Vadodara, Gujarat

Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan (''vad'') trees. Vadodara is also locally referred to as the ''Sanskrutik Nagari'' () and ''Kala Nagari'' () of India.

The city is prominent for landmarks such as the Laxmi Vilas Palace, which served as the residence of the Maratha royal Gaekwad dynasty that ruled over Baroda State. It is also the home of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.

Etymology

The city was once called Chandanavati after Raja Chandan of the Dod Parmar Rajputs. The capital was also known as Virakshetra (Land of Warriors). Later, it was known as Vadpatraka or Vadodará, and according to tradition, is a corrupt form of the Sanskrit word ''vatodara'', meaning "in the belly of the banyan tree". It is, as of 2009, almost impossible to ascertain when the various changes in the name were made; early English travelers and merchants of the 15th century mention the town as Baroda,
and it is from this, that the name Baroda is derived; in 1974 (well after independence), the official name of the city was changed to Vadodara.

History

Prehistory

At Akota, now a suburb of Vadodara, excavations have found rich microlith deposits, providing early evidence of habitation in the area. These prehistoric people took part in hunting and fishing and lived no later than 1000 BCE.

First millennium CE

By the first centuries CE, Akota was the site of a commercial town with far-reaching trade links. Known in antiquity as ''Aṅkoṭṭaka'', it had well-built houses made from burnt bricks. Two re-struck coins of the early Western Satraps have been found here, along with artifacts possibly of Greco-Roman origin. A Gupta-era coin has also been found here.

Akota flourished under the Maitraka dynasty, although it experienced periodic severe flooding. A huge hoard of Jain bronzes, largely dating from this period, was found at Akota's old site, indicating that the city was a centre of Jainism. The bronzes include images of various tirthankaras as well as an elephant-shaped incense burner. Many of them have inscriptions that have been used to indicate when they were made.

In the 6th century, the town's inhabitants shifted away from the river to a new site near Akota's modern centre. At Kothi, which also now forms part of Vadodara, evidence of habitation also first emerges during this period.

An early mention of Vadodara itself is in an 812 copper-plate grant of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. It records Karka Suvarṇavasha, second ruler of the Lata branch of the Rashtrakutas, giving the village of ''Vaḍapadraka'', in the province of Aṅkoṭṭaka and identified with present-day Vadodara, to a Brahmin from Valabhi. Meanwhile, Akota continued to flourish during this period.

Chaulukya period: from village to city

By the 11th century, under the Chaulukya dynasty, Vadodara appears to have gained in importance. A plate dated to 1077 mentions a battle on the bank of the Vishvamitri river in the vishaya of ''Vaṭapadraka'', which had evidently replaced the earlier province of Aṅkoṭṭaka. The Akota bronzes continue until the 11th century but cease thereafter. The main centre of Jainism in the area shifted to Vadodara. By this period, Vadodara is referred to as a ''pura'', or city, rather than just a village.

A manuscript of the Panchavastuka written at Vadodara in 1123 indicates that the province of Lāṭa was then governed by Santūka, a minister of the Chaulukya king Jayasimha Siddharaja. At some point, Santūka organised a rathayatra, or chariot procession, at ''Vaṭapadraka''. Several other manuscripts from Vadodara are known from this period, including a Prakrit work composed by Chandraprabhasuri in 1128 along with two copies of Jain works made in 1156 and 1168 respectively. Another manuscript, although copied at Dabhoi, was written by a scribe named Vosari whose father was a pandit named Kesava who came from Vadodara.

During this period, merchants from Vadodara contributed to the temples at the Chaulukya capital of Patan. At some point, the minister Tejpal, returning from a victory at Godhra, stopped at Vadodara for several days and renovated the local shrine of Parshvanatha. Around 1264, shrines to Mahavira and Adishvara were built at Vadodara by one Pethad Shah.

Delhi Sultanate

Under the Delhi Sultanate, Vadodara was home to a group of Afghan amirs known collectively as the ''Amir-i Sadgan'', or "the nobles of the hundred", because each one commanded a force of 100 cavalry. In 1344, during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq, they revolted. Led by one Qazi Jalal, they defeated Muqbil, the sultan's main deputy in Gujarat, in a decisive battle near Dabhoi. They went on to occupy a large territory stretching from Kadi in the north to Bharuch in the south, and from Khambhat in the west to the hill country in the east. In 1345, Muhammad bin Tughluq led an army to Gujarat to put down the rebellion and, after initially camping at Pandu Mewas, defeated them in battle at Bharuch.

