Carved out of the erstwhile District of Cuttack, Kendrapara District is situated in Central Coastal plain zone of Odisha. The District is bounded by Bhadrak District at its North, Jajpur at its North West ,Jagatsinghpur District at its South, Cuttack District at its West and Bay of Bengal at its East. Kendrapad District lies in 20 degree 20’ N to 20 degree37’ N Latitude and 86 degree 14’ E to 87 degree 01’ E Longitude. The Coastline of Kendrapara District covers 48 Km stretching from Dhamra Muhan to Batighar.
Headquarters of Kendrapara District is well known as the Tulasi Khetra. Epics unveil the fact that Lord Balram killed Kandrasura here. Then he married his daughter Tulasi and settled here. Since then the place is known as Kendrapara.
In 1st April, 1993 Kendrapara District was created form the mother District Cuttack. Kendrapara is the administrative headquarters of Kendrapara District. The District covers an area of 2, 644 sq km. There are total 1592 villages in the District comprising 1,440,361 population as per 2011 census.
In the present scenario of administrative set up, there are 9 Blocks, 9 Tahsils, 1 Sub-division (Kendrapara) in the District. There are 249 gram Panchayats, 15 Police stations, 2 ULBs functioning in the District. Kendrapara Municipality was established in 1869, first Municipality of Odisha.
Kendrapara District has a moderate climate. The temperature in the region can go up to 40 degree C in Summer while in Winter the temperature can drop to 10 degree C.
Agriculture is the prime source of income of the district. A little more than 70 percent people dependent on agriculture. Rice, groundnut, green gram, black gram and jute are the main crops grown in the District. However, frequent occurrence of natural calamities viz cyclone, flood and drought has broken the backbone of the people . In order to survive under these conditions, people go for cultivation of their staple food crop rice during rabi in the assured irrigated areas. Jute is the main cash crop of the District, grown since long. Groundnut is an important oil seed crop of the District. Coconut is the important horticulture crop in Kendrapara District.
The economy of the district is mainly dependent upon cultivation. Out of 100 workers in the District 68 are engaged in Agricultural sector. The economy of the District is primarily rural and based on agriculture and allied activities. More than 75 percent of the total population earns a livelihood from the primary sector.The District is one of the relatively developed Districts particularly in the field of education. There are many important educational institutions in Kendrapara District. Kendrapara Autonomous College, Tulsi Womens’ College, Dinabandhu Sahoo Law College, Marsaghai College, Pattamundai College are the important colleges of the District. . DIET , Balia is one of the training institutes of the District. Kendrapara Govt Polytechnic , Chhata is one of the govt technical institute.
There are many prominent tourist places in Kendrapara District. One of the famous spot is ‘Bhitara Kanika National Park’. Most popular Buddhist Shrines , Udaya Giri and Ratna Giri are just 10–15 km drive from Kendrapara. Sri Baldevjew Temple is the most popular temple of the District. Kendrapara is known as Tulashi Kshetra.
Kendrapara District celebrates many festivals round the year like Ratha Yatra, Gaja Laxmi Puja , Durga Puja, Dola Yatra.
Kendrapara has produced a number of well known personalities like freedom fighter Shri Jadumani Mangaraj, Biplabi Ananda Chandra Jena, Shahid Basu Sethi and Bisuni Madhial. Literary luminaries like Kuntalakumari Sabat, Bidyut prava Devi, Dipak Mishra and Ramchandra Behera. Musical Maestro like Nimain Charan Harichandan, Bhajan Samrat Bhikari Bal and Chira Sabuja Akshyaya Mohanty belongs to Kendrapara.
Kendrapara district also proud of pioneer of modern Odisha Raja Rajendra Narayan Bhanjadeo, Famous astronomer, mathematician and writer of Suskhma Sphuta Siddhanta Pandit Sri Gokulananda Routroy (1947–2009) is one among the prominent sons of the soil.
