Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur (pronunciation ) is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Mithila region of the Indian state of Bihar.[4][2] It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth most populous city in Bihar.

This article is about the municipality in India. For its namesake district, see Muzaffarpur district.

Muzaffarpur
City
Muzaffarpur City
Nickname(s): 
Lychee City
Muzaffarpur
Location in India
Muzaffarpur
Muzaffarpur (India)
Coordinates: 26°7′21″N 85°23′26″E
Country India
StateBihar
RegionMithila
DistrictMuzaffarpur district
DivisionTirhut
Established1875
Municipal CorporationMuzaffarpur Municipal Corporation
Government
 • Member of ParliamentAjay Nishad
 • Member of Legislative CouncilDinesh Prasad Singh
 • Member of Legislative AssemblyVijendra Chaudhary[1]
 • MayorSuresh Kumar
Area
 • Total28.68 km2 (11.07 sq mi)
Elevation
60 m (200 ft)
Population
 (census of 2011)
 • Total393,724[2]
 • Rank5th (Bihar)
127th (India)
Language
 • OfficialHindi[3]
 • Additional officialUrdu[3]
 • Regional LanguagesBajjika-Maithili
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
842001-05
Telephone code0621
Vehicle registrationBR-06
Sex ratio890 (females per thousand males)[4]♂/♀
Literacy85.16%[4]
Lok Sabha constituencyMuzaffarpur
Vidhan Sabha constituencyMuzaffarpur
Websitemuzaffarpur.bih.nic.in

Muzaffarpur is famous for Shahi lychees and is known as the Lychee Kingdom.[5][6] Shahi litchi is set to become the fourth product from Bihar, after jardalu mango, katarni rice and Magahi paan (betel leaf) to get the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. It is situated on the banks of the perennial Burhi Gandak River, which flows from the Someshwar Hills[7] of the Himalayas.

The most famous temple in Muzaffarpur is Baba Garib Sthan Mandir, It is known as the Deoghar of Bihar.

History

Muzaffarpur's significance in Indian civilization is due to its position between cultural and spiritual influences and is a melting pot of Hindu and Islamic culture. Muzaffarpur has had prominent Indian political leaders, such as Rajendra Prasad, Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi, George Fernandes and J. B. Kripalani. The vernacular language of the region is Maithili and Bajjika dialect of Maithili is more common here, as per the linguist George Grierson.[8]

Etymology

The current city was established in 1875 during the British Raj for administrative convenience, by dividing the Tirhut district and was named after an aumil, Muzaffar Khan; thus the city came to be known as Muzaffarpur.[9]

After Independence

In 1972, the Sitamarhi and Vaishali districts were split off from Muzaffarpur.[10]

Founded

The city was founded by Muẓaffar Khan in the 18th century and was constituted a municipality in 1864. A major road and rail hub, it is a trade centre on the route between Patna (south) and Nepal (north). Rice and sugar milling alongside cutlery manufacturing are the chief industries.[11]

Geography

Muzaffarpur is located at 26°07′N 85°24′E.[12] The city lies in a highly active seismic zone of India. In the disastrous earthquake on 15 January 1934, much of the town suffered severe damage and many lives were lost.[13] It has an average elevation of 47 meters (154 feet). This saucer shaped, low-centered town lies on the great Indo-Gangetic plains of Bihar, over Himalayan silt and sand brought by the glacier-fed and rain-fed meandering rivers of the Himalayas.

Climate

Muzaffarpur has humid subtropical climate (Cwa) under Köppen climate classification. The summer, between April and June, is extremely hot and humid (28/40 °C, 90% max.) and winter is pleasantly cool, around 06/20 °C. Rainfall in Muzaffarpur Town is comparatively less to the other parts of Bihar.

River

Burhi Gandak River flows through Muzaffarpur district in south-easterly direction about 32 kilometres.

