KISHTWAR

K-----Kwality
I-----  In
S----- Sapphire and  Saffron
H-----Having
T-----Tremendous
W-----Wealth
A-----And
R-----Resources

Overview of Kishtwar District

Kishtwar District ............... 7824 Sq. Kms

Kishtwar District is a newly formed district of the state of Jammu and Kashmir of India. Kishtwar district consists of 8 blocks: Kishtwar, Inderwal, Paddar, Marwah, Warwan, Dachhan, Nagseni and Drabshalla and comprised of 134 panchayats. Kishtwar District has 2 assembly constituencies: Inderwal and Kishtwar.

Kishtwar district in the state of Jammu & Kashmir is positioned at an altitude of 5374 feet. The positional coordinates of Kishtwar district includes a longitude of 75.7667 and a latitude of 33.3167. Jammu, Udhampur, Srinagar and Awantipur are the locations from one can avail of the air services to reach the district of Kishtwar. The key economic activity of Kishtwar district in Jammu & Kashmir is agriculture. The crops are sold in the local markets by the farmers to earn their day-to-day living. Sheep rearing is another major occupation of the population of Kishtwar. The general characteristics traits of the people of Kishtwar comprises of their simplicity and a very hardworking nature. Since Kishtwar is set on considerably high altitude so the common climate of the place variates in the lowest levels of temperature scale. The handicraft items made by the local people of Kishtwar have a huge demand among those tourists who come to this quaint yet appealing place of Jammu & Kashmir. The natural surrounding of Kishtwar is adorned by majestic mountainous ranges and foliages that collectively makes it a perfect tourist spot of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The festivals of Kishtwar primarily reflects the folk traditions of the place. Apart from its own natural splendors, Kishtwar also flaunts many adjacent tour destinations. The names of Kutal, Dul, Keshwan, Mughal Maidan and Kwar are very popular and inevitably comes in the itinerary of tourists.Kishtwar, with its steady economic state and cultural richness, is consistently proceeding towards becoming one of the prominent Jammu & Kashmir districts. Pursuant to Government order Kishtwar has been declared as one of the new Districts, while Atholi (Paddar) which falls in Kishtwar Sub-Division has been declared as new Tehsil. It may be pertinent to mention that vide Govt. Order No. Rev(5)203 of 2005, dated 09-08-2005 three new Tehsils namely Chhatroo, Marwah and Paddar were created, and in fact these three Tehsils have started functioning independently after territorial Tehsildars were posted there. But, vide recent Govt. Order the Committee has been asked to demarcate boundaries among others in respect of Tehsil Atholi (Paddar) as well. Thus, the new District Kishtwar would comprise four Tehsils including Kishtwar and the Committee is to demarcate boundaries of the new DistrictKishtwar and Tehsil Atholi (Paddar). Kishtwar Sub-Division is bounded by Zanskar on the North, Himachal Pardesh on the East, Doda and Bhaderwah on the South, Kishtwar and Banihal on the West. 

Kishtwar in the past used to be an independent hill principality and was merged with the State of Jammu and Kashmir in1821 A.D. With the passage of time Kishtwar became a Tehsil of District Udhampur and remained its part till 1948, when it became part of newly created District Doda in the wake of first re-organization of the state during the post-independence period. Kishtwar branches off in Marwa-Wadwan valley, Paddar valley, Chhatroo valley and is flanked by lofty Himalayas from all sides. The monsoon hardly reaches this part of the State which makes it a drought prone area and insufficient in food grains in particular the Marwah-Wardwan area which remains cut off for 5-6 months in a year due to snowfall in winter. In order to avoid any starvation death sufficient stocks of food grains and other essential commodities are stored well in advance in these areas so that the public may not suffer on this account.
Kishtwar is having lot of potential for generation of Hydro Electric Power. One of the major power projects is Dul-Hasti which is at the commissioning stage. With the commissioning of this project the economy of the area is sure to boost up and the pace of development of Kishtwar is sure to accelerate in the coming days. The area popularly known as ‘Land of Sapphire and Saffron’ is also very rich in forest products. The richest forests in Jammu and Kashmir are found on the high mountains and hills of Kishtwar. Kishtwar is linked with other parts of the state by an all weather road National Highway 1-B, which remains open throughout the year. Kishtwar is also connected with Kashmir Valley by Chatru- Synthan road, which is being upgraded into National Highway. With the up gradation of this road it will become an alternate route for the tourists visiting Kashmir Valley.

