Uruli Kanchan
Uruli Kanchan | |
---|---|
village | |
UTC+5:30 (IST) | |
PIN | 412202 |
Telephone code | 02026926230/98 |
Nearest city | Pune |
Uruli Kanchan is a village 33 km east from the city of Pune in the district of Pune, Maharashtra, India. The village has been famous for the last sixty years for the Naturopathy Center (Nisarg Upchar Ashram) started by Mahatma Gandhi and his disciple Manibhai Desai. The village is also the location of the BAIF Development Research Foundation, an NGO started by Manibhai Desai in the 1960s. BAIF is well known throughout India for its program of breeding high yielding livestock and promoting sustainable rural development.
History
Uruli was first mentioned in a copper plate issued by
Under British colonial rule, Great Indian Peninsula Railway started train services between Mumbai and Solapur in December 1858 with Uruli Kanchan as one of the Stations on the route. The Train Station at that time served as a transit point for pilgrims traveling to Jejuri from Uruli using a dirt road.[3] [2] The train was also used for transporting Pomegranate to the markets of Poona and Bombay. The annual Sant Tukaram Maharaj Palkhi procession has been taking a halt for lunch in Uruli en route to Pandharpur in the Hindu Shaka month of Jeshtha for centuries.
The British colonial government set up a relief camp for people affected by the great famine of 1897 in Uruli. The work mainly involved cutting stone from a local quarry.[4] A Grampanchayat or Village Council was established in 1936 with Mr, Pranlal Shah as the first Sarpanch or leader of the council.
Geography
Uruli Kanchan lies 33 km east of the City of Pune. A few kilometers north of the village flows the Mula-Mutha River. A few kilometers south of the village is the Sinhagad - Bhuleshwar mountain range. A road going South connects Uruli with the pilgrim Center of Jejuri on the other side of the mountain range. The area around Uruli receives on average 600 mm of rain per annum. The medium black soil around Uruli is very fertile and irrigation from the mutha canal allows for growing of cash crops.[7]
Demographics
According to the census of India of 2011, the population of the village was 30,305 with 15,687 males and 14,618 females. The number of households in the village was 6,693. The village is dominated by a number of
With constant expansion of the
Economy
The area around Uruli is irrigated by the
In recent years, the village has attracted a number of Household furniture and windows manufacturers, and distributors. Some of these include Shree Krishna Furniture, Netra Furniture, Akash Furniture. & Aluminium supplier as Pro Aluminium Pvt.Ltd. {Retail businesses are a prominent feature of Uruli Kanchan,including a range of clothing shops like Vaparimal Savaldas(Main Branch)[9],Rahukar Creations[10] it also has multi storey shopping complexes like Rohit Selection[11] and Vishnu Cloth stores[12]}. As Uruli Kanchan is slowly becoming a commuter town for professional people working in Pune, restaurants like Kubera Restaurant & Beer Bar, Sonaee Pure Veg, Elite Food Corner have opened up to cater for this population and the increasingly affluent local people.
Local Government
A Grampanchayat or Village Council was established in 1936 with Mr, Pranlal Shah as the first Sarpanch or leader of the council. Later Manibhai Desai served as the Sarpanch for a long period. The council has six wards (Constituencies) that elect a total of 17 members.
Transport
Educational facilities
The oldest school in the village is a Primary School (Elementary School) which was established in 1881. The school is run by the Pune District Council (Zilla Parishad). The medium of instruction is Marathi. The school occupied the same building as the village Panchayat or the council but recently moved into a new building.
The local high school, Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya is recognized as a rural center of excellence. The medium of instruction in this school is Marathi. The school is co-educational and has around 3000 students. The school has offered a choice of vocational courses for high school grade students (year 8-10) in Technology and Agriculture for decades. The school also runs a hostel called Kumar Chhatralaya for around 200 male students from outside the area. There are also schools in the area where the medium of instruction is English. These include Amar Education Institute, Angel High School & Dr. Cyrus Poonawala English Medium School.
The High School shares it campus with Padmashri Manibhai Desai Mahavidyalaya or College. The College is affiliated to
Naturopathy Ashram
Mahatma Gandhi came to Uruli Kanchan on 22 March 1946 and stayed for up to 30 March 1946. He treated hundreds of patients with the help of Dr. Mehta, Balkoba Bhave, Manibhai Desai, Dr. Sushila Nair and other disciples. On 30 March 1946, Mahatma Gandhi departed for Delhi for the final negotiations with British Government regarding Independent India. Gandhiji founded Nisargopchar Gramsudhar Trust on 1 April 1946, with the help of kind donations in the form of Land by local people like late shri Mahadev Tatyaba Kanchan. The team under the management of Manibhai preached sound health and hygienic practices and also studied various problems in rural areas and identified suitable solutions to uplift the rural poor. The Nature cure therapy at the ashram followed guidelines issued by Gandhiji. They included regulation of diet, fast, sun-bath, fomentations, steam-bath, mud- bandage, massage and non-injurious indigenous herbs[13]
Over last fifty years the Ashram has made remarkable progress. The institute has set up the unique example in the field of
References
- JSTOR 42930432.
- ^ Sankalia., Hasmukh D. (1949). Studies in the Historical and Cultural Geography and Ethnography of Gujarat. Poona: Deccan College. p. 177. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ Gazetteer of The Bombay Presidency: Poona (Part 2). Government Central press. 1885. p. 156.
- ^ Nash, Vaughan (1900). The Great Famine and its causes. London, New York, Bombay: Longman, Greens and Co. pp. 17.
urali .
- ^ a b c Biography at Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation
- ISBN 81-224-1221-1.
- ^ Geographical study of the Pune Division (PDF).
- ^ Mukherji-Edwards, I., 1988. Agricultural marketing: Economics of fruit marketing in the Poona District, 1977-1986 (Doctoral dissertation, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), Pune (Ind
- ^ "Vaparimal Savaldas - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ Rahukar Creations 072489 29599 https://g.co/kgs/RcF8xm
- ^ [./Rohit_Selection_081778_90083_https://g.co/kgs/P411Vd Rohit Selection 081778 90083 https://g.co/kgs/P411Vd]
- ^ "Vishnu Cloth Stores Uruli Kanchan - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ Gandhi M. Nature cure. Kumarappa B, editor. Navajivan Publishing House; 1954.[1]
- ^ "And Gandhi Came Alive". lifepositive.com. Retrieved 30 January 2014.