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Dewas
—  town  —
Dewas Location of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh and India
Coordinates	22°35′N 76°04′E / 22.58°N 76.06°E / 22.58; 76.06Coordinates: 22°35′N 76°04′E / 22.58°N 76.06°E / 22.58; 76.06
Country	India
State	Madhya Pradesh
Population	289,438 (Census 2,011) (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 535 metres (1,755 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 455 0xx • Telephone • +91-(0)7272 • Vehicle • MP-41

Dewas, (Hindi/Marathi: देवास)is an ancient town situated on the Malwa plateau in the West-central part of Indian state called Madhya Pradesh, about 160 km south west from state capital, Bhopal. It is the administrative center of the Dewas District, and was formerly the seat of two princely states during the British Raj, Dewas Junior state and Dewas senior state. Today, Dewas is an industrial town, with companies like Ranbaxy and Tata International being prominent players.

Origin of name [link]

The name Dewas is derived from the Devi Vaishini hill in the city, commonly known as Tekri. The hill has a temple of deity Devi Chamunda tulja bhavani and Kalika Mata. The word Dewas is also believed to be a sandhi of words Dev (deity) and Vas (Marathi for abode), thus Dewas means abode of the deity or god.

Geography [link]

Dewas lies northeast of Indore, southeast of Ujjain, and southwest of Shajapur. The city is located on the level plains of the Malwa plateau; to the south, the land rises gently to the Vindhya Range, which is the source of the Chambal and Kali Sindh rivers that flow north through the district on their way to the Ganges.The main river in dewas is Kshipra, which is known as holy river. Dewas lies at the foot of the conical Chamunda Hill, on the summit of which is the Devi Vindhyavasini temple. Nagada, which is home to Jain and Hindu temple ruins, lies just south of the city of Dewas.

Demographics [link]

As of 2011^[update] India census,^[1] Dewas had a population of 289,438 .Dewas registered 40.1% growth in population during decade 1991–2001 which is way above Indian population growth average. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Dewas has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 77% and, female literacy is 61%. In Dewas, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age. Marathi and Hindi are widely spoken languages in Dewas.

Industrial Connection [link]

Dewas has many industrial units providing employment to thousands of industrial workers. It has some industrial areas on Indore road and also few pockets of industries on Ujjain road.

Bank Note Press - Bank Note Press, Dewas, an industrial unit of the Government of India, the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Economic Affairs was conceived in 1969 and established in 1974. Bank Note Press has been equipped with all the facilities for printing and processing of high quality bank notes and has various wings to control activities such as printing, quality control, engineering, examination, ancillary and administration. It has been awarded ISO 9001 for its superior note quality and ISO 14001 for its environmental policies. The Central Industrial Security Force has been entrusted with the maintenance of security, law and order etc. of both the press area and the colony area.

Dewas is an industrial city of the state. It has many mid-sized and small industries. The largest companies include Tatas, Kirloskers, Arvind Mills, S Kumars, Tata - Cummins, Gajra Gears,Gabriel India Ltd, Ranbaxy Labs, Steel Tubes and the Bank Note press. The rapid industrialization took place in the late 70s and early 80s, but due to inadequate infrastructure, the pace has been slower since the late 80s. There are still large companies delivering substantial profits however. Dewas is known as the Soya capital of India and is a major part of the soya bean processing industry in the country.

In recent years, some industries have closed their operations due to a shortage of sufficient infrastructure to support growth. The main factor is the shortage of water as the water table has significantly reduced due to excessive usage in previous decades.

Due to its high location above mean sea level and at one corner of plateau, constant wind flows in the region making it perfectly suited for harvesting wind energy. MP wind farms have chosen an ideal location for planting more than 100 huge monster like wind mills on a hill some 13 km from Dewas. It generates around 15 megawatts of power. A few private companies have financed these to get uninterrupted power supply.

Education [link]

Dewas has many good schools for education up to HSC level. For higher education there are a few colleges but students prefer to move to Indore as it has got more advanced facilities and options for higher education and various professional courses to choose from.

Higher Education [link]

Govt. K.P. College affiliated to Vikram University, Govt Girls Degree College, HAHU Medical College, Prestige Institute Of Management Dewas, New Era Institute of Education, Moulana Azad Collage Of Professional studies (MACPS), SYNERGY INSITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, www.nimt.in , www.nietd.in. new tech college , dewas The pioneer public school,Guru vashihtha college.