Climate data for Muzaffarpur (1981–2010, extremes 1901–2009)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 30.8
(87.4)		 34.6
(94.3)		 39.4
(102.9)		 42.2
(108.0)		 44.5
(112.1)		 43.4
(110.1)		 43.5
(110.3)		 40.6
(105.1)		 38.2
(100.8)		 35.9
(96.6)		 33.2
(91.8)		 29.6
(85.3)		 44.5
(112.1)
Average high °C (°F) 21.9
(71.4)		 25.7
(78.3)		 31.0
(87.8)		 35.3
(95.5)		 35.2
(95.4)		 34.9
(94.8)		 32.6
(90.7)		 33.0
(91.4)		 32.3
(90.1)		 31.6
(88.9)		 28.7
(83.7)		 24.3
(75.7)		 30.5
(86.9)
Average low °C (°F) 10.2
(50.4)		 13.1
(55.6)		 17.2
(63.0)		 22.0
(71.6)		 24.7
(76.5)		 26.5
(79.7)		 26.6
(79.9)		 26.8
(80.2)		 25.8
(78.4)		 22.4
(72.3)		 16.3
(61.3)		 11.8
(53.2)		 20.3
(68.5)
Record low °C (°F) 2.7
(36.9)		 2.2
(36.0)		 7.2
(45.0)		 12.6
(54.7)		 18.3
(64.9)		 19.4
(66.9)		 20.9
(69.6)		 20.6
(69.1)		 19.6
(67.3)		 14.4
(57.9)		 7.7
(45.9)		 4.0
(39.2)		 2.2
(36.0)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 10.4
(0.41)		 11.5
(0.45)		 8.4
(0.33)		 20.2
(0.80)		 71.5
(2.81)		 160.1
(6.30)		 294.5
(11.59)		 287.6
(11.32)		 208.5
(8.21)		 65.4
(2.57)		 4.3
(0.17)		 4.6
(0.18)		 1,147.1
(45.16)
Average rainy days 0.8 0.9 0.8 1.4 4.3 6.8 12.7 11.5 8.8 2.2 0.3 0.5 51.0
Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST) 77 66 54 49 60 72 82 82 82 77 74 78 71
Source: India Meteorological Department[14][15]

Demographics

As of the 2011 India census,[16] Muzaffarpur had a population of 393,724.[2] Males constituted 52.96% (208,509) of the population and females 47.04% (185,215).[2] Muzaffarpur had a literacy rate of 74.74%. Male literacy was 77.99%, and female literacy was 71.08%.[2]

As per 2011 census data, there are total 275,233 Hindus whereas 74,680 Muslims and 1,352 Christians along with other small minorities.[17]

Religion in Muzaffarpur (2011)

  Hinduism (77.65%)
  Islam (21.07%)
  Other (1.28%)

Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Muzaffarpur one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).[18] It is one of the 36 districts in Bihar currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).[18]

Lychee
Lychee garden in Muzaffarpur

The lychee crop, which is available from May to June, is mainly cultivated in the districts of Muzaffarpur and surrounding districts. Cultivation of litchi covers approximately an area of about 25,800 hectares producing about 300,000 tonnes every year. Litchi are exported to big cities of India like Mumbai, Kolkata, and even to other countries. India's share in the world litchi market amounts to less than 1%. The names of the litchi produced in Muzaffarpur are Shahi and China. The fruits are known for excellent aroma and quality.[19]

Bihar's contribution in the production of lychee in about 40 percent of lychee produced in India.[20]

Bihar has emerged as a brewery hub with major domestic and foreign firms setting up production units in the state. Vijay Mallya's group, United Breweries Group, is setting up a production unit to make litchi-flavoured wine, in Muzaffarpur in 2012. The company has leased litchi gardens.[21]

Muzaffarpur based Prabhat Zarda Factory is one of the leading tobacco manufacturers of India.[22]

Transport

Railways
Aerial view of Muzaffarpur Junction with sunset view

Muzaffarpur Junction railway station is a main railway junction, with three suburban stations, Ram Dayalu Nagar, Narayanpur Anant (Sherpur) and Jubba Sahni . It is well connected to major cities of Bihar like Hajipur, Patna, Bhagalpur, Gaya, Begusarai, Bettiah, Motihari and Darbhanga. It also connects Muzaffarpur to many metropolitan cities in India like Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata.

