District Sonipat

SONIPAT district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana. Sonipat city is the district headquarters. The city is a part of National Capital Region along with Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad.

Sonipat district borders Panipat District in the north, Delhi union territory in south, Jind District in the north-west, Uttar Pradesh state in the east with the Yamuna River working as a border and Rohtak District in the west.

Sonipat was earlier known as Sonprastha, which later became Svarnaprastha (Golden City). The name is derived from two Sanskrit words, Svarna (Gold) and Prastha (Place). Over a period of time, the classical name Svarnprastha's pronunciation degraded into Svarnpat, and then to its current name, Sonipat. The earliest reference of this city comes in the Mahabharata, and at that time, it was one of the five villages demanded by the Pandavas in lieu of the kingdom of Hastinapur.

Sonipat district comprises three sub-divisions: Ganaur, Sonipat, and Gohana. They are further divided in four tehsils: Ganaur, Sonipat, Kharkhauda and Gohana. These are further divided into seven blocks: Ganaur, Sonipat, Kharkhoda, Rai, Gohana, Kathura and Mundlana.

There are six Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Sonipat district: Ganaur, Sonipat, Rai, Kharkhauda, Gohana and Baroda. All of these are part of Sonipat Lok Sabha constituency. The district has 3 municipal committees: Ganaur, Gohana and Kharkhoda.

Sonipat district is one of the major education hubs in North India. Apart from a number of schools and colleges, the district is a home to 3 universities and these are Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology in Murthal which was founded in 1987, Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya in Sonipat which was founded in 2006 and O P Jindal Global University near Rathdhana which was founded in 2009. Recently in 2012, National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM) a world class national institute was founded in Kundli which falls near Delhi border.

Sonipat junction lies on one of the most busiest railway line in North india that is Delhi - Chandigarh. New line sonipat - gohana - jind is opened. Shatabadi Express, Shaan-e-Punjab, Malwa Express, Muri Express, Saryu Yamuna Express, Himalayan Queen are some of Express trains from Sonipat. More than 64 trains are available from sonipat daily. NH 1 and NH 71A pass through this district.

As of 2011 census, the district has a population of 1,480,080. This gives it a ranking of 338th in India (out of 640). Sonipat district has a population density of 697 inhabitants per sq km . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 15.72% (approx). The district has a sex ratio of 853 females for every 1000 males and a literacy rate of 80.8%.