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List of districts of Nagaland

The Indian state of Nagaland, has 17 administrative districts: Chümoukedima, Dimapur, Kiphire, Kohima, Longleng, Meluri, Mokokchung, Mon, Niuland, Noklak, Peren, Phek, Shamator, Tuensang, Tseminyü, Wokha and Zünheboto.

There is ongoing demand for several new districts, especially from the relatively inaccessible remote hilly sub-districts of the larger districts farther away from the existing district headquarters.

Administration

Commissioner’s Divisions headed by the Divisional commissioner

In Nagaland, there is no intermediate administrative tier—such as the Commissioner's Divisions found in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, or West Bengal—functioning between the Nagaland Legislative Assembly and individual district administrations headed by the District Commissioner. Instead of multiple regional heads, Nagaland utilizes a single State Commissioner who centralizes the supervisory and judicial functions that would typically be split among several Divisional Commissioners in larger states.

Civil law authority of the State Commissioner

Under the state's unique customary law framework protected by Article 371A of the Constitution of India, the Commissioner serves as the apex appellate and supervisory authority for a hybrid legal system where Naga customary traditions govern civil and criminal justice. This role is distinct because the Commissioner oversees the Dobhashi Courts and Village Councils, ensuring that traditional tribal adjudication for land disputes and social matters is harmonized with the Rules for Administration of Justice and Police in Nagaland, 1937, effectively acting as the final executive-judicial bridge for the entire state.

  • Wide-ranging authority of the State Commissioner in civil and customary tribal court cases: The division of jurisdiction between customary courts and the formal judiciary is defined by the nature of the offense and the identity of the parties involved. Customary courts, which include Village Councils and Dobhashi Courts, possess nearly unlimited jurisdiction over civil disputes, particularly those involving land ownership, inheritance, and tribal social practices under the Nagaland Village and Tribal Councils Act, 1978.
  • Very limited authority of the State Commissioner only in the petty criminal cases: In criminal matters, however, their authority is strictly limited to "trifle" or petty offenses. Serious and heinous crimes must be reported to the Deputy Commissioner and tried only by formal statutory courts to ensure compliance with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Territorial multi-district tribal authorities

In Nagaland, territorial and tribal authorities are structured through a hierarchy of customary and statutory bodies that operate from the village level to the regional state level. Traditional governance is legally anchored in the Nagaland Village and Tribal Councils Act, 1978, which recognizes a hierarchy consisting of Village Councils for local administration and justice, Village Development Boards (VDBs) for implementing developmental schemes, and individual Apex Tribal Councils (such as the Naga Hoho or tribal Sendens) that manage customary laws for the state's 17 officially recognized major ethnic groups. These groups include 15 Naga tribes and the 2 non-Naga tribes as follows:

Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority - territorial multi-district tribal authority for the Eastern Nagaland

On 5 February 2026, the Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority (FNTA) via a tripartite agreement between the Government of India, the Government of Nagaland, and the Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organisation (ENPO) was created covering 8 tribes and 6 eastern-most districts of Nagaland on India–Myanmar border. The FNTA provides legislative, executive, and financial autonomy over 46 subjects for six eastern-most districts on India–Myanmar border, (listed north to south) Mon, Longleng, Tuensang, Noklak, Shamator, and Kiphire — representing eight tribes including the Konyak, Sangtam, Chang, Khiamniungan, Yimkhiung, Tikhir, Phom, and Sumi.

Districts headed by the District Commissioner

A district of an Indian state is an administrative geographical unit, headed by a district magistrate or a deputy commissioner, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service. The district magistrate or the deputy commissioner is assisted by a number of officials belonging to different wings of the administrative services of the state.

A superintendent of police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues at the district level.

History

On 1 December 1957, the Naga Hills District of Assam and Tuensang Frontier Division of the North-East Frontier Agency (now Arunachal Pradesh) were joined to form the centrally governed Naga Hills Tuensang Area. At that point the previous subdivisions became Kohima District, Mokokchung District and Tuensang District. February 1961 saw the renaming of Naga Hills Tuensang Area to "Nagaland", and in December 1963 Nagaland became the 16th state of India.

