Pali district

Pali District is a district of the state of Rajasthan in western India. The town of Pali is the district headquarters.

History

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1901	393,837	—
1911	456,627	+1.49%
1921	403,318	−1.23%
1931	473,063	+1.61%
1941	555,586	+1.62%
1951	660,856	+1.75%
1961	805,682	+2.00%
1971	970,002	+1.87%
1981	1,274,504	+2.77%
1991	1,486,432	+1.55%
2001	1,820,251	+2.05%
2011	2,037,573	+1.13%
source:

In 120 AD, during the Kushana Age, King Kanishka conquered the Rohat and Jaitaran areas, parts of today’s Pali district. Until the end of the seventh century AD, this area was ruled by the Chalukya King Harshavardhana along with other parts of the present state of Rajasthan.

During the period from the 10th to the 15th century, the boundaries of Pali extended to adjoining Mewar, Godwad and Marwar. Nadol was the capital of the Chauhan clan. All Rajput rulers resisted the foreign invaders but individually fought for each other’s land and leadership. After the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan, against Mohammed Gauri, the Rajput power of the area was disintegrated. The Godwad area of Pali became subject to the then ruler of Mewar, Maharana Kumbha; However, Pali city—which was ruled by Brahmin rulers with the patronage of neighbouring Rajput rulers—remained peaceful and progressive.

The 16th and 17th centuries saw a number of battles in the surrounding areas of Pali. Shershah Suri was defeated by Rajput rulers in the battle of Giri near Jaitaran, Mughal emperor Akbar’s army had constant battles with Maharana Pratap in the Godwad area. After the Mughals had conquered almost all of Rajputana, Veer Durgadas Rathore of Marwar made organised efforts to redeem the Marwar area from Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor. By then, Pali had become subservient to the Rathore clan of Marwar state. Pali was rehabilitated by Maharaja Vijay Singh and soon it became an important commercial centre.

During the British era in India in 1857, various Thakurs of Pali under the stewardship of the Thakur of Auwa fought against British rule. Auwa fort was surrounded by the British army and the conflict lasted many days.

Geologists trace the settlement at Pali back to prehistory and maintain that Pali emerged from the vast western sea, which was spread over a large part of present-day Rajasthan. In the Vedic age, Maharshi Javali stayed in this area for meditation and interpretation of Vedas. In the Mahabharata age, the Pandavas also made this area (near Bali) their resting place during exile. As a part of ancient Arbuda Province, this area was known as Balla-Desh.

Geography

The Aravalli Range forms the eastern boundary of the district; the southern boundary ends at Bamnera village in Sumerpur Tehsil. A zone of foothills lies to the west, through which run the many tributaries of the Luni River. The western portion of the district includes the alluvial plain of the Luni. It is bounded by eight districts, Nagaur District to the north, Ajmer District to the northeast, Rajsamand District to the east, Udaipur District to the southeast, Sirohi District to the southwest, Jalore District and Barmer District to the west and Jodhpur District to the northwest. The major part of the district has elevations ranging from 200 to 300 m above mean sea level, but in the east—toward the Aravalli Range—the elevation increases and the average is nearer 600 m and at some places, the elevations exceed 1000 m.

National geological monument

Pali Barr Conglomerate in this district has been declared the National Geological Monuments of India by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), for their protection, maintenance, promotion and enhancement of geotourism.

Politics

Lok Sabha

Pali Lok Sabha constituency is spread over two districts, Pali and Jodhpur. The present member of parliament is P P Choudhary, who is from the Seervi community, and represents the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Vidhan Sabha

The Pali district is divided into 6 Legislative Assemblies. The members are as follows:

• Sojat Constituency – Present MLA is Shobha Chauhan (BJP)
• Jaitaran Constituency – Present MLA is Avinash Gehlot (BJP)
• Bali constituency – Present MLA is Pushpendra Singh Ranawat (BJP)
• Sumerpur constituency – Present MLA is Joraram Kumawat (BJP)
• Pali constituency – Present MLA is Gyan Chand Parakh (BJP)
• Marwar Junction constituency – Present MLA is Khushveer Singh (IND)

Panchyat Samiti

Total 10 Panchyat Samiti in Pali District 5 are reserved for ST, SC & OBC and 5 are General. Zila Pramukh Pali is Pemeram Sirvi.

Hydrology

The area under irrigation is 2824.02 km², which is about 22.79 percent of the total geographical area of the district. Wells are the main sources of irrigation in the district, which constitute the source for 75% of the total irrigated area, followed by ponds tanks (20%), and tube wells (5%). In all, the district has ninety-two dams, of which three dams are broken: one each at Gajni, Potalia and Chipatia. The total catchment area of all the dams is 238,150.14 acres (963.7594 km²). In 1990, the capacity of the eighty-nine dams was 20197.3 million cubic feet.

There are forty-eight dams in the district, named with completion date where known:

Some of the reservoirs created by these dams are used for irrigation purposes, as well as drinking water and flood control. Jawai Dam is the largest dam in western Rajasthan, which is very useful source of drinking water for the district in summer days.

