Samastipur

Samastipur is a City and Municipal Corporation in Bihar, India. It is the headquarter of Samastipur district and comes under Darbhanga division. The Burhi Gandak River flows through the city. It is one of the five railway divisions of ECR, Hajipur. The Samastipur junction is one of the busiest station in North Bihar after Patna and Katihar. As of 2011 Indian Census, Samastipur had a total population of 62,935, of which 33,025 were males and 29,910 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 8,252. The total number of literates in Samastipur was 46,416, which constituted 73.8% of the population with male literacy of 77.2% and female literacy of 69.9%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Samastipur was 84.9%, of which male literacy rate was 88.9% and female literacy rate was 80.4%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 9,219 and 249 respectively. Samastipur had 12062 households in 2011. Samastipur has several schools and colleges. Most of the colleges are affiliated to the Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Darbhanga. The Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, is located near the town, in Pusa. This university was constructed in 1970 near the ruins of Pusa Institute which was the Indian Agricultural Research Institute built during the British regime. IGNOU has several study centres in Samastipur. Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (B.S.R.T.C) operates bus services to the neighbouring states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Samastipur Junction railway station lies in the East Central Railway zone of the Indian Railway network and provides connectivity to most of the regions of India. Bali Ram Bhagat, 6th Speaker of Lok Sabha, Governor of Rajasthan, Governor of Himachal Pradesh and former Member of parliament Gajendra Prasad Himanshu, politician Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, Indian politician, national spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party and a cabinet minister N.