At the time of formation, Jharkhand state had 18 districts. Later, six more districts were carved out by reorganizing these districts. The 23rd and 24th districts, Khunti and Ramgarh came into existence on September 12, 2007.
Presently, 24 districts of Jharkhand are grouped in to 5 divisions. These divisions are:
Below is the list of districts.
List of districts in West Bengal
The Himalayas lies in the north of the state and the Bay of Bengal is at the south. In between them, the river Ganga flows eastwards and its main distributary, the Hooghly River, flows south to reach the Bay of Bengal. The Siliguri Corridor, which connects North-East India with rest of the India, lies in the North Bengal region of the state. Geographically, West Bengal is divided into a variety of regions—Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, Terai and Dooars region, North Bengal plains, Rarh region, Western plateau and high lands, coastal plains, Sunderbans and the Ganga Delta.
In 1947, when India gained independence, the state of West Bengal was formed with 14 districts, as per partition plan of the then Bengal province of British India. The former princely state Koch Bihar joined as a district in 1950, and the former French enclave Chandannagore joined as part of the Hooghly district in 1954. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 led to addition of Purulia district to the state and to enlargement of West Dinajpur district. Later, larger districts such as West Dinajpur, 24 Parganas and Midnapore were bifurcated. Till 24 June 2014 West Bengal was divided into 19 districts.
West Bengal is now divided into 23 districts which includes the newly formed Jhargram district, Alipurduar district and the Kalimpong district, Paschim Bardhaman district under five divisions and divisions are administered by Divisional Commissioners. Kolkata, the capital of the state, constitutes the Kolkata district. Other districts are further divided into administrative units such as subdivisions and blocks, administered by SDO and BDO, respectively. The Panchayati Raj has a three-tier structure in the state. The atomic unit is called a Gram Panchayat, which is the "Panchayat" organisation for a collection of villages. The block-level organisations are called "Panchayat Samiti", and the district-level organisations are named "Zilla Parishad".
A district is governed by a District Collector, who is better known as a District Magistrate (DM) in the state of West Bengal. A DM is an officer from either Indian Administrative Service (IAS) or West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS), and is appointed by the State Government of West Bengal. Each district is divided into subdivisions, except the Kolkata district, which contains urban area only, administered by Kolkata Municipal Corporation. A subdivision is governed by a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), better known as a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO). Other than urban units such as town municipalities, a subdivision contains 'community development blocks' (also known as "CD blocks" or "blocks"). A block consists of urban units such as census towns and rural units called gram panchayats. A block is administered by a Block Development Officer (BDO), who is appointed by the Government of West Bengal.
A gram panchayat, which consists of a group of villages, is administered by a village council headed by a "Pradhan". As per the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973, each Block has a "Panchayat Samiti", whose members include the "Pradhan"s of the constituent gram panchayats, and the MLAs from the block. A "Panchayat Samiti" is headed by a "Sabhadhipati". The third tier of the Panchayati Raj is "Zilla Parishad", a district level organisation with the "Sabhapati"s of the constituent "Panchayat Samiti"s and the MLAs from the district as its members. A "Zilla Parishad" is headed by a "Sabhadhipati". For the Darjeeling district, the "Zilla Parishad" has ceased to exist, but a similar organisation for the Siliguri subdivision exists, which is designated as a "Mahakuma Parishad".
The Gorkha Hill Council, formed in 1988, administers three (out of four) subdivisions of the Darjeeling district: Darjeeling Sadar, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Gorkha Hill Council manages the departments of Public Health, Education, Public Works, Transport, Tourism, Market, Small scale industries, Agriculture, Agricultural waterways, Forest (except reserved forests), Water, Livestock, Vocational Training and Sports and Youth services. District administration of Darjeeling, which is still responsible for election, "panchayat", law and order, revenue "etc.", also acts as an interface between the Council and the State Government.
A District Superintendent of Police, better known as a Superintendent of Police, heads the District Police organisation of West Bengal Police. This is as per the Police Act of 1861, which is applicable to the whole of India. The Superintendents of Police are officers of the Indian Police Service. For every subdivision, there is a Subdivision Police, headed by a Police officer of the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police or Deputy Superintendent of Police. Under subdivisions, there are Police Circles, each headed by an Inspector of Police. A Police Circle consists of Police Stations, each headed by an Inspector of Police, or in case of rural areas, by a Sub-Inspector of Police.
The Calcutta High Court has the jurisdiction of the state of West Bengal. Though most of the districts have more courts other than a District Court, not every subdivision of the state has a Court.
A group of districts forms a division, which is administered by a 'Divisional Commissioner'. West Bengal is now divided in twenty three districts, grouped under five divisions:
The following is a list of the basic demographic data for the districts of West Bengal by their population rank in India
List of districts in Punjab, India
A district of the Punjab state of India is an administrative geographical unit, headed by a deputy commissioner or district magistrate, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service. The district magistrate or the deputy commissioner is assisted by a number of officers belonging to Punjab Civil Service and other state services. As of May 18, 2021, there are 23 districts in Punjab, when the 23rd district of Malerkotla was formed.
A senior superintendent of police, an officer who belongs to the Indian Police Service is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues of the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Punjab Police Service and other Punjab Police officials.
A division forest officer, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service is responsible for managing the forests, environment, and other wildlife-related issues in the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Punjab Forest Service and other Punjab forestry officials and Punjab wildlife officials.
Sectoral development is looked after by the district head of each development department such as Irrigation, PWD, Agriculture, Health, Education, Animal husbandry, etc. These officers belong to various State Services.
List of districts in Uttarakhand
A district of Uttarakhand state is an administrative geographical unit, headed by a Deputy Commissioner (earlier called District Collector) or District Magistrate, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service. The deputy commissioner and the district magistrate are assisted by a number of officers (such as deputy collector, assistant collector, assistant district magistrate, tehsildar, deputy (naib) tehsildar) belonging to Uttarakhand Civil Service and other Uttarakhand state services.
A Superintendent of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service, heads the police in the district and is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues. He is assisted by the officers of the Uttarakhand Police Service.