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Area : 3,07,713 sq km
Population : 96,752,247
Capital : Mumbai
Principal Languages : Marathi
The first well-known rulers
of Maharashtra were the Satavahanas
(230 BC 225 AD), who were the founders of
Maharashtra, and have left a plethora of
literary, epigraphic, artistic and
archaeological evidence. This epoch marks
tremendous development in every field of human
endeavour.
Then came the Vakatakas, who established a
pan-Indian empire. Under them, Maharashtra
witnessed an all-sided development in the fields
of learning, arts and religion. Some of the
Ajanta Caves and fresco paintings reached the
high-level mark during their rule. After the Vakatakas and after a brief interlude of the
Kalachuri dynasty, the most important rulers
were the Chalukyas, followed by the Rashtrakutas
and the Yadavas, apart from the Shilaharas on
the coast. The Yadavas, with Marathi as their
court language extended their authority over
large parts of the Deccan.
While the Bahamani rule brought a degree of
cohesion to the land and its culture, a uniquely
homogeneous evolution of Maharashtra as an
entity became a reality under the able
leadership of Shivaji. A new sense of Swaraj and
nationalism was evolved by Shivaji. His noble
and glorious power stalled the Mughal advances
in this part of India. The Peshwas established
the Maratha supremacy from the Deccan Plateau to
Attock in Punjab.
Maharashtra was in the forefront of the
freedom struggle, and it was here that the
Indian National Congress was born. A galaxy of
leaders from Mumbai and other cities in
Maharashtra led the Congress movement under the
guidance of Tilak, and later Mahatma Gandhi.
Maharashtra was the home of Gandhiji’s movement,
while Sevagram was the capital of nationalistic
India during the Gandhian era.
The administrative evolution of the state of
Maharashtra is the outcome of the linguistic
reorganisation of the States of India, effected
on 1 May, 1960. The State was formed by bringing
together all contiguous Marathi-speaking areas,
which previously belonged to four different
administrative hegemonies—the district between
Daman and Goa that formed part of the original
British Bombay Province; five districts of the
Nizam’s dominion of Hyderabad; eight districts
in the south of the Central Provinces (Madhya
Pradesh) and a sizeable number of petty
native-ruled state enclaves lying enclosed
within the above areas, which later merged with
adjoining districts. Located in the north centre
of Peninsular India, with the command of the
Arabian Sea through its port of Mumbai,
Maharashtra has a remarkable physical
homogeneity, enforced by its underlying geology.
The dominant physical trait of the State is its
plateau character. Maharashtra is a plateau of
plateaus, its western upturned rims rising to
form the Sahyadri Range parallel to the
sea-coast, and its slopes gently descending
towards the east and south-east. Satpuda ranges
cover northern part of the State, while Ajanta
and Satmala ranges run through central part of
the State. Arabian Sea guards the western
boundary of Maharashtra, while Gujarat and
Madhya Pradesh are on the northern side.
Chhattisgarh covers the eastern boundary of the
State. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are on its
southern side.
About
65 per cent of the total workers in the State
depend on agriculture and allied activities.
Principal crops grown in the State are rice,
jowar, bajra, wheat, tur, mung,
urad, gram and other pulses. The State is a
major producer of oilseeds. Groundnut,
sunflower, soyabean are major oil seed crops.
Important cash crops are cotton, sugarcane,
turmeric and vegetables. The State has an area
of 12.90 lakh hectares under various fruit crops
like mango, banana, orange, grape, cashewnut,
etc.
The
State has been identified as the country’s
powerhouse and Mumbai, its capital as the centre
point of India's financial and commercial
markets. Industrial sector occupies a prominent
position in the economy of Maharashtra. Food
products, breweries, tobacco and related
products, cotton textiles, textile products,
paper and paper products, printing and
publishing, rubber, plastic, chemical and
chemical products, machinery, electrical
machinery, apparatus and appliances, and
transport equipment and parts contribute
substantially to the industrial production in
the state.
By
the end of June-2005, 32 major, 178 medium and
about 2,274 state sector minor irrigation
projects had been completed. Another 21 major
and 39 medium irrigation projects are under
construction. The gross irrigated area in
2004-2005 was 36.36 lakh hectares.
Maharashtra had an installed capacity of
12,909 MW in 2004-2005. The Plant Load Factor
(PLF) in the State was 81.6 per cent and power
generation was 68,507 million KWH.
Railways :
Maharashtra has 5,450 km of railway routes, of
which 78.4 per cent is broad gauge, 8.1 per cent
meter gauge, and 13.5 per cent is narrow gauge.
Aviation :
Maharashtra has a total of twenty-four Air
fields/airports. Of these, 17 are under the
control of the State Government, four are
managed and controlled by the International
Airport Authority/Airport Authority of India,
and three by the Ministry of Defence. The
Airfields under the control of the State
government have no facilities for the operation
of commercial flights at present.
Ports :
Mumbai is the major port. There are two major,
and 48 notified minor ports in the State.
Some important tourist centres are:
Ajanta, Ellora, Elephanta, Kanheri and Karla
caves, Mahabaleshwar, Matheran and Panchgani,
Jawhar, Malshejghat, Amboli, Chikaldara, Panhala
Hill stations and religious places at
Pandharpur, Nasik, Shirdi, Nanded, Audhanagnath,
Trimbakeshwar, Tuljapur, Ganpatipule,
Bhimashanker, Harihareshwar, Shegaon, Kolhapur,
Jejuri and Ambajogai.
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