Administrative History

With the beginning of historical period , Kashmir came to have an organized government which for administrative convenience, divided the entire valley into two major units ; Madavarja and Kamaraja - the terms which later on came to be commonly known as Maraz and Kamraz, respectively. Maraz consisted of the districts lying  on both the side of the Jehlum above Srinagar, while Kamraz comprised those below it; the boundary between the two units being placed somewhere near the spot now called Shergarhi. Both these local divisions of early Kashmir are still  recognized by the people. Maraz and Kamraz were subdived in ancient times, into Visayas, which subsequently came to be known as Parganas. The first systematic account of these Parganas is furnished by Abu-Fazl, the noted Mughal Historians. According to him there were thirtyeight Parganas in Kashmir in his time. These remained intact with minor changes throughout the Mughal Period, but with commencement of the Sikh rule,numerous changes occurred in the number size and even in the names of these Parganas; their total number being reduced to thirty-six. However, during Dogra reign these Parganas were re-organised on the basis of Zilas and Tehsils, and in 1865,thus Maraz and kamraz came to have three Zilas and twenty-five Tehsils and two Zilas and eighteen  Tehsils, respectively. In about 1872, these Zilas were re-designated  as Wazarats and the entire valley was divided into six Wazarats such as Sheh-ri-khas (Srinagar), Anantnag, Shopian, Pattan, Kamraz and Muzaffarabad.         

In 1892, Sir Walter Lawrence, the doyen of land settlement in the valley, recommended changes in the administrative divisions and reduction in the number of Wazarats with territorial alignments. The recommendation were accepted by the Maharaja and the whole valley, excluding Muzaffarabad Wazarat, was divided into two Wazarats only, namely Anantnag and Baramulla. This administrative division of the valley remained intact till 1950, with only one change- the headquarter of Anantnag Wazarat being transferred to Srinagar in 1931. 

As a result of the loss of a huge territory of the State of Pakistan in 1947, the Wazarats were re-organised in1951 and one more Wazarat , namely Srinagar,was carved out of the existing districts of Anantnag and Baramulla. The nomenclature of Wazrats were also changed and, henceforth, these administrative units were re-designated as districts.        

To make the planning process more effective and also to increase people’s involment in the development activities at grass root level, the government in July 1979 divided the valley into six districts in addition to the three that already existed. For administrative convenience, the  districts were sub-divided into twenty six tehsils, each comprising of a number of villages.The total number of the villages in the Valley was 2,899, in the year 1997-98. The appendix No.12 exibits details of districts and tehsil-wise break up of population for 1981 and 1991. Whileas, appendix No. 1.3 shows details about tehsils, blocks, panchayats and villages for the year ending  1997-98.