Malegaon

Malegaon Malegaon
City/Town

Malegaon is a city and a Municipal Corporation in the Nashik district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is located at around 280 km northeast of state capital Mumbai. Malegaon lies at the confluence of Girna and Mousam rivers.

Malegaon is one of the largest cities in northwest Maharashtra. It is second largest city of Nashik district after Nashik city.

As majority of Malegaon's population belong to Hindu and Muslim communities, the vast city's education system has been able to support various languages (Urdu/Marathi/English) through numerous institutions:

Despite all this, Malegaon has seen the infrastructure and quality of life deteriorate over the years. While population has grown from 121,000 in 1961 to an estimated 1,000,000 people now, the roads, drainage systems, civil hospital, telecommunication are still not developed fully.

Geography

Malegaon is located at 18.42°N 77.53°E / 18.42; 77.53. It has an average elevation of 438 metres (1437 feet).

History

Malegaon Fort

Malegaon is located on the Mumbai-Agra national highway (N.H.03). The town’s history and location appear to be the primary reasons for its communally polarised profile. Situated on the road linking Mumbai and Agra — now National Highway No 3 — it was once a small junction known as Maliwadi (hamlet of gardens) and quickly gained the reputation for being a source of employment. When a local jahagirdar, Naro Shankar Raje Bahadur, started building a fort in the area in 1740, a project that took 25 years, a sizeable number of Muslim workers and artisans from places like Surat and northern India settled in the area. After the British capture of the Malegaon fort in 1818, Muslims from Hyderabad migrated to the region. The 1857 revolt saw many Momins from the north locate themselves here, and the pattern kept repeating itself over the years. Malegaon, with its growing Muslim presence, became something of a shelter and a source of employment for the community whenever it faced reversals. If famine in 1862 forced Muslim weavers in the Varanasi area to move to Malegaon, the political upheavals in the Hyderabad of the late 1940s and 1950s saw a similar exodus to the town. As for communal riots, which became a regular feature of the country from the ’60s onwards, they have also undoubtedly contributed to swelling the number of Muslim migrants to Malegaon.

Economy

Power looms in Malegaon

Malegaon is a major textile producing centre and is famous for its power-looms. It daily produces about 10 million meters of cloth from its approximately One Lac (100000) power-looms.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Malegaon had a population of 409,190. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Malegaon has an average literacy rate of 66%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 70%, and female literacy is 61%. In Malegaon, the ST consists of 12% and around 11% are SCs. About 18% of the population is under 6 years of age. In addition, most of the children forced to work at teenage to help the family, because of poverty. Now the plastic industry is growing day by day. The daily production of plastic is near about 1,50,000 meters.

Proposal to carve out Malegaon District

The Nashik district is under proposal to be divided and a separate Malegaon district be carved out of existing Nashik district.

Schools in Malegaon

• The Malegaon High School and Junior College
• A.T.T High School and Junior College
• T.M. High School
• P.E.S English Medium School
• Mahatma Gandhi School
• Kakani Marathi Vidyalay

Book Stores in Malegaon

1- Sawera Book Depot

  Proprietor: Shakeel Ahemad Sawera (Son of Late Poet Mohammed Shahban Jamaee)
  Head Office:
  105 Mohammed Ali Road, Near Janta Dal Office
  Opp, Janata Lodge
  MALEGAON NASIK 423203
  MAHARASHTRA INDIA

  GSM:          0091-9226864143
  Email:        wasim.sawera@gmail.com  
  WebLink:      wwww.sawerabd.co.in

2- New Sawera Book Depot

  Proprietor: Fahim Ahemad Sawera 
  Branch:
  102, Abdul Aziz Kallu Tower, Nayapura 
  Mohammed Ali Road, Near Rahmani Masjid
  MALEGAON NASIK 423203
  MAHARASHTRA INDIA

  GSM:          0091-8983170560
  Email:        fahim.sawera@gmail.com  
  WebLink:      wwww.sawerabd.co.in

3- Atfaal Book Depot

  101 Mohammed Ali Road
  MALEGAON NASIK 423203

Urdu in Malegaon

Malegaon is major centre of the Urdu language. It is home to various Urdu institutes and Urdu poets. It is the only city in India where one can find street names written in Urdu. Urdu is prevalent, but the local dialect is more like the pronunciation in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

2006 bombing

Main article: 2006 blasts at Malegaon

On 8 September 2006, at least 37 people died and at least 125 were seriously injured when three bomb blasts hit a cemetery in Malegaon town.

Many similarities are emerging between the Malegaon blast of 2008 and the Nanded blast of 2006, a case that the investigating agencies are accused of going slow on.

References

• A Trusted Website for Malegaonvis "moramalegaon.com"
• Indian Express article: A Town Called Malegaon
• [1]
• Indian Express article on Hyderabad & Malegaon Blasts
• Malegaon Blast in Pictures

External links

• Supermen of Malegaon at IMDb, a documentary about Muslim film fans from Malegaon and how they started making "Malegaonized" versions of Bollywood and Hollywood films.
• http://www.moramalegaon.com