Samastipur district of Bihar is spread over an area of 2904 sq. kms. The district is bounded on the north by the Bagmati river which separates it from Darbhanga district, on the west by Vaishali and some part of Muzaffarpur districts, on the south by the Ganges, and on the east by Begusarai and some part of Khagaria districts. The district headquarters is located at Samastipur.

The district has a population of 2.72 million (1991 census). About 95.0% of the population lives in the rural arrears and 5.0% of the population lives in the urban areas respectively. Overall, there were 928 females per 1000 males. The Scheduled caste and scheduled Tribe contributed about 18.03% and 0.2% of the population respectively. The decennial growth rate between 1981 and 1991 was 28.27%. The density of the population was 935 per sq. kms. Hindi is the main language spoken in the district.

Amenities available in the villages are shown in table 2.

Samastipur district consists of rich alluvial soil that is noted for its fertility and for the excellence of its rabi crops. With the exception of the part of the doab between Badhmati and Burhi Gandak rivers, the district consists of large block of upland interspersed with a few marshes. The land is very fertile and yields most of the valuable rabi and bfiadai crops. It has been the center of the indigo industry. The most important rivers traversing the district are Burhi Gandak, the Baya, Kosi, Kamla, Kareh and Jhamwari and Balan, which are both the offshoots of Burhi Gandak. The Ganges skirts the district on the south.

The district is at present comprises of 4 sub-divisions, and 14 Community Development Blocks. It has 5 towns and 1237 villages (table 1).

Table 1. Administrative Units in District

Number (with percentage) of villages having one or more amenities in the district as per 1991 census is given below (table 2):

Table 2. Villages having one or more amenities in the district (1991 census)

Samastipur is the Divisional Headquarters of the North Eastern railway. The district has direct train link with Patna, Kolkata, Delhi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and other places of importance. National Highway No. 28 passes through the district. The district headquarters is connected to all block headquarters by all weather roads.

Agriculture is the principal economic activity of the district and nearly 83 per cent of the total working population depends on it. Wheat, pulses and edible oil seeds are also grown here. Tobacco is processed and exported to distant places of the country. The district has also a rich endowment of fruits like mango, lichi and banana. These fruits in sizeable number are exported in sizeable quantity outside the State also. Artificial irrigation, although important, has played a comparatively minor part in the agricultural economy of the district. The district, like most other districts, is dependent on rainfall for its crops.

This district along with other districts in the State depends absolutely on livestock for pursuing agriculture, which is the most important occupation. The district is also suitable for the rearing of milch cattle.

Many rivers flow through this district, which provide fish in abundance. There are also many tanks like Moen, Dom, etc., in which fish is reared. There are a good number of fisherman co-operative societies to cater to the needs of thousands of fisherman. The district of Samastipur has two sugar mills, a Jute mill, a paper factory, a re-rolling mill and many other small factories.

There are as many as 904 inhabited villages in the district where educational facility of one type or other is available. Primary and middle school facilities are generally available in all towns. Institutions such as Higher secondary School or Junior College do not exist in any of the towns in the district. As regards to Secondary/Matriculation level schools, there are on an average, 2.04 schools per ten thousand population in the urban areas of the district. The average number of such schools per ten thousand population is highest in Dalsingsarai, being 2.98 followed by Rosera with 2.69.

The availability of medical amenities in the villages is considerably low and only 364 villages have it. The number of beds in medical institutions per 1000 population for the urban areas of the districts works out to 5.54. The availability of beds in the hospitals is highest in case of Samastipur (M), the district headquarters, having 9.36 beds per 1000 population.

National Surveillance Programme for Communicable Diseases (NSPCD)

The National Surveillance Programme for Communicable Diseases (NSPCD) was launched in the district in the year 1998 (1998-1999).  District Nodal Officer had been identified.  District RRT has been constituted and trained.  The training of Medical Officers, Health Supervisors, Health Workers and Laboratory Technicians has been undertaken partially.  District laboratory has been identified and upgraded.  Weekly and Monthly reports are not being received by the NICD. Table 3 shows the list of the members of RRT in Samastipur district.

Table 3. Samastipur District RRT as on July 2000