Kheda District, known as Kaira District during
British rule
The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent,
*
* lasting from 1858 to 1947.
*
* It is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
* or dire ...
, is one of the thirty-three districts of
Gujarat
Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, 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 List of states and union territories ...
state in western
India
India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. It is part of the region known as Charotar, consisting of
Kheda
Kheda is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kheda was known as Kaira during the British Raj. It was the former administrative capital of Kheda district. The city is known for tobacco farming. The nearest railway statio ...
and
Anand
Anand may refer to:
People
* Anand (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Anand (clan), a clan of an Indian caste
* Anand (actor), Indian actor
* Anand (Maoist), Indian communist
* Anand (writer) (born 1936 ...
districts.
Kheda
Kheda is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kheda was known as Kaira during the British Raj. It was the former administrative capital of Kheda district. The city is known for tobacco farming. The nearest railway statio ...
was an administrative capital during British rule.
Nadiad
Nadiad is a city in the state of Gujarat, India and the administrative centre of the Kheda district. It is known for the Santram Mandir, the Mai Mandir, is now the administrative headquarters of the district.
History

Formerly known as Kaira district, it was divided in two with the southern part becoming
Anand district
Anand District is an administrative district of Gujarat state in western India and whose popular nickname is Charotar. It was carved out of the Kheda district in 1997. Anand is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is bounde ...
in 1997. The Charotar region of Kaira consisted of four
taluka
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...
s (sub-districts):
Nadiad
Nadiad is a city in the state of Gujarat, India and the administrative centre of the Kheda district. It is known for the Santram Mandir, the Mai Mandir, ,
Anand
Anand may refer to:
People
* Anand (name), a surname and given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Anand (clan), a clan of an Indian caste
* Anand (actor), Indian actor
* Anand (Maoist), Indian communist
* Anand (writer) (born 1936 ...
,
Borsad
Borsad is a town and a municipality in Anand district in the state of Gujarat, India. It is located around 17 km from Anand. It is surrounded by the fertile Charotar region which largely produces tobacco, bananas, cotton, barley and o ...
, and
Petlad.
When the district was divided, Nadiad Taluka went with Kheda district and the other three with Anand district. Today,
Kheda
Kheda is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kheda was known as Kaira during the British Raj. It was the former administrative capital of Kheda district. The city is known for tobacco farming. The nearest railway statio ...
has eleven talukas.
Balasinor and
Virpur
Virpur may refer to the following places in the state of Gujarat, western India:
* Virpur (Rajkot), in Rajkot district
** Virpur-Kherdi State, former Indian princely state with seat in the above town
** Virpur railway station
* Virpur (Mahisagar), ...
, once in Kheda district, were moved to the newly formed
Mahisagar district
Mahisagar district is a district in the state of Gujarat in India that came into being on 26 January 2013, becoming the 28th district of the state. The district has been carved out of the Panchmahal district and the Kheda district. District Name ...
in 2013.
During the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed.
The first nationalistic ...
in the first half of the 20th century, the
Patidar
Patidar (Gujarati language, Gujarati: ), formerly known as Kunbi, Kanbi (Gujarati language, Gujarati: ), is an Indian land-owning and peasant Caste system in India, caste and community native to Gujarat. The community comprises at multiple sub ...
s of the Charotar region and other areas in Kaira resisted the British in a number of standoffs, notably the Kaira anti-tax campaign of 1913, the
Kheda Satyagraha of 1918
The Kheda Satyagraha of 1918 was a satyagraha movement in the Kheda district of Gujarat in India organised by Mahatma Gandhi during the period of the British Raj. It was a major revolt in the Indian independence movement. It was the second Sa ...
, the Borsad Satyagraha of 1923, and the
Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928.
Demographics
According to the
2011 census Kheda district has a
population
Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...
of 2,299,885,
roughly equal to the nation of Latvia
or the US state of
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
. This gives it a ranking of 197th in India (out of a total of
640
Year 640 ( DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...
).
[ The district has a population density of .][ Its ]population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...
over the decade 2001-2011 was 12.81%.[ Kheda has a ]sex ratio
A sex ratio is 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. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...
of 937 females
An organism's sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and male ...
for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate
Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
of 84.31%.[
The divided district had a population of 2,053,769, of which 474,041 (23.08%) lived in urban areas. The divided district had a sex ratio of 940 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 98,686 (4.81%) and 37,310 (1.82%) of the population respectively.][
Hindus are 1,780,801, while Muslims are 239,214 and Christians are 26,387.]
