{{short description|Regional divisions in Assam}} [[File:Assam districts map.svg|thumb|400px|Administrative division of Assam: {{Legend-col |{{legend|#02D554|Lower Assam}} |{{legend|#CE88E0|North Assam}} |{{legend|#FF8182|Upper Assam}} |{{legend|#FFCD01|Central Assam}} |{{legend|#FF8027|Barak Valley}} }}]] The state of Assam in India has five regional divisions, each comprising a number of districts. The Divisional Commissioner is the head of administration of a division.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
== History == {{Location map+ |India Assam|float=right |width=300 |caption={{center|Location of the oldest urban centres recognised as a municipality region of Assam before 1947.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unil.ch/files/live/sites/igu-urban/files/shared/Manta.pdf|title=Urbanisation and Growth of Small Towns in Assam, India|work=Rinku Manta, Research Scholar, Deptt. of Geography - Gauhati University and Dr. Jnanshree Borah, Associate Professor, Deptt. of Geography: Arya Vidyapeeth and Cotton College - Gauhati University|date=2005|access-date=2017-04-07|archive-date=2020-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026171344/https://www.unil.ch/files/live/sites/igu-urban/files/shared/Manta.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pL_GfLfK3lYC&q=permanent+centres+of+commerce&pg=PA1|title=Report on the Administration of North East India|work=K. M. Mittal|date=1921}}</ref>}}|places= {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=27.48|long=95.00|label_size=80 |label=Dibrugarh|position=left}} {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=26.02|long=90.00|label_size=80 |label=Dhubri|position=bottom}} {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=26.17|long=90.62|label_size=80 |label=Goalpara|position=top}} {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=26.52|long=93.97|label_size=80 |label=Golaghat|position=right}} {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=26.17|long=91.75|label_size=80|label=Guwahati|position=top}} {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=26.75|long=94.22|label_size=80 |label=Jorhat|position=left}} {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=26.35|long=92.67|label_size=80 |label=Nagaon|position=right}} {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=26.63|long=92.8|label_size=80 |label=Tezpur|position=left}} {{Location map~ |India Assam|lat=24.82|long=92.8|label_size=80 |label=Silchar|position=right}} |default_width=240|border=none}} In 1874, Assam was constituted as a ''Chief Commissioner's province'' with the seat of the government in Shillong, the erstwhile capital of Assam, which is now in Meghalaya. To better administer the six districts of Goalpara, Kamrup, Sonitpur, Nagaon (formerly, Nowgong), Sivasagar (formerly, Sibsagar) and Lakhimpur, (the districts in the Brahmaputra valley, also called Assam Valley), the Judge of Assam Valley was given the additional charge of a commissioner in 1880.<ref>"In 1879, Sir Bayley, therefore, proposed to the Government of India that the Judge of Assam Valley to be the ex-officio Commissioner of Assam Valley. High Court objected to the proposal. But Government of India approved the scheme and the Chief Commissioner invested the Judge of Assam with the powers of a Commissioner of a Division." {{harv|Bose|1985|p=32}}</ref> In 1905, the offices of the Judge and the Commissioner were segregated in the Assam Valley;<ref>{{harv|Bose|1985|p=33}}</ref> in addition to adding a separate Commissioner's office for the administration of the Hill Districts and Surma Valley.<ref>{{harv|Bose|1985|p=36}}</ref> ==List of divisions== ===Current divisions=== {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:86%" |- ! Division Name !! Divisional Office !! Districts !Population !Area |- | Barak Valley || Silchar || Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj |3,612,581 | |- | Central Assam and Hills || Nagaon || Dima Hasao, Hojai, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong, Morigaon, and Nagaon |5,894,460 | |- | Lower Assam || Guwahati || Baksa, Barpeta, Bajali, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhubri, Goalpara, Nalbari, Kamrup Metropolitan, Kamrup Rural, Kokrajhar, and South Salmara-Mankachar, Tamulpur |13,179,980 | |- | North Assam || Tezpur || Biswanath, Darrang, Sonitpur, and Udalguri |4,246,834 | |- | Upper Assam || Jorhat || Charaideo, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Sivasagar, and Tinsukia |7,840,943 | |} <ref>{{harv|Press Trust of India2015}}</ref>
===Proposed divisions (new) {{cn|date=August 2022}} === {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:86%" |- ! Division Name !! Divisional Office !! Districts |- | Assam Hills || Diphu || Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong, and West Karbi Anglong |- | Barak Valley || Silchar || Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj |- | Bodoland || Kokrajhar || Baksa, Chirang, Kokrajhar, and Udalguri |- | Central Assam || Nagaon || Hojai, Morigaon, and Nagaon |- | Kamrup || Guwahati || Darrang, East Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Kamrup Rural, and South Kamrup |- | Lower Assam || Bongaigaon || Barpeta, Bajali, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, Goalpara, Nalbari, and South Salmara-Mankachar |- | North Assam || Tezpur || Biswanath, Lakhimpur, and Sonitpur |- | Upper Assam || Jorhat ||Charaideo, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, and Tinsukia |}
