Akola district (Marathi pronunciation: �kolaː is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. The city of

Akola Akola () is a municipal corporation and the third largest city in Vidarbha after Nagpur and Amravati and tenth largest city in Maharashtra. is located about east of the state capital, Mumbai, and west of the second capital, Nagpur. Akola ...

is the district headquarters. Akola district forms the central part of Amravati Division, which was the former

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

Berar Province Berar Province, also known as the Hyderabad Assigned Districts, was a province in British India, ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad. After 1853, it was administered by the British, although the Nizam retained formal sovereignty over the provin ...

. Area of the district is 5,428 km². It is bounded on the north and east by Amravati District, to the south by

Washim District Washim district (Marathi pronunciation: �aːʃim is a district in Maharashtra, India. The headquarters is at Washim. The area of the district is . Demography and Geography The district had a population of 1,020,216 of which 17.49% were urban ...

, and to the west by

Buldhana District Buldhana district (Marathi pronunciation: ulɖʰaːɳa is located in the Amravati division of Maharashtra, India. It is situated at the western border of Vidarbha region and is 500 km away from the state capital, Mumbai. The district ha ...

. Washim was earlier a part of Akola till 1999. Akola district includes seven talukas which are Akola, Akot, Telhara, Balapur, Barshitakli, Murtijapur and Patur.

Officer

Members of Parliament

Sanjay Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre (born 26 February 1959) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra and formerly Minister of State in the Government of India and a member of the 17th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Akola constituency of ...

(

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

) -

Guardian Minister

List of Guardian Minister

District Magistrate/Collector

list of District Magistrate / Collector

History

The Battle of Adgaon Bk village is located in Telhara Tehsil, took place on 28 November 1803, between the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

under the command of Governor Arthur Wellesley and the forces of

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

under

Bhonsle The Bhonsle (or Bhonsale, Bhosale, Bhosle) are a prominent group within the Maratha clan system of kunbi origin. They claimed descent from the Sisodia Rajputs but were likely Kunbi tiller-plainsmen. History Earliest members The earliest a ...

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

during

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War, ...

. Many old forts are located in Akola District viz. * Narnala Fort *

Akola Fort Akola fort (also called Asadgad) along with the Narnala and Akot forts forms the major fortifications of the Akola district, Maharashtra, India. History The fortress was built in 1697 by Asad Khan, during the reign of Aurangzeb by Asad Kha ...

Balapur Fort Balapur Fort is a Mughal fortress in the town of Balapur in the Akola district of India. Construction on the fort was started by Mirza Azam Shah, the son of Emperor Aurangzeb and it was completed by Ismaeel Khan, the Nawab of Elichpur in 1757 ...

* Vari Bhairavgad fort, Telhara Tehsil.

Geography

Akola district lies in the northern plains of the Deccan Plateau. Akola district covers mostly plain topology with isolated hills and mounds except for the mountain ranges of Ajintha (Ajanta), located in the Southern tehsils of Patur and Barshi Takli, and the Satpuda mountain range that occupies some areas in the Northern tehsils of Akot and Telhara. The elevation profile of the district falls sharply as we proceed towards the central region from the North and then rises steadily as we head to the South from the centre. Highest point in the District is located within the premises of the hill-fort of

Narnala Narnala Fort or Narnala Killa Sarkar, also known as Shahnoor Fort, is a hill fortress in the Satpura Range of Vidarbh, Maharashtra, India, named after the Rajput Solanki Chaulukya Ruler, Raja Narnal Singh, also known as Narnal Singh Swami. ...

measuring 932m above sea level.

Rivers and lakes

The Purna River forms the part of north boundary of the district, and the top north portion of the district lies within its watershed along with Aas River and Shahnur River. The

Vaan River The Vaan River is a river of central India. It is tributary of Purna River, which is major tributary of Tapti River. It is also spelled as Wan or Van. It is also known as Waanganga. Description It rises in the Gawilgarh hills of eastern Satpur ...

forms the part of northwest boundary of the district after entering from the Amravati district. The

Mun River The Mun River ( th, แม่น้ำมูล, , ), sometimes spelled ''Moon River'', is a tributary of the Mekong River. It carries approximately of water per year. Geography The river begins in the Khao Yai National Park area of the Sankam ...

drains the southwestern portion of the district,

Morna River The Morna River is a river of Western India. It is one of the chief tributaries of Purna River and empties in it at Andura Village in Akola District, Maharashtra. Etymology Lots of co-operative society's name given after Morna river.like' Morna ...

drains the midsouth portion of the district, while the southeast is drained by the Katepurna River and Uma River. Here are some of the rivers in

, with their

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

* Uma River * Katepurna River *

Shahanur River Shahanur is the river in Western Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state in India. It is a tributary of Purna river. It flows through the Anjangaon Surji 444705 Amravati district and Akola district. River course The river originates in the S ...

Mas River The Kali Mas ("Golden river" in Javanese) is a distributary of the Brantas River in East Java, flowing north easterly towards the Madura Strait. This river also forms part of the border between the Sidoarjo and Gresik regencies. History Th ...

