Samdrup Jongkhar District

Samdrup Jongkhar district བསམ་གྲུབ་ལྗོངས་མཁར་རྫོང་ཁག
District
Map of Samdrup Jongkhar District in Bhutan
Country	Bhutan
Headquarters	Samdrup Jongkhar
Area
• Total	1,878 km2 (725 sq mi)
Population  (2017)
• Total	35,079
• Density	19/km2 (48/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+6 (BTT)
HDI (2019)	0.614[1] medium · 11th
Website	www.samdrupjongkhar.gov.bt

Samdrup Jongkhar District (Dzongkha: བསམ་གྲུབ་ལྗོངས་མཁར་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: Bsam-grub Ljongs-mkhar rdzong-khag) is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) in Bhutan. The dominant languages of the district are Tshangla (Sharchopkha) in the north and west, and Lhotsam in the east. It covers a total area of 1878 sq km.^[2] Samdrup Jongkhar Dzongkhag comprises two Dungkhags which are Jomotsangkha and Samdrupcholing, and 11 Gewogs.^[2]

Samdrup Jongkhar District is situated in the southeastern corner of the country, sharing its southern and eastern borders with the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, respectively. The district falls within the subtropical climate zone, spanning an elevation range of 200 to 3600 meters above sea level. The temperature in this region varies from a minimum of 14°C to a maximum of 36°C during the peak summer months. The average annual rainfall, as recorded at Aerong, is 5309.4 mm, contributing to the lush environment. The district experiences an average annual temperature of 23.8 °C, with approximately 2749 mm of precipitation occurring annually.^[3]

"Dzongdag"^[4] is a term used in Bhutan to refer to the head of a dzongkhag, which is a district in the country. The dzongdag is essentially the administrative head of the district and is responsible for overseeing various governmental functions and services within that district. The dzongdag is typically a civil servant with significant experience in administration and governance.

A self-reliant Dzongkhag co-existing in peace and harmony with enhanced socio-economic standards, rich natural resources and cultural heritage

༉ དགའ་སྐྱིད་དང་མཐུན་འབྲེལ་ཐོག་ དཔལ་འབྱོར་གོང་འཕེལ་དང་རང་བཞིན་གནས་སྟངས་ དེ་ལས་ རང་ལུགས་ལམ་སྲོལ་དང་ལྡན་པའི་ རང་གིས་རང་ལངས་ཚུགས་པའི་ རྫོང་ཁག། །།

To enhance rural livelihood with good local governance in line with culture and environment

༉ རང་བཞིན་གནས་སྟངས་དང་ རང་ལུགས་ལམ་སྲོལ་དང་མཐུན་སྟེ་ གྲོང་གསེབ་གོང་འཕེལ་དང་ ས་གནས་གཞུང་གོང་འཕེལ་གཏང་ནི།། །།

According to the Population and Housing Census of Bhutan (PHCB) conducted in 2017, the population was recorded at 35,079.^[5]

Samdrup Jongkhar Dzongkhag is an Administrative region located in southeastern Bhutan. The Dzongkhag is subdivided into two Dungkhags and eleven (gewogs)^[6]

Samdrup Choling Dungkhag is positioned approximately 68 km away from the main administrative zone. It encompasses Gewogs such as Samrang, Pemathang, Phuntshothang, and Martsalla.

Jomotsangkha Dungkhag is situated at a distance of around 181 km via India. Within its jurisdiction lie Gewogs such as Lauri, Serthi, and Langchenphu. Completing the administrative structure are Gewogs like Doethang, Orong, Gomdar, and Wangphu.

SAMJONG, the distinctive brand of Samdrup Jongkhar District, was unveiled on June 23, 2023,^[7] with a visionary purpose: to champion local products and destinations. The custodian of this brand is the Rural Youth Processing and Marketing Enterprise, comprising enthusiastic youth from eleven gewogs. SAMJONG's primary focus lies in crafting value-added products, cultivating a profound sense of local identity, curbing imports, addressing market challenges, alleviating unemployment concerns, reinforcing cooperative efforts, and propelling the local economy to new heights. By synergizing these elements, SAMJONG aims to elevate the district's economic landscape while celebrating its rich heritage and fostering community pride.

The name "Samjong" is a contraction of "Samdrup Jongkhar," which indicates the origin of the products associated with the brand.

The logo features two stylized leaves positioned above the name "SAMJONG," which represents the progressive economic growth of the Dzongkhag.

Inside the letter "O" of the word "SAMJONG," a small leaf growing upwards represents the green economy growth and sustainability.

The national brand, “BHUTAN BELIEVE”, above the word "SAMJONG," conveys the Dzongkhag’s initiatives are in line with core values of National Brand.

