Anand is a city and the administrative centre of

Anand District Anand District is an administrative district of Gujarat state in western India and whose popular nickname is Charotar. It was carved out of the Kheda district in 1997. Anand is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is bounde ...

in the state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, 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 List of states and union territories ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is administered by Anand Municipal Corporation. It is part of the region known as Charotar, consisting of Anand and

Kheda Kheda is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kheda was known as Kaira during the British Raj. It was the former administrative capital of Kheda district. The city is known for tobacco farming. The nearest railway statio ...

districts. Anand is Former Part Of

Kaira District Kheda District, known as Kaira District during British rule, is one of the thirty-three districts of Gujarat state in western India. It is part of the region known as Charotar, consisting of Kheda and Anand districts. Kheda was an administrativ ...

(now

) in

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. Anand is known as the "Milk Capital of India". It became famous for

Amul The Anand Milk Union Limited commonly known as Amul is an Indian dairy brand owned by the cooperative society, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), based in Anand, Gujarat. GCMMF is controlled by 3.6 million milk producers. ...

dairy and its milk revolution by the Amul trinity: Tribhuvandas Patel,

Verghese Kurien Verghese Kurien (26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012) was an Indian dairy engineer and social entrepreneur. He led initiatives that contributed to the extensive increase in milk production in India termed as the White Revolution. Kurien gra ...

and H. M. Dalaya. This city hosts the Head Office of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), the NDDB of India,the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Vidya Dairy and the

Anand Agricultural University Anand Agricultural University (AAU) is a public state agricultural university is located in the western Indian state of Gujarat between the cities of Vadodara and Ahmedabad. This was formerly the Anand Campus of Gujarat Agricultural University, ...

. Another famous educational hub is Vallabh Vidhyanagar, an educational suburb of Anand which has institutes like BVM (Birla Vishvkarma Mahavidhyalaya), which is the first engineering college of Gujarat, GCET (G. H. Patel College of Engineering and Technology), ADIT(A.D Patel Institute Of Technology)and MBIT (M B Patel Institute of Technology). Other than these, Vallabh Vidhyanagar is also home to two major universities, those being SPU and CVM. Hence Anand is often referred to as the educational hub of

. Ahmedabad Mumbai bullet train station is located in Anand, and Anand lies between

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

and

Vadodara 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 ...

on the Western Railways, from the state capital Gandhinagar. It is a

railway Junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. The physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge) is provided by turnouts (US: switc ...

and a broad gauge line from here runs to

Godhra Godhra () is a municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from ''gou'' which means "cow" and "dhara"- which have two meanings depend ...

, covering

Dakor Dakor (Gujarati language, Gujarati: ISO 15919: ''Ḍākōra'') is a small city and a municipality in Kheda district in the state of Gujarat, India. It is prominent for its temple of Raṇchoḍrāyjī. History and Temple The temple of Raṇcho ...

, a major Hindu pilgrimage en route. MEMUs and one or two regular passenger trains ply on this route. It also has a branch line to

Khambhat Khambhat (, ), also known as Cambay, is a city and the surrounding urban agglomeration in Anand district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was once an important trading center, but its harbour gradually silted up, and the maritime trade moved ...

. DMUs Diesel Multiple Units ply on this route as it is not electrified yet. Anand Railway Station has 5 platforms, numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 are on the main line and number 5 is on the branch line to Godhra. A new platform is in construction on the branch to Ahmedabad from the Godhra line forming a triangle. The

Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (pe ...

from Ahmedabad to Vadodara also passes through Anand.

Geography

Anand is located at . It has an average elevation of . The city has an area of .

Demographics

India census, Anand had a population of 634,987. Males constitute 51.77% of the population and females 48.23%. Anand has an average literacy rate of 78.45%, higher than the national average of 59.5% (55% of the males and 45% of females literate). 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. Average literacy rate of Anand in 2011 were 84.37 compared to 74.51 of 2001. Gender wise, male and female literacy were 91.82 and 76.36 respectively. For 2001 census, same figures stood at 86.09 and 61.94 in

Economy

Economy of the Anand is very vibrant which ranges from farming to big scale industries. Major crops includes

Tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

. Anand is home to the famous

Dairy, Vidya Dairy, Amul Chocolate Plant, Mogar and Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation. Anand is home to famous educational institute named

Institute of Rural Management Anand An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

. Vitthal Udhyog Nagar, a very big industrial belt is located on the outskirts of the city. Many famous industries includin
HLE Glascoat Ltd.
lecon Engineering, Vulcan Industrial Engineering Co. Ltd, Warm Steam, The Charotar Iron Factory (est.1938), Milcent, Atlanta Electrics, Worldwide Overseas Travels an
Alian Software
are situated in this industrial belt. Also there are three vegetable markets which have developed in this city. The well known Shri Krishna Hospital, Karamsad is located near Anand. The first Aerospace company in Gujarat BC Instruments India Pvt Ltd, started operating in year 2004 and has prestigious AS9100 and NADCAP approvals. Leading electric motor and solar pump company ROTOMAG is located in Anand.

Notable people

The city has produced many notable individuals, including H M Patel, former Finance Minister of India;

, the man who made the milk revolution possible; Harish Dave, a renowned Gujarati poet;

Vishvesh Parmar Vishvesh Parmar (born 28 November 1983) is an Indian playback singer/ recording artist and composer, known for his composition ''Pankhida'' for the urban Gujarati Film, Kevi Rite Jaish. He was the recipient of the Binani Big Gujarati award for ' ...

, a Bollywood singer was also born in Anand. USA National Cricket Team Captain Monank Patel was born and brought up in the city of Anand before moving to the US in 2010.

References

External links

* District Collectorate Website: https://anand.nic.in/ * City Municipality Website: https://www.anandnagarpalika.com/ * Anand District Panchayat Website: https://ananddp.gujarat.gov.in/gu/Home {{Authority control Cities and towns in Anand district