushtia district was formed with 6 police stations.[8][9]

Administrative division

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Undivided Kushtia district had 03 subdivisions and 13 upazilas.

Subdivision no. Upazila Current district
Kushtia 01 Kushtia Sadar Upazila Kushtia District
02 Kumarkhali Upazila
03 Khoksa Upazila
04 Mirpur Upazila
05 Bheramara Upazila
06 Daulatpur Upazila
Meherpur 07 Meherpur Sadar Upazila Meherpur District
08 Gangni Upazila
09 Mujibnagar Upazila
Chuadanga 10 Chuadanga Sadar Upazila Chuadanga District
11 Alamdanga Upazila
12 Damurhuda Upazila
13 Jibannagar Upazila

Demographics

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Religion in Kushtia District (1951)[10]
Islam
91.55%
Hinduism
8.01%
Other or not stated
0.44%

In the present time

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Mujibnagar in Undivided Kushtia District was the first temporary capital of independent Bangladesh which is now an upazila in Meherpur District. The Bengali spoken by the original inhabitants of this region i.e. the undivided Nadia district bears a close resemblance to modern Standard Bengali.[11] The larger society of the inhabitants of these three districts is called the Brihottoro Kushtiabasi.

References

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  1. ^ "Kushtia district at a glance". Bangladesh National PortalKushtia District. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  2. ^ Curator (2019-09-07). "কুষ্টিয়া জেলার সংক্ষিপ্ত ইতিহাস". সংগ্রামের নোটবুক. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  3. ^ "District-level map of Bengal indicating the Radcliffe line and the expected border according to majority religious demographics".
  4. ^ "Nadia keeps a date with history | Kolkata News - Times of India". The Times of India. TNN. Aug 19, 2011. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  5. ^ "In West Bengal, some villages celebrate Independence Day after August 15; here's why". The Indian Express. 2019-08-16. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  6. ^ "কুষ্টিয়া জেলা - বাংলাপিডিয়া". bn.banglapedia.org (in Bengali). Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  7. ^ Aman, Shahnaz (15 October 2021). "ইতিহাসের পাতাজুড়ে যার গৌরব-ঐতিহ্য". The Bonik Barta (in Bengali).
  8. ^ Farooque, Md. Abu Hasan (2012). "Meherpur District". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  9. ^ Ahmed, Rajib (2012). "Chuadanga District". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  10. ^ Nomani, H.H. (1951). Census of Pakistan. Vol. 3. Government of Pakistan. p. 38.
  11. ^ বৃহত্তর কুষ্টিয়ার ইতিহাস ১ম খণ্ড [History of Greater Kushtia Volume 1] (in Bengali) (1st ed.). Gatidhara. 2017.