24 PGS (N)) or sometimes North Twenty Four Parganas is a district in southern West Bengal, of eastern India.

The territory of Greater 24 Parganas were under the Satgaon (ancient Saptagram, now in Hoogly district) administration during the Mughal era and later it was included in Hoogly chakla (district under post-Mughal Nawabi rule) during the rule of Murshid Quli Khan.

In 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, Nawab Mir Jafar conferred the Zamindari of 24 parganas and janglimahals (small administrative units) upon the British East India Company.

These parts remained in Bangladesh territories where Jessore's Bangaon was joined to Twentyfour Pargana after the 1947 partition.

[citation needed] In 1980, an administrative reform committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Ashok Mitra suggested splitting the district into two and as per the recommendation of the committee in 1983, on 1 March 1986, two new districts – North 24 Parganas (24 PGS (N)) and South 24 Parganas (24 PGS (S)) were created.

The North 24 Parganas which was included in the Presidency division has been formed with five sub-divisions of the Greater 24 Parganas, namely Barasat Sadar (Headquarters), Barrackpore, Basirhat, Bangaon, and Bidhannagar (a satellite township of Kolkata, popularly known as Salt Lake).

The information technology hub of Kolkata is at this district, which is the centre of some of the notable IT/ITES Indian and multinational companies.

The district comprises five subdivisions: Barrackpore, Barasat Sadar, Basirhat, Bangaon and Bidhannagar.

There are 35 police stations, 22 development blocks, 27 municipalities, 200 gram panchayats and 1599 villages in this district.

In total there are 48 urban units: 27 municipalities and 20 census towns and 1 cantonment board.

Meanwhile the scale and intensity of Basirhat's durga puja celebration is among the biggest in the district.

[24] Kali Puja of Barasat is also quite famous in whole West Bengal because of its large scale celebration.

The electrified suburban rail network of the ER is extensive and penetrates far and deep into the neighbouring districts of Kolkata, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly etc.

Jessore Road and Biman Bandar railway stations are closed for the construction work of Noapara–Barasat metro corridor (Yellow Line).

NH 12 connects the district with northern and southern region of the state and its sub road NH 112 connect the district headquarter Barasat with the border town Bangaon and Petrapole, the largest land port of India.

According to the 2011 census North 24 Parganas district has a population of 10,009,781,[3][28] roughly equal to the nation of Bolivia[29] or the US state of Michigan.

[3] North Twenty Four Parganas has a sex ratio of 949 females for every 1000 males,[3] and a literacy rate of 84.95%.

[3] Hinduism is the main religion in the district, and especially dominates urban areas where they are nearly 90% of the population.

In Bongaon and Sandeshkhali regions, Hindus, mainly descendants of refugees from present-day Bangladesh, dominate the rural population.

[34] The district is also home to the Bibhutibhushan Wildlife Sanctuary, which was established in 1985 and has an area of 0.6 km2 (0.2 sq mi).