WARDHA

GENERAL

GEOGRAPHY

[The section on Geography is contributed by Prof. B. Arunachalam, Department of Geography, University of Bombay, Bombay.]

Situation

THE DISTRICT OF WARDHA forms the western part of the Nagpur plains or the Wardha-Wainganga basin. The ' Payanghat' or the Berar plains adjoins it to the west, while the scarps of the Satpudas rise sharply to its immediate north. The entire district lies in the valley of the Wardha river on its left bank and is enclosed by it on three sides. The district occupies more or less a central position in the Vidarbha or the Nagpur division of the State.

Etymology

The district takes its name after the name of the river that encompasses  it on three sides. The name ' Wardha' according to local interpretations is a corruption of ' Varaha' or the boar incarnation of Lord Vishnu, as it is believed that the river rises from the mouth of the boar at the invocation of a saint. Mr. Hiralal considers that the name is 'Var-da' the giver of boons while according to General Cunningham, it is Wardha or Wadtha, the river of the banyan trees, as the entire valley is lined beautifully by rows of banyan (wad) trees.

Administrative formation.

The area constituting the Wardha district formed a part of the Nagpur  district till 1862, when it was made a separate district under the plea that Nagpur, as it was then, was too large a district for efficient administration and that the interests of the cotton market and industry of the area demanded direct and special supervision. When the district was formed in 1862, the administrative headquarters was first located at Kaotha village near Pulgaon but, in 1866, it was removed to its present location when the town of ' Wardha' was built on the site occupied by the hamlet Palakwadi.

The smallest amongst the districts of the State of Maharashtra, with 2.06 per cent of the area and 1.58 per cent of the population (in 1961) of the State, the district is divided for purposes of administration into three tahsils, the Arvi tahsil in the north, the Wardha tahsil in the middle and the Hinganghat tahsil in the south.

The details of the total area, population and its density, towns and villages are given in the following table.

TABLE No. 1

TAHSILWISE AREA, POPULATION, TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF THE WARDHA DISTRICT.

Boundaries.

The district lies between 20°28' N. and 21°21' N. latitudes and 78°4' E. and 79°15' E. longitudes. It is bounded on the west and north by the Amravati district, on the south by Yeotmal district, on the southeast by Chandrapur district and on the east by Nagpur district.

Geographical delineation.

The river Wardha forms its northern boundary from its point of confluence with one of its left bank tributaries, the Kar river, just a kilometre east of the village Salora in the extreme northeast of the district. The river flows westwards from this confluence forming boundary between Amravati district that lies to its north and Wardha district to its south for about 26 km. till its confluence with a right bank tributary, the Maru river. Then, the river turns sharply southwards once again forming a boundary between Amravati and Wardha. Just north of the village Apti, along the river, and about 8 km. southwest of Pulgaon township is the trijunction between the three districts of Amravati, Yeotmal and Wardha. Thereafter, the river continues to flow south forming a boundary between Yeotmal and Wardha till its confluence on its right bank with the Bembla nadi. Then, the river turns east and flows for about 35 km. before turning southeastwards near the village Anji in the Wardha tahsil. The confluence of the Wunna river on its left bank forms the trijunction in the southeast between Yeotmal, Chandrapur and Wardha districts. Thus, the district is enclosed by the Wardha river on its northern, western and southern sides.

