Faridkot district is a district lying in the South-Western part of Punjab, India with Faridkot city as the district headquarters.
Etymology
The district is named after its headquarters, Faridkot city, which in turn is named in the honor of Baba Farid, who was a Sufi saint and a Muslim missionary. The town of Faridkot was founded during the 13th century as Mokalhar by Raja Mokalsi, the grandson of Rai Munj, a Bhatti Chief of Bhatnair, Rajasthan. According to popular folklore, the Raja renamed Mokalhar to Faridkot after Baba Farid paid a visit to the town. It remained the capital during the reign of Mokalsi's son Jairsi and Wairsi.educational city
The region was a self-governing princely state during the British Raj period.[2] Prior to independence, a large part of the district was under the rule of the Maharaja of Faridkot and later it became a part of the Patiala & East Punjab States Union (PEPSU ) in 1948. Before independence the Muslim population was 35% mainly from Jat, Mochi, Arain and Tarkhan castes who migrated to Pakistan and settled mainly in Okara, Kasur, Pakpattan and Bahawalnagar Districts. Faridkot was carved out as a separate district on 7 August 1972 out of the areas of erstwhile Bathinda District(Faridkot Tehsil) and Ferozepur District(Moga and Muktsar Tehsils). Further, in November 1995 the Faridkot District was trifurcated when two of its subdivisions viz. Muktsar and Moga were given the status of independent districts.
Government body
Prior to independence large part of the district was under the princely rule of Sikh Maharaja of Faridkot and later it became part of the Patiala & East Punjab States Union (PEPSU ) in 1948. Faridkot was carved out as a separate district on 7 August 1972 out of the areas of Bathinda District (Faridkot Tehsil) and Ferozepur District (Moga and Muktsar Tehsils). However, in November 1995, the Faridkot District was trifurcated when two of its subdivisions viz Muktsar and Moga were given the status of independent districts.
Faridkot district is surrounded by district Ferozepur in the North-West, Muktsar in the South-West, Bathinda in the South, and Moga in the West. The District covers an area of 1469 km2. which is 2.92% of the total area of the State and accommodates a population of 552,466, which is 2.27% of the total population of the State. It has three Subdivisions/ Tehsils namely Faridkot, Kotkapura and Jaito and a Sub Tehsil namely Sadiq comprising a total of 171 villages. Faridkot District has two development blocks namely Faridkot and Kotkapura.
In 2020, Faridkot has been made new police division. Earlier, Faridkot was part of Ferozepur police division. Moga and Mukatsar districts were also attached with Faridkot police division.
The Faridkot district contains 2 Cities Faridkot, Kotkapura. More than 7 towns/villages are quite notable in the Faridkot area such as Jaitu, Bajakhana, Panjgarain Kalan, Deep Singh Wala, Golewala, Jhok Sarkari, Doad, Ghugiana, Sadiq, Chand Bhan, etc. Faridkot is a hub for premier educational institutions. North India's only Medical University, also named after Baba Farid is in Faridkot besides Medical
Note: British Punjab province era district borders are not an exact match in the present-day due to various bifurcations to district borders — which since created new districts — throughout the historic Punjab Province region during the post-independence era that have taken into account population increases.
The table below shows the population of different religions in absolute numbers in the urban and rural areas of Faridkot district.
Note:- The separation of Moga and Muktsar district from Faridkot in 1995 caused significant changes in the population numbers after that year.
Absolute numbers of different religious groups in Faridkot district[15]
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