ལས་རྟགས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་བཤད།

བསམ་ལྗོངས་ཟེར་མི་ཐ་སྙད་འདི་ བསམ་གྲུབ་ལྗོངས་མཁར་གྱི་བསྡུ་ཚིག་ཨིན། འདི་གིས་ ཐོན་རྣམ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ ཐོན་སྐྱེད་ཀྱི་འབྱུང་གནས་ བརྡ་མཚོནམ་ཨིན།

བསམ་ལྗོངས་ཚིག་གི་བལྟ་ལུ་ འདམ་མ་གཉིས་ཡོད་མི་འདི་ རྫོང་ཁག་གི་དཔལ་འབྱོར་གོང་འཕེལ་ བརྡ་མཚོནམ་ཨིན།

བསམ་ལྗོངས་ཚིག་གི་ཡི་གུ་ ཨོ་གི་ནང་ན་ འདམ་མ་ཁ་ཡར་སྦེ་རྒྱས་ཏེ་ཡོད་མི་གིས་ ཡར་རྒྱས་དང་ཡུན་བརྟན་ བརྡ་མཚོནམ་ཨིན།

བསམ་ལྗོངས་ཚིག་གི་བལྟ་ལུ་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་ཀྱི་ལས་རྟགས་ཡོད་མི་འདི་ རྫོང་ཁག་གི་རྩོལ་སྒྲུབ་ག་ར་ རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་ཐོན་རྣམ་གྱི་ནང་སྙིང་བརྩི་མཐོང་དང་འབྲེལ་བ་ཡོདཔ་སྦེ་ བརྡ་མཚོནམ་ཨིན།

In the Dzongkhag, there are 6 registered cooperatives and 47 farmers' groups. The majority of FGs are in the Agriculture Sector, followed by Livestock and then Forestry, with 41% in agriculture, 32% in livestock, and 18% in forestry.^[8]

Mr. Rai's farm is quite self-sufficient, nestled far from any neighbors or shops. He's got a variety of animals, like goats, poultry, fish, pigs, bees, and ducks. On his land, he grows paddy on four acres of wet land and citrus mandarins on five acres of dry land. Additionally, he grows 23 different types of fruits, vegetables, cereals, and spices, ensuring a fresh harvest year-round. He's also experimenting with growing drumstick trees around his fish pond and on the farm's western edge. Drumstick trees have medicinal properties, and their leaves, flowers, and prized bean-like fruits are used as food.^[9]

Samdrup Jongkhar's mainstay cash crops include areca nuts, ginger, garlic, oranges, and Cardamom. Notably, Samdrup Jongkhar has also introduced high-value crops like quinoa and avocado, broadening its agricultural scope.^[10]

The agricultural practices in Samdrup Jongkhar encompass both dry and wet land cultivation. A unique cereal, known as Khamtay, distinguishes the dzongkhag. In the livestock sector, the region encompasses various activities, including aquaculture, apiculture, piggery, poultry, and sheep rearing.^[10]

Samdrup Jongkhar, located in southeastern Bhutan, is home to various mines, including coal mines, which play a significant role in the region's economy. Coal mining in Samdrup Jongkhar has been a prominent activity, contributing to both local employment and national energy needs. The coal mines in Samdrup Jongkhar are situated in diverse locations across the district, showcasing Bhutan's rich natural resources.^[11]

The Chökyi Gyatso Institute (CGI)

It is located at Dewathang. It is truly unique in various aspects. It originated as a small temple constructed by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s maternal grandfather, Lama Sonam Zangpo.^[12] Following a ten-year renovation, the monastery began its final phase of reconstruction in 2015.

The Shiva Mandir at Jomotsangkha is popular among the local visitors and also regional tourists from across the border. There is a self-arisen lake with linga beside the cave.^[13]

Located about sixty kilometers away from the main town, the area near the famous mirror cliff (melong brak) is a sub-tropical forest with a warm climate and a variety of broadleaf trees. This makes it a popular place for birdwatching, as it's home to approximately 360 different bird species found in Bhutan, such as the Beautiful Nuthatch, Crimson Sunbird, Asian Emerald Cuckoo, Greater Goldenback, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, and White-browed Scimitar Babbler. Birdwatching is best enjoyed during the spring, fall, and winter seasons.^[14]

The seed bank includes sixty-seven different kinds of seeds for cereals and vegetables that are native to the area. This place is like a library for seeds, especially the important ones known as Dru-na-gu.^[14]

The Samdrup Jongkhar Dzongkhag Tshechu is held annually from the 13th to the 15th of the eleventh month of the Bhutanese calendar. This three-day event features performances by Rabdey monks and dzongkhag dancers, presenting a variety of mask dances and cultural showcases. The Tshechu reaches its climax with the unveiling of the Guru Tshengey Thongdrel.^[15]

Motanga Industrial Park, situated in Samdrup Jongkhar, is a pivotal initiative by the Bhutanese government to cultivate small to medium-sized industries.^[16] Its strategic location, a mere 12 km from SJ Town and near the Indian border, positions it as an ideal manufacturing and export-focused enclave. Encompassing a substantial 156 acres, the park is a nucleus for key sectors, including mineral and chemical-based, forest and wood-based, as well as food and agro-based industries. This dynamic endeavor exemplifies Bhutan's dedication to economic diversification, fostering growth, and strengthening cross-border trade relationships.

Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary (formerly Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary) is the smallest protected area in Bhutan, covering 334.73 square kilometers (129.24 sq mi) in Samdrup Jongkhar District along the southern border with Assam. Its elevations range between 400 and 2,200 metres (1,300 and 7,200 ft). Despite its small size, Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary is an important habitat for elephants, gaur (Bos gaurus), and other tropical wildlife. It may also contain the rare pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) and hispid hare (Caprolagus hispidus), known to inhabit the adjacent Khaling Reserve in Assam, with which Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary forms a trans-border reserve.

• Districts of Bhutan
• Kurmaed Province

• Samdrup Jongkhar travel guide from Wikivoyage

26°55′N 91°37′E / 26.917°N 91.617°E / 26.917; 91.617