Gujarat Sultanate

Muzaffar Shah I, founder of the Gujarat Sultanate, appointed his son Firuz Khan as governor of Vadodara at some point. After Muzaffar Shah's death in 1411, he was succeeded by his grandson Ahmad Shah I (Firuz's nephew). Firuz immediately laid claim to the throne. Because the sultanate's central authority in central and southern Gujarat was weak at this point, Firuz had little trouble assembling an army at Vadodara. He then marched to Nadiad and then to Bharuch, which he seized by force. Ultimately, the rebellion dissipated without a pitched battle: internal tensions had already arisen among Firuz Khan's main allies, and when Ahmad Shah offered them amnesty in return for standing down, they readily complied. Firuz Khan was forgiven and given Navsari as a jagir, thus giving up his position as governor of Vadodara.

In 1451, Vadodara was sacked by troops under Mahmud Khalji, ruler of the Malwa Sultanate. Later, during the reign of Mahmud Begada, a major re-foundation of Vadodara took place. A new city called ''Daulatabad'' was built, close to the old site. The Muslim name evidently did not stick, but the city itself did, and this new foundation became the basis for the modern city of Vadodara. A later atlas by John Ogilby refers to people moving from the old town to the new one.

Mughal Empire

After Akbar conquered Gujarat in 1573, he gave Vadodara to one Nawab Aurang Khan. There was an administrative reform under Akbar's reign, and Raja Todar Mal conducted a land survey of parts of Gujarat. Vadodara, however, does not seem to have been included in this survey.

In the late 1600s, Gujarat was increasingly attacked by Maratha and Koli raids. One raid, by the Kolis, hit Vadodara in 1705; they looted the city for two days.

Baroda State

Geography

Vadodara is located at in western India at an elevation of . It is the 10th-largest city in India with an area of and a population of 3.5 million, according to the 2010–11 census. The city sits on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, in central Gujarat. The Vishwamitri frequently dries up in the summer, leaving only a small stream of water. The city is located on the fertile plain between the Mahi and Narmada Rivers. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the cosmopolis falls under seismic zone-III, on a scale of I to V (in order of increasing proneness to earthquakes).

Climate

Vadodara features a borderline tropical savanna climate (Köppen ''Aw'') that despite the roughly of rain that the city receives annually is due to the area's high potential evapotranspiration very close to being classified as a hot semi-arid climate (''BSh''). There are three main seasons: summer, monsoon and winter. Aside from the monsoon season, the climate is dry. The weather is hot during March to July, when the average maximum is , and the average minimum is . From November to February, the average maximum temperature is , the average minimum is , and the climate is extremely dry. Cold northerly winds are responsible for mildly chilly days in January. The southwest monsoon brings a humid climate from mid-June to mid-September. The average rainfall is , but infrequent, torrential rains cause the river to flood like the 2005 Gujarat flood or the 2008 Indian floods, which were catastrophic.

The highest recorded temperature was on 11 May 1960 crossed with on 19 May 2016, while the lowest recorded temperature was on 15 January 1935.

Vadodara has been ranked 6th best “National Clean Air City” (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India.

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 census of India, Vadodara Municipal Corporation and associated outgrowths had a population of 1,670,806. About 9.45% of the population was under 6 years of age. Vadodara had a sex ratio of 920 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 90.48%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 6.63% and 4.07% of the population, respectively.

Hinduism was the main religion, practiced by 85.39% of the population. Islam was the second-largest religion (11.20%). Jains were 2.02%, Christians 0.82%, and Sikhs 0.45%.

At the time of the 2011 census, 71.37% of the population spoke Gujarati, 14.83% Hindi, 7.60% Marathi and 1.91% Sindhi as their first language.

Economy

In Vadodara, various large-scale industries such as Gujarat Refinery of Indian Oil Corporation, Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals, Vadodara Manufacturing Division (formerly IPCL) of Reliance Industries Limited, Deepak Nitrite, Parikh Industries, Linde Engineering India, and Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited have come up in the vicinity of Gujarat Refinery. Other large-scale public-sector units are Heavy Water Project, Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Gas Authority of India Limited. Vadodara is also a manufacturing hub of power equipment, rail coaches, and defense aircraft, and several IT sector companies in Vadodara are rapidly growing. Vadodara is also a hub of pharmaceutical industries; many pharmaceutical companies are located within and nearby. Vadodara is home to many big pharmaceutical companies, and is a major hub of pharmaceutical industries in Gujarat.

Located in Vadodara are over 35% of India's power-transmission and distribution equipment manufacturers and an estimated 800 ancillaries supporting the big players in power sector equipment manufacturing and engineering industry. Larsen & Tourbo (L&T) has established "Knowledge City" in Vadodara. This Knowledge City is the hub of several key businesses of the L&T Group. The power business, mid- and downstream Hydrocarbon, L&T Technology Services, and the engineering joint venture L&T-Sargent & Lundy operate out of the facility. It also houses manufacturing facilities for switchgear, air circuit breakers, and moulded-case circuit breakers.

