Malegaon is a city and a

municipal corporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ...

in Nashik District in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

. It is situated on the bank of Mosam River.

History

Malegaon (previously Maligaon G.N. Wright, 1837. See entry for MULLIGAUM, p216.) at the confluence of the Mausam (previously Moosy) and Girna rivers. On the road linking Mumbai and Agra – now

National Highway National highway or National Highway may refer to: * National Highways (England) * National Highway (Australia) * List of National Roads in Belgium * Brunei National Roads System * National Highway System (Canada) * Trans ...

-3(NH3), it used to be a small junction known as ''Maliwadi'' (hamlet of gardeners).

Geography

Malegaon is at the confluence of the Girna and Mausam rivers, at elevation of 438 metres (1437 feet) at . It is 280 km northeast of the state capital

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

. It has good connectivity with nearby cities like

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nash ...

Manmad Manmad ( ənmaːɖ is one of the towns in Nashik district in the state of Maharashtra in India. It is the third largest city in Nashik district, with a population of approximately 80,000. Geographically it lies within Nandgaon Tehsil in Na ...

and Dhule. Roads: * State Highway 10 (Maharashtra) * National Highway 3 (India, old numbering) (Asian Highway no. 10) (Mumbai - Agra)

Climate

Agriculture

Villages near Malegaon and towards Satana, Nampur, Sonaj, Talwade and Vadel are indulged into agriculture and major producers of

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

s. Pomegranate is another crop of commercial importance that is cultivated by farmers in nearby pockets. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of Malegaon has a front office at Malegaon and research farm at Vadel. There is also a campus of Mahatma Gandhi Vidyamandir's H. H. Sri Sri Murlidhara Swamiji College of Agriculture and H. H. Sri Sri Murlidhara Swamiji College of Horticulture in the Malegaon Camp area.

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

, Malegaon city had urban/metropolitan population of 481,228. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Malegaon has an average literacy rate of 70.54%: Male literacy is 74.25% and female literacy is 66.63%. About 15.41% of the population is under 6 years of age. In Malegaon City

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

is the most popular religion with approximately 379,927 (78.95%) following it. 89,011 (18.50%) of the population following

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

religion. Buddhism is followed by 6,830 (1.42%) and Jainism 3,933 (0.82). 78.23% of the population spoke

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Marathi, 1.77%

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 ...

and 1.03% Khandeshi as their first language.

Education

* The Malegaon High School and Junior College * LVH Academy * Mansoora College

Bomb blast

On 29 September 2008, three bombs exploded in the States of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

and

killing eight people and injuring 80. Three of the arrested suspects were identified as Sadhvi

Pragya Singh Thakur Pragya Singh Thakur (born 2 February 1970), better known as Sadhvi Pragya, is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament representing Bhopal and belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. During her college days, she was an active member of Ak ...

, Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra, and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu. All three were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in

, which remanded them to custody till 3 November. On 28 October, the

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

, came out in support of the accused saying that the arrests were political in nature. ,

chief,

Uddhav Thackeray Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: d̪ʱːəʋ ʈʰaːkɾeː born 27 July 1960) is an Indian politician who served as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022. He was also the president of Shiv Sena prior to ...

, propounded a potential

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

in political rivalry as the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party i ...

(NCP) controlled the relevant ministry. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found evidence against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and it has recommended the court to act against all charges against her which was proven incorrect. The

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

officer

Prasad Shrikant Purohit The 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred around midnight on 18 February 2007 on the Samjhauta Express, a twice-weekly train service connecting Delhi, India, and Lahore, Pakistan. Bombs were set off in two carriag ...

was also accused of being involved in the blast.

MLAs

MLAs from Malegaon Constituency for Maharashtra Assembly: *1930: Gulab Miya Wasif , Indian National Congress irst MLA Before Independence* 1952: Mohammad Sabir Abdul Sattar,

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

(First MLA after independence) * 1962: Haroon Ansari,

* 1967:

Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman, also known as Nihal Sahab or Sathi Nihal Ahmed or Nihalbhai, was an Indian socialist leader and politician belonging to Janata Dal (Secular). He was a former Minister of government of Maharashtra and legislato ...

, Praja

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

* 1972: Aysha Hakeem Saheba, Indian National Congress * 1978:

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

* 1980: Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman, Janata Party * 1985: Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman,

* 1990: Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman, Janata Dal(S) * 1995: Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman, Janata Dal(S) * 1999: Shaikh Rashid Haji Shaikh Shaffi,

* 2004: Shaikh Rashid Haji Shaikh Shaffi,

* 2009: Mufti Mohammad Ismail, Jan Surajya Shakti * 2014: Shaikh Aasif Shaikh Rashid, Indian National Congress * 2019: Mufti Mohammad Ismail, All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen MLAs from Malegaon Outer Constituency for Maharashtra Assembly: * 1978: Hiray Baliram Waman, INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS * 1980: Hiray Baliram Waman, INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS * 1985: Hiray Pushpatai Vyankatrao, INDIAN CONGRESS (SOCIALIST) * 1990: Hiray Pushpatai Vyankatrao,

* 1995: Hiray Pushpatai Vyankatrao,

* 1999: Hire Prashant Venkatrao,

* 2004: Dadaji Bhuse, Independent * 2009: Dadaji Bhuse,

* 2014: Dadaji Bhuse,

* 2019: Dadaji Bhuse,

References

External links

Indian Express article: A Town Called Malegaon
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Nashik district Talukas in Maharashtra Textile industry in Maharashtra Cities in Maharashtra