Tonk district is a district of the state of Rajasthan in western India. The city of Tonk is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district is bounded on the north by Jaipur district, on the east by Sawai Madhopur district, on the southeast by Kota district, on the south by Bundi district, on the southwest by Bhilwara district, and on the west by Ajmer district.
History
It was built in the 12th century by a Brahmin Tunkau, from whom it came to the be known as Tunk and later Tonk According to another version, the town was built by a Brahman called Bhola in 1643
Geography
Tonk is on National Highway 12, 100 km from Jaipur. It is in the northeastern part of the state between 75.19' and 76.16 East longitude and 25.41' and 26.24' North latitude. The total area is 7194 km2 (as per 2002-03).
It is one of the four districts headquarters of Rajasthan state that are not directly connected with rail. The nearest railway station, Newai, is within the district but is 30 km from the district headquarters. Banas River flows through the district.
The district is notable for the Tonk meteorite, a rare carbonaceous chondrite meteorite that fell in 1911.
Economy
In 2006, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Tonk one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of 640). It is one of the 12 districts in Rajasthan receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF).
Divisions
Tonk has 9 tehsils and 7 sub-divisions. The 9 tehsils are Deoli, Malpura, Newai, Todaraisingh, Tonk, Peeplu, Uniara, Dooni and Nagarfort. The 7 sub-divisiobs are Deoli, Malpura, Newai, Todaraisingh, Tonk, Peeplu and Aligarh (Uniara). Tonk is Nagar-Parishad while Deoli, Malpura, Newai, Todaraisingh and Uniara are Nagar-Palikas. There were 1093 villages in the district according to the 2001 census.
Notable sights
Shahi Jama Masjid
Bisalpur Dam
Bisaldeo Temple
Diggi Kalyan Ji Mandir
Hadi Rani Ka Kund
Hathi Bhata
Rasiya Ke Tekri
Shivaji Park
Sunehri Kothi
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Arabic and Persian Research Institute (APRI)
Culture
Notable personalities
Ajit Singh Mehta
Banwari Lal Bairwa
Masood Ahmed Barkati
Gulubhai Jasdanwalla
Karpoor Chandra Kulish
Kailash Chandra Meghwal
Chhavi Rajawat
Jeet Ram
Prabhu Lal Saini
Hiralal Shastri
Akhtar Sheerani
Hafiz Mehmood Khan Shirani
Wali Hasan Tonki
Manikya Lal Verma
khaleel Ahmad
Azeem Akhtar
Irrfan Khan
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, Tonk district has a population of 1,421,326, roughly equal to the nation of Timor-Leste or the US state of Hawaii. This gives it a ranking of 347th in India (out of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 17.33%. Tonk has a sex ratio of 949 females for every 1000 males and a literacy rate of 62.46%. 22.35% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 20.26% and 12.54% of the population respectively.
At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 68.41% of the population in the district spoke Rajasthani, 26.71% Hindi and 3.81% Urdu as their first language.