Goalpara district

Goalpara district is an administrative district of the Indian state of Assam.

It was a princely state ruled by the Koch kings and the then ruler of the undivided kingdom. Today the erstwhile Goalpara district is divided into Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, and Goalpara district.

The name of the district Goalpara is said to have originally derived from 'Gwaltippika' meaning 'Guwali village' or the village of the milk men means (Yadav). The history of Goalpara goes back to several centuries. The district came under British rule in 1765. Before this, the area was under the control of the Koch dynasty. In 1826 the British accessed Assam and Goalpara was annexed to the North-East Frontier in 1874, along with the creation of district headquarters at Dhubri.

On 1 July 1983 two districts were split from Goalpara: Dhubri and Kokrajhar. On 29 September 1989 Bongaigaon district was created from parts of Goalpara and Kokrajhar.

The district headquarters are located at Goalpara. Goalpara district occupies an area of 1,824 square kilometres (704 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to South Korea's Jeju-do.

In 2006 the Indian government named Goalpara one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the eleven districts in Assam currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

There are four Assam Legislative Assembly constituencies in this district: Dudhnoi, Goalpara East, Goalpara West, and Jaleswar. Dudhnoi and Goalpara West are designated for scheduled tribes. Dudhnoi and Goalpara West are in the Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency, whilst the other two are in the Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency.

Following are the present MLA's of Goalpara-