276 MAHARASHTRA: LAND AND ITS PEOPLE

After the end of Peshwa rule, Maharashtra came under the British
administration and the traditional land revenue system was replaced
by ‘ Ryotwari system ’, as a result of which direct relationship between
the farmers and the Government with regard to the payment of land
revenue, was established. This change brought to an end of the
mediatory role of the Patil between the farmers and the Government
in the traditional systems, as well as protection given by him to the
farmers from the money-lenders in transactions relating to debt. In
the changed circumstances land began to be sold which tightened the
strangle-hold of money-lenders around the necks of the farmers. The
land revenue policy of the British Government was rigid and the
Government was reluctant to grant any concession in the payment of
land revenue in the event of famine and such other calamities. As a
result the land began to be passed from the hands of the farmers to
money-lenders, and many farmers were forced to migrate to cities in
search of livelihood leaving their homes behind.
Under the British rule, the village became a unit of revenue
administration. For the purpose of revenue administration two
positions were created, namely ‘ Mulki Patil ’ and ‘ Police Patil ’. Mulki
Patil looked after revenue administration, while Police Patil was
responsible for law and order, and they were paid salary for performing
these duties. Like the Patil, Kulkarni who looked after the land
revenue accounts of the village also became a paid employee of the
Government and was designated as Talathi. A group of villages
constituted taluka or Tahasil and Mamledar (or Mamlatdar) was
appointed as administrative chief of this unit. A centrally located
village or town was made the head-quarters of the Taluka and all its
administrative offices were housed at this place, as a result of which
such towns began to develop into cities. A Peta or Mahal was a smaller
administrative unit than a Taluka and the administrative head of this
unit was called Mahalkari. A group of Talukas formed a district or
Zilla and a group of districts formed an Ilakha or a province. The whole
of India was divided into provinces. The major portion of today’s
Maharashtra was included in the then existing Bombay Presidency,
which comprised of Gujarati, Sindhi and Kannada language territories,
besides the Marathi language territory. After Independence, the policy
of creating linguistic provinces was adopted. A small town which was
the head-quarters of the district now began to transform itself into a
city. Bombay became the Capital of Bombay province, and this status
of Bombay as the capital city continued even after Independence and
linguistic re-organization when Bombay became the capital of
Maharashtra. During the rule of the Peshwas, Pune was the capital of
the Maratha Kingdom.
Urbanization
In the traditional period the social structure of Maharashtra was
predominantly rural and agrarian. However, during the British period,
changes began to take place in its nature. Significant changes in the
rural social structure of Maharashtra began to take place as a result
of, introduction of Ryotwari system by the Government with a view to
 TERRITORIAL GROUPS 277

increasing income from the land revenue; change in the legal

framework regulating the relationship between the money-lender and
the farmer, introduction of the railway with a view to facilitating
transport of raw-material, and introduction of post and telegraph.
With the introduction of the railway (1853), process of urbanization
in Maharashtra received impetus. All these developments contributed
to the decline of the rural society and the growth of the urban society.
In this regard, the observation of William Digby about urbanisation in
India in his book ‘ Prosperous British India’ published in 1901 was
applicable to the then existing Maharashtra. He observes, “ There are
two Indias : the India of the Presidency and the Chief provincial cities,
of the railway systems, of the hill stations; There are two countries :
Anglostan, the land especially ruled by the English, in which English
investments have been made, and Hindustan, practically all India fifty
miles from each side of the railway lines. 26 In British period the
population living in cities, and also the total number of cities
increased, and comparatively the rural population and the number of
villages in India declined.
While Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra, its industrial centre
and also the industrial and commercial capital of modern India, Pune
with its historic background is the cultural capital of Maharashtra.
The process of development of these two cities was different. The
historical tradition of Pune city goes beyond the period of Rashtrakut
dynasty, that is beyond A. D. 768. We notice from the copperplate of
that period that Pune was known in those days as Punakwadi.27 Bajirao
I made Pune the capital of Maharashtra or the Maratha empire in
A. D. 1720, and the city began to prosper. But after the end of the rule
of the Peshwa, that is from 1818 to 1851, there was a decline in the
population of the city. As a result of the famine of 1804, and condition
of near anarchy created in the city in the last days of the rule of the
Peshwa, a large number of families left the city. In historic times Pune
had assumed importance from the military and strategic points of view.
As a result of the royal patronage in the Peshwa regime a large number
of Brahmins had settled at Pune, and consequently Pune became an
important cultural and educational centre of the Brahmanic tradition.
The attitude of non-interference in religious matters adopted by the
British Government contributed to the protection of this tradition
during the British rule. During 1851 to 1891 Pune was connected with
Mumbai and South Maharashtra by railway as a result of which there
was an increase in the number of factories in the neighbourhood of
Pune, to a limited extent. Consequently the population of Pune city
began to increase slowly. Just as Pune was developed in Maharashtra,
so Nagpur, the capital of Central Province and the capital of Bhonslas
once, was also developed.
On 1st May, 1960 the State of Maharashtra was born on linguistic
principle after the dissolution of the Bombay presidency, as a result
of which the process of transformation of rural and urban societies
became more dynamic and oriented to social objectives. After
Independence two more factors of change have been added to the
already existing factors bringing about a change in rural society,
278 MAHARASHTRA: LAND AND ITS PEOPLE