Bombardier Transportation, a Canadian company, has established a rail-coach manufacturing plant in Savli along with other manufacturing companies such as Alstom, Siemens, and Voltas. This plant manufactures coaches for Delhi Metro and the New Generation Rollingstock for Brisbane, Australia. The plant is also manufacturing trainsets for Delhi - Meerut RRTS. Beside this Vadodara holds a key position in Gujarat's pharmaceutical industry, as many small and big pharma companies are located in Vadodara.

Tata Advanced Systems Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Group and Airbus joint venture, has set up a C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility at Vadodara as part of a Rs 22,000 crore deal to supply 56 such aircraft. The C-295 will replace the Avro aircraft in service with the Indian Air Force. This project will make Vadodara a defense manufacturing hub. The first "Made in India" aircraft is expected in September 2026.

The revenue for the city is generated through taxes, service provision, and state government assistance. The taxes include general taxes, conservancy taxes, and water taxes, whereas the nontax or service revenue can include water charges, rent from municipal properties, public service charges, etc. The VMC budget for the year 2020–2021 against the proposed budget of Rs 3,554 crore last year, stood at Rs 3,770 crore this year.

Petrochemicals

Since the discovery of oil and natural gas in the area, Vadodara has become the site of various petrochemical industries. These are concentrated in the peri-urban areas to the northwest and south of the city proper.

In 1963, construction began on Gujarat Refinery outside of Vadodara, on a 1800-acre tract surrounded by the villages of Koyali, Ranoli, Karachia, and Dhanora. Jawaharlal Nehru ceremonially laid the foundation. The refinery's first trial production was in October 1965. As of 1973 it was producing 4.3 million tonnes of various products per year and it employed some 1,450 people. It was the third public-sector refinery to be built in India.

Among the refinery's products as of 1979 were gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, jet fuel, and various industrial materials such as benzene, toluene, and naphtha. Crude was piped in from Ankleshwar and from northern Gujarat (around Kalol and Vadagam), and condensate was also supplied from the Khambhat gas fields.

In early 1978, two new petrochemical plants began operation in Vadodara: a naphtha cracking plant in March and a low-density polyethylene plant with an 80,000-tonne capacity in April. Both were operated by Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (now part of Reliance Industries) and both were also the first plant of their kind in Gujarat. In March 1979, IPCL also formally commissioned a major petrochemical complex at Vadodara that included an aromatics plant (producing dimethyl terephthalate and two types of xylene), an oil refinery, and seven other downstream facilities. The 7 downstream facilities were: 1. acrylonitrile, 2. synthetic rubber, 3. low-density polyethylene, 4. polypropylene, 5. ethylene glycol, 6. detergent alkylate, and 7. acrylic fibre. There were also plans in the works for a polyester yarn plant as part of the complex with a capacity of 3,500 to 7,000 tonnes per year.

Government and politics

The Vadodara city's municipal corporation or Maha Nagar Palika is a part of the Vadodara district. The district is set up in three distinct levels of administration, which are the collectorate - the district falls under the jurisdiction of a collector; the prant offices which take care of the affairs of taluka and other state government offices and the mamlatdar or taluka offices. The overall district administration has four departments: city survey, district supply office, district planning office, and district election office.

The City elects one member to the Lok Sabha (parliament) and five to the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha (Assembly). All of the five assembly seats of Vadodara were won by the BJP during the legislative elections in 2017. In the 2021 VMSS/VMC elections, the BJP won 69 seats, seven seats went to the Congress.

*Election wards: 19
*Seats (Corporators): 76
*Population per ward: 87,826
*Seats reserved for women: 38
*Total voters (as on 1 January 2019): 1,638,300

Civic administration

According to the 2011 census, the total Urban Agglomeration (UA) population of Vadodara is 35,17,191. This is governed by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation which was founded in 1951. It was initially called the Baroda Municipal Corporation but later changed to Vadodara Municipal Corporation after the city's name was changed in the year 1974. The Bombay Municipal Corporation Act of 1951 was setup as the main legislation for the administration and governance of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation.

The city limits of Vadodara have expanded since: an area of was added in the year 2002, followed by of additional expansion to the north of the city in 2006. The villages Sayajipura, Bapod, Kapurai, Khatamba, Tarsal Kalali, Gorva, Chhani and Vemali were added to the VMC boundaries in 2017 and the latest expansion notice has been given to the seven villages of Sevasi, Bhayli, Vemali, Bil, Karodiya, Undera and Vadadala in the year 2020.

City governance

The Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 governs the Vadodara Municipal Corporation. The Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act of 1949 which is derived from the Bombay Act No. LIX of 1949 is another legislation which most municipal corporation, including Vadodara in Gujarat function under.

