# Mandi district

Mandi district is one of the central districts of Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. The town of Mandi is the headquarters of the district.
The main native language is Mandeali.
As of 2011, it is the second most populous district of Himachal Pradesh (out of 12), after Kangra.

## Demographics
### Population

According to the 2011 census, Mandi district has a population of 999,777 roughly equal to the nation of Fiji or the US state of Montana. This gives it a ranking of 446th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 253 inhabitants per square kilometre (660/sq mi).
Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 10.89%. Mandi has a sex ratio of 1012 females for every 1000 males and a literacy rate of 82.81%. 6.27% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 29.38% and 1.28% of the population respectively.

### Religion

Religions in Mandi district (2011) :
| Religion | Religion | Percent | Percent |
| Hinduism | Hinduism | 98.16% | 98.16% |
| Islam | Islam | 0.95% | 0.95% |
| Sikhism | Sikhism | 0.41% | 0.41% |
| Other or not stated | Other or not stated | 0.48% | 0.48% |
Religious groups in Mandi State (British Punjab province era) :
| Religious group | 1901 | 1901 | 1911 | 1911 | 1921 | 1921 | 1931 | 1931 | 1941 | 1941 |
| Religious group | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % |
| Hinduism | 170,304 | 97.85% | 178,115 | 98.35% | 181,358 | 98.01% | 199,935 | 96.37% | 227,463 | 97.79% |
| Islam | 3,187 | 1.83% | 2,799 | 1.55% | 3,462 | 1.87% | 6,351 | 3.06% | 4,328 | 1.86% |
| Buddhism | 510 | 0.29% | 164 | 0.09% | 76 | 0.04% | 138 | 0.07% | 208 | 0.09% |
| Sikhism | 41 | 0.02% | 26 | 0.01% | 142 | 0.08% | 899 | 0.43% | 583 | 0.25% |
| Christianity | 3 | 0% | 4 | 0% | 10 | 0.01% | 141 | 0.07% | 11 | 0% |
| Jainism | 0 | 0% | 2 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Judaism | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 1 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Zoroastrianism | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Others | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Total population | 174,045 | 100% | 181,110 | 100% | 185,048 | 100% | 207,465 | 100% | 232,593 | 100% |
| Note: British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases. |||||||||||

### Language

Languages of Mandi district (2011)
At the 2011 census, 59.11% of the population in the district identified their first language as Mandeali, 33.32% opted for Pahari (a term broadly applicable to most Indo-Aryan languages of Himachal and Uttarakhand), while 4.1% chose Hindi, 0.66% – Punjabi and 0.47% – Kangri.

## Subdivisions

Mandi district Divived in to 12 Sub divisions:
* Mandi Sadar
* Balh
* Sundar Nagar
* Sarkaghat
* Dharampur
* Joginder Nagar
* Padhar
* Gohar
* Thunag
* Karsog
* Balichoki
* Kotli
Villages in the district include Janjheli, which falls in Thunag Tehsil. It is near Kullu-Manali, around 80 km from Bhunter Airport, 90 km from Kullu and 67 km from Mandi. It has thick deodar forests, sprawling apple orchards, and springs. It is a trekking/hiking outpost. Shikari Devi is a tourist spot. It hosts Himachal Cultural Village, an ethnic village highlighting the culture of Himachal Pradesh.

## Politics

| No. | Constituency | Member | Party | Remarks |
| 26 | Karsog (SC) | Hira Lal | Bhartiya Janata Party | |
| 27 | Sundernagar | Rakesh Jamwal | Bhartiya Janata Party | |
| 28 | Nachan (SC) | Vinod Kumar | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| 29 | Seraj | Jai Ram Thakur | Bharatiya Janata Party | Chief Minister |
| 30 | Darang | Jawahar Thakur | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| 31 | Jogindernagar | Prakash Rana | Bharatiya Janata Party | Defected From Independent To BJP |
| 32 | Dharampur | Mahender Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | Jal Shakti Minister |
| 33 | Mandi | Anil Sharma | Bharatiya Janata Party | MPP and Power Minister (27.12.2017–13.04.2019) |
| 34 | Balh (SC) | Inder Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
| 35 | Sarkaghat | Inder Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | Chairman, Subordinate Legislation Committee |

## Education
### Universities and colleges

* Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT Mandi)
* Jawaharlal Nehru Government Engineering College
* Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cluster University
* Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College & Hospital Mandi
* College of Horticulture and Centre of Excellence for Horticulture Research and Extension, Thunag
* Atal Bihari Vajpayee University of Medicine and Health Sciences (upcoming)

### Schools

* Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mandi

### Polytechnics

* Govt Polytechnic Sundernagar
* Industrial Training Institute (ITI) Mandi

## Sports

The district is home to the Bandy Federation of India which is a member of the IOC recognized Federation of International Bandy.

## Famous People

* Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Mohit Kumar, Professor for "Computational Intelligence in Automation (apl)" at the University of Rostock, Germany, Key Researcher Data Science and Research Team Lead AI Regulations and Security at Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Austria.
* Kangana Ranaut