namely, building of dams, and increase in co-operative sugar factories.

In pre-independence days a few dams were constructed in western
Maharashtra with a view to supplying electricity to industries in
Mumbai and for providing irrigation facilities to agriculture. Koyna
dam is one of the major dams constructed in the post-Independence
period, as a result of which the development of rural Maharashtra
received a considerable fillip. A large portion of agricultural land in
Maharashtra became irrigated as a result of dams constructed on
Pravara, Bhima, Mula, Mutha and other rivers and what was once a
famine tract became prosperous due to sugar-cane cultivation and
sugar factories. Along with sugar-cane cultivation cash crops also
received encouragement. All these developments have contributed to
the growth of industries in the rural areas.
There has been a phenomenal growth in the number of co-operative
societies in Maharashtra after Independence. Especially in the field
of co-operative sugar factories Maharashtra is leading in India. In 1983
there were 88 sugar factories in Maharashtra. Out of these, 67 factories
were located in the western Maharashtra, 18 in Marathwada, 2 in
Vidarbha and 1 in Konkan. Besides these, fourteen new sugar factories
were under construction, out of which, 11 were in Western
Maharashtra and 3 in Marathwada.28 Besides these, implementation
of milk production scheme, integrated rural development scheme etc.
have contributed to increase in the process of economic and social
development of rural Maharashtra. An important factor in this process
of development was the development of the means of communication.
After Independence passenger bus transport was nationalized and
Maharashtra State Transport Corporation was established. In rural
areas a wide network of the S. T. Service has been established. Most
of the villages in Maharashtra are connected with the urban areas by
the bus service of the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation as
envisaged in the motto ‘where there is a village there is S. T.’,Similarly,
vegetables, milk and other farm products from the rural areas reach
the urban market daily by rail or by private road transport. As a result,
the village community is loosing its self-sufficiency and is being
integrated in the market-oriented urban economy. Consequently the
importance of the rural community in the social life of Maharashtra is
declining, and that of the urban community is increasing. The outcome
of these processes can be seen from the changing numerical strength
of the rural and urban communities and their relative importance.
From this point of view the information regarding quantitative changes
which have taken place between 1960 to 1980 is given in the following
paragraphs.

According to 1961 census the State of Maharashtra had the highest

urban population, while Jammu and Kashmir had the lowest urban
population. Of the total population of Maharashtra 28.22% were living
in urban areas. About 17.07% people were living in cities with one
 PEOPLE OF MAHARASHTRA
TERRITORIAL GROUPS 279

