Nuh district, formerly known as the Mewat district, is one of the 22 districts of the northern Indian state of Haryana. The district is known for having the largest Muslim population in Haryana. It lies within the National Capital Region as well as the historical Mewat and Braj of India.
It has an area of and had a population of 1.09 million in 2011. It is bounded by Gurugram district to the north, Palwal District of Haryana to the east, Deeg district and Alwar district districts to the south and the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan to the west. There are four sub-divisions in this district: Nuh, Ferozepur Jhirka, Punahana, and Taoru.
In 2018, the Government of India's think tank Niti Aayog listed Nuh district as the most underdeveloped of India's 739 districts.
History
The Nuh district area is a small part of the vast historical and cultural region of
Mewat.
Khanzada dynasty
Mewat was a kingdom in
Rajputana with its capital at
Alwar ruled by a
Khanzada Rajput kingdoms during the period of the
Delhi Sultanate in
India. Raja Hassan Khan Mewati was represented the
Khanzada Rajputs in Battle of Khanwa.
Mewat was covered over a wide area, it included
Hathin tehsil, Nuh district,
Tijara,
Gurgaon,
Kishangarh Bas, Ramgarh, Laxmangarh Tehsils
Aravalli Range in
Alwar district and Pahari, Nagar, Kaman tehsils in Bharatpur district of
Rajasthan and also some part of
Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh. The last ruler of Mewat, Hasan Khan Mewati was killed in the battle of Khanwa against the Mughal emperor Babur. The
Khanzada Rajputs were descended from Hindu
Yadu Rajputs.
Maratha Empire
During the
Maratha Empire,
Mahadaji Shinde, had conquered most of the region from the Mughals and northern Mewat (Nuh district) came under the Maratha Confederacy. All of the
Gurgaon district district area of Punjab (which consisted of present-day districts of Faridabad, Rewari, and Mahendargah and Nuh) was conquered by
France generals in late 18th century.
British Raj
Daulat Rao Sindhia ceded the Gurgaon region to the
British Empire on 30 December 1803 under the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon to the British East India Company leading to the Company rule in India. The southern and western Gurgaon region remained under the Bharatpur
Jat Kings and their vassal relatives, one of whom was
Nahar Singh of Ballabgarh.
[ Gazeteer of Gurgaon 1983 , Haryana Revenue Department, Chapter II, pp.35-45.][ Gazeteer of Gurgaon 1883-84" , Haryana Revenue Department, Chapter II, pp.19-25.][ Gazeteer of Gurgaon 1910" , Haryana Revenue Department, Section B, pp.19-24.]
After the Rebellion of 1857, the Nuh district area became a part of the Gurgaon district in the Punjab Province of British Raj. The Meos of southern Gurgaon (modern-day Nuh district) were leaders in the Rebellion and even momentarily formed their own government of Chaudhary as they drove the British out.
Reformation
During the British Era, The Meo Muslims who inhabited this region were
Syncretism in past
rituals.
In the 1920s the grassroots Islamic movement Tablighi Jamaat arose from this region under Ilyas Kandhlawi as a reformist movement.
Partition violence
During Indian independence, there was a surge in Communal tension when Jinnah demanded for a separate nation as a result of which Partition of India was proposed by the British rulers. A branch of the All India Muslim League was established in the area, which had proposed a separate province for Meos and a significant number of Meos became members of the organization.
During partition some Meo Muslim villages were attacked; when the Meos retaliated they were attacked by the Hindu
princely state maharajas. The violence has been remembered by the Meo Muslims and lead them to embrace a more Islamic identity.
The Meos' Islamic identity has also been enhanced due to better education, communication and transportation. As secular schools have increase in the area, so have the religious
. Many Meos have traveled to Delhi to attend religious gatherings, or visited their relatives in
Pakistan.
later visited the village of
Ghasera in the district and requested Meos not to leave India.