From the southern trijunction, the boundary between the district and Chandrapur runs upstream of the Wunna river till its confluence on its left bank with the Pothra nadi. From this confluence, the boundary follows the Pothra nadi for about a kilometre, deviates eastwards and runs just west of the market centre of Nagri in Chanda, and joins once again the Pothra nadi to follow it eastwards for about 17 km. till the Pothra village. Here, the boundary turns north, away from the river and runs for about 2 km. turns east, runs for about 5 kilometres, again joins the Pothra nadi, follows it northwards for about 3 kilometres, and then turns east to run through an upland terrain along the crest of a low ridge and a feeble watershed about 270 m. to 300 m. high. This constant shift of the boundary from and to the Pothra nadi every few kilometres is probably due to shifts in the channel position during abnormal floods. After reaching high ground and running for about 20 km. the boundary turns north and then northwest once again following jungle-clad high ground and a watershed that rises in elevation steadily northwards. The boundary line cuts across the Wunna river and the Hinganghat-Nagpur metal road, 2 to 3 km. southeast of Arvi-Wardha tahsil boundary to continue running northwest through forested hill spurs, cuts across Amravati-Nagpur road near the 60 km. stone (from Nagpur) and thereafter follows the Kar nadi till its confluence with the Wardha.

Relief.

The entire district falls within the Wardha drainage; it naturally divides itself into two parts, the north and northeast forming a hilly spur projecting south and southeastwards from the Satpudas, while the southern parts form an undulating plain and broad valley floor dissected by streams and dotted with a few residual hillocks rising from the valley floor. The general slope is southwards and gentle towards the Wardha river in the south, but tends to become steeper in the northern uplands. The southern parts have an average elevation ranging between 300 and 500 metres.

The whole of the Arvi tahsil except for the areas that lie immediately adjoining the Wardha river in the north and the west is hilly terrain while the edge of a trap lava flow at about 300 m contour level runs along the northern edge of the Wardha tahsil except in the northeast, where in the Malegaon and Manoli reserved forest tracts, higher elevations and a more rugged terrain are met with. Almost the entire Wardha tahsil and the complete Hinganghat tahsil are just flat plains.

Hills.

The relief features of the northern uplands are characterised by the residual hill ranges of the Satpudas, enclosing within black soil in-filled valleys. The hill ranges run with a northwest-southeast strike forming an unbroken, rather monotonous landscape that is so typical of the basic trap lava flows that constitute the underlying geology of the region. Flat topped mesas and hills, structural benches with coarse foothill debris slopes, heavily eroded and deeply gullied during the heavy rains of the monsoons repeat all over the area. The entire terrain is rugged and stony, covered by weathered basalt boulders; in the dry hot summers the hills present a desolate appearance with a few shrubs and stunted trees but after the rains, the region is clothed with a beautiful green verdure providing valuable grazing grounds for large herds of the rural live-stock. In the extreme north on either side of the Amravati-Nagpur road that traverses the area east-west, many of the hill ranges are clothed by fairly dense mixed jungles with valuable teak timber.

The central cluster of hills running southeastwards from the 'boat-hook' bend of the Wardha river in the northwest and constituting the main spur from the Satpudas forms a regional watershed carrying over its crest the highest trigonpmetric points of the district, viz., spot heights of 423m and 447 m in the Satarpur reserved forests in the northwest, 469 m in Moi reserved forests 482m and 536m in the Dhaga reserved forests in the northeast of Arvi and 533m and 603m (Garamsur peak) in the Manoli reserved forests in the north of Wardha tahsil. After reaching the highest elevations between 550 and 620m in the Manoli reserved forest tract, the spur falls in height further southeast to about 370 m in the eastern parts of Wardha tahsil.

From the north and east of this watershed, numerous seasonal streams drain into the Wardha while from the southern slopes the valleyheads of the Dham, the Bor, and the Pothra nadi drain the length of the district in southernly and southeasternly directions. On the southern side, the spur falls in height through a succession of ghat terraces-alternating escarpments and flat structural benches-formed on the hard and resistant trap and softer intratrappeans, respectively. The length of the entire hill tract is 80 km. from northwest to southeast and its greatest width is 35 km. The hilly tract covers about a fourth of the total area of the district. The only flat land in this upland region is the high level plateau formed north of the crest of the main spur bounded by wooded scarp and cliff slopes.

Talegaon-Karanja Plateau.

The waterparting that runs west to east forms the southern rim of a plateau that slopes gently and drains to the north. This plateau, not much dissected, forms part of a larger plateau that extends much farther east in the western parts of the Nagpur district. It is locally recognised as the Talegaon-Karanja-Kondhali plateau after the names of the dominant settlements over it.

Geological Correlations.

The southern rims of the hilly upland region more or less coincide with the limits of the higher level lava flows that essentially comprise the more resistant compact basalt, which, however, is well jointed. The plains to the south are underlain by softer vesicular basalts, with the vesicules filled in with secondary accertions like zeolite. These formations have been denuded to form lowlands. However, the transition zone from the hilly upland to the riverine plains is dotted with a number of isolated knolls and hills that rise slightly above the valley floor and constitute residual remnants of the more resistant basaltic outliers of the northern area.

Southern Plainlands.

The Bombay-Nagpur railway track more or less skirts the high ground that lies to its north and divides it from the plains to its south. The rest of the southern parts of the district forms a gently southward sloping fertile plain. It is only along the east, in the eastern parts of Hinganghat tahsil, that the country becomes some what undulating and rises to heights of about 380m around the large village of Girar; here, the ground is strewn with zeolites derived from the softer amygdular traps lying underneath. The hillsides are barren and stony while the wide open plains are covered with first and second grade regur varying in thickness between 0.5 and 3m and intermixed with limy nodules derived from the fossiliferous intratrappean limestones.

The Arvi plains.

Wedged in between the Wardha river and highlands of the central and eastern parts are narrow plains, the only low ground in the otherwise hilly Arvi tahsil. The plains, the most fertile of the district, thanks to the deposition of detrital black soils by the streams, are narrow in the north-about 4 km. in width, as the river flows downstream. Not so flat as the southern plains, but more undulating due to interspersing of residual hill outliers from the main ridge, these plains on the left bank of the river are better clothed with a natural vegetation cover.

Rivers.

The entire district falls within the drainage basin of the Wardha and one of its larger tributaries, the Wunna.

Wardha.

The Wardha, rising on the Multai plateau of the Satpudas, flows through the western parts of Nagpur district and enters the district just a kilometre east of the village Salora. It runs all along the northern, western and southern boundaries of the district before leaving the district to enter into the district of Chandrapur. The bed of the river is mostly rocky, especially in the Arvi tahsil. The river becomes pools of stagnant water, easily fordable during the dry summer but during the rains turns into a furious torrent. At Pulgaon, the railway crosses it on an iron bridge constructed of fourteen 19.5 m (sixty-four feet) girders. The sharp and almost rectangular sweeping bends by which the rivers turn at every bend is strongly suggestive of structural control, delineated by the master-joints of the bedrock which run in northsouth, eastwest and northeast-southwest directions. The barbed wire pattern and boathook bends apart from the nature of affluence of streams in the upstream direction by some of the tributaries, and the lateral shifting to the west of the aggraded river in the western parts of Arvi tahsil are all indicative of river piracy and a deranged drainage pattern, probably following the Purna valley rift and tilt.

Wunna.

The Wunna is the main tributary of the Wardha running longitudinally through the eastern parts of the district and forming a boundary between the districts of Wardha and Chanda for a short distance before emptying its waters into the Wardha near the village Savangi at the district injunction. The Wunna rises near the Mahadagad hills in Nagpur district and enters the Wardha district about 3 km southeast of Sindi railway station to flow south through the western parts of Hinganghat tahsil and passes beside the township of Hinganghat. The Wardha-Chandrapur railway track passes over it by a bridge just west of this town.

Pothra.

The Pothra nadi is the largest of the left bank affluents of the Wunna, rising in the Girar hills and draining the eastern parts of the Hinganghat tahsil. It forms partly the district boundary before entering the Wunna about 4 km. northeast of the village, Shaikhapur.

Bor.

