Wildlife Sancturies

Wildlife Sancturies

Several wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and Project Tiger reserves have been created in Maharashtra, with the aim of conserving the rich bio-diversity of the region. As of May 2004, India has 92 national parks, of which six are located in Maharashtra.There are 4 project tiger areas in Maharashtra. viz Tadoba-Andhari, Melghat, Sahyadri and Pench. A large percentage of Maharashtra's forests and wildlife lie along the western Ghats or western Maharashtra and eastern Vidarbha.

·         Navegaon National Park, located near Gondia in the eastern region of Vidarbha is home to birds, deer, bears and leopards.

·         Nagzira wildlife sanctuary lies in Tirora Range of Bhandara Forest Division, in Gondia district of Vidarbha region. The sanctuary consists of a range of hills with small lakes within its boundary. These lakes guarantee a source of water to wildlife throughout the year, and heighten the beauty of the landscape.

·         Tadoba Andhari Tiger Project, a prominent tiger reserve near Chandrapur in Vidarbha. It is 40 km from Chandrapur.

·         Pench National Park, in Nagpur district, extends into Madhya Pradesh as well. It has now been upgraded into a Tiger project.

·         Bor Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Wardha district of Eastern Vidarbha. Due to large number of tigers along with other wild animals, Bor Wildlife Sanctuary has been declared Special Tiger Zone by Govt. of Maharashtra in 2012.

·         Chandoli National Park, located in Sangli district has a variety of flora and fauna. The Prachitgad Fort and Chandoli dam and scenic water falls can be found around the park.

·         Gugamal National Park, also known as Melghat Tiger Reserve is located in Amravati district. It is 80 km from Amravati.

·         Sanjay Gandhi National Park, also known as Borivali National Park is located in Mumbai and is the world's largest national park within city limits.

·         Sagareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, a man made wildlife sanctuary situated 30 km from Sangli. Ancient temples of Lord Shiva and Jain Temple of Parshwanath located in Sagareshwar are an attraction.

·         Maldhok Sanctuary, situated in Solapur district. Some of its part is in Ahmednagar district. The sanctuary is for the Great Indian Bustard.

·         Tansa wildlife Sanctuary, situated in Thane district and along the Tansa and Vaitarna river. The major water supplying dams Tansa, Modaksagar and lower vaitarna are located in the Sanctuary. The fauna include Leopard, barking deer, Hyena, Flying squirrel and Wild boar. There are four forest ranges in the sanctuary-Tansa, Vaitarna, Khardi and Parli. The wildlife division headquarters is at Thane.

·         Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, includes 896 ha mangrove cover along the western side of the creek (in Mulund , Vikhroli, Bhandup, Kanjurmarg and Mandala areas plus 795 ha of creek area which is partly exposed during low tide. This is the area used by thousands of flamingos for resting during high tide. The Forest Department, Government of Maharashtra, declared an area of 1,691 hectares (16.9 sq km) as Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary on August 6, 2015. The sanctuary is declared especially to protect the habitat of flamingos visiting the creek in thousands. 

·         Bhimashankar wildlife Sanctuary. This is situated in the western Ghats and is famous for the Malabar Giant squirrel. The sanctuary is located in Thane, Raigad and Pune district of Maharashtra.

Apart from these, Maharashtra has 35 wildlife sanctuaries spread all over the state, listed here. Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary are the important ones.

Apart from the above, Matheran, a Hill station near Mumbai has been declared an eco-sensitive

zone (protected area) by the Government of India.

GEOGRAPHY MAHARASHTRA

GEOGRAPHY MAHARASHTRA

Location

1.         Maharashtra occupies the western and central part of the country

2.         long coastline stretching nearly 720 kilometres along the Arabian Sea

3.         Deccan plateau, which is separated from the Konkan coastline by Western Ghats (or the Sahyadri Mountain range) provide a physical backbone to the state on the west

4.         .Satpura Hills along the north and Bhamragad-Chiroli-Gaikhuri ranges on the east serve as its natural borders. 

5.         The state is surrounded by Gujarat to the north west, Madhya Pradesh to the north, Chhattisgarh to the east, Telangana to the south east, Karnataka to the south and Goa to the south west.

Area of Maharashtra

1.          Third largest state by area in India. The Western Ghats better known as Sahyadri, are a hilly range running parallel to the coast, at an average elevation of 1,200 metres (4,000 ft).

2.         Kalsubai, a peak in the Sahyadris, near Nashik city is the highest elevated point in Maharashtra.  To the west of these hills lie theKonkan coastal plains, 50–80 kilometres in width. 3. To the east of the Western Ghats lies the flat Deccan Plateau.

4.         Forests comprise 17% of the total area of the state. A majority of the forests are in the eastern and Sahyadri regions of the state.

5.         The main rivers of the state are Krishna, Bhima, Godavari, Tapi-Purna and Wardha-Wainganga.

HISTORY AFTER INDEPENDENCE

HISTORY AFTER INDEPENDENCE

1.         After India's independence, the Deccan States, including Kolhapur were integrated into Bombay State, which was created from the former Bombay Presidency in 1950.

2.             In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act reorganised the Indian states along linguistic lines, and Bombay Presidency State was enlarged by the addition of the predominantly Marathi-speaking regions of Marathwada(Aurangabad Division) from erstwhile Hyderabad state and Vidarbha region from the Central Provinces and Berar.