Roads
Road connecting New Zero Mile with NH-57

National Highway 57 (India) comes via Gorakhpur, Motihari, Chakia and crosses Muzaffarpur and National Highway 57 (India) goes to Darbhanga, Purnia. The East–West Corridor crosses Muzaffarpur thus connecting it to all the major towns and cities in India. National Highway 22 (India) starting from Hajipur passes through Muzaffarpur and connects Muzaffarpur to Sitamarhi. National Highway 28 (India) connects Muzaffarpur to Barauni, all 6 National Highways having junction there.

Airport

Darbhanga Airport is the nearest domestic airport roughly 64 km away by road. Spicejet & Indigo is currently working from Darbhanga Airport to different metropolitan cities. Patna Airport is the nearest customs airport roughly 70 km from the city.

Education

Muzaffarpur has several educational institutions of repute. Some of the prominent ones are:

University

Colleges

Schools

Notable people
Rambriksh Benipuri: freedom fighter, Socialist Leader, editor and Hindi writer
Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi, Indian freedom fighter and political activist

See also

References
  1. "Muzaffarpurchunav 2020: क्या इस बार मंत्री जी लगाएंगे हैट्रिक या पूर्व विधायक विजेंद्र चौधरी करेंगे वापसी?". Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). 1 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  2. "Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population 1 lakh and above" (PDF). Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011. Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  3. "52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  4. "Cities having population 1 lakh and above" (PDF). Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011. Government of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  5. "Bihar's famous Shahi litchi to get GI tag soon".
  6. Destinations :: Vaishali ::Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation Archived 22 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Bstdc.bih.nic.in. Retrieved on 9 January 2011.
  7. "bihar". Scribd.com. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  8. Abhishek Kumar Kashyap, "The Bajjika language and speech community Archived 19 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine" in International Journal of the Sociology of Language 227:209-224, May 2014. DOI: 10.1515/ijsl-2014-0001. Accessed 18 February 2017
  9. Faizi, Amir Afaque Ahmad (2009). Self-help Groups and Marginalised Communities. Concept Publishing Company. p. 6. ISBN 978-81-8069-621-3. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  10. Law, Gwillim (25 September 2011). "Districts of India". Statoids. Archived from the original on 17 October 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  11. "Muzaffarpur | India".
  12. Falling Rain Genomics, Inc – Muzaffarpur Archived 21 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Bihar India Earthquake Movie, 15 January 1934 Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Harappa.com (15 January 1934). Retrieved on 9 January 2011.
  14. "Station: Muzaffarpur Climatological Table 1981–2010" (PDF). Climatological Normals 1981–2010. India Meteorological Department. January 2015. pp. 513–514. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  15. "Extremes of Temperature & Rainfall for Indian Stations (Up to 2012)" (PDF). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  16. "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 16 June 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  17. "Muzaffarpur District Population, Bihar, List of Taluks in Muzaffarpur".
  18. Ministry of Panchayati Raj (8 September 2009). "A Note on the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme" (PDF). National Institute of Rural Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  19. "7. LYCHEE PRODUCTION IN INDIA". Fao.org. 31 May 1992. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  20. "Bihar is the top litchi producing State, about 300 thousand metric tonnes of litchi is being produced from 32 thousand hectare areas: Shri Radha Mohan Singh". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  21. "Bihar emerging as brewery hub". Economic Times. 16 January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  22. Sinha, Nishant (20 July 2016). "Sale of tobacco products legal". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  23. "DAV Public School, Malighat, Muzaffarpur: Admission, Fee, Facilities, Affiliation". school.careers360.com. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  24. "D.A.V. PUBLIC SCHOOL, BAKHARI - Harpur Bakhri, District Muzaffarpur (Bihar)". schools.org.in. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  25. "St. Xavier International School, Adarshgram, Muzaffarpur: Admission, Fee, Facilities, Affiliation". school.careers360.com. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
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