For purposes of ascertaining views of the District Administration and people’s representatives in respect of fixing geographical boundaries of new District Kishtwar, the Demarcation Committee visited various areas of the Sub-Division. A large number of representations were presented to the committee, besides verbal suggestions made by the sitting and Ex-MLAs/MLCs who met the Committee, during its visit to Kishtwar and Doda. Although there were some demands for additions/deletions of certain areas in the existing boundaries of the Sub-Division (now District) Kishtwar, yet on the whole the consensus opinion was that existing boundaries of Kishtwar Sub- Division be made boundaries of new District Kishtwar, but for a forceful demand projected by the people of Bunjwa for exclusion of their area from Tehsil Kishtwar and its inclusion in Tehsil Thathri keeping in view the geographical location and connectivity of the area. Nodoubt, there were some dissenting views also, but the Committee during its visit had observed that in view of the following considerations, there is a strong case for exclusion of Patwar Halqa Patnazi comprising five villages namely Patnazi, Kither, Binoon, Nali and Jirwar with a population of 6715 souls, and Patwar Halqa

Jawalapur consisting of six villages namely Jawalapur, Kewa, Mori, Balagran, Chamoti and Tipri with a population of 7257 from Kishtwar and their inclusion in Tehsil Thathri. Thus, the new District Kishtwar would comprise four Tehsils namely Kishtwar (except two Patwar Halqas namely Patnazi and Jawalapur), with sixteen Patwar Halqas having seventy three villages, Tehsil Marwah with eleven Patwar Halqas having twenty seven villages, Tehsil Chhatroo with seven Patwar Halqas having thirteen villages and new Tehsil Atholi (Paddar) with five Patwar Halqas having thirty two villages. With this the total number of Patwar Halqas and villages in the new District comes to thirty nine & one hundred forty five respectively.

Paddar Valley is the fartherest corner of District Kishtwar on south-easternside touching its borders with Himachal Pradesh, Zanskar Valley of Ladakh and Marwah-Warwan Valley. Paddar is known for sapphire deposits and other forest products like Zeera and Guchhi. Although vast areas of the Valley are under forest cover yet few villages are also known for producing green/dry vegetables/pulses such as Peas and Rajmash. Paddar Valley comprises five Patwar Halqas and thirty two villages. 

Administrative Divisions of Kishtwar District.

Administrative Unit	Number of Units
Revenue Sub-Divisions
Tehsil	4
No.of Revenue circles	8
No.of Patwari Halqa	41
No. of Village	156+1 uninhabited village
No. of Habitations
Names of Nagar Panchayat
Names of Blocks/Janpad Panchayat	Kishtwar, Nagseni, Paddar. Inderwal, Marwah, Warwah, Dachhan, Drabshalla
Name of Gram Panchayat (PRI)	134
Janpad Panchayat (PRI)
Zila Panchayat (PRI)
Name of Legislative Assembly Constituencies	2 (Two)

Blockwise split of Panchayat and Revenue units

S.No	Name of the block	Geographical Area (in sq km)	Habitated Villages	Gram Panchayat	Patwar Halqa
1	Kishtwar	26862.50	22	32	7
2	Nagseni	17727.03	14	12	3
3	Paddar	24810.63	32	13	5
4	Inderwal	29954.35	13	22	7
5	Marwah	15736.14	11	12	6
6	Warwan	10461.62	11	07	2
7	Dachhan	4539.82	05	09	3
8	Drabshalla	29511.57	48	27	8
	Total	159600.66	156	134	41

Literacy of Kishtwar District 2011

S.No	Indicator	Unit	Kishtwar
1	Male	%	71.75
2	Female	%	44.13
3	Total	%	58.54

Blockwise Urban and Rural Population according to SEX

Block	Rural				URBAN		% of Rural Population to total Population
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
Kishtwar	23607	22413	46020	8794	6142	14936	32.45%
Nagseni	7338	6737	14075				100%
Paddar	10312	9087	19399				100%
Inderwal	17054	15350	32404				100%
Dachhan	5047	5231	10278				100%
Marwah	7130	6485	13615				100%
Warwan	3611	3125	6736				100%
Drabshalla	17342	16038	33380				100%

Showing Block wise details of electrification of District Kishtwar

S.No	Block	No of inhabited villages	No of un-electrified villages
1	Kishtwar	-	-
2	Nagseni	-	-
3	Paddar	-	22
4	Inderwal	-	-
5	Dachhan	-	03
6	Marwah	-	11
7	Warwan	-	11
8	Drabshalla	01	01
	Total	01	48