Haripur District
Encyclopedia : H : HA : HAR : Haripur District
Haripur is a district in Hazara Division in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan that contains the city of Haripur. The Haripur district has the highest Human Development Index of all districts in the province.
Etymology
Haripur is named after the Sikh general Hari Singh Nalwa, who founded the city of Haripur. Etymogogically, Haripur means an abode of Lord Vishnu. Alternately, it could also mean "a city founded by a Hari (as in Hari Singh Nalwa)" or "a city whose main personality is/was Hari".
Demographics
Population
According to 1998 Census, Haripur has a population of 692,228 (including 345,561 males and 364,667 females). Out of those only 12.0% of the population live in urban areas, while, the rest of 88.0% of the population lives in the rural areas.Language
According to the 1998 District Census Report, Hindko is the predominant language in the district, representing 88% of population, followed by Pushto (8.9%), Punjabi (1.8%), and Urdu (0.5%) each.Area & Density
The population is spread over 1,725 km², with population density of 401.3 persons per km², as compared to the population density of 233 persons per km², in the NWFP. The average household size of the district is 6.6 persons per household as compared to 8 at the provincial level.Growth Rate
The average annual growth rate for the district during the 1981 to 1998 inter-census period has been 2.19%, lower than the provincial average i.e. 2.8% and almost equal to the national average i.e. 2.2%.Literacy Rate
The overall literacy rate for Haripur district is 53.7%, substantially higher than the provincial literacy rate in NWFP (35.2%). The female literacy rate is dismally low at 37.4% as against male literacy of 70.5%. The urban: rural break down show that rural literacy is lower (51.4%) than the urban literacy (69.7%).Subdivisions
Haripur district has two tehsils, Haripur and Ghazi. It also has 44 union councils of which 5 are urban.Education
Government Schools
Haripur has 907 government primary schools, including 656 for boys and 251 for girls, in 2000-2001. In addition to government primary schools, 166 mosque schools were also functional in the district during this period.The 907 government primary schools are there to cater a primary school age population (5-9 years) of 101,670, out of which 52,240 (51.38%) were boys and 49,430 (48.61%) were girls. The ratio of the primary schools with the primary school going age population indicates a limited access of the children to primary education. The district had 83 middle schools (56 for boys & 27 for girls), during 2001.
The mosque schools were introduced under the National Education Policy 1979 at the time of Fifth Five-Year Plan 1978-83. A mosque school is organized on the basis of 20-30 students, having normally one PTC teacher and Imam of the mosque as staff members, a shorter teaching programme (about 4 hours a day), same curriculum as of primary schools in addition to teaching of Holy Quran-e-Nazira (recitation of the Quran). The students qualifying from such schools are eligible for admission in formal schools for higher education.
During 2000-2001 total 166 mosque schools (15.47% of the total primary schools) were functioning in district, while in 1997-98 this number was 180. Details about the number of teachers and students, curricular activities and performance of these schools are not available. The school age population catered by the mosque schools is not available. Neither, we have data to assess the role of these schools in primary education.
Famous places
One of the well known places of the district Haripur is Khalabat Town named after a village now under Tarbela Dam lake. It is a well planned town with a population of around 35000 and is located at the bank of Tarbela Lake and is home to affecties of Terbela Dam. A River which is known as "Nadi Dor" is also famous and provides water to the big area of District.Among other famous places are Rehana, the home town of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, Sikanderpur, Dervesh, Khanpur, Beer, Mankrai (an old turkic settlement which is famous for its old ruins) & Sirikot.Village Pandak, actually Haripur city was built in this village.Major railway station of Haripur is also located in Pandak.
Khanpur
Khanpur has the attraction for most of the tourrrists due to the Khanpur dam, it has a power plant from where a lot of electricity is supplied to nearby areas. It is also the home town of two inflential and political families Rajas and Syeds. The village khanpoor has occupied a vast area and is then separated into nineteen more small villages named Dobandi Syeddan, Sultanpur, Tarnawa, Khuee mera, Morra marado, Gotey na mora, Mora Sardar Baig, khoee narah, Khuee Kama, Najafpur, Choee, Lundee Choee, Qattera, Mamraal, Salargan, Pera, Gari Syedan, Jolian, Niar Sukh.Name
The name Haripur was kept after the name of General Hari Singh Nalwa under the rule of Raja Ranjit Singh. Haripur turned into a district in 1992 and got separated from Abbottabad. The District is situated on the northern border of Islamabad the capital city.Trivia
The Tarbela Dam, the largest dam in Pakistan is a tourist attraction in the district. When it was built, the dam was the largest mixed earth-and-rock dam in the world. A large man-made lake was created by the dam.Famous people
- Air Chief Marshal Muhammad Anwar Shamim was a native of Haripur as well. He was the Chief of Air Staff of Pakistan Air Force from 23rd July, 1978 to 5th March, 1985.
- Famous Urdu poet Qateel Shafai was a native of Haripur. A small part in the middle of city called mohallah Qateel Shafai is after his name.
- Raja Sikandar Zaman was acting Cheif Minister of NWFP, He also held offices of other ministeries in national and provencial assemblies.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.