Dhanusha District,, a part of Madhesh Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. It is situated in the Outer Terai. The district, with Janakpurdham as its district headquarter, covers an area of 1,180.7 km2 and has a population (2021) of 838,084. During the elections in April 2008, the district was divided into seven constituencies. It is also the home district of the first president of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, who contested and won the elections from constituency 5. As a political center of the region, Dhanusha has prominent leaders like Bimalendra Nidhi (Former Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal), Anand Prasad Dhungana, Mahendra Yadav and Ram Krishna Yadav from the Nepali Congress, Anand Yadav (Gangaram Yadav ) from the CPN-UML, Matrika Yadav from the CPN-Maoist and Ram Chandra Jha from CPN (Unified Socialist) who have been ministers at various point of time and are still active. The most common language spoken in Dhanusha is Maithili. Dhanusha district has an airport and the only railway system of Nepal which connects Janakpurdham with an Indian town, Jayanagar. It has several good hotels like Hotel Rama, Hotel Sita Palace, including the starred hotel, Hotel Welcome, Sitasaran Hotel and Happy Hotel. It also has the Janakpur Zonal Hospital and several private hospitals.

Geography and climate

Economy

Agriculture is the major economy of the Dhanusha district. About 90% of citizens of the district are involved in the cultivation of wheat and rice. Rice is the major output. Dhanusha still relies mostly on old-age farming practices, such as the use of bullock-cart for transportation and bull plow for tilling the agriculture fields. However, there is a slow introduction to modern techniques such as a tractor for goods transportation (for agriculture purposes), thrasher, and so on. Remittances make up a large portion of its GDP.

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Dhanusha District had a population of 754,777. As their first language, 85.9% spoke Maithili, 4.4% Nepali, 3.1% Magahi, 2.4% Urdu, 1.0% Rai, 0.9% Magar, 0.3% Danuwar, 0.3% Newar, 0.2% Sunuwar, 0.1% Bhojpuri, 0.1% Hindi, 0.1% Majhi, 0.1% Rajasthani and 0.1% other languages. Ethnicity/caste: 17.5% were Yadav, 8.4% Musalman, 6.1% Kewat, 5.2% Teli, 5.1% Koiri/Kushwaha, 5.0% Dhanuk, 4.4% Sudhi, 3.8% Chamar/Harijan/Ram, 3.4% Tatma/Tatwa, 3.0% Terai Brahmin, 2.8% Bin, 2.6% Musahar, 2.5% Dusadh/Paswan/Pasi, 2.3% Khatwe, 1.8% Baraee, 1.5% Halwai, 1.4% Hill Brahmin, 1.4% Hajam/Thakur, 1.3% Chhetri, 1.3% Kurmi, 1.3% Mallaha, 1.3% other Terai, 1.2% Tamang, 1.1% Magar, 1.0% Kalwar, 1.0% Kumhar, 1.0% Sonar, 0.8% Danuwar, 0.8% Dhobi, 0.8% Kathabaniyan, 0.8% Kayastha, 0.7% Nuniya, 0.6% Gaderi/Bhedihar, 0.6% Kami, 0.6% Lohar, 0.6% Newar, 0.6% Tharu, 0.5% Rajput, 0.3% Badhaee, 0.2% Damai/Dholi, 0.2% Dhunia, 0.2% Dom, 0.2% Gharti/Bhujel, 0.2% Kanu, 0.2% Kumal, 0.2% Majhi, 0.2% Mali, 0.2% Sanyasi/Dasnami, 0.2% Sarki, 0.2% Sunuwar, 0.1% Amat, 0.1% Bantar/Sardar, 0.1% Bengali, 0.1% Bhote, 0.1% Dhankar/Dharikar, 0.1% Halkhor, 0.1% Jhangad/Dhagar, 0.1% Marwadi, 0.1% Punjabi/Sikh, 0.1% Rai and 0.2% others. Religion: 89.3% were Hindu, 8.4% Muslim, 1.5% Buddhism, 0.1% Christian, 0.1% Prakriti and 0.6% others. Literacy: 50.4% could read and write, 3.3% could only read and 45.9% could neither read nor write.

Administration

The district consists of one sub-metropolitan city, eleven urban municipalities and six rural municipalities. These are as follows:

Former municipalities and VDCs

Villages

Notable people

Ministers of Federal government

Minister of provincial government