Place : Rampur district is approx 2367 Sq. Km in size. The district capital of Rampur town is a later medieval era town, the erstwhile capital of the Princely state of Rohilkhand, created by Afghan migrants ( Rohillas) who established themselves as Nawabs in the region, upon the death of Mughal king Aurangzeb. Rivals of the Awadh king at Lucknow, the entry of the East India company into North India, from the port of Calcutta, is directly linked to the EIC intervention in supporting Awadh, in defeating Rohilkhand. The Ganga tributaries of Kosi river & the Ramganga, flow close to Rampur town. Rohilkhand in the past was a deeply forested area until even 100 to 150 years back. One of Asia's largest forest reserves ( Corbett National Park) is even today, right next to Rampur district. The district is largely a fertile terai land today, suitable for good agriculture. One of India's most important libraries of antiquarian books & manuscripts i.e. Raza library (Nawab's old palace) is in Rampur town. It has more than 12,000 rare manuscripts & many Mughal miniature paintings of note.

 

Work : In late colonial period, Rampur princely state aligned its interests with the EIC (1857 uprising) & the Raj government, and found favour as an industrial investment destination. Until 1960, it was known for its various industries, including sugar refining and cotton mills. The industry was mainly concentrated in Rampur town. But through the 1970s & 80s, under attack from trade unions, the employment structure of Rampur town completely changed from Industry to handcraft, as the biggest employers like Raza textile mills & Buland Sugar Mills shut down. Today, Rampur town has an informal workforce of craftsmen with nearly 70% working on embroidery ( Zardozi & Applique), Kite Making , Wooden Violin making etc. Apart from the state government formal employment jobs, the distillery & meat-export factory is the largest employer in the district. Menthol factories, sugarcane & other agriculture production constitutes the biggest form of district employment. 

 

People : Rampur with 2.3 million population in 2011 census is 194th most populous district, off India's 725 districts. Although the Muslim population of India is 13.4% of the total, there are 86 districts of India where Muslim population is more than 20% of the total. Off these 86 districts list, there are 19 districts where the Muslim population is higher than 50% - 10 of these are in Jammu & Kashmir state, 6 are in Assam state, 2 in West Bengal & 1 in Kerela. In Uttar Pradesh's 75 districts, while no one district makes it to the list of "Majority Muslim" i.e. more than 50% Muslim population, nearly 19.3% of the overall state's population is Muslim. The biggest concentration of Muslims in UP's 75 districts is in Rampur ( 49%) & its next districts i.e Moradabad (47%) & Bijnor ( 43%).The muslim population in UP is more concentrated in towns than villages. Off UP's urban population, nearly 37% are Muslim. In Rampur district's 8 largest towns, muslims form approx 69% of the total population. In the district capital of Rampur town & its 0.33 milliion population though, Muslims constitute approx. half the population.
 

1. For more data on Rampur district - Place, Work/Employment & People - please see this MSME one time district survey of 2012 - click here.

2. Knowledge posts by Profession

3. Knowledge posts by Education

4. Knowledge posts on Rampur Culture & Nature