Hojai

Hojai
Town
Hojai Location in Assam, India Show map of Assam Hojai Hojai (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 26°00′N92°52′E / 26.0°N 92.87°E / 26.0; 92.87
Country	India
State	Assam
District	Hojai
Government
• Type	Municipal
• Body	Hojai Municipality Board
•  MLA	Ramkrishna Ghosh (BJP)
•  Deputy Commissioner	Lachit Kumar Das, ACS
•  Superintendent of Police	Saurabh Gupta, IPS
Area
• Total	21.219 km2 (8.193 approx sq mi)
Population  (2011) [1]
• Total	36,638
• Density	1,700/km2 (4,500/sq mi)
Language
• Official	Assamese
• Associate Official Language	Meitei (Manipuri)
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	782435
Hojai STD Code	+91-3674
ISO 3166 code	IN-AS
Vehicle registration	AS 31
HDI	0.695 medium[ citation needed ]
Effective literacy	90.7%
Climate	Cwa (Köppen)
Website	hojai.assam.gov.in

Hojai is a town and a municipal board in Hojai district in the Indian state of Assam. ^[2] It is located on the banks of the two tributaries of Brahmaputra, namely Kapili and Jamuna.

Etymology

The term Hojai ^[3] means Priest in Dimasa language and is also one clan of Dimasa people, who populated the settlement during its initial formation.

Geography

Hojai is located at 26°00′N92°52′E / 26.0°N 92.87°E / 26.0; 92.87 . ^{[4] [ better source needed ]} It has an average elevation of 59 metres (193 feet).

History

Hojai was a part of the Dimasa Kachari Kingdom in medieval times. The Dimasa Kacharies living in Hojai is known as "Hojai-Kacharies ^[3] " to others. "Hojai" is one of the clans (Sengphongs) of the Dimasa tribe, The city "Hojai" got its name from this clan. It was made a sub-division on 15 August 1983 under Nagaon district. On 15 August 2015, it was declared a new district of the state along with 3 other new districts. ^[5] On 31 December 2022, the district were remerged with their previous district. ^[6] Nonetheless, on 25 August 2023, the Assam cabinet unveiled its decision to reinstate Hojai's district status. ^[7]

Demographics

As of 2011 Indian Census, Hojai had a total population of 36,638, of which 18,762 were males and 17,876 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 3,869. The total number of literates in Hojai was 29,708, which constituted 81.1% of the population with male literacy of 83.9% and female literacy of 78.1%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Hojai was 90.7%, of which male literacy rate was 93.8% and female literacy rate was 87.4%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 3,158 and 197, respectively. Hojai had 7049 households in 2011. ^[1]

Languages

Languages of Hojai ^[8]

   Bengali (69.6%)

   Hindi (16.0%)

   Assamese (9.5%)

   Meitei (1.6%)

   Dimasa Kachari (1.8%)

  Others (2.3%)

Assamese and Meitei (Manipuri) are the official languages of this place. ^{[9] [10]}

69.6% of the people speak Bengali, followed by Hindi, 16.0%; Assamese, 10.7%; Dimasa Kachari 1.8% and Meitei, 1.6% speakers. ^[8]

Religion

Religions in Hojai town [11]
Religion			Percent of population
Hinduism			81.11%
Islam			18.28%
Others			0.61%

Most of the population follow Hinduism (81.11%), with Islam being the largest minority religion with 18.28% adherents. Sikhism, Christianity and other religions are followed by less than one per cent of the population. ^{[11] [12]}

Administration

Administrative duties are carried on from Sankardev Nagar in NH-27 where the DC Office, Judicial Courts as well District SP Offices are located. The DC Office campus also houses the Government Circuit House within it. Hojai Judicial Courts are situated at Sankardev Nagar approximately 8 km away from Hojai Town near NH-27. Advocates of the Hojai Judicial Courts have their own Association known as "Hojai Bar Association", established in 1982.

District administration

The present Deputy Commissioner is Anupam Choudhury, ACS ^[13] and the present Superintendent of Police is Barun Purkayastha. ^[14] and present Additional Superintendent of police is Punjit Duwara, APS. Deputy Superintendent of Police Hojai is Rosy Talukdar, APS.

District judiciary

Initially the Judicial Court at Hojai was established on 20 October 1982 and functioned as Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class. In due course of time, later on, the Courts of Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Munsiff cum JMFC Courts were established and functioning under District Judiciary, Nagaon.

On 6 March 2021, Suman Shyam, Judge Guahati High Court, has inaugurated the newly created Courts of District & Sessions Judge and Chief Judicial Magistrate at Hojai, Sankardev Nagar. On inauguration of the new District Judiciary, Aditya Hazarika became the first District & Sessions Judge and Shakti Sharma became the first Chief Judicial Magistrate of Hojai District.

