Shakargarh the headquarters of Shakargarh Tehsil

Shakargarh Tehsil

Shakargarh Tehsil of Narowal District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The tehsil is administratively subdivided into 35 Union Councils, three of which form the tehsil capital Shakargarh.-History:...

, is a city in the north-east of Narowal District

Narowal District

Narowal District is a district in the province of Punjab of Pakistan. Narowal city is the capital of the district. Narowal District is divided into three tehsils: Narowal, Shakargarh and Zafarwal. Before the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Shakargarh town was the headquarters of Shakargarh...

, Punjab

Punjab (Pakistan)

Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. It borders Jammu to the North and Sialkot to the west The city is located at 32°16'0N 75°10'0E and is situated at the west bank of the Ravi River

Ravi River

The Ravi is a trans-boundary river flowing through Northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of the six rivers of the Indus System in Punjab region ....

.

Demographics

The total area of Shakargarh is approximately 1,272 square kilometres. According to the 1998 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Narowal District's population was 1,256,097 of which only 12.11% were urban It is an agricultural city, wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

, and rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

 being its main crops. The literacy rate in Shakargarh is 85%.

History

Before the independence of Pakistan, Shakargarh was the headquarters of Shakargarh Tehsil, which formed part of Gurdaspur district

Gurdaspur District

Gurdaspur district is a district in the state of Punjab, situated in the northwest part of the Republic of India. Gurdaspur is the district headquarters. It internationally borders Narowal District of the Pakistani Punjab, Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir, the Punjab districts of Amritsar and...

 (now in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

). Under the Radcliffe Award, Shakargarh tehsil was transferred to Pakistan and attached with Sialkot District. However with the creation of Narowal District on 1 July 1991, Shakargarh became tehsil

Tehsil

A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....

 headquarters was included as one of its tehsils. Shakargarh was the gateway of Mughals entering Gordaspur and going to Delhi. Shakargarh is also was the gateway to Kashmir and regarded as the rest point for travellers. One of the main reason for its popularity was and still is its rich and fertile land for wheat and top quality rice cultivation. One of the superior land for rice cultivation in world.

During British Rule Shakargarh Tehsil was an administrative subdivision of Gurdaspur District, in 1947 the majority of the district went to India with Pakistan retaining the tehsil of Shakargarh which then became a subdivision of Sialkot District.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, written over a hundred years ago during British rule, describes Shakargarh as follows:

Educational Institutions

Government Institutes

• Government Degree College for Boys
• Government Girls College
• Government High School for Boys
• Government High School for Girls (I & II)
• Government Primary School for Boys
• Government Primary School for Girls

Private Institute

• Oxford Model Higher Secondary School & College
• Satellite Public School
• The Educators
• Beaconhouse College
• Unique Science Academy
• Ghazali Group of Schools & Colleges
• Punjab College
• Lasani School
• Islamia College

Some Notable Things

• Pakistan Standard Time (PST) is set in an area of Shakargarh, known as Masroor.
• The literacy rate in Shakrgarh is 85%., which is more than any other area of Pakistan.