3.         The southernmost part of Bombay State was ceded to Mysore. From 1954 to 1955 the people of Maharashtra strongly protested against bilingual Bombay state and Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, under the leadership of Gopalrao Khedkar, was formed.

4.             TheMahagujarat Movement was started, seeking a separate Gujarat state. Keshavrao Jedhe, S.M. Joshi, Shripad Amrit Dange, Pralhad Keshav Atre and other leaders fought for a separate state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital under the banner of Samyukta Maharashtra Movement

5.            . On 1 May 1960, following mass protests and 105 deaths, the separate Marathi-speaking state was formed by dividing earlier Bombay State into the new states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The state continues to have a dispute with Karnataka regarding the region of Belgaum and Karwar.

History of Maharastra

HISTORY  MAHARASHTRA

1.         Maharashtra was ruled by the Maurya Empire in the 4th and 3rd century BC.

2.         Around 230 BCE Maharashtra came under the rule of the Satavahana dynasty for 400 years. The greatest ruler of the Satavahana Dynasty was Gautamiputra Satakarni. In 90 AD Vedishri, son of the Satavahana king Satakarni, the "Lord of Dakshinapatha, wielder of the unchecked wheel of Sovereignty", made Junnar, thirty miles north of Pune, the capital of his kingdom.

3.         The state was also ruled by Kharavela, Western Satraps, Gupta Empire, Gurjara-Pratihara, Vakataka, Kadambas, Chalukya Empire, Rashtrakuta Dynasty, and Western Chalukya before finally, the Yadava rule.

4.         The Buddhist Ajanta Caves in present-day Aurangabad display influences from the Satavahana and Vakataka style. The caves were possibly excavated during this period.

5.             The Chalukya dynasty ruled from the 6th century to the 8th century CE and the two prominent rulers were Pulakeshin II, who defeated the north Indian Emperor Harsha, and Vikramaditya II, who defeated the Arabinvaders in the 8th century.

6.         The Rashtrakuta dynasty ruled Maharashtra from the 8th to the 10th century. The Arab traveller Sulaiman described the ruler of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty (Amoghavarsha) as "one of the 4 great kings of the world". 

7.         In the early 14th century, the Yadava dynasty, which ruled most of present-day Maharashtra, was overthrown by the Delhi Sultanate rulerAla-ud-din Khalji. Later, Muhammad bin Tughluq conquered parts of the Deccan, and temporarily shifted his capital from Delhi toDaulatabad in Maharashtra. After the collapse of the Tughluqs in 1347, thel Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga took over, governing the region for the next 150 years.

8.             After the break-up of the Bahamani sultanate in 1518, Maharashtra split into five Deccan Sultanates: Nizamshah of Ahmednagar, Adilshah of Bijapur, Qutubshah of Golkonda,Bidarshah of Bidar and Imadshah of Elichpur. These kingdoms often fought with each other. United, they decisively defeated the Vijayanagara Empire of the south in 1565.

9.            The present area of Mumbai was ruled by the Sultanate of Gujarat before its capture by Portugal in 1535

10.        Faruqi dynasty ruled the Khandesh region between 1382 and 1601 before finally getting annexed by the Mughal Empire.

11.       Malik Ambar was the regent of the Nizamshahi dynasty of Ahmednagar from 1607 to 1626  During this period he increased the strength and power of Murtaza Nizam Shah and raised a large army. Malik Ambar is said to have been a proponent of guerilla warfare in the Deccan region. Malik Ambar assisted Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in Delhi against his stepmother, Nur Jahan, who had ambitions of seating her son-in-law on the throne.

12.       By the early 17th century, Shahaji Bhosale, an ambitious local general in the service of the Mughals and Adil Shah of Bijapur, attempted to establish his independent rule. His son Shivaji succeeded in establishing the Maratha Empire which was further expanded during the 18th century by the Bhat family Peshwas based in Pune, Bhonsle of Nagpur, Gaikwad of Baroda, Holkar of Indore, Scindia and Mahadikof Gwalior. 

13        The Marathas are credited to a large extent for ending the Mughal rule in India. The Marathas defeated the Mughals, and conquered large territories in northern and central parts of the Indian subcontinent.

14.       After their defeat at the hand of Ahmad Shah Abdali's Afghan forces in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, the Maratha suffered a setback. However, the Marathas soon regained lost influence and ruled central and north India including New Delhi until the end of the eighteenth century.

15.       The Third Anglo-Maratha war (1817–1818) led to the end of the Maratha Empire and East India Company ruled the country in 1819.

16.       The British governed western Maharashtra as part of the Bombay Presidency, which spanned an area from Karachi in Pakistan to northern Deccan. A number of the Marathastates persisted as princely states,ie.  Nagpur, Satara and Kolhapur; Satara was annexed to the Bombay Presidency in 1848, and Nagpur was annexed in 1853 to become Nagpur Province, later part of the Central Provinces

17.          , a large part called Marathwada remained part of the Nizam's Hyderabad State throughout the British period.

18.       In  20th century, the struggle for independence took shape, led by nationalist extremists like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and the moderates like Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta and Dadabhai Naoroji who were all born in this region. After the partial autonomy given to the states by the Government of India Act of 1935, B. G. Kher became the first Chief Minister of the Congress party led Government of tri-lingual Bombay Presidency.

19.       The ultimatum to the British during the Quit India Movementwas given in Mumbai, and culminated in the transfer of power and independence in 1947.