Faridkot district

Faridkot district is a district lying in the South-Western part of Punjab, India with Faridkot city as the district headquarters.

The district is named after its headquarters, Faridkot city, which in turn is named in the honor of Baba Farid, who was a Sufi saint and a Muslim missionary. The town of Faridkot was founded during the 13th century as Mokalhar by Raja Mokalsi, the grandson of Rai Munj, a Bhatti Chief of Bhatnair, Rajasthan. According to popular folklore, the Raja renamed Mokalhar to Faridkot after Baba Farid paid a visit to the town. It remained the capital during the reign of Mokalsi's son Jairsi and Wairsi.

The region was a self-governing princely state during the British Raj. Before independence, most of the area was ruled by the Sikh Maharaja of Faridkot, while the Jaito pargana, consisting of 16 villages, was part of Nabha State.

In 1947–48, both states acceded to the Dominion of India and became part of the PEPSU in 1948. Faridkot was made a tehsil of Bathinda district. In 1956, PEPSU was merged into Punjab.

Faridkot was carved out as a separate district on 7 August 1972, comprising Faridkot tehsil (from Bathinda district ) and Moga and Muktsar tehsils (from Ferozepur). In November 1995, the district was trifurcated: Moga and Nihal Singh Wala tehsils were formed into the new Moga district, while Muktsar tehsil was granted the status of a separate district.

Faridkot district is surrounded by district Ferozepur in the North-West, Muktsar in the South-West, Bathinda in the South, and Moga in the East.

The District covers an area of 1469 km² which is 2.92% of the total area of the State and accommodates a population of 552,466, which is 2.27% of the total population of the State.

It has three Subdivisions/ Tehsils namely Faridkot, Kotkapura and Jaito and a Sub Tehsil namely Sadiq comprising a total of 171 villages. Faridkot District has two development blocks namely Faridkot and Kotkapura.