PROFILE OF THE STATE

Assam lying between the latitudes 24^oN to 28^oN and longitudes 90^oE to 96^oE is situated in the north east corner of India. The State is quite isolated from the rest of the country bordering two foreign countries Bhutan and Bangladesh. A narrow strip of about 25 km. has linked the State with West Bengal.

The State was reorganised with the formation of separate States viz. Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Assam according to 2001 census covers an area of 78,438 sq. km. with a population of 26638407. The percentage shares of area and population of the State to that of the country are 2.4 and 2.6 respectively. The State can be divided into three distinct natural regions viz.

1. The Brahmaputra Valley comprising of twenty two plain districts with a total area of 56194 sq.km.

2. The Hills areas consisting of Karbi Anglong district and N.C. Hills district with a total area of 15322 sq. km. And

3. The Barak Valley covering three districts with a total area of 6922 sq.km.

The districts (27) are further subdivided into 56 sub-divisions and 145 revenue circles for the convenience of administration and revenue collection.