CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO AHMEDNAGAR DISTRICT 1.1 Geographical set-up The geographical set-up of the Ahmednagar district has been discussed with reference to the following six points. 1.1.1 Location 1 .1 .2 Topography 1.1.3 Rivers 1.1.4 Climate 1 .1 .5 Soil 1 .1 .6 Economic minerals 1.1.1 Location of Ahmednagar district The d is t r ic t of Ahmednagar lie s between 18°2’ and 19°9’ north latitudes and 73°9’ and 75°5’ east longitude. The district is situated partly in the upper Godavari basin and partly in the Bhima basin, the interfluve in between forming the extensive Ahmednagar plateau. The Ahmednagar district is bounded on the north by Igatpuri, Sinnar and Yeola talukas of the Nashik district; on the north-east by Vaijapur, Gangapur and Paithan talukas of the Aurangabad d is t r ic t of Marathwada d ivisio n ; on the east by Georai, Beed and Ashti talukas of the Beed dis- t r i c t , Bhum and Paranda talukas of the Osmanabad d is tr ic t; on the south by the Karmala taluka of the Solapur district; and on the south-west by Murbad and Shahapur talukas of the Thane d is t r ic t . The Ahmednagar d is t r ic t occupies a somewhat central position in Maharashtra. 1 .1 .2 Topography The main Sahyadri range touches Akola taluka in the western areas of the Ahmednagar district. From this main range, three spurs i.e. Kalsubai, Baleshwar and Harishchandragad spurt out. Kalsubai is the highest peak of Sahyadri and serves as the watershed between the Darna, Pravara and Mula rivers. Harishchandragad is 96 kms. long and its branches run from Ratangad, serving a watershed between the Pravara and Mula riv e rs . The Baleshwar is the largest range and demarcates the boundary of Pune and Ahmednagar d is tr ic ts . On entering the Parner taluka, the Baleshwar forms two sub branch­ es one of which goes through the north of Ahmedna­ gar town and forms watershed between the Godavari and Bhima and the other turns southwards across the north-east corner of Shrigonda taluka and enters into Karjat taluka. 1.1.3 Rivers The Godavari and Bhima are the major rivers of the district. The Pravara is the tributary of the Godavari. The Mula, Adhala and Mhalungi are the important tributaries of the Pravara. The rivers Pravara, Mula and Godava'^i have been a boon to this district and yet a large part of i t coties under the scarcity tra c t. At Bhandar- dara on the Pravara and at Baragaon-Nandur on the Mula, irrigation dams are constructed. The canal i r r i g a t i o n system on these two r iv e rs and the water of the Godavari have transformed the agri­ c u ltu ra l economy of the Shrirampur, Kopargaon, Rahuri and Newasa talukas. 1.1.4 Climate o The Climate of the district is characterised by hot summer and general dryness during major part of the year, except during the south-west monsoon season, when the relative humidities are between 60 and 80 per cent. Thereafter they de­ crease rapidly. The Ahmednagar district gets the rain mainly from the south-west monsoon but the distribution of r a in fa ll is mostly uneven. A g ro c lim a tic a lly , the district can be divided into three parts as under : (a) Scarcity tract (b) Transition zone (c) Third part (a) Scarcity tract : Out of the 13 talukas in the d is t r ic t as many as 12 talukas and the east­ ern one-third part of the Akola taluka fall in the scarcity tra c t. The range of annual r a in fa ll in this part varies from 430 mm. to 650 mm. (b) Transition Zone : This covers the middle one-third part of the Akola taluka, which receives annual r a in fa ll between 700 mm. and 1250 mm. (c) Third part : The remaining one third part of the Akola taluka can be divided into three small zones in order of sequence as under : i) Transition 1 zone, annual rainfall between 1250 mm. and 2500 mm. ii) Very high rainfall tract with non latei— ite s o il which has p re c ip ita tio n be­ tween 3000 mm. and 3500 mm. i i i ) Ghat tra c t with r a in fa ll between 3000 mm. and 3250 mm. 1 .1 .5 S oil The soil in the district is of three types : (a) black (locally known as K ali) (b) red (tambat) (c) Laterite and the gray of inferior quality (barad) Soil (a) and soil (b) are more fertile while soil (c) is less fertile. The plains in Kopargaon and Shrirampur ta lu - kas have comparatively a good depth of soil. Near the Pravara and Godavari rivers white tracts of deep rich lands are found. In the hilly areas of the west of Akola red soil is found. The soil along the banks of Pravara is extremely rich in the plain of Akola and Sangamner talukas and gradually grows poor as one approaches the hills. In Rahuri taluka the soil is generally black, deep and r ic h . The talu ka s of Parner, Ahmednagar, Karjat and Shrigonda with their cross ranges of h ills , have deep soiled table lands (pathar), rich valleys and a few levels with good soil in the west. The soil of Jamkhed is generally light in the south-east and low levels of reddish lands mixed with patches of poor s o il are found there. The soil composition in the district is as follows : The deep soil is about 15 per cent, while the medium soil is about 50 per cent. The percentage of the light soil is nearly 35.^ But deep soil predominate in area under the command of Godavari and Pravara canals.^ According to Dry Farming Research S tation, Solapur, only about 26 per cent of the area is suitable for double cropping in the district (if the depth of the soil and other factors are taken into account), while the rest of the area is suitable for only such crops as b a jra , gram, groundnut, sunflowers, safflower, grasses and tree plantation,^ 1 .1 .6 . Economic minerals There are hardly any m in erals of economic|s. importance available in the district. The hard and compact basalts, however, are used extensively as b u ild in g m a te ria l and road m etal. The p in k is h coloured vesicular v a riety is amenable to cuttin g into blocks of desired sizes. The calcareous kankar is burnt in lime kilns and there is a regular 'lim e in dustry’ around Ahmednagar town. 1.2 Administrative set-up Ahmednagar, a place of district administration in western Maharashtra, is situated on the banks of the river Seena. I t was founded in 1494 and has popularly been known as 'Nagar’ . This district has a rich historical, political and cultural heritage. It is on the fore-front of the co-opera- tiv e movement and is well-known fo r c o -o p e ra tiv e sugar factories and their quality production of sugar. For administrative purposes, the district has been divided into 13 talukas. The talukawise statistics of area, number of villages and population are given in Table No. 1.1. TABLE No. 1.1 Talukawise area, number of villages and population of the Ahmednagar d is t r ic t (As per the Census 1981) Sr. Taluka Area in No.of No.of Population Density No. Sq.km. inhabited towns per villages sq.km. 1 Ahmednagar 1515.7 112 2 3,66,000 241 2 Rahuri 1041.7 94 2 2,04,000 196 3 Shrirampur 806.3 76 1 2,92,000 362 4 Newasa 1243.7 128 - 2,11,000 170 5 Shevgaon 1229.7 111 - 1,38,000 122 6 Pathardi 1101.8 122 - 1,48,000 134 7 Jamkhed 872.3 87 - 95,000 109 8 Karjat 1450.7 108 - 1,47,000 101 9 Shrigonda 1599.6 104 - 1,81,000 113 10 Parner 1787.6 131 - 1,78,000 99 11 Akola ^ 1488.2 170 - 1,76,000 119 12 Sangamner 1680.1 155 1 2,80,000 167 13 Kopargaon 1044.8 105 2 2,92,000 279 Ahmednagar 17048.0 1503 8 27,08,000 159 d is t r ic t Source : Directorate of Economics and Statistics : Zx lla Sama.Hk Va A arthik Samalochan : ^hmedna<3ar Z i22a : 2 990-91. Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai, p, 44. Table No. 1.1 indicates that Ahmednagar taluka had the highest population (3,66,000) of the district, followed by Shrirampur and Kopargaon (2,92,000 each), Sangamner (2,80,000), Newasa (2,11,000) and Rahuri (2,04,000). Jamkhed taluka had the lowest population figure (95,000) in the d is t r ic t . Density of population per sq. km. was the highest in Shrirampur taluka (362), followed by Kopargaon (279), Ahmed- nagar (241), Rahuri (196), Newasa (170) and Sangamner (167). Of the six talukas, four fall in the northern part of the d i s t r i c t . There were eight towns in the district, of which, Ahmednagar, Rahuri and Kopargaon taluka had two towns each. Whereas, Shrirampur and Sangamner talukas had one each.