Kiphire district

Kiphire District (Pron:/ˈkɪfɑɪə/) is a district in the Indian state of Nagaland. At , the district is the tenth-most populous district of Nagaland and 625th most populous district in India with 74,004 inhabitants. The district is home to 3.74% population of Nagaland. The district headquarters is at Kiphire, 230 kilometres from state-capital Kohima. It is the fourth most backward district in India, according to the 2018 NITI Aayog rankings. Kiphire district was carved out of Tuensang district in 2003. It became the eleventh district of Nagaland after it was carved out. An administrative headquarters at Kiphire was created on 16 June 1952 after surveys were done to open more administrative headquarters. The district was formally created in 2003 with 7 subdivisions, namely, Seyochung, Pungro, Amahator, Kiphire Sadar, Longmatra, Sitimi and Kiusam. Another subdivision, namely, Khongsa was carved out of Pungro subdivision taking the total number of subdivisions of Kiphire district to 8. The first Base Area Superintendent of the district was S.D. Lakhar. The district was earlier part of the Tuensang district which was under the NEFA. The area of the district is . It is bounded by Tuensang and Noklak districts in the north, Zünheboto district in the west, Phek district in the south and Myanmar in the east. It is headquartered at Kiphire, which is at an altitude of 896 m above sea level. The major towns of this district are Seyochung, Sitimi, Pungro and Kiphire. Nagaland's highest peak, Mount Saramati (3826 metres) is located in this district. Kiphire also has an earth station. Kisatong village is another tourist destination in the district. The overall climate of the district is hot and humid during the summers and cold during winter. The temperature during the winter months touches a low of 2.7 degrees Celsius while in summer it reaches a high of 37.0 degrees Celsius. The district enjoys south-east Monsoon with average rainfall between 1500 mm to 1800 mm occurring over about 6 months from May to October.