The Bor nadi rises in the hills near Bazargaon in Nagpur district and rushes down a winding, rocky channel southwards, developing a narrow steepsided valley in its upper reaches. The river is joined by the Dham on its right bank near the village, Saongi in Hinganghat tahsil, and just 3 km. downstream of this confluence enters the Wunna on the right bank of the latter near Mandgaon village.

An earthen dam has been constructed across this river near the village Bor in Wardha tahsil, about 5 km. upstream of Hingani, at a spot where the river debouches from the upland edge developing a wide alluvial apron. It irrigates 13354.638 hectares (33,000 acres).

Dham.

The Dham river rises in the southern slopes of the central waterparting of the district in the Dhaga reserved forest area and has a southeastward flow before joining the Bor river.

Asoda.

The Asoda nadi rises in the northwestern slopes of the trap flow in Wardha tahsil and flows southeast and then east turning near the village Alipur in Hinganghat tahsil to finally join the Wardha near the village Nimsada.

Bakli.

The Bakli nadi rises in the hills around Ashti in Arvi tahsil and has a subparallel drainage to the Wardha along its left bank and enters the Wardha just west of Pargothan railway station on the Pulgaon-Arvi rail link. It has a left bank tributary, the Chhoda nadi which also has a similar drainage pattern.

Kar.

The Kar nadi rises in the Kondhali plateau and runs northwest through a steep sided narrow winding rocky channel forming the boundary between Nagpur and Wardha districts, before finally joining the Wardha river on its left bank where the latter river just enters the district. The river valley in many places is bound by high rocky and cliffy banks rising to about 50 m or more and supports an isolated village or two on narrow alluvial flats on the inner banks at the foot of the intertwining spurs.

General Characteristics.

Most of the streams that drain the district are mostly rising close to the crest of the water divide within the district or nearby and they are all seasonal. Only the Wardha and the lower reaches of the Wunna are perennial, but even these rivers dwindle to mere trickles and pools of stagnant water during the hot weather season. But during the rains of the monsoon period all the streams become gushing torrents and the main rivers are swollen, often devastating considerable cultivated low ground on their banks. The lesser streams have developed re-entrants on the edge of the trap flow and debouch through coarse alluvium covered alluvial aprons at the foot of the scarp to develop suddenly opening braided streams.

Both the Wardha and the Wunna have developed high banks but the flood ravages on the left banks—that is, in the villages of this district— are enormous since the right banks are mostly higher still.

It is noteworthy that the drainage patterns within the district, particularly in the northern regions reveal a sub-parallel rectilinear pattern as against the normal dendritic pattern that is observed in the Wardha and Hinganghat tahsils. This can be explained by the effective control of the joint planes in the solid basalt, as most of the streams run in a north-south direction parallel to the main stream along the direction of a master-joint system. Many of these streams have deferred junctions with the main stream also because of the same cause. It appears probable that the Bakli nadi bed that lies a kilometre to the left (east) of the Wardha is in all probability the past bed of the Wardha itself which seems to have shifted further west in its own deep alluvium infilled aggraded valley, probably following a tilt during the Purna valley rifting. This seems to be strongly favoured by the greater depth and fertility of these soils in comparison to the soils of the Wardha valley in spite of this section of the valley being in the upstreamside and also being very much narrow.

Geographical Regions.

The physiographic features of the district and the cultural landscape associated with them help us to recognise three distinct geographical units within the district:

(i) The uplands of the north and northeast, with (a) the Talegaon-Karanja plateau on its top;

(ii) The narrow Arvi plains to the west of the first unit; and

(iii) The Wardha-Hinganghat plains.

Northern Uplands.

