Katihar district

Katihar district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state in India, and Katihar city is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district is a part of Purnia Division. It is prominently known for its Katihar Junction Railway Station, which is a Category A station on the Barauni–Guwahati line. It has been included in the Aspirational Districts Program of the Government of India since 2018, to improve its socio-economic indicators. Katihar is the largest maize producing district of Bihar in 2022. Katihar district is a part of the Mithila region. Mithila first gained prominence after the establishment of the Mithila Kingdom (also called Kingdom of the Videhas). During the late Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Kingdom of the Videhas became one of the major political and cultural centers of South Asia, along with Kuru and Pañcāla. The kings of the Kingdom of the Videhas were called Janakas. The Mithila Kingdom was later incorporated into the Vajjika League, which had its capital in the city of Vaishali, which is also in Mithila. Later it was dominated by Chaudhary family who were the biggest landlords of Katihar district. Khan Bahadur Mohammad Baksh was the founder of the Chaudhary family. They held 15000 acres of land in Katihar district and 8500 acres of land in Purnia district. His great grandsons Chaudhary Mohammad Ashraf and Chaudhary Taj Mohammad live in a haveli known as Taj Dehori. Katihar became a district when it was split from Purnia in 1973. Katihar district occupies an area of , comparatively equivalent to Canada's Akimiski Island. Rivers: Mahananda, Ganges, Koshi, Righa Katihar district is situated in the plains of North Eastern part of Bihar State, surrounded by Purnia district (Bihar) in the north and the west, Bhagalpur district (Bihar) and Sahebganj district (Jharkhand) in the south and Malda district and Uttar Dinajpur district (Paschim Bengal) in the east. |} In 2006, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Katihar one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).