Western Uttar Pradesh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Location of Western Uttar Pradesh
An 1814-15 painting of Patthargarh fort outside Najibabad
Jigar gate in Moradabad, named for the famous Urdu poet Jigar Moradabadi

Western Uttar Pradesh, sometimes simply referred to as West U.P., is a region in India that comprises the western districts of Uttar Pradesh state, including the areas of Rohilkhand and Braj. The region has some demographic, economic and cultural patterns which are distinct from other parts of Uttar Pradesh, and more closely resemble those of Haryana and Rajasthan states.[1][2] Western Uttar Pradesh has experienced rapid economic growth, in a fashion similar to Haryana and Punjab, due to the successes of the Green Revolution.[3][4][5]

Contents

Demographics [edit]

The population of Western Uttar Pradesh is composed of a varied set of communities and tribes, including Ahirs, Dalits, Gujjars, Jats, Jatavs, Rajputs, Rohilla Pashtuns, Chamars, Tyagis and Yadavs.[6] Specifically, although Jats were only 1.6% of the total population of Uttar Pradesh state in the caste-based census of 1931, they are concentrated in this region and "comprise nearly 40 per cent of the population in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, and Bijnor districts" of Western Uttar Pradesh.[6][7] The Jats are a dominant agricultural community spread across Pakistan, Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.[8][9] In addition to the Jats native to the region, Sikh Jats from West Punjab, which went to Pakistan after partition, also migrated to the area in large numbers.[10] The region's Rohillas are descended from immigrant groups from centuries ago, and a large subregion of Western Uttar Pradesh, Rohilkhand, takes its name from that Pashtun tribe.[11] The Gujjars are also a widespread pastoral-agricultural community of North India and Pakistan, present in large numbers in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh.[12] They gave their name to cities such as Gujranwala and Gujrat in Pakistani Punjab and, until the eighteenth century, the modern district of Saharanpur in Western Uttar Pradesh was also called Gujrat.[13]

Although Hindus are in a large majority, the percentage of Muslims in Western Uttar Pradesh (estimated to be in the 25%-34% range) is higher than in Uttar Pradesh as a whole (where it is 17%).[14][15] Several communities are bi-religious, with both Hindu and Muslim components, e.g. the Tyagi Brahmins who have a Muslim Tyagi subcommunity although they are largely Hindu.[16]

Geography [edit]

Western Uttar Pradesh shares borders with the states of Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, as well as a brief international border with Nepal in Pilibhit district. Major cities and towns include Bareilly, Agra, Noida, Greater Noida, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Hapur, Saharanpur, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur, Shahjahanpur, Etah, Firozabad, Mainpuri and Etawah.

Soil conditions [edit]

Western Uttar Pradesh's soil and relief has marked differences from that of the eastern part of the state.[17] The soil tends to be lighter-textured loam, with some occurrences of sandy soil.[18] Some loess soil is continuously deposited by winds blowing eastwards from Rajasthan's Thar Desert.[19]

Precipitation [edit]

Western Uttar Pradesh receives rain through the Indian Monsoon and the Western Disturbances. The Monsoon carries moisture northwards from the Indian Ocean, occurs in late summer and is important to the Kharif or autumn harvest.[20][21] Western Disturbances, on the other hand, are an extratropical weather phenomenon that carry moisture eastwards from the Mediterranean Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.[22][23][24][25] They primarily occur during the winter season and are critically important for the main staple of the region, wheat, which is part of the Rabi or spring harvest.[23]

Administrative divisions [edit]

Western Uttar Pradesh includes 24 districts in six divisions:

  1. Meerut division
  2. Saharanpur division
  3. Moradabad division
  4. Bareilly division
  5. Agra division
  6. Aligarh division

Demands for statehood [edit]

In Uttar Pradesh, "the cultural divide between the east and the west is considerable, with the purabiyas (easterners) often being clubbed with Biharis in the perception of the westerners."[26] Also, while the green revolution resulted in a rapidly rising standard of living in Western Uttar Pradesh, Eastern Uttar Pradesh (like Bihar) did not benefit to the same extent.[27][28] These cultural and economic disparities are believed to have fueled the demand for separate statehood in Western Uttar Pradesh.[29][30] A separate entity would likely become a prosperous smaller state similar to Haryana and Punjab, under greater political control of local ethnic groups.[9]

Some politicians and parties have demanded that Western Uttar Pradesh be granted statehood under the name Harit Pradesh.[31] Braj Pradesh and Pashchim Pradesh are alternative names that have been proposed, because the region incorporates the historic region of Braj and is the western (pashchim in Hindi) part of Uttar Pradesh respectively.[31][32]

Highway connectedness [edit]

Major highways running through the region include NH 87, NH 24, NH 58, NH 73, NH 74, NH 2, NH 91, NH 3, NH 11, NH 93, the Noida Greater Noida Expressway, the Yamuna Expressway, the Upper Ganga Canal Expressway and the Moradabad-Bareilly Expressway.

