Bagmati Pradesh


Bagmati Pradesh is one of the seven provinces of Nepal established by the constitution of Nepal as of 20 September 2015. With Hetauda as its provincial headquarter, the province is the home to the country's capital Kathmandu, is mostly hilly and mountainous, and hosts mountain peaks including Gaurishankar, Langtang, Jugal, and Ganesh. The province covers an area of 20,300 km2 - about 14% of the country's total area, and has an altitude low enough to support deciduous, coniferous, and alpine forests and woodlands. Temperature varies with altitude. Rainfall takes place mainly during the summer.
The Province borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, Province No. 1 to the east, Gandaki Pradesh to the west, and both Province No. 2 and the Indian state of Bihar to the south. Hetauda was declared as the permanent state capital on January 12, 2020. Being the most populous province of Nepal, it possesses rich cultural diversity with resident communities and castes including Newar, Tamang, Madhesis, Sherpa, Tharu, Chepang, Jirel, Brahmin, Chhetri and more. It hosted the highest number of voters in the last election for the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly, which took place in 2017.

Etymology

Bagmati is named after the holy Bagmati River which runs through the Kathmandu valley. The river is considered the source of the Newar civilization and urbanization. The river has been mentioned as Vaggumuda in Vinaya Pitaka and Nandabagga. It has also been mentioned as Bahumati in Battha Suttanta of Majjhima Nikaya. An inscription dated 477 describes the river as Bagvati parpradeshe and subsequently in Gopalraj Vanshavali.
A provincial assembly meeting of this province endorsed the proposal to name the province as Bagmati by a majority vote on 12 January 2020. The meeting also endorsed Hetauda as the provincial capital.

History

Historically the area of Bagmati province known as "Kathmandu Kshetra" which was established in 1956. Kathmandu Kshetra was composed by grouping the then 5 districts. Those 5 districts are now divided into many districts. Kathmandu Kshetra had total area of and total population was 17.93 Lakhs.
The five districts were:
  1. Birgunj District
  2. Rapti District
  3. Chautara District
  4. Trishuli District
  5. Kathmandu District
In 1962, administrative system restructured and the "Kshetras" system cancelled and the country restructured into 75 development districts and those districts were grouped into zones. In 1972, the region was named to Central Development Region. It had 3 zones and 19 districts.

Government and administration

The Governor acts as the head of the province while the Chief Minister is the head of the provincial government. The Chief Judge of the Patan High Court is the head of the judiciary. The present Governor, Chief Minister and Chief Judge are Bishnu Prasad Prasain, Dormani Poudel and Tek Bahadur Moktan respectively. The province has 110 provincial assembly constituencies and 35 House of Representative constituencies.
Bagmati Pradesh has a unicameral legislature, like all of the other provinces in Nepal. The term length of provincial assembly is five years. The Provincial Assembly is housed at the Regional Education Directorate in Hetauda.

Administrative divisions

Bagmati is divided into 13 districts, which are listed below. A district is administrated by the head of the District Coordination Committee and the District Administration Officer. The districts are further divided into municipalities or rural municipalities. The municipalities include three metropolitan cities, one sub-metropolitan city and 41 municipalities. There are 74 rural municipalities in the province.
  1. Bhaktapur District
  2. Chitwan District
  3. Dhading District
  4. Dolakha District
  5. Kathmandu District
  6. Kavrepalanchok District
  7. Lalitpur District
  8. Makwanpur District
  9. Nuwakot District
  10. Ramechhap District
  11. Rasuwa District
  12. Sindhuli District
  13. Sindhupalchok District

    Sports

Bagmati Provincial Games 2020