Changing Rural Population Trends: A Case Study of Shrigonda, Ahmednagar (Maharashtra)

Shrigonda tahlsil is located in the southern drought-prone zone of Ahmednagar district. The tahsil situated partly in upper Saraswati basin and partly Bhima, Ghod and Kukadi basin. It is surrounded by Parner and Nagar tahsil to the northern part, Pune district to the west and south east Karjat tahsil. It’s an area of 1630 sq.km; the third rank of tahsil in Ahmednagar district. Tahsil has historical and religious background and situated on the bank of river Saraswati. The latitudinal extent is 180 27’18” to 180 51’54” North and longitudinal extent is 740 23’24” to 740 52’ East. The Shrigonda tahsil is mainly rural in character and has 114 villages according to 2011 census. The study is useful in understanding the importance of Population for rural development. This understanding certainly helps in the planning for integrated information of rural areas and in deciding policies. The study based on primary and secondary data. Primary data collected with help of Questionnaire form various household and secondary data collected from census and Government documents. It is based on 10 percent samples household form Selected villages. The human resource is one of the vital resources of a region. The information on this aspect considered population characteristics like population growth, density, literacy, sex ratio, In the study of socio – economic importance of population analysis has been considered essential by most of the scholars because all these aspects are closely related. The study is mainly concerned with population characteristics and geographic factors. Population distribution, density and size of villages are dependent upon the geographical condition of that particular area. Relief, climate, soil, water resource, socio-economic and cultural factors are responsible for the distribution and density of population. Growing population is considered and analyse the situation of rural areas in Ahmednagar district households.