Social,
Environmental & Economic Sustainability
Our analysis of the rank of the district
Backwardness : Does not figure in list of 447 backward
districts
Sex Ratio Rank : 171
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 414 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 552 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Brief About Kupwara District
Kupwara is the backward frontier District of Kashmir
Valley, full of scenic beauty. Dense forests and rich wild life
make it significant from tourism and wildlife point of view. Nature
has been very kind to Kupwara. District Kupwara was carved out
form erstwhile District Baramulla in the year 1979. The District
Headquarter "Kupwara" is situated at a distance of 90 kms from
the summer capital of state, i.e. Srinagar. The District is situated
at an average altitude of 5300 feet from the sea level. The geographical
area of the District is 2379 sqkms The north west part of the
District is bound by line of actual control (L.O.C)) while the
southern portion is bound by the District Baramulla. There are
three bad pocket areas, namely, Machil, Keran and Karnah located
near L.O.C which remain land locked for more than six months in
a year. There are some other areas located at barbed distances
and remain cut off from District Headquarter for a considerable
time, like Kumkadi, Lashdat, Jumgund, Kethanwali and Budnambal.
BOUNDARIES
This lovely district is located in the extreme north-west
of Kashmir valley. Its northern and western borders form the line
of control between India and Pakistan and eastern and southern
borders touch Sopore, Bandipore and Baramulla Tehsils. Famous
river Kishan Ganga separates Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Jammu
and Kashmir in Machil, Keran and Teetwal areas. People of this
district have a painful experience of partition of India and unnatural
division of the state . There are numerous examples whereby the
LOC separates brothers from sisters, sons from mothers, wives
from husbands and kiths and kin's. The trauma of the separation
is still very painful.
NOMENCLATURE OF KUPWARA
There is no written proof why the district headquarter is
known as Kupwara. However there are some legends about it. It
is said there was a hut, constructed by somebody in the nearby
jungle. It was known as Kopar ( hut in shambles) because accidents
often took place there .Some times the animals rolled down and
sometimes these were killed by the wild beasts. The habitations
was named after the same Kopar.
Some elders say that the famous saint, Zaiti
Shah Wali called the habitation Ko-pore (people of bad reputation)
because the children of this habitation used to throw stones on
him when he passed through it
Others say the famous Saint Syed Mohammad Gabi,
whose tomb is in the heart of Kupwara, called it Kuferwari (the
place of non-believers ). Later on he converted the people to
Islam by his preachings, thus Kupwara is the modified and changed
name of Ko-por or Kuferwari.
However , it is mostly believed that there was
a hut on the hill, in front of presently existing Higher Secondary
School Kupwara known as koh-nar or the hut constructed in the
jungle. The same hut has given it the name Kopore.