Language
At the time of the 2011 census, 97.35% of the population spoke Gujarati and 2.01% Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
as their first language.
Administrative divisions
Since 2013, Kheda district has been divided into eleven taluka.
#Nadiad
Nadiad is a city in the state of Gujarat, India and the administrative centre of the Kheda district. It is known for the Santram Mandir, the Mai Mandir, City (Urban) headquarters in the Municipal corporation of Nadiad.
#Kheda
Kheda is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kheda was known as Kaira during the British Raj. It was the former administrative capital of Kheda district. The city is known for tobacco farming. The nearest railway statio ...
Headquarter in the Municipality Of Kheda, Villages include Dedarda, Vavdi
# Thasra(Dakor
Dakor (Gujarati language, Gujarati: ISO 15919: ''Ḍākōra'') is a small city and a municipality in Kheda district in the state of Gujarat, India. It is prominent for its temple of Raṇchoḍrāyjī.
History and Temple
The temple of Raṇcho ...
) -villages include Kalsar
#Kapadvanj
Kapadvanj (Karpat – Vanjiyam or "The Land of Textile") is a town as well as one of the Taluka of the Kheda district in the Gujarat, India. It is located on bank of river Mohar. It is 65 km away from Ahmedabad and 93 km away from Vado ...
- villages include Abvel, Antroli, Ghadiya, Telnar.
#Mehmedabad (Mahemdavad), headquartered in the town of Mahemdavad, villages include Haldarvas, Kanij, Sarsavani
#Kathlal, villages include Anara, Bajakapura
#Matar, headquartered in Matar village, villages include Asamali
#Mahudha, headquartered in the municipality of Mahisa, Mahudha, villages include Heranj
#Nadiad (Rural), villages include Davda
#Galteshwar (), villages include Anghadi, Kuni, Pali
#Vaso, headquartered in Vaso, villages include Palana, Rampur, Gangapur.
Politics
Notable people Of Kheda District
* Urjit Patel
Urjit Patel (born 28 October 1963) is a Kenyan-born Indian economist, who formerly served as the 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and also Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India, looking after monetary policy, economic research, ...
- Reserve Bank of India
Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...
's ex governor belongs to Kheda
* Govardhanram Tripathi
Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi (; 20 October 1855 – 4 January 1907) was an Indian Gujarati language novelist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is known for his four volume novel, '' Saraswatichandra'', acclaimed as one of the mas ...
(1855–1907) Writer; born in Nadiad
Nadiad is a city in the state of Gujarat, India and the administrative centre of the Kheda district. It is known for the Santram Mandir, the Mai Mandir, .
* Manilal Nabhubhai
Manilal Nabhubhai Dwivedi (; 26 September 1858 – 1 October 1898) was a Gujarati language, Gujarati-language writer, philosopher, and social thinker from British Raj, British India, commonly referred to as Manilal in literary circles. He was a ...
(1858–1898) Writer and philosopher; born in Nadiad
Nadiad is a city in the state of Gujarat, India and the administrative centre of the Kheda district. It is known for the Santram Mandir, the Mai Mandir, .
* Narendra M. Patel (1920s-2012) Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament
* Ravji Patel (1939–1968) Modernist poet and novelist; born in Vallavpura village.
* Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ''Vallabhbhāī Jhāverbhāī Paṭel''; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime ...
(1875 – 1950) Indian freedom fighter and first Home minister of India; born in Nadiad
* Indulal Yagnik (1892-1972) Indian independence activist, leader of the All India Kisan Sabha, and the most influential leader of the Mahagujarat movement
*Axar Patel
Akshar Rajeshbai Patel, known simply as Axar Patel, (born 20 January 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the national team in all formats of the game as an all-rounder as well as vice-captain of India in T20I format. He pla ...
Indian Cricketer.
* Ravishankar Vyas (1984-1994) also known as 'Maharaj'. Indian Freedom Fighter; born in Radhu Village Near Kheda
Kheda is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. Kheda was known as Kaira during the British Raj. It was the former administrative capital of Kheda district. The city is known for tobacco farming. The nearest railway statio ...
See also
* Koli rebellions
* Kheda Satyagraha of 1918
The Kheda Satyagraha of 1918 was a satyagraha movement in the Kheda district of Gujarat in India organised by Mahatma Gandhi during the period of the British Raj. It was a major revolt in the Indian independence movement. It was the second Sa ...
* White revolution (India)
References
External links
Official site
*
{{Authority control
Districts of Gujarat