Siddharthnagar district is one of the 75 districts of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Siddharthnagar is the district headquarters. Siddharthnagar district is a part of Basti division. It was under the ancient Kosala kingdom and also the Shakya kingdoms.

Administrative divisions

Tehsils

Siddharthnagar district comprises five tehsils or sub-divisions each headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM):

Blocks

These Tehsils are further divided into 14 Blocks, each headed by a Block Development Officer (BDO):

Demographics

Religion

According to the 2011 census, Siddharthnagar district has a population of 2,559,297, roughly equal to the nation of Kuwait or the US state of Nevada. This gives it a ranking of 164th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 882 PD/sqkm. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 25.17%. Siddharthnagar has a sex ratio of 970 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 67.81%. 6.28% of the population lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 15.97% and 0.47% of the population respectively.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 80.51% of the population in the district spoke Hindi, 10.06% Bhojpuri, 4.73% Urdu and 4.61% Awadhi as their first language. The minority population is about 27% of the total population of the district. Siddharthnagar is a category "A" district; that is, it has socio-economic and basic amenities parameters below the national average.

History

Some scholars have suggested that modern-day Piprahwa-Ganwaria was the site of the ancient city of Kapilavastu, the capital of the Shakya kingdom, where Siddhartha Gautama spent the first 29 years of his life, referring to Buddhist texts such as the Pāli Canon. Others suggest that the original site of Kapilavastu is located 16 km to the northwest, at Tilaurakot, in what is currently Kapilvastu District in Nepal.

Chetia Estate

Chetia Estate or riyasat of Chetia is a zamindari of Tripathi Brahmins, their seat was at Chetia, village in Siddharthnagar, constitute many villages.

Geography

Siddharthnagar district lies between 27°N to 27°28'N and 82°45'E to 83°10'E. It is part of Purvanchal. The district borders Nepal's Kapilvastu district on the north and Rupandehi district on the northeast. Otherwise, it is surrounded by other districts of Uttar Pradesh: Maharajganj on the east, Basti and Sant Kabir Nagar on the south, and Balrampur on the west. Siddharthnagar's area is 2,895 km2.

Economy

In 2006, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Siddharthnagar one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the 34 districts in Uttar Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF). Kalanamak rice is grown in Siddharthnagar

Education

University and Colleges

Notable people

Notable people from the district include: