Rohtak district

This article is about the district. For its eponymous headquarters, see Rohtak.

Rohtak district रोहतक जिला
District of Haryana
Location of Rohtak district in Haryana
Country	India
State	Haryana
Headquarters	Rohtak
Tehsils	1. Rohtak, 2. Mehem
Government
• Lok Sabha constituencies	Rohtak
• Assembly seats	4
Area
• Total	1,668 km2 (644 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	940,128
• Density	560/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
• Urban	35.06%
Demographics
• Literacy	74.56%
• Sex ratio	847
Major highways	NH-10
Coordinates	-
Website	Official website

Rohtak district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state in Northern India. It is located in the southeast of Haryana and northwest of Delhi, bounded by Jind and Sonipat districts to the north, Jhajjar and Sonipat districts to the east, and Hissar, Sirsa, and Bhiwani districts to the west. Rohtak city is the district headquarters.

Quilla Road is an upmarket place near the old walled city, where people come from all parts of the city and surrounding towns.

Divisions

The district consists of two sub-divisions, Rohtak and Meham. Rohtak tehsil is further divided into three community development blocks - Rohtak, Kalanaur and Sampla. Meham tehsil is further divided into two community development blocks, Meham and Lakhan-Majra.

Economy

The economy of the district is primarily agriculture. About 42.19% of the total workers are engaged in agriculture and allied activities, 7.68% in cottage and household industries and the rest are engaged in other activities.

Japanese Township

The Japanese township is planned to be set up near Madina village, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Rohtak city ashoka, along NH10 towards Meham. It will include several big industries and commercial offices.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Rohtak district has a population of 1,058,683, roughly equal to the nation of Cyprus or the US state of Rhode Island. This gives it a ranking of 429th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 607 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,570/sq mi) . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 12.61%. Rohtak has a sex ratio of 868 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 80.4%.

Out of total geographical area of the district, 83% is under cultivation. The main crops are wheat, gram, sugarcane and bajra. There is no perennial river in the district.

Art and cultural heritage

The art and architectural heritage of the town is in utter neglect. Till a decade ago the old city alleys and Railway Road had about 50 havelis (mansions) built in traditional architectural styles. Many stone facades with beautiful carvings and motifs were stripped from the walls and sold to heritage traders for paltry sums. Muslim masons did all the decorative work in stone and fabricated woodcrafted door sets in these havelis. The rise of commerce and paucity of space forced the owners to demolish the fine old structures for building shopping complexes. There is no policy with the State Government or City Fathers to protect the heritage of the city. In spite of a local chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) functioning in the district, not much except listing of valuable properties could be done because most heritage properties are in private ownership and INTACH's local chapter does not have funds or the infrastructure to carry out listing and conservation work. However, Mr. Ranbir Singh, a cultural historian and formerly Co-convenor of State Chapter of INTACH, functioning from Rohtak, has documented extensively in the last 25 years the art and architectural heritage not only of the Rohtak District but also the entire Haryana on his own. He has a large collection of brilliant photographs of the heritage properties besides documenting history of the heritage value buildings, historical villages and towns of the district. Early in 2009 Mr. Ranbir Singh completed detailed profiles of about 40 heritage value properties both in private as well as public domain with photographs and handed over the documents to the Convener of the Haryana Chapter of INTACH. This documentation, appreciated both by architects as well as art historians, has also been placed for reference in the archives in the central library of INTACH Headquarters located at Lodi Estate, New Delhi. Architectural descriptions of several properties including many topics that belong the life and culture of the people of Haryana have been published in an illustrated book viz. Traditions of North India -Art, Crafts and Architecture of Haryana authored by Bhup Singh Gulia and edited and contributed by Mr. Ranbir Singh. A couple of illustrated articles on the old skills of woodcrafts persons of Haryana are under consideration of publication in 'Marg', a magazine on art and culture. This magazine also published his illustrated article on the antiquity of Farrukhnagar (dist. Gurgaon) in issue No.63(2).

The famous 12th century Asthal Bohar Monastery has also been modernized by its present Mahant Chand Nath. The oldest shrine at this place was built above the Smadh of Sidh Baba Chaurangi Nath (Bhagat Pooran Mall son of Raja Shalivan of Sialkot, now in Pakistan) under which also lay the grave of Sidh Baba Masth Nath who lived in the mid-eighteenth century AD. The shrine of Sidh Baba Tota Nath, in this campus, had beautiful frecoes painted in the early nineteenth century and done in Rajput style. Some of these, near the dome had the colors chipped off and are fading fast. The present Mahant was indifferent to the preservation of these fine frescoes, very important for art historians. In the month of January 2012, Chand Nath, the present Mahant of the Mutt, had got all the old memorial chhatris that belonged to Siddh Baba Mast Nath, Tota Nath, Megh Nath, Mohar Nath and Chet Nath demolished in one go to create way for a fabulously planned temple structure to be raised on the same lines as that of Akshardham at Delhi. Along with these, the old vestiges of frescoes in the chhatris too are gone. It is heartning to note the monuments and frescoes were preserved as images by Ranbir Singh, the renowned cultural historian of Haryana. Similarly, in the year 2007, the beautifully carved stone facade of the Digambar Jain Mandir in Barra Bazar was stripped off and sold just for Rs.1 lakh (about US $2500) in the year 2006. It was a precious piece of art. Several havelis situated in the old city and Railway road are giving way to modern buildings thus depriving the city of its traditional and beautiful character. Many large villages around Rohtak city could boast of many fine buildings that had decorative elements and traditional architecture. Now, these are in bad condition and crumbling.

Education

Rohtak has Indian Institute of Management Rohtak established in 2010. Maharishi Dayanand University in Rohtak city was established in 1976. There are almost 22 colleges within the city, offering different courses.There are four Engineering colleges and two polytechnics for technical education. Recently several education institution offering various technical and engineering courses including B.Ed. have come up in the district. Rohtak has one of the best medical college in the state Pt. B.D.S medical university, which offers all the medical courses like M.B.B.S, B.D.S and many more.

Schools

There are many schools like Model School, Rohtak , Pathania Public School, D.A.V Public school, Baba Mast Nath Public School, S.R.S public School, I.B School, Indus Public School, Scholars Roseary Public School, M.D.N Public School, Vidya Bhawan Senior Secondary School, Kidzee School, Vikalp Public School, Shiksha Bharti Senior Secondary School, D.G.V. School, The Sanskriti School 'www.tssrohtak.com' and many more. Now many new schools have also been opened like G.D Goenka Public School, Shri Ram School, Delhi Public School. All are the branches of famous and one of the bestest schools in Delhi & NCR.

Transport

Rohtak is well connected by Rail and Road network to neighboring cities and states and it is located on the N.H. -10, which is just 70 km away from National Capital, Delhi. NH 71 A is also its lifeline and forms one of the main commercial roads of India on which thousands of heavy vehicles and cars ply daily. Rohtak is also connected by railway to Rewari vai Jhajjar.

See also

• Rithal
• Ambala
• Gochhi

External links

• Official website
• http://rohtakcity.com
•