List of districts of Karnataka


The Indian State of Karnataka consists of 30 districts grouped into 4 administrative divisions. The state geographically has 3 principal regions: the coastal region of Karavali, the hilly Malenadu region comprising the Western Ghats, and the Bayaluseeme region, comprising the plains of the Deccan plateau.

History

It took its present shape in 1956, when the former states of Mysore and Coorg were merged with the Kannada-speaking districts of the former states of Bombay, Hyderabad, and Madras. Unified Mysore state was made up of ten districts, Bangalore, Kolar, Tumakuru, Mandya, Mysore, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Shimoga, Chitradurga, and Ballari had been transferred from Madras state to Mysore in 1953, when the new state of Andhra Pradesh was created out of Madras' northern districts. Coorg State became a district known as Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada was transferred from Madras State, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, Belgaum, and Viyapura from Bombay State. Bidar, Gulbarga, and Raichuru from Hyderabad State. It received its new name of Karnataka in the year 1973.
In 1986, the Bangalore Rural and the Bangalore Urban districts were formed by splitting the Bangalore district.
Notification RD 42 LRD 87 Part III was part of a notification issued by the Government of Karnataka on 2 August 1997 in Bangalore that resulted in the creation of seven new districts in the Indian state of Karnataka. The new districts created were
The notification resulted in Karnataka being politically subdivided into 27 official districts with various taluks existing within each district.
On 21 June 2007, the Government announced the cabinet approval for the creation of two more districts, Ramanagara and Chikkaballapura were formed from the bifurcation of Bangalore Rural and Kolar respectively.
On 30 December 2009, Yadagiri was carved out of Gulbarga and officially declared the 30th district of Karnataka.
Also, there is a proposal of creating Chikodi out of Belgaum for betterment of Administration and development of border areas. Also there is a proposal of creating Hosapete out of Ballari.

Administrative structure

A district of an Indian state is an administrative geographical unit, headed by a District Commissioner, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service. The district commissioner is assisted by a number of officers belonging to the Karnataka Civil Service and other Karnataka state services.
A Superintendent of Police, usually an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues of the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Karnataka Police Service and other Karnataka Police officials. Cities like Bangalore, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mysore and Belgaum are headed by a Commissioner of Police holding the rank of Additional Director General of Police or Inspector General of Police.
A Deputy Conservator of Forests, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service is responsible for managing the forests, the environment and wildlife of the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Karnataka Forest Service and other Karnataka Forest officials and Karnataka wildlife officials.
Sect-oral development is looked after by the district head of each development department such as PWD, Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal husbandry, etc. These officers belong to the various state services.

Administrative divisions

Alphabetical listing of districts