Gorkha District


Gorkha District, a part of Gandaki Pradesh, is one of the seventy-Seven districts of Nepal and connected historically with the creation of the modern Nepal and the name of the legendary Gurkha soldiers. The district, with Gorkha Municipality as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has a population of 271,061 according to the 2011 Census of Nepal. It is the location of the Manakamana Temple. Also, the temples of great sage Gorakh Nath and goddess Gorakh Kali temple is located in district, after which the district got its name. Four major rivers run within and along it - the Chepe, Daraudi, Marsyangdi, and Budhi Gandaki.

Origin

There are three major legends associated with naming of "Gorkha".

Transport

Gorkha town has daily bus services to and from Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, Gorkha District had a population of 271,061. Of these, 72.9% spoke Nepali, 13.3% Gurung, 4.7% Magar, 3.9% Tamang, 1.1% Ghale, 0.9% Urdu, 0.7% Newari, 0.6% Kumal, 0.6% Chepang, and 0.5% Bajjika as their first language. Chhetri are largest indigenous group in this region.
24.7% of the population in the district spoke Nepali, 0.8% Gurung and 0.5% Magar as their second language.

Health care

Following is the data obtained from the PHASE Nepal website:
A district hospital is in Gorkha, the municipal hospital in Amppipal is supported by a German NGO.
The small health centers in many village development committees are without Auxiliary Health Workers, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives and Community Health Workers. So, people seeking emergency health assistance have to travel a long distance to the district headquarters or Kathmandu or end up dying because of lack of treatment. Many people still believe in Dhami and Jhakri and are against taking medicine or going to the hospital for the treatment. An NGO, PHASE Nepal provides many health care facilities and training programs to three VDCs: Sirdibas, Bihi/Prok and Chumchet. Many people residing in these VDCs have benefited from the program.

Educational status

As per the National Population and Housing Census of Nepal 2011, the literacy rate of Gorkha is 66.34%. The female literacy rate is 59.44% and the male literacy rate is 75.09%.
The district consists of 11 Municipalities, out of which two are urban municipalities and nine are rural municipalities. These are as follows:
Prior to the restructuring of the district, Gorkha District consisted of the following municipalities and Village development committees: