Brief History of the District
Una is a small district located on the south-western border of the State. The present Una district was formally a part of the erstwhile Kangra state. Bulk of the present Una district, which is called as Jaswan Dun was ruled by the Katoch family of Kangra. It is believed that the Jaswan state, with its capital at Rajpura near Amb, was founded by Purab Chand in 1170 A.D. From Purab Chand to Umed Singh, 27 princes ruled the Jaswan state. Not much is known about the state until the time of emperor Akbar when it became subject to Mughal rule.
On the decline of the Mughal Empire and rise of Sikhs, the Jaswan state came under their dominance and was annexed to Maharaja Ranjit Singh's kingdom in 1815 A.D. Ranjit Singh wanted Umed Singh of Jaswan state to attend the assembly at Sialkot which he refused. As a result, Ranjit Singh imposed fine on him which was beyond his capacity to pay. Consequently, he abdicated his state and accepted a Jagir of Rs. 12.00 per annum. In 1848 during the second Sikh war, Umed Singh joined revolt against the British which was crushed and Raja alongwith his son departed to Almora where both died.
In 1879, Ram Singh grandson of Umed Singh was restored his ancestral jagir at Jaswan originally held by Raja Umed Singh consisting of 21 villages in Jaswan Dun and also family garden at Amb as well as building at Rajpura, formerly the palace of Raja Umed Singh. He died in 1892 and was succeeded by his son Raja Raghunath Singh who also died in 1918. Thereafter, Laxman Singh succeeded him who started residing at Amb.
Apart from Jaswan state on the northern extreme was princely state of Siba which was offshoot of Kangra ruling family. Eastern side of present Una district was under the rule of Kutlehrias who were reported to have migrated from Uttar Pradesh. Thus, present Una is comprised of three princely states of Jaswan-Dun, Siba and Kotlehria.
During British regime, present Una district excluding Bangana block was part of Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, Una was a tahsil as well as sub-division of that district and present Anandpur Sahib tahsil of Ropar district was its part. In the re-organisation of Punjab state, present Una district was merged within Himachal Pradesh with district headquarters at Dharmsala and the remaining area of present Anandpur Sahib tahsil remained in Punjab. Thus, Una was bifurcated in two states i.e. Himachal and Punjab on the re-organisation of states. On 1.9.1972, Himachal Pradesh government divided the Kangra district into three districts namely Una, Hamirpur and Kangra.
New Una district was formed by transferring entire Una tahsil, Amb sub-tahsil and villages of Barsar sub-tahsil from the Kangra district. In the 1981 Census, the composition of rural and urban constituents of the district is given below:
Name of Tahsil and Number of Villages
- Amb tahsil (176 villages)
- Haroli sub-tahsil (33 villages) — newly formed in 1980 with 33 villages of Una tahsil
- Una tahsil (74 villages)
- Bangana tahsil (311 villages) — newly formed in 1975 with 311 villages of Barsar sub-tahsil
Name of Towns
- Gagret N.A.C.
- Daulatpur N.A.C.
- Una M.C.
- Mehatpur Basdehra N.A.C.
- Santokhgarh N.A.C.
Total number of the villages was 594 in the district. During the decade 1981-91, no jurisdictional changes took place at district level. However 8 villages of Haroli sub-tahsil were transferred to Una tahsil.
After 1991 Census, one new sub-tahsil Bharwain has been carved out by transferring 48 villages from Amb tahsil in 1997. In 2001 census the number of villages increased from 593 to 814 in the district due to settlement and number of towns remained 5 as in 1991 Census. In 2011 census the number of villages increased from 814 to 848 due to ongoing settlement operation in the district and the number of towns remained the same as in 2001 census.
Una, the district headquarters is located at a distance of 202 kms. from the state capital, Shimla. The Una town is situated on the banks of the river Soan which is a tributary of river Satluj. Haroli which was a sub-tehsil in previous census was upgraded as a tehsil vide state govt. notification No. GAD-1A(1-3/2000 Una) dated 2nd July, 2007 thus the district comprises of four tahsils viz: Bangana, Amb, Una and Haroli and a sub-tahsil of Bharwain.
For the development purpose with the creation of Haroli development block now there are five community development blocks in the district, these are namely Amb, Gagret, Una, Dhundla and Haroli. The development block of Haroli was created vide notification No. RDD-11-B(15)8/2000 dated 31st August, 2000. The district has five towns namely Daulatpur Nagar Panchayat, Gagret Nagar Panchayat, Una Municipal Council, Mehatpur Basdehra Nagar Panchayat and Santokhgarh Nagar Panchayat. It has a total number of 848 villages.
Source: Handbook Census 2011 Una — hpuna.nic.in