Bidar District General Information

Bidar is a charming district- one of its charms being a very bracing climate practically throughout the district and for the greater part of the year. April and may are the hot months, but even during this hot weather period, the heat is often broken by sharp and sudden thunder showers. By early June the south-west monsoon sets in with all its pleasant coolness and the weather is back to its bracing glory. The cold weather is never too cold and the rainfall is never excessive though its excessive variation is often the cause, symptom and malaise of severe droughts. One other aspect of its charm is that it is full of history- every village and town being replete with monuments, legends, stories of velour, romance of beautiful princesses, long forgotten battles, feuding military adventurers and even of social reform movements that shook the very foundation and structure of medieval Hinduism.

Almost 700 kilometers from Bangalore, Bidar lies at the farthest north-eastern corner of Karnataka. Bifurcated and truncated during the re-organisation of states in 1956, it is only a fraction of its vast expanse in the erstwhile state of Hyderabad.

Present day Bidar covering an expanse of 5448 square kilometers of land lies between 17 o 35 !! and 18o 25!! North latitudes and 760 42!! minutes and 770 39!! east longitudes, with the districts of Nizamabad and Medak in Andhra Pradesh on the East and the districts of Nanded and Osmanabad in Maharashtra on the west. On the south lies the district of Gulbarga of Karnataka. This central position in the Deccan had for long imparted to Bidar, the pre-eminent position in the history of the Deccan though to-day it presents a picture of centuries of neglect and ruin.

The entire district forms a part of the Deccan Plateau and is made up mostly of solidified lava. The northern part of the district is characterized by expanses of level and treeless surface punctuated here and there by flat and undulating hillocks, black soils and basaltic rocks. The southern half of the district is a high plateau about 715 m above mean sea level and are well drained. The average elevation of the district is between 580 to 610 m above mean sea level. Alluvial deposit is normally found along the banks of the Manjra river and its main tributaries.

The district is entirely covered by the Deccan trap flows of the tertiary period. The Deccan trap is composed of horizontal flows of basaltic lava. They generally form flat-topped hillocks and terrace-like features. The physical characteristics of individual flows show considerable variations. Some flows are hard and massive while others are weathered, soft and friable. This character has resulted in terraced landscape, suddenly ending in escarpments. The traps are seen generally 618 m above mean sea level. These are jointed and show the characteristics of spherical weathering leaving massive hard cores. Columnar jointing is predominantly developed in these rocks, besides horizontal joints, which impart to the rocks bedded appearance. The top layers of the Deccan trap in parts of Bidar and Humnabad taluk are altered to reddish vesicular laterite, forming and extensive undulating plateau.

The minerals found in the area are Bauxite, Kaolin and Red ochre. A deposit of highly siliceous bauxite clay has been located about three kilometers south of Basavakalyan. Similar deposits are noticed near Alwal and Kamthana Villages of Bidar taluk. A large deposit of Kaolin is located near Kamthana village. Red ochre deposits are found near Sirsi and Aurad Village.

The climate of this district is characterized by general dryness throughout the year, except during the southwest monsoon. The summer season is from the middle of February to the first week of June. This is followed by southwest monsoon season, which continues till the end of September. The months of October and November constitute the post-monsoon or retreating monsoon season.

The winter season is from December to middle of February and the temperature begins to decrease from the end of November, December is the coldest month with mean daily maximum temperature of 27.3 C and mean daily minimum of 16.4 C. From the middle of the February, both day and night temperatures begin to rise rapidly. May is the hottest month with mean daily maximum temperature of 38.8 C and mean daily minimum of 25.9 C. With the withdrawal of southwest monsoon in the first week of October, there is slight increase in day temperature but night temperature decreases steadily. After October, both day and night temperatures decreases progressively. The highest maximum temperature recorded at Bidar was on 8-5-1931(43.3 degree C) and the lowest minimum was on 5-1-1901(3.9 degree C).

The average annual rainfall at Bidar is 847.2mm. About 81% of annual rainfall is received during the period from June to September. Maximum rainfall is recorded in the month of September. The variation in rainfall from year to year is large and the district is drought-prone. The average numbers of rainy days in the district are 52.

The relative humidity is high during the southwest monsoon, being between 65% to 75%. Summer is the driest part of the year, when the relative humidity in the afternoon is between 30% and 40%.

Winds are generally moderate in strength with some increase in force during the latter half of the summer season and during the monsoon. During the southwest monsoon season, winds mainly blow between the southwest and northeast directions. In the post monsoon season, winds blow predominantly between north and east directions. During the winter season winds are variable in directions.

Bidar district, which occupies a central position in Deccan plateau, is mixed with several racial strains, ethinic groups and socio-cultural clusters. Long after the fusion of Dravidian and Aryan elements, there was, in the medivial times, a continuous influx of batches of various types like the Turks, Mughals, Iranians, Afghans and Arabs who were welcomed and encouraged to settle down in the area. As a result of these admixtures there has been a cultural mosaic.

The population of the district, according to 1991 census was 12,55,799 out of which 10,10,096 lived in the rural areas and 2,45,703 in the urban areas. Average population density is 231 per sq. km.

Bidar is predominantly an agricultural district and a major portion of the area is covered under agricultural practices. Mainly dry crops are grown, Jowar being the major constituent. greengram, Bengalgram, Blackgram, Paddy, Groundnut, Wheat, Redgram, Sugarcane and chillies are other agricultural crops. The average size of the land holdings in the district is 6.2 hectares as against the state average of 4.4 hectares.