The biggest river in the district is the Luni and its major tributaries in the district are the Jawai, the Lilri, the Mithari, the Sukri, the Bandi and the Guhiya.

Luni

The river Luni originates near Ajmer in the western slopes of the Aravalli Range at an elevation of about 550 m. About 495 km after the flow in a south-western of Rajasthan, it disappears in the marshy land of Rann of Kutch. The total catchment area of the Luni River Basin in Rajasthan is 37,363 km², covering parts of the Districts of Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Barmer, Jalore and Gujarat in Rajasthan 330 km and in Gujarat 20 km.

Guhiya

Guhiya river originates near Khariyaniv and Tharasani villages in Pali District in the hillocks. It merges with Bandi River near Phekariya village. The catchment is about 3,835 km², which is situated in Pali district. Its tributaries are Raipur Luni, Radia Nadi, Guria Nadi, Lilri Nadi, Sukri and Phunpharia Bala.

Khari (Hemawas)

River Khari is formed by the confluence of small streams namely Somesar (origination: near Somesar village in the western slopes of the Aravali), Khari Kherwa, Umrawas Ka Nala (origination: Near Bagol Kanklawas in the western slopes of the Aravali) and Kotki Nadi (origination: Dewair Reserved Forest Bhakar, after flow of about 30 km). After joining of all these small streams, the river is called Khari. After flowing for about 25 km, it joins Bandi River downstream of Hemawas reservoir . Its catchment area is 1,232 km².

Bandi (Hemawas)

Near Bombadra pickup weir Khari and Mithari rivers join and form the Bandi River. Later Bandi river joins the Luni near the Lakhar village, after flowing for about 45 km. The catchment area is about 1,685 km² and situated in Pali District.

Mithari

The Mithari river originates by the confluence of local nalas in the south-western slopes of the Aravali range in Pali district only. It disappears in sandy plains near Sankhwali village in Jalore district. It flows in a north-west direction through Jawai, Bali, India and Falna for about 80 km. The catchment area is in Pali and Jalore Districts and the catchment area of this river is 1,644 km².

Sukri

The Sukri river is formed by the confluence of several small nalas – Ghanerav Nadi, Muthana ka Bala, Magai Nadi etc. originating from the Aravallis in Pali and Udaipur Districts. It flows in the south-east to north-west directions for about 110 km and feeds Bankli Dam on the way. Near Samdari in Barmer District, it joins Luni river. The Jalore, Pali and Barmer Districts are covered in this Sub-Basin. Its catchment area is 3,036 km².

Jawai

The Jawai river originates in Udaipur district with its main tributary Sukri in the western slopes of the Aravallis. It joins Khari river in Jalore district near Sayala. This river flows in a north-west direction for about 96 km before that. Its catchment area is 2,976 km².

Divisions

Sub-divisions

Pali District have ten sub-division Sojat, Marwar Junction, Jaitaran, Raipur, Sumerpur, Bali, Pali, Rohat, Rani, Rajasthan and Desuri.

Tehsils

There are nine Tehsils: Sojat, Marwar Junction, Jaitaran, Raipur, Sumerpur, Bali, Pali, Rohat and Desuri. Rani is declared to be made 10th Tehsil in Rajasthan budget-2012-13.

Civic bodies

There are eight municipalities (Nagar Palika) in the district are Sojat, Jaitaran, Sumerpur, Sadri, Bali, Falna, Takhatgarh and Rani, Rajasthan, while Pali is a Municipal Council (Nagar Parishad).

There are 1,030 villages in the Pali District comes under 320 Gram panchayats.

Legislative assembly areas

The district is represented in the State Legislature by six MLAs (Sojat, Jaitaran, Sumerpur, Bali, Pali and Marwar Junction) and One Member of Lok Sabha in Parliament (Pali (Lok Sabha Constituency)).

Transport

Pali to Balotra via Majal.

The only two modes of travel available in the district are roadways and railways.

Almost all of the villages are connected by roads. There are two depots of government-owned state transport: Pali and Falna.

The only railway junction in the district is Marwar Junction, which is connected with Jodhpur, Ajmer, Ahmedabad and Udaipur. Pali railway station is on the Jodhpur route while the second highest earning railway station in the Ajmer division, Falna is on the Ahmedabad route. Other important railway stations in the district are Rani railway station, Jawai Bandh, Sojat Road and Falna.

The district got the railway in the early age of Indian Railways in 1881, when the Ahmedabad-Ajmer line opened at Rajputana State Railway. Pali got connected to Marwar Junction on 24 June 1882 and to Luni on 17 June 1884. Jodhpur was connected to the district via Luni in 1885 by the Rajputana-Malwa Railway network and the first train started on this route on 9 March 1885. This line later becomes part of the Jodhpur-Bikaner Railway.

Phulera-Marwar Junction line was converted from Meter Gauge to Broad Gauge in 1995, while the Ahmedabad-Ajmer line was converted in 1997. During 1997–98, the 72 km Jalore-Falna route was also surveyed by the Indian Railways, however, the line has still not been laid.

Demographics