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Pragmatism and development: the prospect for pluralist transformation in the Third World". Greenwood Publishing Group. 1998. ISBN 0897895738. "... Village organization and district administration in western Uttar Pradesh is generally much more like the neighboring states of Rajasthan and Haryana than like eastern Uttar Pradesh. Eastern Uttar Pradesh is more like Bihar than western Uttar Pradesh ... Of all these regions, western Uttar Pradesh is generally regarded as having the best administration, the most productive agriculture, and the best managed canals ..." 
  2. ^ Alfred De Souza, Urban growth and urban planning: political context and people's priorities, Indian Social Institute, 1983, "... The difference in the urban settlement pattern between western and eastern Uttar Pradesh is so pronounced that one could almost feel that the two regions were located in two different countries with completely different economic systems ..." 
  3. ^ Mohamad Riad El Ghonemy, "The Dynamics of Rural Poverty", Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1986. ... Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh recorded spectacular production increases ...
  4. ^ V. G. Rastyannikov, "Agrarian Evolution in a Multiform Structure Society: Experience of Independent India", Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, ISBN 0710007558.
  5. ^ B. M. Bhatia, "Food Security in South Asia", Oxford & IHB Pub. Co., 1985.
  6. ^ a b T. V. Sathyamurthy, Industry and agriculture in India since independence: Social change and political discourse in India Volume 2, Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN 9780195634570, "... the Jats, Ahirs, Yadavs and Kurmis. Jats comprise nearly 40 per cent of the population in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, and Bijnor districts ... Rajputs and Tyagis, also cultivate their own land and consider themselves to be the Jats' equals ... ..." 
  7. ^ Sumit Ganguly, Larry Jay Diamond, Marc F. Plattner, The state of India's democracy, JHU Press, 2007, ISBN 9780801887918, "... Jats represented only 1.6 percent of the state population in 1931, but were concentrated in western Uttar Pradesh ..." 
  8. ^ Association of Population Geographers of India, Population geography: a journal of the Association of Population Geographers of India, Volume 10, The Association, 1988, "... The traditional home of the Jats is Punjab. (Pakistan Punjab and Indian Punjab/ Haryana.) They are also quite numerous in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan, Sind ..." 
  9. ^ a b Jagpal Singh (August 4, 2001), "Politics of Harit Pradesh: The Case of Western UP as a Separate State", Economic and Political Weekly, "... It is spearheaded by the politicians, especially a section of jats, belonging to western UP. Ajit Singh has been playing a pivotal role in it ..." 
  10. ^ Bagaulia, Encyclopaedia Of Human Geography (Set Of 3 Vols.), Anmol Publications PVT. LTD., 2005, ISBN 9788126124442, "... Sikhs also settled down in the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh, transforming this once malaria-infested wetland into a granary of northern India ..." 
  11. ^ Ghaus Ansari, Muslim caste in Uttar Pradesh: a study of culture contact (Volumes 12-13 of The Eastern anthropologist), Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society, 1960, "... confined primarily to the Rohilkhand and Meerut divisions of Uttar Pradesh. Pathans are generally considered to have come either from Afghanistan or from the Pashto-speaking tribes of the North-West ..." 
  12. ^ P. K. Bhowmick, Manis Kumar Raha, Dimensions of human society and culture, Gyan Books, 1996, ISBN 9788121205207, "... The semi-pastoral and semi -agricultural group, the Gujjars are scattered over a large area including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh ..." 
  13. ^ B.S. Nijjar, Origins and History of Jats and Other Allied Nomadic Tribes of India, Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2007, ISBN 9788126909087, "... regions called after the Gurjaras (Gujjars) ... like Gujjaranwala, Gujarat and Gujjar Khan in the Panjab ... district of Saharanpur also called Gujarat in the 18th century ..." 
