Meerut District Case Study

This chapter is designated to present a concise introduction of the profile of Meerut District, design of research and review of literature.
Meerut District – A Brief Introduction
Meerut is one of the largest cities of Uttar Pradesh, being very close to the capital, New Delhi. It is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) and is being accepted as one of the fastest developing city of the State in terms of educational facilities, infrastructure development, as a business centre, agricultural output, industrial growth, medical and health facilities and as a hub of real estate business. As per the census of 2001, Meerut has attained the status of a Metropolitan city i.e., million plus population
. The rising importance of the city compels
This marked the beginning of a general movement of freedom from the British rule, with the support of civil populace. The socio- religious reform movement of the 19th century moulded the social orientation of the English educated middle class. Great reformers and social architects like Dayanand Saraswati, Annie Besant, Swami Vivekananda, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott and Syed Ahmed Khan visited Meerut, creating an impounded effect on the minds of the local residents. Today Meerut is a fast growing district in the NCR and abodes many world famed industries viz. sports goods, scissors, sweet-meats, handloom and textiles, jewellery, and sugar
Area-wise, the district ranks sixteenth among the largest metropolitan cities in India and in all is the seventeenth largest in India, covering about 172 Km2 of area. The literacy rate was enumerated as 82.91% for males and 65.69% for females. The per capita income of the district was found to be Rs. 23,553, which is outstandingly higher than the state average of Rs. 23,132, which is an indicator of the general well-being of Meerut in comparison to the other districts of Uttar Pradesh. Economically, Meerut is an assortment of various classes or sectors comprising of farmers, agricultural labourers; workers in house-hold industries and marginal workers, businessmen, salaried employees and self-employed people. The rural part the district is comprised of 3 tehsils (Sardhana, Mawana and Meerut), which are further divided into 12 blocks namely Sarurpur khurd, Sardhana, Daurala, Machhara, Hastinapur, Qila Parikshitgarh, Mawana, Jani Khurd, Rohta, Meerut, Rajpura and Kharkhoda (Table 7a). The urban part is separated into two major parts i.e., Meerut Cantonment and Meerut City.
Objectives of the Study
The present study was undertaken with the twin objectives encompassing a detailed quantitative study and a secondary qualitative