# Jalna, Maharashtra

Jalna pronunciation is a city in Jalna district in the Aurangabad Division, or Marathwada region, of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was part of Hyderabad State as a tehsil of Aurangabad district, before Jalna district was formed effective 1 May 1981. Jalna become Maharashtra's 29th Municipal Corporation.

## History

Jalna (formerly Jalnapur) is one example. Like Aurangabad's predecessor Khirki, prior to the Mughal conquests Jalna had been ruled by the Nizam Shahs of Ahmadnagar, during whose reign their governor Jamshid Khan built a mosque Kali Masjid, travellers' sara’i, and reservoir in around 1557. The town was taken by the Mughals during the reign of Akbar, and during the reigns of Aurangzeb and Nizam al-Mulk it saw numerous improvements to its civic and military infrastructure, its fort (Jalna Fort or Mastgad) being constructed in 1725 in response to Maratha incursions. Jalna is home to many religions and people from different backgrounds. One of the main religions being Hinduism, there is also a large Muslim population. The other religions in Jalna include Buddhism, Jainism and Christianity.

## Geography

Jalna is located at 19°50′28″N 75°53′11″E﻿ / ﻿19.8410°N 75.8864°E﻿ / 19.8410; 75.8864. It has an average elevation of 508 m (1,667 ft), on the banks of the Kundalika River.

## Climate

Climate data for Jalna :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29 (84) | 32 (90) | 36 (97) | 39 (102) | 39 (102) | 34 (93) | 30 (86) | 29 (84) | 30 (86) | 32 (90) | 30 (86) | 29 (84) | 32 (90) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 10 (50) | 14 (57) | 19 (66) | 23 (73) | 25 (77) | 24 (75) | 22 (72) | 22 (72) | 21 (70) | 19 (66) | 15 (59) | 12 (54) | 19 (66) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 1.8 (0.07) | 1.1 (0.04) | 6.6 (0.26) | 3.1 (0.12) | 28.6 (1.13) | 150.1 (5.91) | 152.5 (6.00) | 182.3 (7.18) | 156.8 (6.17) | 75.2 (2.96) | 13 (0.5) | 12.5 (0.49) | 783.6 (30.83) |
| Source: Jalna Weather ||||||||||||||
Jalna has been ranked 33rd best “National Clean Air City” under (Category 3 population under 3 lakhs cities) in India.

## Demographics
### Religion

As of 2011 census, Jalna had a population of 285,577. The total population constitute, 147,029 males and 138,485 females —a sex ratio of 942 females per 1000 males. 38,834 children are in the age group of 0–6 years, of which 20,338 are boys and 18,496 are girls. The average literacy rate stands at 81.80% with 201,829 literates.
Religions in Jalna :
| Religion | Religion | Percent | Percent |
| Hindus | Hindus | 60.73% | 60.73% |
| Muslims | Muslims | 27.34% | 27.34% |
| Buddhists | Buddhists | 6.75% | 6.75% |
| Christians | Christians | 2.81% | 2.81% |
| Jains | Jains | 1.67% | 1.67% |
| Others | Others | 0.05% | 0.05% |
| Distribution of religions †Includes Sikhs (0.2%), Buddhists (<0.2%). |||||

### Language

Marathi is the official language of the city. Marathi is also the most commonly spoken language in the city, Urdu is the second most spoken language followed by Hindi.

## Economy

The first cotton-ginning & oil-pressing factory was established in the year 1863 by Mr. Pestonji Meherwanji.
In 1889 a cotton-spinning and weaving mill was erected in Aurangabad city, which employed 700 people. With the opening of the Hyderabad–Godavari Valley Railways in the year 1900, several ginning factories were started. In Jalna alone, there were 9 cotton-ginning factories and 5 cotton presses, besides two ginning factories at Aurangabad and Kannad, and one oil press at Aurangabad. The total number of people employed in the cotton presses and ginning factories in the year 1901 was 1,016.
Jalna is the largest steel producer in Maharashtra, with many steel companies located in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) area. Jalna is also one of the largest producer of sweet lemons and seeds in Maharashtra.

## Transport

Jalna is primarily connected with the rest of India by railway and road.

### Air

Aurangabad Airport is the closest airport to Jalna, it is about 55 kilometres (34 mi) away from Jalna city center, about one hour travel time by road.

### High speed rail

Jalna is going to be an important station in the middle of the bullet train project proposed between Mumbai and Nagpur. Jalna is going to get a boost of high speed transport connectivity.

### Rail

Jalna is a station located on the Secunderabad–Manmad line of the newly created Nanded Division of South Central Railway. Formerly, it had been a part of Hyderabad Division, before divisional adjustments in 2003, which saw HYB's bifurcation.

### Road

Jalna is connected to major towns of the state by state highways. Road connectivity is excellent, roads connecting to Aurangabad, Pune, Ahmednagar, Nagpur, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Khamgaon, Jalgaon and Mumbai having been widened to four-lane highways. The new Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway (Samruddhi Mahamarg) passes through Jalna. The proposed Jalna-Nanded Expressway is also an important corridor that connects the rest of the Marathwada cities like Parbhani and Nanded to the Samruddhi Mahamarg.

### Dry port

Recently, a new dry port project has been set up in the MIDC Phase 3 area near the city. This is the first dry port project in the country. A similar, smaller project is also in progress in Wardha.

## Notable people

* Kailas Gorantyal Indian politician and (MLA) Member of the Legislative Assembly Maharashtra.
* Arjun Khotkar Indian politician and Ex Minister of Maharashtra State.
* Saif Tyabji was a solicitor, mathematician, an educationist & Member of Parliament from Jalna Lok Sabha constituency.