Population, Agriculture, Irrigation, Minerals, Energy & Industry of Maharashtra — MPSC GS Paper I, GS Paper III and Prelims Paper I
Weightage: Prelims asks the social and economic geography of Maharashtra as census figures, crop regions, dams, mineral belts and industrial centres. GS Paper I asks the distribution of resources and industries, and GS Paper III asks irrigation, cropping patterns and infrastructure. This chapter gives the Maharashtra facts; the economy chapters give the policy.
1. Population
Census 2011 remains the last completed count, and its figures stay in use until the results of the 2027 Census are published.
| Indicator | Maharashtra (2011) |
|---|---|
| Population | 11.24 crore, second after Uttar Pradesh; about 9.3% of India |
| Decadal growth (2001-11) | About 16% |
| Density | 365 per square kilometre |
| Sex ratio | 929 females per 1,000 males |
| Child sex ratio (0-6) | 894 |
| Literacy | 82.3% (male 88.4%, female 75.9%) |
| Urban share | 45.2%, among the most urbanised large states |
| Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes | 11.8% / 9.4% |
District extremes are standard Prelims questions:
- Highest sex ratio: Ratnagiri, where male migration to Mumbai leaves more women at home. Lowest: Mumbai City, for the opposite reason.
- Highest literacy: Mumbai Suburban. Lowest: Nandurbar, an Adivasi district.
- Least populous: Sindhudurg. Pune and Thane are the most populous, depending on whether Palghar, carved out of Thane in 2014, is counted separately.
Urbanisation is concentrated. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar hold most of the urban population, while districts such as Gadchiroli and Sindhudurg remain overwhelmingly rural.
2. Agriculture and cropping patterns
Most of Maharashtra's farming is rain-fed. Black soils and the monsoon decide the crop map.
| Crop | Main regions | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Cotton | Vidarbha, Marathwada, Khandesh | Maharashtra has the largest area under cotton in India |
| Soybean | Vidarbha, Latur and Marathwada | Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh lead national output |
| Sugarcane | Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Pune, Solapur, Ahilyanagar; parts of Marathwada | Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh alternate as the top sugar producer |
| Jowar | Rabi jowar on the plateau, especially Solapur and Ahilyanagar | Maharashtra is the leading jowar state |
| Rice | The Konkan and eastern Vidarbha (Bhandara, Gondia, Gadchiroli) | Areas of higher rainfall |
| Tur and gram | Vidarbha and Marathwada | The main pulses |
| Onion | Nashik (Lasalgaon, among Asia's largest onion markets), Pune, Ahilyanagar | Maharashtra is the largest onion producer |
Horticulture is a Maharashtra strength. Nashik grapes, Solapur pomegranates, Nagpur oranges, Jalgaon bananas, Alphonso mangoes of Ratnagiri and Devgad, and cashew from the Konkan are leading examples.
In 1990 Maharashtra linked orchard planting to its Employment Guarantee Scheme, a policy that helped spread fruit crops into dry districts.
3. The irrigation paradox
Maharashtra has the largest number of large dams in India, roughly two-fifths of the national total in the National Register of Large Dams. Yet only about a fifth of its cropped area is irrigated, well below the national share.
The reasons are physical and human:
- Terrain and rock: much of the plateau is uneven and basaltic, so canal commands are small and groundwater storage is limited.
- The rain shadow: reservoirs in drought-prone regions fill poorly in weak years.
- Incomplete projects: many projects were started and left unfinished for years, with costs rising.
- Water-intensive crops: sugarcane takes a large share of irrigation water in the areas where it grows.
Key projects:
| Project | River | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Koyna | Koyna | Hydroelectric power; the Shivsagar reservoir |
| Jayakwadi | Godavari | Nath Sagar at Paithan; Marathwada's main reservoir |
| Ujani | Bhima | Solapur's water source |
| Gosikhurd | Wainganga | A national project in eastern Vidarbha |
| Bhatsa, Vaitarna, Tansa | Konkan rivers | Supply Mumbai |
Water sharing between upstream Nashik and Ahilyanagar and downstream Marathwada, especially over releases into the Jayakwadi, has been a recurring dispute. The Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority, created in 2005, was the first such state regulator in India.
Watershed development is Maharashtra's answer to rain-fed farming. Ralegan Siddhi under Anna Hazare and Hiware Bazar under Popatrao Pawar became models. The state's Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan (from 2015) and civil-society efforts such as the Paani Foundation's Water Cup scaled up village water conservation.
Worked example 3.1 (a 15-mark answer, ~250 words). "Maharashtra has the most large dams in India yet a low share of irrigated area. Explain and suggest remedies."
Model answer. Maharashtra holds roughly two-fifths of India's large dams, but only about a fifth of its cropped area is irrigated. The gap has four causes.
The terrain of the basalt plateau is uneven, so canal commands are small and costly, and the rock stores little groundwater. Many reservoirs lie in the rain shadow and fill poorly in weak monsoon years. A large number of projects were started and left incomplete for years, so potential created was not converted into potential used. And sugarcane, which needs water all year, takes a disproportionate share of what is available.
The remedies follow from the causes:
- Finish the projects already begun before sanctioning new ones, with priority to distribution canals.
- Move to drip and sprinkler irrigation, especially for cane, and price water by volume.
- Scale up watershed development and groundwater recharge on the Ralegan Siddhi and Hiware Bazar model.