Yasin Khan, a prominent social reformer in the region, was responsible for bringing Gandhi to Ghasera.
Because of Mahatama Gandhi, some Meos were resettled in
Laxmangarh, Nagar, Kaman,
Deeg of
Alwar district and Bharatpur district. Due to this, the people of Ghasera still celebrate Mewat Day.
Post-Partition
Yasin Khan's political leadership created three infamous political dynasties in the region, the Tayyab Husain clan, Rahim Khan clan and the Ahmed clan. Yasin Khan put forward two political leaders during his lifetime, his own son,
Tayyab Husain and Khurshid Ahmed. Later on, Rahim Khan also emerged as political leader in rebellion to these two in the region. These political dynasties have gained notoriety and continue to have significant influence in the politics and culture of district.
The District was officially established on 4 April 2005, by taking areas from Gurgaon district and the Hathin of Faridabad district. However, in 2008, Hathin sub-division was reorganized in the new district of Palwal district. The district was renamed from Mewat to Nuh in 2016, because Mewat is a historical and cultural region which spans farther into the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Nuh district, although was called Mewat, did not encompass the entire historical Mewat region, rather only a small part of it
In 2023, the district was rocked by the 2023 Haryana riots.
Geography
The total area of Nuh district is .
Administrative divisions
There are 4 subdivisions or tehsils in the district with one sub-tehsil for the Nuh tehsil. There are a total of 7 blocks in the district as mentioned below:
Sub-divisions
-
Nuh
-
Ferozepur Jhirka
-
Punahana
-
Taoru
Sub Tehsil
Blocks
-
Nuh
-
Ferozepur Jhirka
-
Punhana
-
Taoru
-
Nagina
-
Indri
-
Pinangwan
Assembly constituencies
There are three Haryana Vidhan Sabha constituencies in this district: Nuh, Ferozepur Jhirka and Punahana. All 3 are part of the Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency.
Taoru from the Nuh district (previously Taoru Assembly constituency) comes under Sohna constituency of Gurugram district.
Notable towns and villages
City
Towns
Villages
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, Nuh district had a population of 1,089,263.
By population, it ranks 420th among the 640 districts of India.
[ The district had a population density of .][ Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 37.94%.][ It had a sex ratio of 906 females for every 1000 males,][ and a literacy rate of 56.1%. 11.39% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes make up 6.91% of the population.]
| + Religion in Nuh District |
|
| Islam | 182,962 | | 862,647 | |
| Hinduism | 87,647 | | 221,846 | |
| Others | 783 | | 4,770 | |
| Total Population | 271,392 | | 1,089,263 | |
It is the only Muslims majority district in Haryana, and has the highest proportion of Muslims in North India outside Jammu and Kashmir.
At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 36.17% of the population in the district spoke Hindi, 34.75% Mewati language, 25.76% Urdu and 2.84% Haryanvi as their first language.[.]
Economy
The main occupation in the district is agriculture, followed by allied and agro-based activities. The Meos are the predominant population group and are all agriculturists.
Transport
Nuh town is on National Highway 248A (NH 248A) (previously known as the Gurgaon–Sohna–Alwar road),
The planned route of the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway will pass west of Pinangwan town and is expected to boost connectivity to cities.
Western Dedicated Freight Corridor passes through Sohna of this district.
Notable people
-
Hazrat Sheikh Musa, 13th century’s Sufi saint.
-
Chaudhary Khurshid Ahmed (born 1934), former Member of the Lok Sabha, and former Cabinet Minister in the states of Haryana.
-
Tayyab Husain (born 1936), former Member of the Lok Sabha, and former Cabinet Minister in the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan.
-
Chaudhary Rahim Khan (born 1923), former Member of the Lok Sabha and president of the All India Meo Sabha.
-
Parvej Khan (born 2004), Indian track and field athlete.
-
Salman Ali (born 1998), Indian playback singer.
See also
Notes
External links
