Kheda district

Kheda District is one of the thirty-three districts of Gujarat state in western India. It is part of the region known as Charotar, consisting of Kheda and Anand districts. Its central city Nadiad is the administrative headquarters of the district.

History
Formerly known as Kaira district, it was divided in two with the southern part becoming Anand district in 1997. The Charotar region of Kaira consisted of four talukas (sub-districts): Nadiad, Anand, Borsad, and Petlad. When the district was divided, Nadiad Taluka went with Kheda district and the other three with Anand district. Today, Kheda has eleven talukas. Balasinor and Virpur, once in Kheda district, were moved to the newly formed Mahisagar district in 2013.

During the Indian independence movement in the first half of the 20th century, the Patidars of the Charotar region and other areas in Kaira resisted the British in a number of standoffs, notably the Kaira anti-tax campaign of 1913, the Kheda Satyagraha of 1918, the Borsad Satyagraha of 1923, and the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928.

Demographics
According to the 2011 census Kheda district has a population of 2,299,885, roughly equal to the nation of Latvia or the US state of New Mexico. This gives it a ranking of 197th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 541 PD/sqkm. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 12.81%. Kheda has a sex ratio of 937 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 84.31%.

The divided district had a population of 2,053,769, of which 474,041 (23.08%) lived in urban areas. The divided district had a sex ratio of 940 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 98,686 (4.81%) and 37,310 (1.82%) of the population respectively.

Hindus are 1,780,801, while Muslims are 239,214 and Christians are 26,387.

Language
At the time of the 2011 census, 97.35% of the population spoke Gujarati and 2.01% Hindi as their first language.

Administrative divisions
Since 2013, Kheda district has been divided into eleven taluka.
 * 1) Nadiad
 * 2) Thasra (code 03878), city of Dakor, villages inclde Kalsar
 * 3) Kapadvanj, villages include Abvel, Antroli, Ghadiya, Telnar
 * 4) Mehmedabad (Mahemdavad), headquartered in the town of Mahemdavad, villages include Haldarvas, Kanij, Sarsavani
 * 5) Kathlal, villages include Anara, Bajakapura
 * 6) Matar, headquartered in Matar village, villages include Asamali
 * 7) Mahudha, headquartered in the municipality of Mahisa, Mahudha, villages include Heranj
 * 8) Kheda, villages include Dedarda, Vavdi
 * 9) Nadiad (rural), villages include Davda
 * 10) Galteshwar (271.28 km2), villages include Anghadi, Kuni, Pali
 * 11) Vaso, headquartered in Vaso, villages include Palana, Rampur, Gangapur, Kheda

Politics

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Notable people

 * Govardhanram Tripathi (1855–1907) Writer; born in Nadiad.
 * Manilal Nabhubhai (1858–1898) Writer and philosopher; born in Nadiad.
 * Narendra M. Patel (1920s-2012) Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament
 * Ravji Patel (1939–1968) Modernist poet and novelist; born in Vallavpura village.
 * Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875 – 1950) Indian freedom fighter and first Home minister of India; born in Nadiad
 * Indulal Yagnik (1892-1972) Indian independence activist, leader of the All India Kisan Sabha, and the most influential leader of the Mahagujarat movement