lakh or more population, 23.33% people were living in cities with

twenty thousand or more population. In Maharashtra there are 266
towns and cities. Out of these there are twelve cities with one lakh or
more population. The twelve cities and their population, shown in
the bracket (in thousand) were as follows : Greater Mumbai (41, 52),
Pune (7,21), Nagpur (6,43), Solapur (3,38), Kolhapur (1,87), Amravati
(1,38), Nasik (1,31), Malegaon (1,21), Ahmednagar(l,19),Akola(l,16),
Ulhasnagar (1,08), and Thana (1,01). Of the total population 71.78%
were living in villages, which numbered 39,401, including deserted
and forest villages.
There was further increase in the pace of urbanization in the decade
1961- 71. At the time of 1971 census the percentage of the urban
population in Maharashtra was 31.20%, while that of the rural
population was 68.80%. Out of the cities with one lakh or more
population, the growth of population in six cities was rapid, showing
more than 50% growth. The six cities were Malegaon, Thana,
Ulhasnagar, Aurangabad, Nanded and Sangli. The rate of the growth
of Greater Mumbai in this decade was 44%.29
In 1981, urban population in Maharashtra was 35.03 percent, while
that of India 20.5 percent as per the census report. The number of
towns in Maharashtra was more than 276. Among these were three
metropolis and 22 cities with population from one to ten lakhs. In
1991 urban population formed 38.69 percent of the total population of
Maharashtra living in 336 cities. According to 2001 Census urban
population of Maharashtra rose to 42.43 percent population as
compared to India 27.8 percentage. The proportion of urban population
in the state increased from 38.7 percent in 1991 to 42.43 percent in
2001. In respect of the proportion of urban population, the State stands
second amongst the major states after Tamil Nadu (44.0 percent). In
Maharashtra there are total 378 towns and cities, of these 44 cities
have population numbering 1 lakh and more. There are 13 cities with
more than 5 lakh population. The population (in thousand) of these
cities is given below in descending order. Greater Mumbai (1,19,78),
Pune (25,38), Nagpur (20,52), Thane (12,62), Kalyan-Dombivali (11,93),
Nashik (10,77), Pimpari-Chinchwad (10,12), Aurangabad (8,73),
Solapur(8,72), Navi Mumbai (7,04), Bhiwandi (5,98), Amaravati (5,49)
and Mira-Bhayandar (5,20).30

The following table shows the classification of urban population

groups, number of towns and urban agglomeration and its percentage
to total urban population in the year 1981,1991 and 2001.
280 MAHARASHTRA: LAND AND ITS PEOPLE

Table No. 2
Number of Towns and Cities Classified according to
Population Groups and its Percentage to Total Urban
Population, 1981, 1991 and 2001

Year

1981 1991 2001

Population No. of Percentage No.of Percentage No.of Percentage

Group Towns to total Towns to total Towns To total
and Urban and Urban and Urban
Cities Population Cities Population Cities Population

Less than 16 0.2 11 0.14 8 Neg l ig i bl e

5000

5000 to 42 1.5 46 1.20 51 0.90

9999

10,000 to 91 6.1 102 5.01 101 3.50

19,999

20,000 to 82 11.0 114 11.59 130 10.10

49,999

50,000 to 20 5.9 30 6.93 44 7.50

99,999

1,00,000 to 25 75.3 33 75.13 44 78.00

more

Total 276 100.00 336 100.00 378 100.00

Presuming that availability of urban cultural facilities is likely to
be more in cities with one lakh or more population, we can say that
out of the total urban population of Maharashtra 78% were living in
the cities not only in demographic sense, but also in cultural sense.31
In 1981 there were total 39, 354 villages in Maharashtra where
64.97% of total Population of Maharashtra was living. In 1991 there
were total 40,412 villages where 61.31% of total population of
Maharashtra was living.
According to the 2001 Census of the total population 57.57% people
were living in rural areas. There were total 43,711 villages in the State,
out of which 41,095 were inhabited and 2,616 were uninhabited villages
including deserted and forest villages. During the decade 1991-2001
the rural population of the State increased by 15.3 percent, which was
less than corresponding all India percentage increase (18.1) also it
was less than the decadal growth rate of the State during 1981-91
(18.6). Classification of this population in villages according to their
population size is shown in following table.
 TERRITORIAL GROUPS 281

Table No. 3
Number of villages classified according to population groups
and its percentage to total.
Rural population in year 1981,1991 and 2001.