Politics

Hojai is an MLA constituency that falls under the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency. It was previously a part of the Jamunamukh LAC. Since its inception in 1967, seven individuals have been elected as MLAs.

The first was Jonab Rahimuddin Ahmed. He was followed by Idris Ali Fakir, Sadhan Ranjan Sarkar, Santi Ranjan Dasgupta and since 1991, Ardhendu Kumar Dey has been consistently elected as an MLA, the lone defeat coming in 2006 to AIUDF's Aditya Langthasa who served as an MLA for a single term. Ardhendu Kumar Dey regained his seat in 2011 for a fourth term. For the first time, in 2016 assembly elections, BJP wrested this seat with the incumbent MLA being Shiladitya Dev.As of 2021, Ramkrishna Ghosh is elected in Assam Legislative Assembly election in 2021 from Hojai constituency.At present, Ramkrishna Ghosh is the MLA of Hojai District.^{[ citation needed ]}

Economy

Hojai is one of the important hubs of agarwood oil extraction and trade. ^[15] In 2019, the Assam government under Sarbananda Sonowal allowed plantation of agarwood in five hectares. ^[16]

Education

List of educational institutes

• Deshabandhu Bidyapith HS High School, Hojai
• Don Bosco High School, Hojai
• Markaz Academy
• Rabindranath Tagore University, Hojai

Healthcare

Hospitals

Hojai has two hospitals. Hojai Civil Hospital is an Government owned hospital and Haji Abdul Majid Memorial Hospital (HAMM) and Research Center is a private Hospital, inaugurated in 1995 by Mother Teresa.^{[ citation needed ]} It offers free treatment to the poor. Its charitable dispensary, established in 1986, treats over ten patients for free every day.^{[ citation needed ]} The hospital has an Operating Theatre and a Dental clinic.^{[ citation needed ]}

Transport

Road

East-West Corridor a four Lane Road through Hojai District.

State roads connect Hojai to the rest of the state, and the nearest National Highway is NH27. Buses also provide connections between Hojai and the rest of Assam, as well as other states. A proposed flyover in Hojai is currently under construction.

Railway

Newly built airport-like Hojai Railway Station

Hojai Railway Station

The Hojai railway station lies on the Guwahati–Lumding section line of the Lumding railway division. The station provides railway connectivity to different cities of India through many long-distance trains. Almost all of the major trains have a stoppage including the Rajdhani Express which connects the national capital.

Airport

The nearest airport is Tezpur Airport, about 120 km away.

The nearest International Airport is LGB ^[17] International Airport in Guwahati, about 190 km away.

See also

• Hojai Vidhan Sabha

References

1. "Census of India: Hojai". www.censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
2. "Assam gets five more districts". Zee News. 15 August 2015.
3. Danda, Dipali G. (1978). Among the Dimasa of Assam : an ethnographic study. Sterling. OCLC   565999805.
4. "redirect to /world/IN/03/Hojai.html". www.fallingrain.com.
5. "Know about the District | Hojai District | Government Of Assam, India". hojai.assam.gov.in.
6. "Assam govt remerges Biswanath, Hojai, Bajali and Tamulpur with original districts". 31 December 2022.
7. "Assam Cabinet decides to 'create' 4 districts". The Hindu. 25 August 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
8. "C-16 Population By Mother Tongue - Hojai (MB)". census.gov.in. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
9. "Assam Assembly Accords Associate Official Language Status To Bodo". NDTV. PTI. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
10. Purkayastha, Biswa Kalyan (24 February 2024). "Assam recognises Manipuri as associate official language in four districts". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
11. "C-16 Population By Religion - Assam". census.gov.in. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
12. Tan, A. W.; Nuttall, F. Q. (20 November 1975). "Characteristics of the dephosphorylated form of phosphorylase purified from rat liver and measurement of its activity in crude liver preparations". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Enzymology. 410 (1): 45–60. doi:10.1016/0005-2744(75)90206-5. ISSN   0006-3002. PMID   75.
13. "Meet the Deputy Commissioner | Hojai District | Government Of Assam, India" . Retrieved 17 March 2020.
14. "Ankur Jain, IPS | Hojai District | Government Of Assam, India". hojai.assam.gov.in. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
15. "Ajmal brother pats Sonowal government for agarwood 'interest'". The Times of India. 8 January 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
16. Singh, Bikash (23 July 2019). "BJP-led government has liberated the Agar trade in Assam". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
17. "Guwahati Airport". aera.gov.in. Retrieved 10 July 2018.

External links

• Hojai district official website