* Utawali River *

Vishwamitri River Originating from Pavagadh in the Panchmahal District of Gujarat, the Vishwamitri River flows mainly through the west of the city of Vadodara. The name of this river is said to have been derived from the name of the great saint Vishwamitra. Two o ...

* Nirguna River * Gandhari River * Aas River *

Prominent persons

Vijay P. Bhatkar Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar PB PS is an Indian computer scientist, IT leader and educationalist. He is best known as the architect of India's national initiative in supercomputing where he led the development of Param supercomputers. He is a P ...

, Architect of India's First Super Computer. *

Vasantrao Deshpande Vasantrao Deshpande (2 May 1920 – 30 July 1983) was a Hindustani classical vocalist renowned for his contribution to Natya Sangeet (musical dramas). Early life Vasantrao Deshpande was born into a Deshastha Brahmin family in Murtizapur, Akol ...

, legendary classical singer. *

Anand Modak Anand Modak ( mr, आनंद मोडक) (13 May 1951 – 23 May 2014) was an acclaimed Marathi film composer and music director in Marathi cinema and Marathi theatre, known for his experimental style. He is notable films include ''Lapan ...

, famous marathi music composer and musician. *

Patrick Barr Patrick David Barr (13 February 1908 – 29 August 1985) was an English actor. In his career spanning over half a century, he appeared in about 144 films and television series. Biography Born in Akola, British India in 1908, Barr was educate ...

, British TV and Film actor.

Climate

Akola district shows a little variation in its climate along the north–south direction. Akola district mainly features Tropical Savannah Climate. But the Northern parts of the district consisting of hills and mountains that are raised to about 950 to 1000 meters shows a subtropical climate featuring cool winters. The summers are extremely hot while the winters are dry and mild to cool as the temperature may drop to or below 2 °C. The district has recorded a minimum temperature of 2 °C while a maximum of 47.7 °C.

has recorded a minimum temperature of 11.9 °C in the month of May which is considered to be the hottest month in the state of

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Akola district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 1,813,906, roughly equal to the nation of

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

or the US state of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. This gives it a ranking of 262nd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

over the decade 2001-2011 was 11.6%. Akola has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...

of 942

females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 88.05%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 20.07% and 5.53% of the population respectively.

Religion

Languages

At the time of the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, 70.39% of the population in the district spoke

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

, 17.33%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and 2.04%

Lambadi Lambadi, Gor Boli, Banjara, Labanki or Banjari is a language spoken by the once nomadic Banjara people across India,Ancient Pastoral Nomadic Community of India Ancient Warrior Community/Raajputs Medieval Traders/Grain Carriers Modern Grain Tra ...

as their first language.2011 Census of India, Population By Mother Tongue
/ref>

Varhadi Varhadi is a dialect of Marathi spoken in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and by Marathi people of adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in India. Vocabulary and grammar Although all the dialects of Marathi are mutua ...

dialect of

is the main spoken language of Akola district.

Deccani Urdu Deccani (also known as Deccani Urdu and Deccani Hindi). https://knowledgehubadda.blogspot.com/2022/02/blog-post_74.html? m=1 or Dakni, Dakhni, Dakhini, Dakkhani and Dakkani (, ''dekanī'' or , ''dakhanī''), is a variety of Hindustani spoken ...

is popular among the Muslim community.

Subdivisions

Akola District consists of

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s namely

Akot Akot is a city in the Vidarbha Region and a municipal council in Akola district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Geography Akot is located at . It has an average elevation of 345 metres (1132 feet). Demographics According to the ...

Telhara Telhara is a town and a municipal council in Akola district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Telhara is called the Cotton City; it is one of the largest cotton-producing subdistrict in Vidarbha Region. It is located 54 km towards North ...

, Balapur, Patur, Barshitakli and

Murtajapur Murtijapur is a Municipal council and one of the taluka of district of Akola of Amravati division of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Geography Murtijapur is located at an average elevation of 308 metres (1210 feet). It is an importan ...

Transport

Important railway stations with their codes are Paras, Gaigaon,

Junction (AK), Murtijapur Junction (MZR) and are under Bhusawal-Badnera Section of

Bhusawal Railway Division Bhusawal railway division is one of the five railway divisions of the Central Railway (India) zone of Indian Railways, located at Bhusawal in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state in western India. The other railway divisions are: Mumbai CSMT ...

of Central Railway. The other stations under

meter gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

are Hiwarkhed, Adgaon Buzurg (ABZ), Akot (AKOT), Patsul (PTZ), Ugwe (UGWE),

Junction, Shivani Shivpur (SVW), Barshitakli (BSQ), Lohogad (LHD), Amna Vadi (AMW), Jaulka (JUK) are under Purna - Khandwa Section of

South Central Railway The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrati ...

. The stations under

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

are Lakhpuri,

Junction, Karanja under two Narrow Gauge Branch lines viz Murtajapur-Achalpur and Murtajapur-Yavatmal of

of Central Railway.

Economy

Cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

and Jawar are the predominant crops grown in the district. Oil and Dal mills are also rampant. The economy is mostly agriculture based. Nowadays,

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...

crop is an important crop as major soybean plants have come up in the area.

References

External links

Akola district official website
{{authority control Districts of Maharashtra Amravati division Vidarbha