Kathua is a city and municipal council located in Kathua district of Jammu Division of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, near its border with Punjab, India and Himachal Pradesh. The city is headquarters of Kathua district and is divided into 27 wards which constitute the Kathua Municipal Council. It is situated along NH-44. The town has a bustling industrial area and an army cantonment adjoining it. Geography Kathua is located at . It has an average elevation of . The city is surrounded by three rivers. Ravi is down Kathua while Ujjh is about ahead on Jammu Highway. Kathua itself is situated along the banks of a khad which has been heavily polluted and encroached over there years and this has become a drain of sewage, dividing it into two boroughs: Parliwand, meaning the other side; and Orliwand, meaning this side. Itself being a Plain the area is surrounded in the North by snow-capped Sivalik hills. Kathua lies 88 kilometres south of Jammu. Demographics Population Total population of the Municipal Council and Outgrowth areas is 59,688 with 31,717 males and 28,149 females. The sex ratio is 888 women per 1000 men. There are 12,061 households in the Municipal Council and Outgrowth areas. Literacy There are 46359 literates and 13,507 illiterates in the Municipal Council and Outgrowth areas resulting in an 86.46% literacy rate. The male and female literacy stand at 90.7% (25,605 indv.) and 81.75% (20,754) respectively. Language Use of Urdu is predominant in official government documents along with English, but Dogri is the mother tongue and the vernacular language of the populace along with Hindi. Religion Hinduism is the largest religion in Kathua, followed by over 91% of the people. Sikhism is the second-largest religion with 4.75% adherents. Christianity and Islam form 1.09% and 2.68% of the population respectively. Climate Kathua has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cwa). Kathua generally experiences extreme rainfall during the monsoon being on the windward side of Sivalik. Because of its proximity to rivers, the climate is moderate to very hot in summers and mild to very cold in winters. Summers are hot and the temperature may reach 39 degrees, while in winters, the temperature can dip to below 0 degrees at nights. Heavy downpour is experienced during the monsoon season in July and August. The annual rainfall is around , mainly in monsoons and winters. Heavy hailstorms may be