- Use the Water Resources Regulatory Authority to share water fairly between upstream and downstream regions.
The lesson is that storage without distribution and demand management does not irrigate fields.
4. Minerals
Maharashtra's minerals are concentrated in the east, on the older rocks of Vidarbha, and in the south Konkan.
| Mineral | Main areas |
|---|---|
| Coal | The Wardha valley: Chandrapur, Yavatmal, Nagpur |
| Manganese | Nagpur and Bhandara |
| Iron ore | Gadchiroli (Surjagad), Sindhudurg, Chandrapur |
| Bauxite | Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Raigad |
| Limestone | Chandrapur and Yavatmal, feeding cement plants |
| Kyanite and sillimanite | Bhandara |
Mining in Gadchiroli is a Mains theme because it joins development, forest rights and security: the district has large iron ore deposits, dense forests and Adivasi communities, and has been affected by Left-wing extremism.
5. Energy
- Thermal power dominates, based on Vidarbha's coal. The Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station is among the largest state-owned plants, and Koradi, Khaperkheda, Parli, Nashik and Bhusawal are other state stations.
- Hydroelectric power comes mainly from Koyna, among India's largest hydroelectric projects, which uses the steep drop from the Sahyadri to the Konkan.
- Nuclear power: Tarapur in Palghar district was India's first nuclear power station (1969). A large plant at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri has been planned for years.
- Renewables: wind farms on the Sahyadri plateaus in Satara and Sangli, solar parks such as Sakri in Dhule, and solar feeders that supply farm pumps by day.
6. Industry
The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) was set up on 1 August 1962 under the Maharashtra Industrial Development Act, 1961. It develops industrial areas across the state and was among the first bodies of its kind in India.
| Belt or centre | Industries |
|---|---|
| Mumbai-Thane-Navi Mumbai-Raigad | Finance, chemicals and petrochemicals (Trombay, Patalganga, Nagothane), engineering, pharmaceuticals |
| Pune (Pimpri-Chinchwad, Chakan, Ranjangaon, Hinjewadi) | Automobiles and components; information technology |
| Nashik | Engineering; aircraft at Ozar (HAL); the currency note and security presses at Nashik Road |
| Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Waluj, Shendra, AURIC) | Automobiles, pharmaceuticals; AURIC is a node of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor |
| Nagpur (Butibori, MIHAN) | Engineering, logistics; MIHAN is a cargo hub and SEZ around the airport |
| Bhiwandi, Malegaon, Ichalkaranji | Powerlooms; Ichalkaranji is called the Manchester of Maharashtra |
| Solapur | Textiles, including the GI-tagged Solapur chaddar |
Mumbai is India's financial capital. It houses the Reserve Bank of India, SEBI, the Bombay Stock Exchange (1875), Asia's oldest stock exchange, and the National Stock Exchange.
7. Transport
| Mode | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Roads | The Mumbai-Pune Expressway (2002), India's first access-controlled expressway; the Samruddhi Mahamarg, a Mumbai-Nagpur expressway of about 700 km, fully opened in 2025; the Atal Setu (Mumbai Trans Harbour Link), about 21.8 km, opened in January 2024 as India's longest sea bridge |
| Rail | First train Bori Bunder-Thane, 1853; headquarters of the Central and Western Railways in Mumbai; the Konkan Railway (1998) along the coast; the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed line under construction |
| Ports | Mumbai Port, a natural harbour; Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva), India's largest container port; Vadhavan, a deep-draft port approved in 2024 in Palghar |
| Airports | Mumbai, the new Navi Mumbai International Airport (opened in 2025), Pune, Nagpur and Shirdi |
Worked example 7.1 (a Prelims-style match). "Match the centre to its industry: Ichalkaranji, Ozar, Chakan, Lasalgaon."
Answer. Powerlooms; aircraft (HAL); automobiles; onion trade.
Common traps MPSC sets here
- Treating the number of dams as a measure of irrigation. Maharashtra leads in large dams but has a low irrigated share.
- Naming Uttar Pradesh as the only large sugar state. Maharashtra and UP alternate at the top of sugar output.
- Placing India's first nuclear station elsewhere. It is Tarapur, in Palghar district, from 1969.
- Reversing the sex-ratio extremes. Ratnagiri is the highest and Mumbai City the lowest.
- Using 2011 district figures without the Palghar split. Palghar was carved from Thane in 2014.
Memory aids
- "929, 82, 45": sex ratio, literacy, urban share (2011).
- "Cotton Vidarbha, Cane West, Onion Nashik, Orange Nagpur, Grape Nashik, Banana Jalgaon."
- "Dams many, water few": the irrigation paradox.
Summary
Maharashtra had 11.24 crore people in 2011, a sex ratio of 929, literacy of 82.3 per cent and an urban share of 45.2 per cent, with sharp contrasts between Mumbai and Adivasi districts. Its farming is largely rain-fed, with cotton, soybean, jowar, sugarcane and onion as major crops and a strong horticulture sector.
The state has the most large dams in India but a low irrigated share, which watershed development and water regulation try to address. Minerals and thermal power are concentrated in eastern Vidarbha, Koyna and Tarapur add hydro and nuclear power, and MIDC's industrial belts, Mumbai's finance and new expressways, ports and airports make it India's largest state economy.
Exam protocol
- Learn the census table and district extremes for Prelims.
- For irrigation, give the paradox, its causes and remedies.
- Match every industrial centre to its product and every crop to its region.