1981 1991 2001

Population No. of Percentage No. of Percentage No.of Percentage
Size Villages to total Villages to total Villages to total
Rural Rural Rural
Population Population Population

Less than 200 24,523 1.1 3,483 8.62 2,966 7.22

201 to 500 9,248 8.0 8,254 20.42 7,371 17.94

501 to 1000 12,330 21.8 12,389 30.66 12,067 29.36
1001 to 2000 8,954 30.3 10,620 26.28 11,554 28.12
2001 to 5000 3,604 25.7 4,712 11.66 5,858 14.25
5001 and more 695 13.1 954 2.36 1,279 3.11

Total 59,354 1 00 .0 0 40,412 1 00 .0 0 41,095 1 00 .0 0

In comparison with 1901, society in Maharashtra in 1981 was highly

urbanized. The number of towns in Maharashtra, which was 219 in
1901, rose to 276 in 1981 and 336 in 1991 and 378 in 2001. The
perecentage of urban population which was 23.5% in 1901, became
35.03% in 1981 and 38.69% in 1991 and 42.43 % in 2001. In this process,
villages were transformed into small towns, and small towns into large
cities. Completely new townships were very rare. In this process what
were once Kasba towns in the traditional period became cities in recent
times. These cities or towns are known in the neighbourhood as bazaar
towns, and people in the neighbourhood come to these places for
meeting their various requirements, and for availing of the services
provided by artisan and craftsmen cases. Balutedar castes from several
villages prefer to live in such a centrally located township and to render
service as Balutedars to the villages in the neighbourhood. In recent
times, the government has constructed godowns for storing grain,
market-yard, and is making provision of similar other facilities in such
towns as a result of which their importance for the rural population
has increased. Similarly there has been a growth of agro-based
industries in these towns in recent times. Researchers have noticed
such changes coming about in Kolhapur, Phaltan, Sangli, Jalgaon and
similar other cities and towns in Maharashtra. In this context a
reference may be made to a study conducted by Iravati Karve and
Ranadive of the development of Phaltan in Satara district.32 They have
noted that the population of artisan castes in Phaltan is larger than
the one in the number of villages with the same population size. As a
result of these reasons, the nature of village community in Maharashtra
is changing from multi-caste and multi-occupational village community
to the one with narrower range of caste and occupational diversity.
282 MAHARASHTRA: LAND AND ITS PEOPLE

Inclination to live in towns is found not only among the traditional

Balutedar castes but also among Dalit castes, especially among the
neo- Buddhists and the minority communities. It is generally observed
that minorities prefer to live in urban areas in view of the greater
opportunity provided by the city to practise diverse occupations, to
live in one’s groups and an atmosphere of social tolerance found in
such places. As a result of the awakening brought about by
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar among the Dalits and their mass conversion
to Buddhism, the neo-Buddhists are more inclined to living in urban
areas. As a result in some cities in Maharashtra proportion of the
neo-Buddhist population is more. Among such cities are the follwing:
Nagpur (14.9%), Aurangabad (13.9%), Nanded (13.1%), Chandrapur
(12.1%), Akola (9.8%), Parbhani (9.2%), Bhusaval (8.3%), Latur (7.1%),
Gondia (7.0%), Pune (6.9%), Mumbai (5.7%), and Amravati (5.7%),
Figures in the bracket indicate percentage of the neo-Buddhist
population in the total population of the respective cities. 33
Like neo-Buddhist significant percentage of the Muslim population
is found in some cities in Maharashtra. Among these are the following:
Malegaon (67.5%), Bhivandi (52.2%), Parbhani (37.6%), Nanded (33.5%),
Aurangabad (31.3%), Jalna (26.2%), Latur (24.1%), Akola (23.6%) and
Dhule (23.2%). 34
The review taken so far of the nature of the traditional rural and
urban communities and changes taking place in them since nineteenth
century, makes evident that the traditional rural society in
Maharashtra is vanishing and its place is slowly being taken by the
modern industrial-urban society. The traditional self-sufficiency of
the rural community is declining and it is getting closely integrated
socially, economically and politically with the urban community.
Echoes of these changes are to be heard in the cultural life of the
society in Maharashtra.