North Central Province, Sri Lanka

North Central Province (Sinhala: උතුරු මැද පළාත Uturumæda Paḷāta, Tamil: வட மத்திய மாகாணம் Wada Maththiya Mākāṇam) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils.[2][3] The province is the largest by size, and second least populated in the country.[1] The province consists of the districts of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, both of which were important ancient Sri Lankan kingdoms. The climate is semi-arid, and the forests are dry evergreen forests.

North Central Province
උතුරු මැද පළාත
வட மத்திய மாகாணம்
Province
Flag of North Central Province
Flag
Location within Sri Lanka
Location within Sri Lanka
CountrySri Lanka
Created1873
Admitted14 November 1987
CapitalAnuradhapura
Largest CityAnuradhapura
Government
 • GovernorMaheepala Herath
Area
 • Total10,472 km2 (4,043 sq mi)
 • Rank1st (16.31% of total area)
Population
 (2011 census)
 • Total1,259,567
 • Rank8th (5.91% of total pop.)
 • Density120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Gross Regional Product
 (2010)[1]
 • TotalRs 232 billion
 • Rank7th (4.8% of total)
Time zoneUTC+05:30 (Sri Lanka)
ISO 3166 codeLK-7
Vehicle registrationNC
Official LanguagesSinhalese, Tamil
Websitewww.nc.gov.lk

History

The centralised system of Sri Lanka, which is a unitary state, failed to satisfy the aspirations of the people. There was growing insistence on decentralisation of administrative processes to achieve rapid economic and social development of the country.

In the Sri Lankan context, devolution means the transferring of political and administrative decision-making authority from the central government to elected bodies at the lower levels.

Demographics

Employment
Percentages of employed population (aged 15 years and above) by sector of employment and sex[4]
Employed PopulationTotalPercentage MalePercentage Female
Government employee 100,045 76.1 23.9
Semi government employee 9,737 69.4 30.6
Private sector employee 84,916 72.7 27.3
Employer 7,176 83.9 16.1
Own account worker 231,848 80.4 19.6
Unpaid family worker 50,975 28.9 71.1
Total 484,697 72.6 27.4


Provincial council

The provincial council is the main administrative and control body in the North Central Province, which is the largest province in the country covering 16% of the country's total land area. It consists two districts, Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapure; Anuradhapure is the largest district in the country.

The province is also called Wew Bendi Rajje because there are more than 3000 medium and large scale tanks situated in the province. More than 65% of the province’s people depend on basic agriculture and agricultural based industries.

North Central Province has numerous potential for investors to start their businesses, specially agriculture, agricultural based industries and livestock sectors.

Administrative divisions
Main articles: Districts of Sri Lanka, Divisional Secretariats of Sri Lanka, and List of cities in Sri Lanka

The North Central Province is divided into two districts and 29 divisional secretariats.

Districts
Administrative Districts of North Central Province
District Capital Area (km²) Population
Anuradhapura District Anuradhapura 7,128 856,232
Polonnaruwa District Polonnaruwa 3,293 403,335

Divisional secretariats
Divisional Secretariats of North Central Province, Sri Lanka
Main article: Divisional Secretariats of North Central Province, Sri Lanka
Administrative Divisions of North Central Province
Division District Population
(2001
census)[5]
Nuwaragam Palatha EastAnuradhapura69,590
Nuwaragam Palatha CentralAnuradhapura60,828
KekirawaAnuradhapura58,879
ThalawaAnuradhapura57,663
NochchiyagamaAnuradhapura49,730
MedawachchiyaAnuradhapura46,743
GalenbindunuwewaAnuradhapura46,527
ThambuttegamaAnuradhapura42,143
KahatagasdigiliyaAnuradhapura40,137
IpalogamaAnuradhapura38,688
HorowpothanaAnuradhapura36,714
RambewaAnuradhapura36,426
MihinthaleAnuradhapura35,160
GalnewaAnuradhapura34,718
PalagalaAnuradhapura33,740
RajanganayaAnuradhapura33,434
ThirappaneAnuradhapura26,962
NachchadoowaAnuradhapura25,569
PadaviyaAnuradhapura22,924
KebithigollewaAnuradhapura22,227
MahavilachchiyaAnuradhapura22,183
PalugaswewaAnuradhapura15,557
DimbulagalaPolonnaruwa79,661
ThamankaduwaPolonnaruwa68,526
MedirigiriyaPolonnaruwa65,575
HingurakgodaPolonnaruwa64,289
ElaheraPolonnaruwa43,915
LankapuraPolonnaruwa36,452
WelikandaPolonnaruwa33,770

Municipal Councils
Municipal Councils of North Central Province
Municipality District Area (ha) Population
(2001
census)[6]
AnuradhapuraAnuradhapura5140.360,943
PolonnaruwaPolonnaruwa3891.9213,900

Towns

Education

Anuradhapura

Polonnaruwa

See also

References
  1. :.News Line : North, East record highest GDP growth rate Archived 2012-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Provinces of Sri Lanka". Statoids.
  3. "Provincial Councils". Government of Sri Lanka.
  4. "Sri Lanka Census of Population and Housing, 2011". Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  5. "Population of principal towns by sex, census years" (PDF). Statistical Abstract 2011. Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka.
  6. "Population of principal towns by sex, census years" (PDF). Statistical Abstract 2011. Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.