Jiribam district

Jiribam District (Meitei pronunciation: /jee-ree-baam/) is a district at the western periphery state of Manipur, India. It borders the Cachar district of Assam on the west, and serves as the western gateway for Manipur. Formerly a subdivision of the Imphal East district, it was made an independent district in December 2016.

Geography and history
Jiribam district lies in the valley between the Bhuban range on the west (in Assam's Cachar district) and the Vangai range ("Vangaitang") in the east. The Barak River flows due north in the valley from Tipaimukh, turning west near Jirimukh, about 10 km south of Jiribam. Also at Jirimukh, the Jiri River that flows from north in the same valley drains into the Barak River.

The area of Jiribam district appears to have been part of the Cachar kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. After annexing the kingdom in 1832, the British made an agreement with Raja Gambhir Singh of Manipur ceding all claims to the territory up to the western stretch of Barak River and the Jiri River. Thus the eastern portion of the Jiribam valley came under the control of Manipur, while the rest remained under Cachar which became part of Assam.

The Jiribam Valley was at that time forested and mostly uninhabited. The Cachar portion of the valley had a ferry port at Jirighat, which was used by the travellers on the Silchar–Manipur road (called "Cachar Road" in Manipur). The Manipur state government decided to open the valley for agricultural settlement in 1907, and by 1911, 14,346 bighas of land is said to have been settled. Rice and sugarcane were cultivated, and betel leaf (pan) in areas unsuitable for rice cultivation.

By 1931, there were 46 villages in the Jiribam settlement, populated by Manipuri (Meitei) Hindus and Muslims, Bengali Hindus and Muslims, a few Kukis and Kabuis. Jiribam also had 5 primary schools, the same number as in the Imphal Valley outside the city of Imphal. Most of the settlers in Jiribam came from the Cachar district, very few from the Imphal Valley (Manipur valley). This meant that the settlers had to be treated as 'British subjects' rather than 'Manipur state subjects' and revenue settlement orders and dispute resolutions had to be carried out by the British Political Agent.

After the independence of India, Manipur elected a legislative assembly under its own constitution. Ten seats in the assembly were allocated to the hill areas, which included Jiribam. Soon afterwards, Manipur merged into India and was governed under the Constitution of India as a union territory. The territory of Manipur was divided into 8 subdivisions, one of which was based at Jiribam. The Jiribam subdivision covered the Vangai range, and stretched up to Tipaimukh in the south. It was designated as a hill subdivision.

In 1969, when Manipur was divided into five districts, the southern part of the Jiribam subdivision was separated into the Tipaimukh subdivision of the 'Manipur South' district (now in Pherzawl district), while the northern part was added to the 'Manipur Central' district headquartered at Imphal. This also meant that Jiribam became part of the valley area of Manipur, rather than hill area. To avoid the anomaly, the eastern part consisting of the Vangai range was transferred to the Tipaimukh subdivision. With the reorganisation of 'Manipur Central', Jiribam got attached to the Imphal East district. In 2016, Jiribam subdivision became an independent Jiribam district.

Demographics
At the time of the 2011 census, the district had a population of 42,838. Jiribam had a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 63.11%. 16.75% of the population lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 16.94% and 12.52% of the population respectively.

At the time of the 2011 census, 50.79% of the population spoke Bengali, 30.51% Manipuri, 8.04% Hmar, 2.66% Bishnupuriya, 1.63% Hindi, 1.46% Kabui and 1.11% Kuki as their first language.

Administrative divisions
The following are the sub-divisions in Jiribam district:
 * Jiribam
 * Borobekra

Jiribam district as a whole is one state assembly constituency - the Jiribam Assembly constituency.