Maharashtra
Area: 307,690 sq km
Capital: Mumbai
Language: Marathi
Districts: 33
Maharashtra is the third largest state in India both in area and population. The state is bounded by the Arabian Sea in the west, Gujarat in the north west, Madhya Pradesh in the north and the east, Andhra Pradesh in the south east and Karnataka and Goa in the south.
Physiography:
The State of Maharashtra forms a huge irregular triangle with its base on the west coast of India, overlooking the Arabian Sea. The coastal strip, about 720 km long and not more than 80 km wide, is the Konkan, dotted with paddy fields and coconut gardens. The Sahyadris or the Western Ghats running almost parallel to the sea coast flank the Konkan on its east. To the east of the Sahyadris stretches a vast plateau forming the apex of the triangle.
History:
Historically, Maharashtra falls into three regions. Western Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada. Among these, Vidarbha has a hoary past and is mentioned many times in the Mahabharata. Maharashtra as a whole figures in history when it became part of the Mauryan Empire. After the fall of the Mauryas, Maharashtra was under the domination of a number of Hindu dynasties for nearly a thousand years.
The last of these dynasties ended in 1294. Thereafter the state came under a succession of Muslim rulers.With the rise of Shivaji, Maharashtra entered a new phase in history. Shivaji welded the Marathas into a powerful nation. They became rulers instead of subjects. The Peshwas who succeeded Shivaji built up a Maratha Empire which extended from Gwalior in the north to Tanjore in the south. The Maratha power received a setback at Panipat, in 1761, when the Afghan ruler Ahmed Shah Abdali routed the Maratha forces. They recovered only to confront the British power and to be decisively defeated in 1818.
After the defeat of 1818 Maharashtra settled down as part of the Bombay Presidency under the British administration.In independent India, Bombay continued as one state consisting of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Under the Bombay Re-organization Act,1960 Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed into separate states on May 1,1960, Maharashtra retaining the old capital Bombay.
Administration:
Legislature: The state has a bicameral legislature—the Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) and the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad).
The state is divided into 33 districts.
- Greater Mumbai
- Mumbai Suburban
- Thane
- Raigarh
- Ratnagiri
- Sindhudurg
- Nashik
- Dhule
- Jalgaon
- Ahmednagar
- Pune
- Satara
- Sangli
- Solapur
- Kolhapur
- Aurangabad
- Jalna
- Parbhani
- Beed
- Nanded
- Osmanabad
- Latur
- Buldana
- Akola
- Amaravati
- Yavatmal
- Wardha
- Nagpur
- Bhandara
- Chandrapur
- Gadchiroli
- Nandurbar
- Washim
The new Mumbai Suburban district comprising
- Kurla
- Andheri
- Borivile
- Gondia
- Hingoli.
About 70 per cent of the people in Maharashtra depend on agriculture. Agriculture contributes more than 22% of the state's income. Maharashtra is the largest producer of a number of items such as Alphonso mangoes, Thomson seedless grapes, Cavendish bananas, soft seeded pomegranates, sugar, cotton, oilseeds and cashew. About 12.22 % of the total cultivated area is irrigated. The principal food crops are wheat, rice, jowar, bajra and pulses.
Important cash crops are cotton, sugarcane, groundnut and tobacco. Although the state accounts for 9.2 % of the total population of the country, it shares about 11% of industrial units, over 17% of labour, about 16 per cent of investment and 23% of the value of industrial output.
The groups contributing substantially to Maharashtra's industrial production are chemicals and chemical products, textiles, electrical and non-electrical machinery and petroleum and allied products.
Other important industries are pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, machine tools, steel and iron castings and plasticware. It also leads in sophisticated electronics equipment. Santa Cruz Electronics Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ), is a free trade zone for cent per cent export.
The development of offshore oil fields at Mumbai High and the nearby Bassein North Oil Fields have contributed greatly for the industrial development of the state.The installed power capacity of Maharashtra is 12977 MW. Govt. has planned to increase the installed capacity of power by 9000 MW by 2004-5. This primarily includes Dabhol-phase I and Phase II, Koyne state 4, Khaparkheda, Parli and Paras expansion; Patalganga and Bhadrawati. First unit of Koyna was commissioned in Oct. '99. The Rs. 1200-cr. World Bank aided project is an engineering marvel constructed about 1.2km inside a mountain at Alore in Konkan.
The government has decided to focus on non-conventional energy projects like bagasse-based co-generation and wind energy to supplement the power supply in the state.Mumbai houses the headquarters of almost all major banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, and mutual funds. Mumbai has the largest stock exchange in the country.
Mumbai contributes 10% of factory employment, 33% of income tax , 60% of the customs duties, 20% of central excise and 40% of India's foreign trade. Mumbai is India's biggest harbour. It receives 50% of international passengers. Mumbai is the Hollywood of India as far as film production is concerned. New growth centres are coming up at Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Jalgaon. A govt-sponsored study has revealed that literacy in Navi Mumbai is 97%.Ganesh Chaturthi is the main festival of the state.
Maharashtra Government has renamed Bombay as Mumbai. Victoria Terminus (VT) station is renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus. Osmanabad is now Dharashiva.A devastating earthquake rocked the twin districts of Osmanabad and Latur on Sept. 30, 1993, killing more than 12,000 people and causing havoc to scores of villages, where thousands became homeless. The ambitious Mumbai-Pune express highway is expected to be open to public by end of 1999. The state govt. has plans to develop the 70 lakh hectares of wastelands in the state. Pune is to have a masstrausit rail system by 2002.
Maharashtra is planning to link all district headquarters to the secretariat through an e-mail network.The State is to introduce population control measures such as ban on contesting elections by those with more than two children.
Universities:
- Amaravati University, Amaravati, Pin: 444 602
- Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune, Pin: 411 030
- Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai, Pin: 400 061
- Deccan College Post Graduate & Research institute, Pune, Pin: 411 006
- Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Pin: 431 004
- Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological 'Varsity, Lonere, Pin: 402 103
- Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, Pin: 444 104
- Gokhale Institute of Politics & Economics, Pune, Pin: 411 004
- Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Pin: 400 076
- Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, Pin: 400 065
- Institute of Armament Technology, Pune
- International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Pin: 400 088
- Kavikul-guru Kalidas Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Ramtek, Pin: 411 106
- Konkan Krishi Vidya-pith, Dapoli, Pin: 415 712; M.G. Antarashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, Pin: 5110 049
- Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapith, Rahuri, Pin: 413 722
- Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani, Pin: 431 402
- Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, Pin: 422 005
- Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, Pin: 110 049; University of Bombay, Mumbai, Pin: 400 032; Nagpur University, Nagpur, Pin: 440 001
- North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, Pin: 425 001
- University of Pune, Pune, Pin: 411 007
- Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Pin: 416 004
- SNDT Women's University, Mumbai, Pin: 400 020
- Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded, Pin: 431 606
- Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Pin: 400 088
- Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, Pin: 411 037
- Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik, Pin: 422 222.
A Sports University, Asia's first, was inaugurated in Pune in Jan. '96. Medical University at Nashik opened in June.
Tourist Centres:
Some of the important tourist centres are the Caves—Ajanta, Ellora, Elephanta, Kanheri and Karala;
Hill stations: Mahabaleshwar, Matheran and Panchagani;
Religious places: Pandharpur, Nashik, Shirdi, Aundhanagnath, Nanded and Ganapatipule.
Labels: Maharashtra