Banaskantha district is one of the thirty-three districts of the

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the 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 fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), 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 and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The administrative headquarters of the district is at

Palanpur Palanpur is a city and a municipality of Banaskantha district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Palanpur is the administrative headquarters of Banaskantha district. Palanpur is the ancestral home to an industry of Indian diamond merchants. Ety ...

which is also its largest city. The district is located in the Northeast of Gujarat and is presumably named after the West Banas River which runs through the valley between

Mount Abu Mount Abu () is a hill station in the Aravalli Range in Sirohi district of the state of Rajasthan in western India.The mountain forms a rocky plateau 22 km long by 9 km wide. The highest peak on the mountain is Guru Shikhar at abov ...

and

Aravalli Range The Aravalli Range (also spelled ''Aravali'') is a mountain range in Northern- Western India, running approximately in a south-west direction, starting near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana, Rajasthan, and ending in Ahmedabad Gujarat. ...

, flowing to the plains of Gujarat in this region and towards the

Rann of Kutch The Rann of Kutch (alternately spelled as Kuchchh) is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan. It is located in Gujarat (primarily the Kutch district), India, and in Sindh, Pakistan. It is divided into ...

. The district is famous for the Ambaji temple which draws many tourists. It covers an area of 12703 km² and is the second largest district in the state.

Geography

Banaskantha shares its borders with

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

state in the North,

Sabarkantha district Sabarkantha district is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state of India and is located in the northeastern part of the state. The administrative headquarters of the district are located in Himatnagar. Geography Sabarkantha District is bounde ...

in East, Kutch district in West and Patan district and

Mehsana district Mehsana district (alternate spelling "Mahesana") is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state in western India. Mehsana city is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district has a population of over 1.8 million and an area of ...

in the South.

Economy

The economy of the district is based on agro & food Processing, tourism, textile, and mineral based industries (ceramics). The food processing industry in the district has attracted 57% of the total investment in the district over the last two decades. The district ranks first in the Country in milk production, the Asia's Largest Dairy Cooperative under the Brandname of AMUL is Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Palanpur known as Banas Dairy procuring almost 59,58,134 Lit. Milk on 15.01.2018 as Peak receipt. The Banaskantha is also first District having highest Cold Supply Chain of Milk by installing 1280 bulk milk chilling units procuring almost >90% milk as raw chilled milk & rest 10% in cans. Banaskantha District has 1,060 village dairy cooperatives. Societies certified as per ISO 9001 : QMS Standard. The district ranks first in the state in the production of vegetables contributing nearly 17.67% to the total vegetable production of Gujarat. It is the largest producer of potatoes in the state.

Bajri Pearl millet (''Cenchrus americanus'', commonly known as the synonym ''Pennisetum glaucum''; also known as 'Bajra' in Hindi, 'Sajje' in Kannada, 'Kambu' in Tamil, 'Bajeer' in Kumaoni and 'Maiwa' in Hausa, 'Mexoeira' in Mozambique) is the mo ...

, Maize, Tobacco,

Castor oil Castor oil is a vegetable oil pressed from castor beans. It is a colourless or pale yellow liquid with a distinct taste and odor. Its boiling point is and its density is 0.961 g/cm3. It includes a mixture of triglycerides in which about ...

Jowar ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a grass species cultivated for its grain, which is used for food for humans, animal feed, and ethanol produ ...

Psyllium Psyllium , or ispaghula , is the common name used for several members of the plant genus '' Plantago'' whose seeds are used commercially for the production of mucilage. Psyllium is mainly used as a dietary fiber to relieve symptoms of both const ...

are the other major crops of the district. It is also one of the leading producers of Isabgul (Psyllium husk) in the country. It is also the 3rd largest producer of oil seeds in the state after

Junagadh district Junagadh district is a district of the Indian state of Gujarat. Its administrative headquarters is the city of Junagadh. Geography The district is located on the Kathiawar peninsula in western Gujarat. It is surrounded by Rajkot District (N ...

and

Jamnagar district Jamnagar District is a district of Gujarat in Western India. Its headquarters are located in the eponymous city of Jamnagar. It hosts the production facilities of large Indian companies such as Reliance. Among its attractions are several palace ...

. The district has rich mineral reserves including limestone, marble, granite, building stone, and china clay. It accounts for almost the entire marble reserves (99.3%) of Gujarat and contributes about 15% to the total production of limestone in the state. Banaskantha District Central Co-operative Bank is one of the most important banks of Gujarat. It has got prestigious State Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar. The main agriculture is of Bajra crops. In 2006 the

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a ...

named Banaskantha one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the six districts in Gujarat currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Banaskantha district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 3,120,506, roughly equal to the nation of

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

or the US state of

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. This gives it a ranking of 111th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 24.43%. Banaskantha has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species dev ...

of 936

females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 66.39%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 10.49% and 9.11% of the population respectively.

Language

According to the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Informatio ...

, 96.35% of the population in the district spoke

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

as their first language.2011 Census of India, Population By Mother Tongue
/ref>

Politics

Notable people

Chandrakant Bakshi Chandrakant Keshavlal Bakshi ( gu, ચંદ્રકાંત કેશવલાલ બક્ષી) was a Gujarati author from Gujarat, India and a former Sheriff of Mumbai. He was known for his bold and new concepts in writing during his time ...

, author born in

. *

Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary is an Indian politician and was the Minister of State for Coal and Mines in government of India. He represents the Banaskantha constituency of Gujarat and is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party political par ...

, Minister of State of Home Affairs and MP for Banaskantha * Shankar Chaudhary, Minister of State in Gujarat, chairman of

Banas Dairy Banas Dairy ( gu, બનાસ ડેરી) (Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk Federation, Palanpur) is a division of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation which is under the ownership of Ministry of Cooperation, Government of Guj ...

and Banas Bank *

Harisinh Chavda Harisinh Pratapsinh Chavda (30 October 1930 – 29 June 2013) was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Banaskantha constituency of Gujarat and is a member of the Indian National Congress The Indian National Cong ...

, former MP for Banaskantha * B. K. Gadhvi, former MP and Minister of State, Banaskantha *

Mukesh Gadhvi Mukesh Gadhvi (1 January 1963 – 1 March 2013) was an Indian politician and a senior member of Indian National Congress. He was a one-time Member of Parliament (MP) from Banaskantha (Lok Sabha constituency), Banaskantha and three-time Member o ...

, former MP for Banaskantha *

Jayasimha Siddharaja Jayasiṃha ( ), who assumed the title Siddharāja (), was an Indian king who ruled western parts of India. He was a member of the Chaulukya (also called Solanki) dynasty. Jayasimha's capital was located at Anahilapataka (modern Patan) in pres ...

, ruler of Gujarat from the

Chaulukya dynasty The Chaulukya dynasty (), also Solanki dynasty, was a dynasty that ruled parts of what are now Gujarat and Rajasthan in north-western India, between and . Their capital was located at Anahilavada (modern Patan). At times, their rule extend ...

Pranav Mistry Pranav Mistry (born 14 May 1981) is a computer scientist and inventor. He was the President and CEO of STAR Labs (Samsung Technology & Advanced Research Labs). He is best known for his work on SixthSense, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Project Beyo ...

, inventor of Sixthsense and vice president of

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

, USA * Ranchordas Pagi, scout for the Indian Army during the 1965 and 1971 war

References

External links

Official websiteBanaskantha District profileDISTRICT PROFILE - Rural.nic.in
*Collectorate - District Banaskanth

{{Coord, 24, 10, 23, N, 72, 25, 53, E, region:IN-GJ_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Banaskantha district, Districts of Gujarat