The northern and northeastern uplands include almost the entire Arvi tahsil except for the constricted Wardha valley in the west, and the northern parts of the Wardha tahsil. It essentially comprises a plateau, the Talegaon-Karanja plateau, that slopes and drains to the north. It descends to lower ground on three sides—west, north and south-that forms the valley of the Wardha. Its decent southwards is through a series of ghat terraces, at least three of which are distinctly recognisable, one at 500 m, another at 400 m and the third at 300-350 m contour levels, alternating with steep scarp slopes. These steps are indicative of the successive geological horizons of the different lava flows one above the other and the intervening intratrappean ash beds that due to their lesser resistance capacity have formed the terrace levels, with debris slopes at their junctions with the scarps above. Towards the western rims of the plateau, these terrace levels are much narrower than to the south and the fall in height is over a lesser horizontal distance through steeper and sharper gradients. Towards the north, the fall in land level towards the Wardha is much less spectacular, the plateau sloping gently to the 400 m contour level from the waterparting in the south at about 550 to 600 m levels.

The plateau surface in general is not well dissected although the Kar nadi flowing north has deeply entrenched itself in the traps in a narrow gorgelike valley. In contrast, the plateau rims, particularly in the south and the west, are well scoured and deeply gullied by numerous seasonal streams. A spring line is clearly recognisable along the 500 m contour level particularly along the valley flanks of streams along which the junction plane between the nonporous solid basalts and the porous and pervious intratrappean aquifer outcrops. This aquifer yields a fairly copious supply of water, and a number of shallow percolation wells have been sunk in the foothill debris slopes and valley flanks along this contour to support a lucrative orange orchard culture and prosperous plateau settlements.

Soils.—The steep slopes and rugged terrain along the waterparting and the western and southern scarps are covered by stony and gravelly 'khardi and 'bardi' soils. These soils are generally greyish or reddish in colour, formed by oxidation of the basalts and the leaching away of the finer soil particles during the torrential monsoon rains by rill and slope wash. Especially along the western rims of the plateau, where the land falls more rapidly, stony wastes are commonly prevalent as a result of the tumbling down of the weathered boulders. Locally, along the streamsides and in the foothill debris slopes of the terraces, pockets of relatively deeper better soils are found supporting some kharif crops.

Forests.—The natural vegetation of these uplands consists of two different types of forest covers. Along the southern and southwestern slopes of this plateau, particularly in the stony soils of the steep slopes that are none too steep to support tree vegetation, along the higher elevations of the waterparting and in the valleys of the south flowing Bor, Asoda and Dham rivers, 'salai' type of forests predominate. The main species found in these forests, which are rather open jungles, are mostly drought resistant, stunted trees. Pure stands of 'ber' are quite common in open spaces. Khair, palas, ain, lendia, saja, devda, moin and karvanda are the main species that are found commonly occurring in these jungles. A variety of grasses also grow in them, some of which like the tikhai grass are used for extraction of medicinal oils. These forests present a dried up, desolate appearance during the hot weather but are generally beautifully clothed with a greenish carpet of ground and tree vegetation soon after the rains.

The northern, northeastern and eastern slopes are, however, covered by a better cover of natural vegetation. They are clothed by mixed teak forests that are fairly dense. The gentle slopes with northern aspects and the valleys in them are better wooded while steep slopes, particularly with a southerly aspect, are more open. This difference in vegetation cover with aspect can be partly ascribed to the hot winds that blow from the Berar plains and influence the vegetation of the slopes facing south. Teak (tectona grandis) is the main species of these forests, but bijesal, ain, tinsa, dhawda, lendia, mhowa, mowai and blackwood are also found in them. The flat surfaces of the plateau and very gentle slopes have practically no forest cover at present in all probability due to depletion of forest cover in the last few decades. Many of these areas, subsequently deserted by shifting cultivators, have been rendered barren stony wastes due to active gully erosion, rill wash and rain wash. The area needs careful implementation of conservation fundamentals particularly of soils and of natural vegetation cover.

Tendu leaves for bidi industry, thatching grasses like kusal, ghonal, mushan, marvel and shevel are the commercially valuable forest products of these areas, apart from the valuable teak timber. The 'salai' and 'mowai timber provide the necessary softwood for making packing chests for the oranges of the orchards in the plateau, a factor of commercial significance for this economy.

