Divisions of Punjab
A Division is a cluster of districts, created for the purpose of civil administration. At present, there are total 5 divisions of Punjab namely Jalandhar, Patiala, Ropar, Faridkot and Firozpur. The administrative head of a division is called as Divisional Commissioner or simply Commissioner. An officer from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) is appointed as the commissioner of a division.
When the today's state of Punjab was created in 1966, there were only two divisions in the state, namely Jalandhar and Patiala.
The official reason for creating the new divisions is to improve the efficiency in the civil administration. But in reality, the reasons for creating the new divisions are often political. For instance, check the population of the newly created divisions and compare it with the old divisions Patiala & Jalandhar and you will very well know the reasons for creating the new divisions. The collective population of three new divisions Ropar, Firozpur & Faridkot is less than the population of Jalandhar division. The following map shows a graphical representation of districts in each division of Punjab.
The state of Punjab is geographically divided into three regions Majha, Malwa and Doaba. If you are looking for information about these geographical divisions, then please check the page: Majha Malwa Doaba.
The official reason for creating the new divisions is to improve the efficiency in the civil administration. But in reality, the reasons for creating the new divisions are often political. For instance, check the population of the newly created divisions and compare it with the old divisions Patiala & Jalandhar and you will very well know the reasons for creating the new divisions. The collective population of three new divisions Ropar, Firozpur & Faridkot is less than the population of Jalandhar division. The following map shows a graphical representation of districts in each division of Punjab.
5 Divisions of Punjab
When you are asked 'How many division in Punjab', the correct answer is that there are five divisions in Punjab and the names of these 5 divisions in the state of Punjab are given below:- Faridkot: Faridkot has 3 districts under it and names of these districts are Faridkot, Bathinda and Mansa. Total population of the districts of Faridkot division is 2775784 (27.75 lakh). Note that the population of this division is less than the population of Ludhiana district.
- Firozpur: Firozpur division has 4 districts. These districts are - Firozpur, Moga, Shri Muktsar Sahib and Fazilka. All these four districts were once the tehsils of the Firozpur district. The collective population of districts in Firozpur division is 3802313 (38.02 lakh).
- Jalandhar: There are total 7 districts in this division. The names of these districts are - Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. The total population of districts under Jalandhar division is 10503989 (1.05 Crore).
- Patiala: There are 6 districts under this division. Ludhiana, the largest district of Punjab is also in Patiala division. The other districts are - Patiala, Sangrur, Malerkotla, Barnala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana. The population of Patiala division is 8245284 (82.45 Lakh).
- Ropar: The Ropar (or Rupnagar) division has 3 districts in it - Ropar (Rupnagar), Ajitgarh (Mohali) and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawan Shahr). According to population, this is the smallest division of Punjab and the collective population of all districts under Ropar division is 2291565 (22.91 lakh). The population of some districts like Ludhiana is more than the collective population of all the districts in this division.
The state of Punjab is geographically divided into three regions Majha, Malwa and Doaba. If you are looking for information about these geographical divisions, then please check the page: Majha Malwa Doaba.