Social,
Environmental & Economic Sustainability
Our analysis of the rank of the district
Backwardness : 292
Disability : 393 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Literacy Ratio : 171 (Census 2001)
Sex Ratio Rank : 343
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : A
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Water : Flouride in Groundwater above permissible limits
Challenges of the district : Our
research with local communities
Agriculture is the only source of income. Due to
semi-arid and drought prone area farmers have to face lot of inconvenience
and losses. Most of the farmers here are poor. Employment opportunity
is zero. People migrate in search of livelihood. There is lot of
menace from anti social elements. Crime rates have risen.
Child labor is prevalent.
HIV is widely spreading. In Karnataka, Dharwad is second highest
in terms of HIV/AIDS patients
Brief About Dharwad District
Dharwad, also known as Dharwar, is a town in India's
Karnataka state. Dharwad is famous for its Dharwad Peda - a milk
based sweetmeat. Dharwad is the administrative seat of the district
of the same name. The municipality (resulting from a merger with
neighbouring Hubli in 1961) covers 191 sq. km. Dharwad is located
425km northwest of Bangalore, on the main highway between Bangalore
and Pune in Maharashtra. KREIS North Unit of National Projects
Construction Corporation is Head Quartered here.
History
The word "Dharwad" means a place of rest
in a long travel or a small habitation. For centuries, Dharwad
acted as a gateway between Malenaadu (western mountains) and Bayalu
seeme (plains) and it became a resting place for the travelers.
Another theory is, during Vijayanagara rule of Dharwad, there
was a ruler by name "Dharav" (1403) and Dharwad got
its name from him. There are some inscriptions that refer to Dharwad
as Kampana Sthana. Inscriptions found near Durga Devi temple,
in Narendra (a village near by) and the local RLS high school
date back to 12th century and have references to Dharwad. This
puts Dharwad at least 900 years old. The Chalukyas ruled Dharwad
during 12th century. A stone inscription indicates that there
was a ruler by the name BhaskaraDeva in 1117. In the 14th century
the district was first overrun by the Bahmani Sultanate, after
which it was annexed to the newly established Hindu kingdom of
Vijayanagar, an official of which named Dhar Rao, according to
local tradition, built the fort at Dharwad town in 1403. After
the defeat of the king of Vijayanagar at Talikot (1565), Dharwad
was for a few years practically independent under its Hindu governor;
but in 1573 the fort was captured by the sultan of Bijapur, Adil
Shah, and Dharwad was annexed to his dominions. Adil Shah built
a fort in an area later called MannaKille, and later Nazratabad.
With this fort, the strategic importance of Dharwad increased
and it thus attracted the attention of subsequent conquerors,
including Aurangzeb, Shivaji, Aurangzeb's son Mu Azam, Peshwa
Balaji Rao, Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan and finally the British colonizers.
In 1685, the fort was taken by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and
Dharwad, on the break-up of the Mughal empire, fell under the
sway of the Maratha Peshwa of Pune. In 1764 the province was overrun
by Hyder Ali of Mysore, who in 1778 captured the fort of Dharwad.
The fort was retaken in 1791 by the Marathas. After the final
defeat of the Peshwa by the British in 1818, Dharwar was incorporated
into the territory of the British East India Company's Bombay
Presidency. During early 19th century, when British were expanding
their kingdom, they faced lot of opposition from local rulers,
including Baba Saheb of Naragund and Kittur Rani Chennamma. Dharwad
was peaceful for most of late 19th century. During those times,
the British started English Medium school in Dharwad in 1848 and
in 1856, started town municipality. Later in 1863, the Basel Mission
organization started another school. In 1867 British opened another
school, Varmal school, which later on became known as Training
college. In 1883, the municipality area included Sidapur, Lakamanhalli,
Haveri Pete, Bagtalan, Madihal, Galaganjikop, Malapur, Kamalapur,
Narayanpur, Saptapur, Atti kolla and Hosayellapur. The British
government also established the Railway station in 1888. The town
had a station on the Southern Mahratta railway. By 1901 the town
had a population of 31,279, and was home to several cotton ginning
factories, a cotton mill, and two high schools, one maintained
by the government and the other by the Basel German Mission. After
India's independence in 1947, Bombay Presidency was reconstituted
as India's Bombay state. In 1956 the southern, Kannada-speaking
districts of Bombay state, including Dharwad, were added to Mysore
state, renamed Karnataka in 1972. Dharwad takes great pride in
being a 'University Town', being home to the Karnatak University
and the Univesity of Agricultural Sciences as well as numerous
other colleges. In 1961 the town merged with the adjacent town
of Hubli to become a single municipality, Hubli-Dharwad. The population
of the twin cities is 786,000, and is the second-largest conurbation
in Karnataka, after Bangalore. Hubli-Dharwad's population increased
22.99% between 1981 and 1991, from 527,108 to 648,298, and by
21.2% between 1991 and 2001.
Genaral
Dharwad District has an area of 427 sq. km., and a
population of 1,603,794 (2001 census), a 16.65% increase from
the 1991 census. The district is bounded by Gadag district on
the northeast and east, by Haveri district on the south, by Uttara
Kannada district on the southwest and west, and by Belgaum district
on the northwest and north. Before 1997 the district had an area
of 13738 sq. km. In 1997, the new districts of Gadag and Haveri
were created out of Dharwad's former territory, and a portion
of Dharwad district was combined with lands formerly part of three
other districts to create the new district of Davanagere.
