Hardoi

Birth place of Prahlad: The great devotee of vishnu

Geography
Hardoi is located at 27.42° N 80.12° E[1]. It has an average elevation of 134 metres (439 feet).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 km². The record height is 500 ft. In 1995, Hardoi district had 5 km² of dense forest and 13 km² 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".According to some scholars the term "Hardoi" originated from the term "Haridwaya" which means two Gods. Since there are two Gods Baman bhagvan (in the regime of King 'BALI) and Narsimha Bhagvan (in the regime of King HIRANYAKASHIPU)had been incarnated hence the place called Haridwaya and later called Hardoi.

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. Humayun defeated Sher Shah Suri between the cities of Bilgram and Sandi.

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 Mallawon, 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 stop at a red signal in Hardoi station[1].

On September 22nd 2002, a bomb exploded in the city of Hardoi and killed fifteen people .

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.

HARDOI district is a district of Lucknow Commisionary in Uttar Pradesh Province of India, it is situated in between 26-53 to 27-46 North Latitude and 79-41 to 80-46 East Longitude. Its north border touches Shahjahanpur & Lakhimpur Kheri districts, Lucknow (Capital of U.P.) & Unnao are situated at south border, west borders touches Kanpur (Industrial City of U.P.) & Farrukhabad and on eastern border Gomati river separates the district from Sitapur. Nemisharayan the Pilgrim of Dwapar age is just 45 km away from district headquarter. The length of this district from northwest to southeast is 125.529 km and width from east to west is 74.83 km. District Hardoi comprises of 5 tehsils (Hardoi, Shahabad, Bilgram, Sandila & Sawayajpur), 19 blocks, 191 Nyay Panchayat , 1101 Gram Sabha & 1983 revenue villages out of these villages 1883 are habited. It has also 7 Nagar Palika Parishads & 6 Nagar Panchayat . Geographical area is 5947 sq. km. The 2001 population is 3398306, in whcich male are 1555608 & Female are 1842698. 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.

Population of Hardoi district is
2001 census: 3398306

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 km² 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 YEAST 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. Recently the previously sick M/s U P State Sugar Corp. has been revived by the local MLA

Transport
Hardoi is connected to the following cities :

Lucknow (capital of Uttar Pradesh) : 102 km by railway track and 110 km by road.
Kanpur : 140 km by road.
New Delhi (capital of India) : 394 km by railway track & road.

Education
Hardoi city have 5 degree colleges :

Cane Society Nehru Degree College
Government Degree College
Arya Kanya Degree College
Katiyari Degree College Harpalpur
B.N.Degree college shahabad
Hardoi distinct have These colleges :

Bhagvan Budha Inter College Sandila
B. G. Raghuvir Sahai Inter College
Government Inter College
R. R. Inter College
Shri Dev Darbar Ashram Intermediate College, Sandi
Ganga Devi Inter College[it is a best college in hardoi.In 2004 the student(sachin kumar) from this college topped hardoi.]
Janta Inter College (Kachhauna)
Beni madhav Girls inter college, hardoi
Arya kanya girls inter college , hardoi
Tulsi ashram inter college Baghauli,Hardoi Co.ed.
A.S.B.V.inter college Hardoi.
S.D.Inter college Hardoi.
Sri Narpati Singh Inter college, Madhoganj
Mahatma Gandhi inter college Palia
D. P. Inter College Khasaura
LBS Inter College Hardoi
The district also have 3Junior high schools :

Bal Vidya Bhawan Public School,Hardoi
Shri Ram Junior High School
Junior High School Behta Gokul
Saint James Senior Secondary School, Hardoi
Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri High School, Atwa Ali Mardan Pur
janta juniyar high school civil line(ravidas mandir)hardoi
junior high school bharkhani(pali)sawayajpur hardoi

Demographics
As of 2001 India census[2], Hardoi had a population of 112,474. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Hardoi has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 77%, and female literacy is 68%. In Hardoi, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.