19 December 1973 saw the new districts of Wokha District and Zünheboto District carved out of Mokokchung District, Mon District carved from Tuensang District, and Phek District created out of Kohima District.

On 2 December 1997, Dimapur District was carved out from Kohima District and was inaugurated in April 1998.

Three more districts were added on 24 October 2003: Kiphire District, Longleng District and Peren District. Kiphire and Longleng Districts were carved out from Tuensang District, Peren District was carved from Kohima District.

Noklak District was created on 20 January 2021, previously having been a sub-district of Tuensang District.

On 18 December 2021, three new districts were created: Chümoukedima District and Niuland District carved from Dimapur District and Tseminyü District carved from Kohima District.

On 19 January 2022, Shamator District carved from Tuensang was created as the 16th district of Nagaland.

In 2024, Meluri sub-division of the Phek district was upgraded to form Meluri district.

Districts

List of districts

The seventeen districts of Nagaland, and their headquarters, 2011 census populations, areas and elevations (of the seat) are:

Subdivisions

Demand for new districts

People of several sub-districts of Nagaland state continue to demand the district status (listed north to south):

  • Existing Mon district - from the existing central and southern parts of the existing Mon District:
  • Aboi District from the central part of existing Mon district: The Aboi District Demand Committee (ADDC) has long campaigned for upgradation, asserting that the sub-division fulfills all administrative criteria, including a significant population and established government departments. The demand gained renewed urgency following the creation of other districts in 2021, which local leaders viewed as an oversight of Aboi's longstanding grievances.
  • Tobu District from the southern part of existing Mon district: The Tobu District Demand Committee (TDDC) seeks to separate Tobu and Moka from the current district structure. Advocates highlight the area's extreme remoteness—with some villages located 190 km from the current district headquarters near the Myanmar border—as a primary justification for a separate administrative unit to improve service delivery.
  • Existing Noklak district - from the southern parts of the existing Noklak District:
  • Thuonoknyu District from the southern parts of the existing Noklak District: There are ongoing local aspirations for the upgradation of the Thonoknyu sub-division into a separate administrative unit to better serve the Khiamniungan and Tikhir populations, particularly given its historical status as an aspirational block with significant developmental deficits.
  • Existing Kiphire district - from the southeastern parts of the existing Kiphire District:
  • Pungro District from the southeastern parts of the existing Kiphire District: Pungro sub-division, which is a critical border area near Mount Saramati, often requires specialized administrative attention due to its geographic isolation.
  • Existing Mokokchung district - from the existing northwestern and western parts of the existing Mokokchung District:
  • Mangkolemba District: Mangkolemba is the oldest and largest sub-division of Mokokchung district. Demand for Mangkolemba has seen intensified rallies in late 2025 by the District Demand Committee Mangkolemba (DDCM). Proponents cite decades of neglect, poor road connectivity, and the economic burden on villagers who must travel up to 80 km to Mokokchung for administrative work.
  • Existing Wokha District - from the existing northwestern and western parts of the existing Wokha District:
  • Bhandari District: Stakeholders in the Bhandari sub-division of Wokha district have frequently raised the need for district status to better manage the region's unique border issues with Assam and to tap into its economic potential in agriculture and livestock.
  • Existing Phek District - from the existing western and southern parts of the existing Phek District:
  • Chozuba District from the existing western part of the existing Phek District: Demand remains unfulfilled.
  • Pfutsero District from the existing southern part of the existing Phek District: Demand remains unfulfilled.
  • Existing Peren District - from the southern parts of the existing Paren District: :
  • Tening District - from the existing southern parts of the existing Paren District: There have been calls for more localized administration in the remote Tening area to manage land-use and developmental challenges.

See also

References

External links