Kairana is a historical city and a municipal board in Shamli district. Shamli was declared as a district in September 2011 and was named Prabuddh Nagar by Mayawati, who was CM of UP (Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh) at that time. In July 2012, Shamli got its original name back by Akhilesh Yadav, who became CM of UP in 2012. Prior to that, Kairana was a tehsil of Muzaffarnagar district.