Sabarkantha district is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state of India and is located in the northeastern part of the state. The administrative headquarters of the district are located in Himatnagar. Geography Sabarkantha District is bounded by Rajasthan state to the north and northeast, Banaskantha district and Mehsana district to the west, Gandhinagar district to the south and Aravalli district to the southeast. It is spread across an area of 5390 km2. It has a gender ratio of 950 females per 1000 men, and the literacy rate for the district is 76.6%. History During the Western Satrap rule, the region was known as Shwabhra (). The region was under the rule of Satrap Rudradama in 150 A.D. as indicated in Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts at Junagadh. The river of the region was originally named Shwabhravati and is now known as the Sabarmati River. The region is also named in auxiliary text Gaṇapāṭha of Pāṇini's grammar work, Aṣṭādhyāyī. During the British Raj Vijaynagar in Sabarkantha district was the capital of Vijaynagar State or Pol State, one of the princely states of the Mahi Kantha Agency. The present-day district of Sabarkantha was formed in 1949 through the merger of 29 princely states and some parts of the British-governed Ahmedabad district. When the erstwhile Bombay state was bifurcated in 1960, Sabarkantha became a part of the newly-formed Gujarat. Economy In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Sabarkantha one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the six districts in Gujarat currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF). Divisions Sabarkantha district has 8 talukas: Himatnagar Idar Prantij Talod Khedbrahma Poshina Vadali Vijaynagar Demographics According to the 2011 census Sabarkantha district has a population of 2,428,589, roughly equal to the nation of Kuwait or the US state of New Mexico. This gives it a ranking of 183rd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 16.56%. Sabarkantha has a sex ratio of 950 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 76.6%. The residual district had a population of 1,388,671, of which 237,158 (17.08%) lived in urban areas. Residual Sabarkantha district had a sex ratio of 951 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 125,462