The uneven rugged terrain and the forest lands make these areas ideally suited as pasture grounds for large herds of livestock. Nearly a third of the land of the plateau is used as good pasture land. The 'gaolao' breed of cattle is most common over the area, besides large stocks of buffaloes. A huge cattle farm has also been established recently at Heti-Heti just south of the Nagpur-Amravati road along the eastern boundary of Arvi tahsil. A number of rural households specialise in the preparation of dairy products, especially butter and ghee that find a wide market in the towns of the district as well as the adjoining districts. Pimpalkhuta on the Arvi-Wardha road is known all over the Vidarbha for its quality butter.

Crops.—The area under culturable waste is also fairly large over this region. Shifting cultivation in the 'Reserved Forest' areas and forest margins wherever the shallow soils permit tillage is commonly prevalent. More sedentary cultivation is practised on the plateau top and along stream-sides. Kharif jowar, tur, mug and sweet potatoes are raised entirely dependent upon the monsoon showers. However, one area stands out distinctly from the rest of the plateau in the nature of its agrarian economy and crop pattern. The area is the undulating plateau surface around the large market village of Karanja and the economy is market oriented, orange orchard culture. The prosperity of these orange plantations is very well reflected in the larger size of the settlements in the area in comparison to those farther out on the plateau, a fairly large number of market centres and their fairly close spacing about 2 to 2.5 km on an average.

Arvi Lowlands.

The Arvi lowlands are a narrow, north to south elongated strip, about 70 km long and 6 to 8 km wide on an average, along the western boundary of the tahsil, and they adjoin the Wardha valley. The general elevation is 300 to 350 m, the land rising gently to the foothills and then more sharply through steeper slopes to higher elevations. The land is undulating rolling topography. It is covered by deep, black, kali soils with a high clay percentage in the lower ground adjoining the Wardha and its tributaries, and by medium deep, grey-black first and second grade morand soils farther away from the river and nearer to the foothills. These latter soils have a good proportion of lime in the form of nodular concretions. The soils of the Arvi lowlands are considered to be the most fertile in the entire district and perhaps in the entire eastern region of Vidarbha.

The entire strip of these lowlands is drained by a series of north to south flowing streams that are the tributaries of the Wardha-Bakli nadi and its tributary the Chhodo nadi.

There is practically no natural vegetation cover in these lowlands. However, the stream courses, particularly in their lower reaches, are lined by rows of trees like the banyan and the mango. Stony wastes and pasture grounds abound in the foothills and lower hills and are suggestive of a better vegetation cover during the past.

Agriculture.—Stable agriculture forms the basis of economy in the region, kharif being the main cropping season. Cotton covers the largest acreage of the net sown area and is primarily associated with the morand soils that lie farther away from the river courses. Adjoining the main river and the tributary streams, in the keel of the valley depressions that are covered by kali soils, kharif jowar predominates. Mug, tur and groundnut are often grown in interculture with cotton in the morand soils. The main varieties of cotton grown are 170-Co2 and L-1-147. Wheat and gram are the rabi crops grown during the cooler months of winter in the kali soils. Double cropping, though not significant—only 1. 25 per cent of the net sown area is tilled twice—is the largest within the district only in these lowlands and is associated with the kali soil covered lands.

Wardha-Hinganghat Plains.

The whole of the Hinganghat tahsil and the southern twothirds of Wardha tahsil together form a fertile riverine plain draining and sloping gently southwards towards the river Wardha. The land falls from about 300 to 350m level in the north to about 220m in the south. However, the land increases in height slightly eastwards to about 300m; an isolated knoll near the large village of Girar rises to more than 400m. Along the eastern margins of the Hinganghat tahsil, the land is much more undulating and rolling and the surface is strewn with stony boulders and amygdular zeolites derived from the weathering of the softer vesicular traps that underlie the region.

