Hardoi
Hardoi is a city in Lucknow division, Uttar Pradesh state, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Hardoi District.
Geography
Geographically, it is situated between 26-53 to 27-46 North Latitude and 79-41 to 80-46 East Longitude. Hardoi district is contiguous of Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur Kheri districts on the north, Lucknow and Unnao districts on the south, Kanpur and Farrukhabad districts on the west and Sitapur district on the east. Hardoi is located at 110 km from Lucknow (capital of Uttar Pradesh) and 394 from New Delhi (capital of India). The Ganges and several of its tributaries are crossing the south of Hardoi district.
Its area is 5947 sq. km. The record height is 500 ft. In 1995, Hardoi district had 5 sq. km of dense forest and 13 sq. km of open forest.
History
Name origin
People believe that the name Hardoi comes from distorted version of its earlier name Haridrohi, which is a Hindi word that means "anti to the God". According to a mythological story in past it was ruled by a king Hirnakashyap, who doesn’t have faith in God, but instead declared himself as God. He wanted the people should pray him but later his own son Prahlad rebelled. He tried to kill his own son by various means but he was unsuccessful. Later, to save Prahlad, God himself came in mysterious shape and killed the "HIRNAKASHYAP".
Muslim occupation
Hardoi is first mentioned during the Muslim colonisation. In 1028, Bwan was invaded by Sayyid Salara Masgud. However, Muslim didn’t occupy the region until 1217. Many battles between the Mogul and Afghan empires took place in Hardoi district due to the situation of the district. Humttyum defeated Sher Shah between the cities of Bligram and Sgndi.
Later, on February 1856, Hardoi, as a part of Oudh, became part of the British territory after Lord Dalhousies proclamation. The headquarters of the district was at first Mallanwan, but then it became Hardoi after the Sepoy Mutiny.
Recent History
In January 1998, a passenger train going from Bareilly to Varanasi collided with the Kashi Vishwanath Express in the district. It seems that the passenger train didn't stopped at a red signal in Hardoi station[1].
On September 22nd 2002, a bomb exploded in the city of Hardoi and killed fifteen people [2].
Recently (August 2005), the district has been the scene of an epidemic of Japanese encephalitis which killed dozens of children.
Demography
Hardoi district has 5 tehsils (Hardoi, Shahabad, Bilgram, Sandila and Sawayajpur), 19 blocks, 191 Nyay Panchayat, 1101 Gram Sabha and 1983 revenue villages (1883 of them are habited). It has 7 Nagar Palika Parishads and 6 Nagar Panchayat.
As of 2001, its population is 3,398,306 , splitted into 1,555,608 male and 1,842,698 Female. Under the last estimation, Hardoi city would have around 123,000 inhabitants.
In 1901, the population of Hardoi district was 1,092,834 and Hardoi had 12,174 inhabitants. By the time, the main city was Shahabad with 20,036 inhabitants, Mallanwan 11,158.
Economy
In 1901, the main activities were wood-carving industry, salpetre works and grain trade. The district exported grain, sugar, hides, tobacco and salpetre.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the main activity in the district and many people depends on it. 3980.45 sq km of Hardoi district are devoted to agriculture. The main crops are paddy, sugarcane, wheat, vegetables, pulses and oilseeds. A small proportion of the total cultivated are is used for horticulture : guava, mangos, some herbs, etc. Irrigation is made possible by the presence of the Hardoi and Lucknow branches of the Sarda Canal.
Industry
Among the few industries in the district, we can mention the major industry, a yeast plant from M/s SAF YEASTR Co. Ltd (the single largest producer of yeast in India) at Sandila. This plant was established in 1990 with the collaboration of France (World’s largest producers of yeast). The plant is producing yeast for bakery, wine making, feed yeast, probiotic yeast, yeast extract, yeast based natural flavours, distillery, pharmaceuticals.
Among others, we can quote a metal wire producer, a flour mill and a sugar refinery.
Transport
Hardoi is connected to the following cities :
- Lucknow (capital of Uttar Pradesh) : 102 km by railway track and by road.
- Kanpur : 140 km by road.
- New Delhi (capital of India) : 394 km by railway track & road.
Education
Hardoi distict have 4 colleges :
- B. G. Raghuvir Sahai Inter College
- Government Degree College
- R. R. Inter College
- Shri Dev Darbar Ashram Intermediate College, Sandi
The district also have 3 high schools :
- Ganga Devi Inter College
- Janta Inter College (Kachhauna)
- Shri Ram Junior High School