| Area | 1,96,024 sq. km. |
Population | 413.1 lacs |
| Capital | Gandhinagar |
| Principal Languages | Gujarati |
Historical, Geographical and Linguistic Sketch of the State
Gujarat is situated on the west coast of India. Arabian Sea lies on
the west, Pakistan and Rajasthan in the north and north-east respectively,
Madhya Pradesh in the south-east, and Maharashtra in the south. The
history of Gujarat goes back to 2000 BC. It is believed that Lord Krishna
left Mathura to settle on the west coast of Saurashtra, which later
came to be known as Dwarka, the gateway. Gujarat saw various kingdoms:
Mauryans, Guptas, Pratiharas and others. The present State of Gujarat
came into being on 1 May 1960.
Gujarat is the main producer of tobacco, cotton, and groundnut in the
country and itn provides inputs for important industries like textiles,
oil, and soap.
The total length of roads in Gujarat is 72,950 km. The main airport
of Gujarat at Ahmadabad is connected with Mumbai. It has 40 ports, of
which Kandla is a major one. Places of religious importance inlcude
Dwarka, Somnath, Palitana, Pavagadh, etc.
The State has a population of 4,13,09,582 persons. Gujarati is the
regional language, whose speakers constitute 90.41 per cent of the population.
The other major linguistic groups in the State include the speakers
of Sindhi (2.19%), Hindi (2.19%), Urdu (1.89%), Bhili/Bhilodi (1.20%),
and Marathi (1.21%). The minority language speakers who constitute less
than 1 per cent of the total population are the speakers of Punjabi
(0.11%), Malayalam (0.10%), Telugu (0.10%) and Khandeshi (0.25%).
The speakers of minority languages who constitute less than 0.09 per
cent are the speakers Bengali (0.03%), Kannada (0.03%), Oriya (0.03%),
Tamil (0.08%), Konkani (0.08%), and Gorkhali/Nepali (0.02%).
The names of the Districts along with the actual percentage of the
population, districts headquarters and the total Urdu population are
given below Table 1
Table 1: Area, Population and Headquarters of Districts
District
|
Area in sq km
|
Population (Lacs)
|
Headquarters
|
Total Urdu Population (Lacs)
|
%age
(Between 3 & 5)
|
Muslim Population (Lacs)
|
%age
(Between 3 & 6)
|
%age
(Between 5 & 6)
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
6
|
|
|
|
Ahmadabad
|
8707
|
48.0
|
Ahmadabad
|
2.6
|
5.4
|
5.2
|
10.7
|
50.3
|
|
Amreli
|
6760
|
12.5
|
Amreli
|
0.03
|
0.2
|
0.7
|
5.5
|
3.7
|
|
Banas Kantha
|
12703
|
21.6
|
Banas Kantha
|
0.06
|
0.3
|
1.6
|
7.2
|
3.7
|
|
Bharuch
|
9038
|
15.5
|
Bharuch
|
0.2
|
1.2
|
2.6
|
16.6
|
7.2
|
|
Bhavnagar
|
11155
|
22.9
|
Bhavnagar
|
0.006
|
0.02
|
1.5
|
6.6
|
0.4
|
|
Gandhinagar
|
649
|
4.1
|
Gandhinagar
|
0.008
|
0.2
|
0.1
|
3.0
|
6.4
|
|
Jamnagar
|
14125
|
15.6
|
Jamnagar
|
0.001
|
0.01
|
2.0
|
13.0
|
0.0
|
|
Junagadh
|
10607
|
23.9
|
Junagadh
|
0.2
|
0.8
|
2.3
|
9.6
|
8.6
|
|
Kachchh
|
45652
|
12.6
|
Bhuj
|
0.01
|
0.1
|
2.5
|
19.6
|
0.5
|
|
Kheda
|
7194
|
34.4
|
Nadiad
|
0.5
|
1.6
|
3.6
|
10.3
|
15.2
|
|
Mehsana
|
9027
|
29.4
|
Mehsana
|
0.1
|
0.3
|
1.9
|
6.6
|
4.9
|
|
Panch Mahal
|
8866
|
29.6
|
Godhara
|
0.2
|
0.7
|
1.4
|
4.6
|
15.0
|
|
Rajkot
|
11203
|
25.1
|
Rajkot
|
0.1
|
0.4
|
2.3
|
9.2
|
4.6
|
|
Sabar Kantha
|
7390
|
17.6
|
Himatnagar
|
0.1
|
0.7
|
1.0
|
5.5
|
13.4
|
|
Surat
|
7657
|
34.0
|
Surat
|
0.9
|
2.6
|
3.1
|
9.2
|
27.9
|
|
Surendranagar
|
10489
|
12.1
|
Surendranagar
|
0.008
|
0.1
|
0.8
|
6.5
|
1.0
|
|
The Dang
|
1764
|
1.4
|
Ahwa
|
0.001
|
0.1
|
0.0
|
1.5
|
5.2
|
|
Vadodara
|
7794
|
30.9
|
Vadodara
|
0.4
|
1.2
|
2.6
|
8.3
|
13.9
|
|
Valsad
|
5244
|
21.7
|
Valsad
|
0.08
|
0.4
|
1.0
|
4.6
|
7.7
|
|
Total
|
|
413.1
|
|
5.5
|
1.3
|
36.1
|
8.7
|
15.2
|
Urdu in Gujarat
Gujarati is the major official language of the state. However, the
official languages of the State are Gujarati, and Hindi written in the
Devnagari script. The State Government has formed a Translation Bureau
that is functioning under the Directorate of Languages to translate
the important rules, regulations, notices, etc. in minority languages.
The State Government has also notified the areas, where the linguistic
minorities constitute 15 per cent or more of the local population. Such
districts of different languages are as follows:
- Urdu Pranty (16.72) and Modasa (26.58) talukas in Sabarkantha district
- Borsad (21.27) and Balasinor (21.42) talukas in Kheda district
- Godhara
(15.80) taluka in Panchmahals district
- Hansat (36.96) taluka in
Bharuch district
A detailed district wise break-up of the total Urdu population in Gujarat
is shown in Table 2.
Table 2: District -wise Break-up of Urdu Population
in Gujarat
S. No.
|
Districts
|
Total Population (Lacs)
|
Total Urdu Population (Lacs)
|
Total Male (Lacs)
|
Total Female (Lacs)
|
Rural (Lacs)
|
Urban (Lacs)
|
|
1.
|
Ahmadabad
|
48.0
|
2.6
|
1.35
|
1.24
|
0.023
|
2.57
|
|
2.
|
Amreli
|
12.5
|
0.03
|
0.01
|
0.01
|
0.008
|
0.02
|
|
3.
|
Banas Kantha
|
21.6
|
0.06
|
0.03
|