The highest body of power in the municipal corporation is the General Board, which is composed of elected members from each ward within the VMC. There are 19 wards under the VMC, each of which consists 4 seats of councilor which has a 50% reservation of seats for women. There are a total of 76 councilors elected for this VMC term where every councilor is appointed in various committees for a period of one year.

The VMC has twelve executive committees apart from the standing committee, which look after the specialized functions of VMC. These committees include public works committee, water work committee, drainage and sewerage committee, health committee, town planning committee, estate management committee, recreation and culture committee, electric committee, and legal committee. Each committee consists of 12 councilors each. The formulation of an additional ward committee is recommended by the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act of 1949 for a city exceeding the population of three lakhs- which is above the current population of Vadodara.

Politics

Three corporators are elected from each ward, who in turn elect a mayor. Executive powers are vested in the municipal commissioner, who is an IAS officer appointed by the Gujarat state government. The mayor is responsible for the day-to-day running of the city services, municipal school board, the city bus service, the municipal hospital and the city library. The last municipal corporation election for Vadodara took place in the year 2015 where Bhartiya Janta Party won in the majority with 57 out of the total 76 seats, followed by the Indian National Congress (INC) with 14 seats.

There are six sitting MLAs who have VMC under their jurisdiction and are currently part of the state ministry. Rajendrabhai Trivedi is the BJP MLA and incumbent 14th Speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly, who was unanimously elected on 9 February 2018. Jitendra Sukhadia is the Minister of Tourism, Non-resident Gujarati division as well as the Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs. Saurabhbhai Patel is the incumbent Energy Minister of Gujarat while Yogeshbhai Patel heads the Ministry of State for Narmada Development. The MLA Madhubhai Shrivastav is the state appointed Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation (GAIC) chief and Manisha Vakil is BJP's Vadodara City Assembly Constituency MLA.

Law and order

The Vadodara City Police are responsible for law enforcement and public safety in Vadodara, Gujarat. The Vadodara City Police is headed by a Police Commissioner, an IPS officer. They are a subdivision of the state police force of Gujarat and are headed by a commissioner. The Vadodara police force is responsible for the protection and safety of Vadodara citizens. Shri Narsimha N. Komar (IPS), is the current Police commissioner of the Vadodara.

Culture

Museums

Vadodara is home to notable museums like:

* Sayaji Baug, Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery
* Maharaja Fatehsinh Museum
* Museum Of Archeology And Ancient History
* Health Museum, Sayaji Baug

Civic services

Three civic service departments are under the municipal corporation - the engineering department, the health department, and the support or administration department.

These departments together provide services, infrastructure, and management for the entire city. The engineering department manages infrastructure and services provided through cells or subdepartments such as bridge cell, drainage project, town development, streetlight, electrical sewerage, mechanical sewerage, building project, solid-waste management, road, storm-water drainage, water work, land, and estate. The health department takes care of public health-related issues and services through its solid-waste management, health, and ICDS subdepartments. The health department also has a subdepartment for managing birth, death, and marriage registrations. The support department handles all IT and administration-related issues and services, with cells such as IT, accounts audit, census, PRO, election, real estate (acquisition), shops and establishment, assessment, and UCD-NULM departments.

Urban planning

The two main institutions involved in planning and development in Vadodara are VMSS and the Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA). The responsibilities of both these agencies are demarcated clearly not only physically but also functionally. The governing acts for both institutions differ. The principal responsibility of VUDA is to ensure a holistic development of the Vadodara agglomeration covering an area of , whereas VMSS is involved in the development of area of .

Vadodara's population grew the fastest during the decade between 1961 and 1971. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation drew up the first official urban plan for the city's growth in 1970, the Vadodara Development Plan. The VUDA was formed in 1980. The second Development Plan, developed in 1984, included decentralising the city's infrastructure. During the mid-late 70s early 80s, development on the city's outskirts focused on building cheap, low-income housing for industrial workers. By the 1990s, the focus had shifted to mixed-density, "self-sustainable settlements" in peri-urban areas, especially on the west and southwest sides of town. Farmland was purchased from nearby villages to provide space for these new developments, which caused a large drop in cultivated acreage and overall agricultural produce in the area.

Initially, major industrial development happened on the city's north side; the east side also saw plenty of development because of its location near the old city core. The south and west were relatively less populated in comparison.

Various unplanned slum areas have been formed by rapid immigration from rural areas that outpaced formal city planning. These slum areas consist largely of temporary (''kachcha'') structures with communal toilets or none at all. They are often found in less-desired areas along river banks and nallahs or in other low-lying spots. Sanitation in these developments is generally poor.

A low of relatively lower-income, blue-collar workers live in industrial housing developments on Vadodara's outskirts. Economically Weaker Section (EWS) housing and slums are located especially on the northwest, northeast, and east sides of the city. In recent decades (as of 2021), major industrial development has taken place along the NH-8 corridor. Religious institutions like temples and ashram

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