  14. ^ "Minister's demand for Muslim Pradesh condemned", Times of India, 2006-07-19, retrieved 2009-07-24, "... demand is neither feasible nor proper,"said Manzoor Ahmad, former vice-chancellor of Dr B R Ambedkar University, Agra ... Muslim population which is not more than 25% in Western UP. ..." 
  15. ^ "Ajit Singh struggling to retain Muslim vote", The Hindu, 2002-02-12, retrieved 2009-07-24, "... the Muslim presence in western U.P. is said to be about 34 per cent ..." [dead link]
  16. ^ A Glossary of the Tribes & Castes of Punjab by H. A Rose
  17. ^ Aijazuddin Ahmad, Geography of the South Asian subcontinent: a critical approach, Concept Publishing Company, 2009, ISBN 9788180695681, "... These differences are caused by the depositional work of rivers, local climates, natural vegetation cover and the soil. Even the difference between the plains of western Uttar Pradesh and eastern Uttar Pradesh is quite well marked ..." 
  18. ^ A.K. Kolay, Soil Genesis, Classification Survey And Evaluation, Volume 2, Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2007, ISBN 9788126908035, "... ..." 
  19. ^ M. Hanif, Encyclopaedia of Agricultural Geography, Anmol Publications Private Limited, 2005, ISBN 9788126124824, "... Loess is the finest particle of sand carried by winds from desert (Thar desert) to the neighbouring areas of Haryana, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh and western Madhya Pradesh. Here a thin layer of loess particles ..." 
  20. ^ Vidya Sagar Katiyar, "Indian Monsoon and Its Frontiers", Inter-India Publications, 1990, ISBN 81-210-0245-1.
  21. ^ Ajit Prasad Jain and Shiba Prasad Chatterjee, "Report of the Irrigation Commission, 1972", Ministry of Irrigation and Power, Government of India, 1972.
  22. ^ "Western disturbances herald winter in Northern India". The Hindu Business Line. 2005-11-17. Retrieved 2008-10-20. 
  23. ^ a b Bin Wang, "The Asian Monsoon", Springer, 2006, ISBN 3-540-40610-7.
  24. ^ R.K. Datta (Meteorological Office, Dum Dum) and M.G. Gupta (Meteorological Office, Delhi), "Synoptic study of the formation and movements of Western Depressions", Indian Journal of Meteorology & Geophysics, India Meteorological Department, 1968.
  25. ^ A.P. Dimri, "Models to improve winter minimum surface temperature forecasts, Delhi, India", Meteorological Applications, 11, pp 129-139, Royal Meteorological Society, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  26. ^ "Unorganised Workers of Delhi and the Seven Day Strike of 1988". Indrani Mazumdar, Archives of Indian Labour. Retrieved 2008-10-21. 
  27. ^ Robert E. B. Lucas, Gustav Fritz Papanek, "The Indian Economy: Recent Development and Future Prospects", Westview Press, 1988, ISBN 0813375053.
  28. ^ Gilbert Etienne, "Rural Development In Asia: Meetings With Peasants", Sage Publications, 1985, ISBN 0803994958.
  29. ^ Gyanesh Kudaisya, "Region, Nation, Heartland: Uttar Pradesh in India's Body Politic", Sage Publications, 2006, ISBN 0761935193.
  30. ^ "RLD, BSP gear up as Mulayam exit looms". The Tribune, Chandigarh. 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2008-10-18. 
  31. ^ a b Sajal Basu (2005), Regionalism, ethnicity, and left politics, Rawat Publications, ISBN 8170339308, "... perhaps only to strengthen his own demand of a separate Harit Pradesh comprising 23 districts from western UP ...A consequent demand for the separation of the more prosperous western districts of UP which have been the bastion of the green revolution, and have variously been named as Pashchim Pradesh or more recently as Harit Pradesh by Ajit Singh ..." 
  32. ^ Kumar Suresh Singh, Anthropological Survey of India, N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (1992), Ethnicity, caste, and people: proceedings of the Indo-Soviet seminars held in Calcutta and Leningrad, 1990, Manohar, "... public organizations making demands for administrative autonomy for the Braj speaking people and even the setting up of a separate state "Braj Pradesh' ..." 

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_Uttar_Pradesh&oldid=555837568"