West Siang district ( or ) is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India.
History In 1989, territory was given from West Siang to the East Siang district. Since 1999, this territory has been in the new Upper Siang district. West Siang was divided into Upper Siang and Lower Siang. West Siang district was bifurcated on 9 December 2018 when northern areas along China border were made a separate Shi Yomi district.
Geography The district headquarters is located at Aalo. West Siang district occupies an area of , comparatively equivalent to Crete.
Transport The proposed Mago-Thingbu to Vijaynagar Arunachal Pradesh Frontier Highway along the McMahon Line will intersect with the proposed East-West Industrial Corridor Highway and will pass through this district, alignment map of which can be seen here and here.
Divisions There are seven Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly constituencies in this district: Liromoba, Likabali, Basar, Along West, Along East, Rumgong, and Mechuka. The first six are part of Arunachal West Lok Sabha constituency, while Mechuka is part of Arunachal East Lok Sabha constituency.
Demographics
Population According to the 2011 Census, West Siang district has a population of 112,274, roughly equal to the nation of Grenada. This gives it a ranking of 612th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 8.04%. West Siang has a sex ratio of 916 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 67.62%.
After bifurcation the residual West Siang district has a population of 58,182. Scheduled Tribes make up 46,204 (79.41%).
Various tribal groups of the Galo, Memba, and Khamba tribes live in the district. The Galo generally follow Donyi-Polo, although some have embraced Baptist Christianity in recent years. The Memba and Khamba are followers of Tibetan Buddhism.
Languages Languages spoken include Galo, a Sino-Tibetan tongue with approximately 140 000 speakers, written in Latin scripts; and Galo, an endangered language with 30 000 speakers, also in the Sino-Tibetan language family.
70.41% of the population spoke Galo, 6.65% Hindi, 3.18% Nepali, 2.75% Adi, 2.63% Bengali, 2.34% Assamese, 2.17% Bhojpuri and 1.68% Miniyong as their first language.2011 Census of India, Population By Mother Tongue
Flora and fauna The district is rich in wildlife. Rare mammals such as Mishmi takin, Snow leopards, Red pandas, and Musk deer occur while among birds there is the rare Blyth's Tragopan.Choudhury, Anwaruddin (2008) Survey of mammals and birds in Dihang-Dibang biosphere reserve, Arunachal Pradesh. Final report to Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India. The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India, Guwahati, India. 70pp. A flying squirrel, new to science, has been recently discovered from this district. It has been named as Mechuka Giant Flying Squirrel.Choudhury, Anwaruddin (2007).A new flying squirrel of the genus Petaurista Link from Arunachal Pradesh in north-east India. The Newsletter and Journal of the RhinoFoundation for nat. in NE India 7: 26–34, plates.
In 1991, West Siang became home to the Kane Wildlife Sanctuary, which has an area of .
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