Araria district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India. Araria district is a part of Purnia division. The district occupies an area of 2,830 km² (1,090 sq mi). Araria town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Distance from Nepal border is only about 8 km from Forbesganj head quarter.

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Araria district
District of Bihar
Sunset at Sultan Pokhar, Forbesganj
Location of Araria district in Bihar
Country	India
State	Bihar
Region	Mithila
Division	Purnia
Established	14 Jan 1990
Headquarters	Araria
Government
• Lok Sabha constituencies	Araria
• Vidhan Sabha constituencies	Narpatganj, Raniganj, Forbesganj, Araria, Jokihat, Sikti
Area
• Total	2,830 km2 (1,090 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	2,811,569
• Density	990/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
Demographics
• Literacy	53.53%(2011)
• Sex ratio	921 females for every 1000 males
Time zone	UTC+05:30 (IST)
Major highways	NH 57
HDI (2016)	0.251[1] (low)
Website	araria.nic.in

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During the British Raj, the area was under the administration of a British district collector and municipal commissioner, Alexander John Forbes (1807-1890) of East India Company. Forbes had a bungalow at the same location. Consequently the area was known as 'residential area' also abbreviated as 'R-area'. Over time, the name transformed to 'Araria' and the neighbouring subdivision came to be known as 'Forbesganj'.^[2]

Araria district is a part of the Mithila region.^[3] Mithila first gained prominence after being settled by Indo-Aryan peoples who established the Mithila Kingdom (also called Kingdom of the Videhas).^[4]

During the late Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Kingdom of the Videhas became one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla. The kings of the Kingdom of the Videhas were called Janakas.^[5] The Mithila Kingdom was later incorporated into the Vajjika League, which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.^[6] The territory of the present-day district became Araria sub-division of the erstwhile Purnia district in 1964. Araria district was formed in January 1990 as one of the administrative districts of under Purnia Division.^{[citation needed]}

Araria district occupies an area of 2,830 square kilometres (1,090 sq mi),^[14] comparatively equivalent to Russia's Zemlya Georga.^[15] Araria is also known as "Renu ki Dharti" (The Land of Renu). who was one of the most influential writers of Modern Hindi literature after Munshi Prem Chand .The famous villages of Araria are Bairgachhi, Gayyari and Dehti etc.

East-West Corridor passes through the district. Train facility is in the form of broad gauge track and the district have two railway stations. This track ends one side to the Katihar Junction, which is a big and important junction from where trains to all over India are available, other end of track is Jogbani the last point of Indian rail.

In 2006 the Indian government named Araria one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640)^[17] though it has also been enlisted in the list of 112 aspirational districts of India by NITI Aayog. It is one of the 36 districts in Bihar currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).^[17]

According to the 2011 census Araria district has a population of 2,811,569,^[19] roughly equal to the nation of Jamaica^[20] or the US state of Utah.^[21] This gives it a ranking of 139th in India (out of a total of 640).^[19] The district has a population density of992 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,570/sq mi) .^[19] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 30%.^[19] Araria has a sex ratio of 921 females for every 1000 males,^[19] and a literacy rate of 55.1%.^[19] 6.00% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 13.61% and 1.38% of the population respectively.^[19]

Hinduism is the majority religion. Muslims are majority in Araria and Jokihat blocks, and are in near-majority in Palasi block.^[22]

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 28.71% of the population in the district spoke Urdu, 25.05% Hindi, 20.57% Maithili (including Thati), 2.17% Bengali, 2.10% Kulhaiya, 1.91% Surjapuri and 1.05% Santali as their first language. 16.43% spoke languages recorded as 'Others' under Hindi on the census.^[23]

The district is divided into two subdivisions, Forbesganj subdivision and Araria subdivision.

• Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', novelist and story writer.
• Mohammed Taslimuddin Former Union Minister of State^[24]
• Subrata Roy, chairman of Sahara Group
• Quaiser Khalid IPS, Maharashtra Cadre, Poet, Educationist^[25]
• Pradeep Kumar Singh BJP Politician, Member of Lok Sabha^{[citation needed]}
• Yahay Rahmani Social Activist

• Districts of Bihar
• Araria Lok Sabha constituency