==Municipal corporations== ===Municipal corporation (present)=== * Guwahati * Dibrugarh * Silchar<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1161222/jsp/northeast/story_126084.jsp#.WOeV1BIrIch|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223005542/https://www.telegraphindia.com/1161222/jsp/northeast/story_126084.jsp#.WOeV1BIrIch|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 23, 2016|title=Citizens submit memo to Sonowal, ''The Telegraph (Calcutta – Gauhati)''|work=Avik Chakraborty|date=21 December 2016|access-date=21 December 2016}}</ref>
==Oldest recognised and constantly inhabited urban areas== The list of the oldest urban areas based on the earliest years of formation of the civic bodies,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unil.ch/files/live/sites/igu-urban/files/shared/Manta.pdf|title=Urbanisation and Growth of Small Towns in Assam, India|work=Rinku Manta, Research Scholar, Deptt. of Geography - Gauhati University and Dr. Jnanshree Borah, Associate Professor, Deptt. of Geography: Arya Vidyapeeth and Cotton College - Gauhati University|date=2005|access-date=2017-04-07|archive-date=2020-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026171344/https://www.unil.ch/files/live/sites/igu-urban/files/shared/Manta.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pL_GfLfK3lYC&q=permanent+centres+of+commerce&pg=PA1|title=Report on the Administration of North East India|work=K. M. Mittal|date=1921}}</ref> constituted before India's Independence of 1947. {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:86%" ! Type || Formation period||| Urban areas |- | Municipal board region || Prior to India's independence in 1947 || {{div col|small=no|colwidth=22em}} # Guwahati<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mJroCwAAQBAJ|title=Economics Of Informal Milk Producing Units In Assam <br> – Guwahati municipal region, 1853, reconstituted 1873. |first=Jugal|last=Saikia|date=8 April 2016|publisher=Notion Press|access-date=5 August 2016|via=Google Books|isbn=9789352069385 }}</ref> # Silchar<ref>{{cite web|url=http://silchartoday.com/silchar/silchar-municipal-board-silchar-municipality-assam/|title=Silchar Municipal Board (Silchar Municipality) Assam – Silchar Karimganj Hailakandi – ''Silchar municipal region, 1922''|access-date=5 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728100952/http://silchartoday.com/silchar/silchar-municipal-board-silchar-municipality-assam/|archive-date=28 July 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> # Dibrugarh<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dibrugarhmunicipality.org.in/|title=Dibrugarh Municipal Board – ''Dibrugarh municipal region, 1873.''|access-date=2017-04-07|archive-date=2016-06-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611150105/http://dibrugarhmunicipality.org.in/|url-status=dead}}</ref> # Goalpara<ref>{{cite web|url=http://goalparamb.org.in/Aboutus.html|title=Goalpara Municipal Board-About Us – ''Goalpara municipal region, 1875.''|access-date=2017-04-07|archive-date=2016-06-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625135907/http://goalparamb.org.in/Aboutus.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> # Dhubri<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dhubrimb.org.in/|title=Dhubri Municipal Board – ''Dhubri municipal region, 1883.''}}</ref> # Nagaon<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nagaon.gov.in/hist.html|title=Nagaon – History – ''Nagaon municipal region, 1893.''|access-date=2017-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418063334/http://nagaon.gov.in/hist.html|archive-date=2018-04-18|url-status=dead}}</ref> # Tezpur<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tezpurmb.co.in/AboutMunicipalBoard.aspx|title=About Municipal Board – Tezpur – ''Tezpur municipal region''|access-date=2017-04-07|archive-date=2016-06-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624164612/http://www.tezpurmb.co.in/AboutMunicipalBoard.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> # Jorhat<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jorhatmunicipalboard.org/jorhat_municipal_board.php|title=Jorhat Municipal Board(JBM), Jorhat, Assam – ''Jorhat municipal region, 1909''|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327181336/http://jorhatmunicipalboard.org/jorhat_municipal_board.php|archive-date=2016-03-27}}</ref> # Golaghat<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150119/jsp/northeast/story_9079.jsp#.V0OXAZMrIcg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630120603/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150119/jsp/northeast/story_9079.jsp#.V0OXAZMrIcg|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 30, 2015|title=AGP lists civic poll candidates – ''Golaghat municipal region, 1920''|access-date=5 August 2016}}</ref>
{{div col end}} |}
== References == {{reflist}} ===Sources=== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Bose |first=M L |title=Development of Administration in Assam |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |year=1985}} * {{cite newsgroup |author=Press Trust of India |title=Assam reorganises different divisions |date=October 31, 2015 |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/assam-reorganises-different-divisions-115103101125_1.html |access-date=November 1, 2015}} {{refend}}
Category:Divisions of Assam Category:Assam-related lists