Major schools [link]

St Mary's Convent S.S. School, Vindhyachal Academy, Shishu Vihar H.S. school, Kendriya Vidyalaya Dewas, Everest English Higher Secondary School, Gyan Sagar Academy, Govt NVM No.1, B.C.M School, Central India Academy, Holy Trinity School, Holy Higher Secondary School, Govt NVM No.2, Kerala Public School, San Thome Academy.

Media [link]

Print Media Daily newspapers: Dewas Bhraman,Dainik Jagran, Raj Express, Satyakaar, Nai dunia, dewas darpan, Dainik Bhaskar Dewas Doot,.

Electronic Media National News Channel Reporter for News Network, CNEB, DD News, India TV Regional News Channel Reporter for Etv, Bansal News MP.CG.[1], Sadhna news, red9 SR Times Hindi Latest News

Transport [link]

Airways [link]

Nearest Airport is Devi Ahilya International Airport, Indore (44 K.M) which is well connected with Major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bhopal, Gwalior, Goa, Bangalore, Jabalpur, Pune, Jaipur. Many service operators like Jet airways, Indian Airlines, Kingfisher, Kingfisher Red, Jet Lite, Sient operate on various routes giving customers flexibility to choose various levels of services.

Indore Airport is One and Half hours drive from Dewas.

Railways [link]

Dewas Junction(DWX), is a Standard Broad Gauge Railway Station which belongs to Ratlam Division of Western Railway (India) Zone, is well connected with all major cities of India.

Dewas Junction lies on Indore Junction BG - Ujjain Junction branch line and it has one line originating and going towards Maksi Junction which connects Nagda Bhopal Junction WR-CR link line. Indore - Ujjain line is not electrified and diesel engines mostly WDM2/3 pull trains on this sector.

There are regular trains plying to Mumbai (BCT), Delhi (NDLS), Kolkata (HWH), Chennai (MAS), Pune (PUNE), Ahmedabad (ADI), Lucknow (LKO), Jaipur (JP), Kanpur (CNB), Patna (PNBE), Thiruvananthpuram (TVC), Coimbatore (CNB), Eranakulam (ERS), Nagpur (NGP), Jammutavi (JAT), Amritsar (ASR), Dehradun (DDN), Ajmer (AII), Jodhpur (JU), Chhindwara (CWA), Jablapur (JBP), Gandhinagar (GNC), Gwalior (GWL) and other major cities.

All trains, including superfast and express trains, stop here. The electrification of the Indore- Ujjain section is underway and expected to be finished soon. This would rather increase some more speed and connectivity.

Roadways [link]

Dewas is well connected to major cities in state and Central India through extensive network of national and state highways. NH3 Agra Mumbai National highway (A.B. Road) passes through the town. NH 86 starts from Dewas and goes up to UP border passing through Chhatarpur - Hirapur - Banda - Sagar - Rahatgarh - Vidisha - Raisen - Bhopal - Sehore - Ashta.

• Distance from Indore: 35 km
• Distance from Bhopal: 148 km
• Distance from Ujjain: 37 km
• Distance from Mumbai: 638 km
• Distance from Sonkatch: 33 km
• Distance from Maxi: 32 km
• Distance from Mhow: 62 km

Princely history [link]

Dewas was formerly the capital of not one but two princely states of British India. The original state was founded in the first half of the 18th century by the brothers Tukaji Rao (senior) and Jivaji Rao (junior), from the Pawar clan of Marathas, who advanced into Malwa with the Maratha Peshwa, Baji Rao, in 1728. The brothers divided the territory among themselves; their descendants ruled as the senior and junior branches of the family. After 1841, each branch ruled his own portion as a separate state, though the lands belonging to each were so intimately entangled, that even in Dewas, the capital town, the two sides of the main street were under different administrations and had different arrangements for water supply and lighting. The senior branch had an area of 446 sq mi (1,160 km²). and a population of in 62,312 in 1901, while the area of the junior branch was 440 sq mi (1,100 km²). and had a population of 54,904 in 1901. Both Dewas states were in the Malwa Agency of the Central India Agency. After India's independence in 1947, the Rajas of Dewas acceded to India, and their states were integrated into Madhya Bharat, which became a state of India in 1950. In 1956, Madhya Bharat was merged into Madhya Pradesh state.^[2]

The E.M. Forster connection [link]

A description of life in Dewas at the eve of Independence is provided in the book, The Hill of Devi by E. M. Forster, who was private secretary to Tukojirao III the raja of Dewas Senior. The title of the book itself refers to the hill on which the temple to Chamunda is located.

See also [link]

• Ponwar
• Maratha
• Maratha Empire
• Maratha clan system

References [link]

External links [link]

• Government website on Dewas district
• Origin of Aditya Computers