West Champaran is an administrative district in the state of Bihar in India, located just 60 km west of Birgunj. It is the largest district in Bihar with an area of 5,228 km2(2,019sq mi). It is a part of Tirhut Division. The district headquarters are located in Bettiah. The district is known for its open border with Nepal. One of the major location in West Champaran is Kumar Bagh for SAIL Special Processing Unit and Bhitiharwa where Mahatma Gandhi started Satyagrah Aandolan. The district produces the most sugarcane across the state of Bihar in 2022.

Geography

The district occupies an area of 5228 km2, comparatively equivalent to Canada's Amund Ringnes Island.

Flora and fauna

In 1989 West Champaran district became home to Valmiki National Park, which has an area of 336 km2. It is also home to two wildlife sanctuaries: Valmiki (adjacent to its namesake national park) and Udaypur Wildlife Sanctuary. Fauna include the Bengal tiger.

Administrative divisions

The West Champaran district is divided into 3 Tehsil (sub-division):

Blocks

The West Champaran district is divided into 18 Blocks: The district is well connected by roads and railways to all major cities.

Politics

Lok Sabha constituencies in the district are Paschim Champaran, Valmiki Nagar. Vidhan Sabha constituencies in the district are Valmiki Nagar, Ramnagar, Narkatiaganj, Bagaha, Lauriya, Nautan, Chanpatia, Bettiah, Sikta

Demographics

According to the 2011 census West Champaran district has a population of 3,935,042, roughly equal to the nation of Liberia or the US state of Oregon. This gives it a ranking of 63rd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 750 PD/sqkm. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 28.89%. Pashchim Champaran has a sex ratio of 906 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 58.06%. 9.99% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Tribes made up 14.08% and 6.35% of the population respectively.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 91.86% of the population in the district spoke Bhojpuri, 3.32% Hindi and 2.97% Urdu as their first language. Languages include Bhojpuri, a tongue in the Bihari language group with almost 51 million speakers, written in both the Devanagari and Kaithi scripts.

Culture

The city is the birthplace of poet Gopal Singh Nepali. Mahatma Gandhi started the Champaran Satyagraha movement from here in 1917 along with nationalists Rajendra Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Brajkishore Prasad.

Notable people