A number of rivers drain southeastwards and southwards from the Arvi uplands in the north. Except for the Asoda nadi that empties into the Wardha, all the others have their confluence with the Wunna which itself is a master-tributary of the Wardha joining the latter at the southern boundary of the district. All of them are seasonal and the Wunna itself is perennial with a low water regime in the hot weather season only downstream of the confluence of its different tributaries.

In the undulating topography of eastern Hinganghat a number of tanks have been built by erecting embankments at their lower down-slope rims (which is invariably the western or southwestern side) to collect and hold the surface run-off in shallow depressions. Some of them are perennial. All of them are used for irrigating rabi crops. The most important, among these tanks, are those located near the villages of Samudrapur and Jamb about 14 and 18 km northeast of Hinganghat, and near Nandori east of Hinganghat. A few tanks are found in Wardha tahsil also. Four of them are important: those near the villages Nachangaon and Kangaon in the west and those near Vaygaon and Talegaon in the east.

The ground-water level in the whole plains except in the east is fairly shallow—about 4 to 7 metres below the surface—which facilitates the digging of shallow percolation wells for purposes of irrigation wherever necessary. The water is brackish in most cases.

Soils.—The soils are shallow grey khardi and poorer morand in the undulating topography of eastern Hinganghat, particularly around Girar. The whole of the Wardha plains and the Wunna valley are covered by fairly deep morand soils that have a good proportion of lime in them and are noted for their high retentivity of moisture. These soils are ideally suited for cotton on account of their lime content. The soils become shallower and coarser in texture with a greater proportion of sands and gravels north of the Bombay-Nagpur railway that traverses the country west to east skirting the uplands. Here, the streams have developed alluvial fans that have almost coalesced to become a piedmont with a very shallow water table.

Vegetation.—The high percentage of net sown area in these plains accounts for the practical absence of forest-cover. Only stream courses are marked by lines or clumps of datepalms and the village sites themselves have a few useful fruit and other trees. Much of the undulating ground of eastern Hinganghat is under reserved forests. Poor scrub jungles with a somewhat desolate looking babul groves and a coarse grass undercover are the most common. The landscape is all the more bleak after the rains are over and during the dusty hot weather period, when the trees are stripped bare of their leaves and merge with the grey monotony of the landscape around. The eye can quickly glean and recognise the watercourses at considerable distances from the tree lines.

Crop pattern.—Over these plains, nearly three-fourths of the land represents the net sown area and about one per cent of the gross cropped area is irrigated, mostly by wells in the west and by tanks in the east.

Though food crops as a whole show a greater proportion of occupation of the tilled land in comparison with the non-food crops, cotton is the 'king crop' of these lowlands occupying the first place amongst the individual crops. It is followed by kharif jowar in case of Wardha lowlands and by rabi wheat in case of Hinganghat lowlands. Thus, cotton, jowar and wheat between themselves occupy three-fourths of the land under the plough.

Summary.

The district, the smallest in the State, is agriculturally very productive and its prosperity is mainly based upon agricultural income, especially cotton and wheat. However, the agricultural economy is based essentially upon the single kharif crop and is mostly rain-fed. The yields are fair, compared to State average. However, there is ample scope to improve upon the crop pattern and yields. At present, irrigation is only rudimentary although measures are afoot to increase area under irrigation. True industrialisation is yet to take root in the district. Only agro-industries based upon cotton, safflower, wheat, oranges and bananas can be developed to some extent. However, pastoral industries and dairying can be developed if guided on proper lines, to an immense extent in the uplands. The rural landscape is slowly but surely undergoing a change, the economically less stable hamlets being wiped out and consolidated in the more prosperous agricultural villages, and this trend is likely to continue for sometime to come, particularly in areas where new transport links are being laid, such as the bridging of the Wunna and the linking of Wardha with Hinganghat by a road.

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