Hojai

The term Hojai[4] means Priest in Dimasa language and is also one clan of Dimasa people, who populated the settlement during its initial formation.

Hojai is located at 26.0°N 92.87°E / 26.0; 92.87.[5] It has an average elevation of 59 metres (193 feet).

Hojai was a part of the Dimasa Kachari Kingdom in medieval times. The Dimasa Kacharies living in Hojai is known as "Hojai-Kacharies[6]" to others. "Hojai" is one of the clans (Sengphongs) of the Dimasa tribe, The city "Hojai" got its name from this clan. It was made a sub-division on 15 August 1983 under Nagaon district. On 15 August 2015, it was declared a new district of the state along with 3 other new districts.[7] On 31st December 2022, the district were remerged with their previous district.[8]

As of 2011 Indian Census, Hojai had a total population of 36,638, of which 18,762 were males and 17,876 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 3,869. The total number of literates in Hojai was 29,708, which constituted 81.1% of the population with male literacy of 83.9% and female literacy of 78.1%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Hojai was 90.7%, of which male literacy rate was 93.8% and female literacy rate was 87.4%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 3,158 and 197, respectively. Hojai had 7049 households in 2011.[1]

Administrative duties are carried on from Sankardev Nagar in NH-27 where the DC Office, Judicial Courts as well District SP Offices are located. The DC Office campus also houses the Government Circuit House within it. Hojai Judicial Courts are situated at Sankardev Nagar approximately 8 km away from Hojai Town near NH-27. Advocates of the Hojai Judicial Courts have their own Association known as "Hojai Bar Association", established in 1982.

Initially the Judicial Court at Hojai was established on 20 October 1982 and functioned as Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class. In due course of time, later on, the Courts of Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Munsiff cum JMFC Courts were established and functioning under District Judiciary, Nagaon.

On 6 March 2021, Hon'ble Mr. Justice Suman Shyam,Judge Guahati High Court has inaugurated the newly created Courts of District & Sessions Judge and Chief Judicial Magistrate at Hojai, Sankardev Nagar. On inauguration of the new District Judiciary, Sri Aditya Hazarika became the first District & Sessions Judge and Sri Shakti Sharma became the first Chief Judicial Magistrate of Hojai District.

Hojai is an MLA constituency that falls under the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency. It was previously a part of the Jamunamukh LAC. Since its inception in 1967, seven individuals have been elected as MLAs.

The first was Jonab Rahimuddin Ahmed. He was followed by Idris Ali Fakir, Sadhan Ranjan Sarkar, Santi Ranjan Dasgupta and since 1991, Ardhendu Kumar Dey has been consistently elected as an MLA, the lone defeat coming in 2006 to AIUDF's Aditya Langthasa who served as an MLA for a single term. Ardhendu Kumar Dey regained his seat in 2011 for a fourth term. For the first time, in 2016 assembly elections, BJP wrested this seat with the incumbent MLA being Shiladitya Dev.As of 2021, Ramkrishna Ghosh is elected in Assam Legislative Assembly election in 2021 from Hojai constituency.At present, Ramkrishna Ghosh is the MLA of Hojai District.

Hojai is one of the important hubs of agarwood oil extraction and trade.[14] In 2019, the Assam government under Sarbananda Sonowal allowed plantation of agarwood in five hectares.[15]

• Hojai Vidhan Sabha

• Hojai district official website