Gandaki Province

Gandaki Province was named after the river Gandaki. Gandaki is a major river in the province. This river has Important links with historical Hindu civilization.^{[citation needed]} The Gandaki river is mentioned in the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata.^{[citation needed]} It has been said that Valmiki wrote the great epic Ramayana here.^{[citation needed]} It is also believed to be the birthplace of Luv & Kush. Its evolution is described in Shiva Purana, Kumarakhand, in the chapter of the killing of Shankhachuda.

Gandaki province was once home to the Chaubisi Rajya, the 24 kings, of which Gorkha was one. From Gorkha, Prithvi Narayan Shah arose to unify all the kingdoms and expand to include all of present-day Nepal.^{[citation needed]} Gandaki Province was known as "Gandak Kshetra" which was established in 1956. Gandak Kshetra was composed by grouping the then 4 districts. Those 4 districts are now divided into many districts. Gandak Kshetra had total area of 5,400 square miles (14,000 km²) and total population was 12 Lakhs.^[3] The four districts were:

1. Lumbini District (Rupandehi, Parasi, Palpa)
2. Syangja District (Syangja, Nawalpur)
3. Pokhara District (Tanahun, Kaski)
4. Gorkha District (Gorkha, Lamjung, Manang)

In 1962, the administrative system was restructured again and the "Kshetras" system was canceled. The country was restructured into 75 development districts and those districts were grouped into zones.^[4] In 1972 area of the Gandaki Province named Western Development Region. It had 3 zones and 16 districts.

The province has an area of 21,773 km² which is about 14.66% of the total area of Nepal. The state extends between 27°-20' N ~ 29°-20' N latitude and 82° 52' E ~ 85°-12' E longitude. In terms of terrain, the province is spread over the Himalayan, Hilly and Terai region of Nepal; 5,919 km² (26.8%) of the area falls under the Himalayan region, 14,604 km² (67.2%) of the area falls under the Hilly region and 1,310 km² (6%) of the area falls under the Terai region.^[5]

The province has a population of 2,403,016 which is just about 9.06% of the total population of Nepal.^{[citation needed]} The population density is about 110 persons per square kilometre. The province has a population growth rate of -0.33%. The sex ratio is 89 males for 100 females, with a total of 948,028 males and 1,144,124 females recorded in 2011. The urban population of the region is 1,452,186 (60.5%) and the rural population is 943,652 (39.5%). About 50.1% of the population in the province are independent population.^{[citation needed]}

Ethnicity

Hill Brahmins are the largest community with 21.26% of the population. Other aboriginal Khas communities include Khas/Chhetri (13.13%), Kami (8.66%), Sarki (4.10%), Damai (3.84%), Thakuri (1.61%) and Kumal (1.49%). The Janajati groups are Magar (18.79%), Gurung (11.30%), Newar (4.23%), Tamang (2.03%), Tharu (1.68%) and Bhujel (1.27%).

Language

According to the 2011 Nepal census there are total 88 languages spoken in Gandaki Province. Nepali/Gorkhali/Khas Kura is the most-spoken language, by 72.67% of the population. 9.85% speak Kham Magar, 8.70% Gurung, 1.72% Newar, 1.48% Tharu and 1.42% Tamang.^[7]

The Language Commission of Nepal has recommended Magar, Gurung and Bhojpuri as official language in the province. The commission has also recommended Tharu, Nepal Bhasa and Tamang to be additional official languages, for specific regions and purposes in the province.^[8]

Administrative subdivisions

Gandaki province is divided into 11 districts, which are listed below. A district is administered 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 one metropolitan city and 26 municipalities. There are 58 rural municipalities in the province.^[9]

Districts in the province:

1. Baglung District^[10]
2. Gorkha District
3. Kaski District
4. Lamjung District
5. Manang District
6. Mustang District
7. Myagdi District
8. Nawalpur District
9. Parbat District
10. Syangja District
11. Tanahun District

Largest cities or towns in Gandaki Province Central Bureau of Statistics [1]
	Rank		District	Pop.	Rank		District	Pop.
Pokhara	1	Pokhara	Kaski	414,141	11	Putalibazar	Syangja	44,876	Gaindakot
	2	Vyas	Tanahun	70,335	12	Devchuli	Nawalpur	42,603
	3	Kawasoti	Nawalpur	62,421	13	Kushma	Parbat	39,600
	4	Gaindakot	Nawalpur	58,836	14	Besishahar	Lamgunj	39,356
	5	Baglung	Baglung	57,823	15	Palungtar	Gorkha	38,174
	6	Madhyabindu	Nawalpur	54,140	16	Galyang	Syangja	36,967
	7	Waling	Syangja	51,143	17	Beni	Myagdi	33,498
	8	Gorkha	Gorkha	49,272	18	Galkot	Baglung	33,097
	9	Shuklagandaki	Tanahun	48,456	19	Jaimini	Baglung	31,430
	10	Bhanu	Tanahun	45,792	20	Bhimad	Tanahun	31,362

History & Overview

The Provincial Assembly of Gandaki Province is formed under Article 175 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 which guarantees a provincial legislative for each province in the country. The first provincial elections were conducted for all seven provinces in Nepal and the elections in Gandaki Province was conducted for 60 seats to the assembly. The first meeting of the provincial assembly was held on 4 February 2018. Netra Nath Adhikari from Maoist Centre was elected as the first speaker of the provincial assembly, and Srijana Sharma from CPN (UML) as the first deputy speaker of the provincial assembly.

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 Pokhara High Court is the head of the judiciary.^[11] The present Governor, Chief Minister and Chief Judge are Sita Kumari Poudel (governor), Surendra Raj Pandey (chief minister) and Purushottam Bhandari.^[12][13] The province has 60 provincial assembly constituencies and 18 federal House of Representative constituencies.^[14]

Gandaki Province has a unicameral legislature, like that of the other provinces in Nepal. The tenure of the provincial assembly is of five years. The Provincial Assembly of Gandaki Province is temporarily housed at the Urban Development Training Centre in Pokhara.^[15]

Gandaki Provincial Assembly

Further information: Gandaki Provincial Assembly

Gandaki has 36 provincial assembly seats under FPTP.

List of assemblies

Committees

Article 195 of the Constitution of Nepal provides provincial assemblies the power to form special committees in order to manage working procedures.

Current composition

Main article: 2nd Gandaki Provincial Assembly § Members

The economy of the province is largely dependent on tourism.

Roadways

9 out of 11 districts of Gandaki Province are connected via surfaced roads. Road connections to Mustang and Manang are unsurfaced and can be impassable during the rainy season. Siddhartha Highway connects Lumbini to Gandaki. The highway starts at the Nepal-India Border in Siddharthanagar and terminates at Prithivi chowk, Pokhara. The major settlements on the highway are Siddharthanagar, Butwal, Tansen, Waling, Putalibazar, Syangja, and Pokhara.

Kali Gandaki Corridor Project

Airways

Here are the lists of domestic and international airport in the province.^[10]

Current Airports

• Pokhara International Airport PKR- VNPK & VNPR - Operates both International as well as domestic flights.
• Manang Airport NGX- VNMA
• Jomsom Airport JMO- VNGS
• Dhorpatan Airport VNDR
• Baglung Airport

Former Airport

• Palungtar Airport GKH- VNGK

• Provinces of Nepal
• List of districts in Nepal