Saoner is a town and tehsil

Tehsil

A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....

 headquarter in north part of Nagpur district

Nagpur District

Nagpur district is a district in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state in central India. The city of Nagpur is the district headquarters. The district is part of Nagpur Division....

 in state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The town is governed by Saoner municipal council

Municipal council

A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...

. It is 36 kilometres (22.4 mi) from Nagpur

Nagpur

Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...

 city. It is well connected to Nagpur by road and a narrow gauge railway. Saoner is located on the bank of Kolar River.

History

Saoner is said to be mentioned in the Jaimini Ashwamedh under the name of Saraswatpur, and there are many legends connected with it.Ancient temple of Ganpati and Mahadeo are located at the neighbouring village of Adasa, on a hill,which is said to have been one of the gates of a great ancient city. There are also remains of a large stone fort with corner towers built for protection against the habitual raids of the Pindaris. Saoner was a town of importance under the Bhonsla dynasty and has been a municipality since 1862. The octroi tax was abolished in 1876, and since then the municipal income has been small, but during the recent years of cotton prosperity it has been expanded to Rs. 9000, which is derived chiefly from a house-tax, a small conservancy cess, bazar dues, cotton-market dues and cattle registration fees. Until very recent years lack of funds served to discourage municipal enterprise. Only the schools were maintained and some sanitation effected. But quite lately an excellent cotton-market has been constructed. It is nearly four acres in extent, is well fenced, and has a weighing machine and two wells. Near it land has been acquired by the town, and on this substantial dwellings and shops are being erected by private lessees. Saoner is also of historic importance due to its role in the 1942 Quit India Movement

Quit India Movement

The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...

 against the British.

Demographics, people and culture

India census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Savner had a population of 26,631. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Savner has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 68%. In Saoner, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age. pola

Pola (festival)

Pola is a bull-worshipping festival celebrated by farmers mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra. On the day of Pola, the farmers decorate and worship their bulls...

 (Festival of Bullocks) and Holi

Holi

Holi , is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and countries with large Indic diaspora populations following Hinduism, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United...

 are the main festivals of this area. Famous Marathi writers include Ram Ganesh Gadkari

Ram Ganesh Gadkari

Ram Ganesh Gadkari was a Marathi poet, playwright, and humorist from Maharashtra, India.Ram Ganesh Gadkari was one of the writers in new age transformation in Marathi Literature. He wrote poetry under the pen name Govindagraj and humorous articles under the pen name Balakram...

. Most of the people of Saoner are Koshtis who weave the ordinary cotton cloths, and some of the red dye is still produced, for which the town was at one time noted.

Economy

This small town is famous for its coal mines, textile and paper industry. The primary occupation of its people is farming. Nearly 65% of the people are engaged in growing oranges on 80% of available nearby land. But in recent days coal mines has brought new employment opprtunities in this region. Saoner is part of Ramtek (Lok Sabha constituency)

Ramtek (Lok Sabha constituency)

Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra state in western India. The constituency does not exist during India general elections of 1951 for 1st Lok Sabha...

. The local language is Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 but a few people also speak Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

. Most of the bridges and government buildings were built by the British in the late 1930s. Summer months are very hot (45^oC/113^oF) and the winter is moderate. WCL (western Coalfields India Limited) has open cast and closed coal mines, coal is mined and transported with the help of railway wagons to Khaprikheda Thermal Powerhouse. A large weekly market is held on Fridays, at which the ordinary attendance is about 10,000. This is chiefly a cloth and cattle bazar. In the open season from two to three hundred cattle are sold weekly. But Saoner, like Katol

Katol

Katol is a city and a municipal council in Nagpur district of Maharashtra state, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Katol taluka, one of the 14 talukas of this district. Being located in orange belt it is a major centre for orange trading....

, now depends chiefly on its trade in raw cotton. There are four ginning factories at work, two of which have presses. On the west Katol town is a successful rival, and most of the cotton grown south of Saoner goes directly to the city. But a railway between Nagpur and Saoner is projected and if from that point it is continued in three directions to Amravati

Amravati

Amravati is a city in the state of Maharashtra, India and the seventh most populous metropolitan area in Maharashtra. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Amravati district...

, Itarsi

Itarsi

Itarsi is a city in Madhya Pradesh sn central India. Itarsi is located in Hoshangabad District, south of the city of Hoshangabad. Itarsi is a commercial hub for agricultural goods, and is also famous for its railway junction. The Bori Wildlife Sanctuary and Tawa Dam are nearby...

 and Chhindwara

Chhindwara

Chhindwara is a town and a municipality in Chhindwara district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Chhindwara District. Chhindwara is reachable by rail or road from adjacent cities Nagpur and Jabalpur...

, it is practically certain that the trade of Saoner will develop very rapidly.