Draft:Hanol

Hanol હણોલ Tirth Gaam Hanol
Village
Hanol Location in Gujarat, India
Coordinates: 21.5°N 71.85°E / 21.5; 71.85
Country	India
State	Gujarat
District	Bhavnagar
Taluka	Palitana
Government
• Type	Gram panchayat
• Body	Hanol Gram Panchayat
Area
• Total	10.52 km2 (4.06 sq mi)
Elevation	67 m (220 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	2,693
• Density	256.0/km2 (663.0/sq mi)
PIN	364270
Vehicle registration	GJ
Households	518
Literacy	72.58%

Hanol (also promoted since the mid-2020s as Tirth Gaam Hanol, Template:Lang-gu, "pilgrimage village Hanol") is a village in Palitana taluka of Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It has received attention in Indian regional and national media as an example of a "model village" under the Gujarat government's Samras Gram Yojana consensus-panchayat scheme and the central government's Adarsh Gram (model village) initiatives, and is the birthplace of Mansukh Mandaviya, a Union Cabinet minister in the Government of India.

Geography

Hanol lies in the semi-arid Saurashtra region of Gujarat, within the administrative jurisdiction of Palitana taluka, Bhavnagar district. The village has a total geographical area of approximately 1,052.21 hectares (about 10.52 km²). It falls within PIN code 364270, part of the Bhavnagar postal division. The village is situated roughly 12 kilometres from the Jain pilgrimage town of Palitana and about 50 kilometres from the district headquarters of Bhavnagar. The seasonal Rajaval river flows near the village, and a local irrigation and flood-control reservoir has been built on it.

History and governance

Hanol is administered by an elected gram panchayat headed by a sarpanch, as provided for under the Gujarat Panchayati Raj Act. The village is frequently cited as a long-running example of Gujarat's Samras Gram Yojana ("harmonious village scheme"), a state programme launched in 2001 that offers financial incentives to villages that elect their sarpanch and panchayat members unopposed, by consensus, rather than through a contested ballot. Under the scheme, villages under 5,000 population that reach consensus receive an initial grant of ₹3 lakh, rising to ₹5 lakh for larger villages, with the amount doubling for villages that elect an all-female ("Mahila Samras") panchayat. Village sources and local reporting state that Hanol has held a contested panchayat election only once in its recorded history, with the sarpanch and members otherwise chosen by consensus in every other election cycle.

Academic literature on the Samras scheme more broadly has noted that unopposed, consensus-based panchayat elections can also raise concerns about the marginalisation of dissent and of weaker social groups in local decision-making, even as the scheme is promoted as fostering village unity.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India, Hanol had a population of 2,693 people across 518 households, comprising 1,322 males and 1,371 females. This gives the village a sex ratio of approximately 1,037 females per 1,000 males, notably higher than the Gujarat state average of 919. Among children aged 0–6 (333 individuals, or about 12.4% of the population), the child sex ratio was lower, at 881 females per 1,000 males, slightly below the state average of 890 for that age group.

The overall literacy rate recorded in 2011 was 72.58% (male literacy 83.23%; female literacy 62.55%), compared with a Gujarat state average of 78.03%. The Scheduled Castes made up 112 people (4.16% of the population) and the Scheduled Tribes 22 people (0.82%), with the remainder of the population belonging to general and Other Backward Class communities.

Economy

Hanol's economy is predominantly agrarian. As of the 2011 census, 1,298 people (48.2% of the population) were classified as workers, of whom 1,114 (85.8%) were "main workers" employed for more than six months of the year and 184 (14.2%) were "marginal workers" employed for shorter periods. Of the main workforce, 394 people were recorded as cultivators and 446 as agricultural labourers. Locally grown crops include wheat and groundnut, supported by monsoon rainfall and irrigation infrastructure including a canal and dam built near the village. Women's self-help groups in the village are engaged in dairying, tailoring, handicrafts, and food processing (such as pickles and spices), and a village skill-development centre offers vocational training aimed at youth employment.

Infrastructure and development

Since the 2010s, Hanol has undertaken a series of infrastructure projects promoted locally under the banner "Our Prakalp" ("our projects"), including:

• An Amrut Sarovar (lake/reservoir) built under the national Amrut Sarovar water-conservation mission, into which villagers report having ceremonially brought water from 33 rivers considered sacred.
• A Pashu Hostel ("animal hostel"), a centralised, cooperatively managed shelter intended to move livestock out of household compounds and improve sanitation and veterinary care.
• A skill development centre for vocational training.
• The Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya Cricket Stadium, a sports ground and coaching academy (see Sports below).
• A Panchayat Bhavan (administrative building) and community hall.
• A helipad and a decorative village entrance gate ("Pravesh Dwar").
• A two-storey aviary ("Pakshighar") reported to include a lift for maintenance access.
• Paved internal roads, underground drainage, piped water supply, and solar-powered street lighting.

These projects have been covered in regional media and are described on the village's own promotional website; independent, in-depth verification of individual claims (for example, the aviary's lift) has not been established beyond local news and self-published sources.

Education and healthcare

The village has a government primary school, which is also the school Mansukh Mandaviya attended in his early education. For secondary and higher secondary schooling, students from Hanol typically attend institutions in nearby Songadh, most notably the Songadh Gurukul (Gurukul Vividhlaxi High School), established in 1940 and affiliated with the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board; this school is also where Mandaviya completed his secondary education. Hanol has a primary health sub-centre providing basic and maternal healthcare, with referrals to larger hospitals in Bhavnagar for advanced treatment.

Culture and religion

The village's principal place of worship is the Nagbai Mata temple complex, dedicated to Aai Nagbai, a Charan folk deity venerated across Saurashtra. Local oral tradition and Charan genealogical lore (Vahivancha Barot traditions) associate Nagbai Maa with a legendary dispute with Ra' Mandlik, a Chudasama ruler of Junagadh, though this account is transmitted mainly through oral storytelling and regional video content rather than academic or documentary sources, and should be treated as folklore rather than verified history. The temple is locally said to be around 300 years old. The village celebrates major Hindu festivals communally, including Janmashtami, and holds an annual Juvarva Yatra (a procession associated with sowing and blessing barley/wheat shoots) during a three-day festival held around Uttarayan in mid-January.

Sports

The village has invested in sporting infrastructure centred on the Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya Cricket Stadium and an associated cricket academy providing coaching and equipment to local children. Local reporting states that a young cricketer from the village was selected for an Under-18 national team trial/squad and that a young woman from Hanol progressed to international-level handball, though independent confirmation of these specific claims has not been located beyond promotional and local sources.

Hanol has also been used as a launch site for the central government's Fit India "Sundays on Cycle" campaign, promoted in his home village by Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, encouraging residents to cycle for transport and fitness.

Atmanirbhar Hanol Mahotsav

In January 2026 the village hosted the three-day Atmanirbhar Hanol Mahotsav ("Self-Reliant Hanol Festival"), held from 13 to 15 January and organised by the Hanol Village Development Committee to mark the village's development milestones. The event was inaugurated by Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and was attended by Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, former cricketer Kapil Dev, Indian Olympic Association president P. T. Usha, and Gujarat state minister Jitu Vaghani, among others. Programming included farmer and self-help-group seminars on natural farming, a "Rural Olympics" athletics event, a mass cycling rally, a youth procession, and a kite festival.

Notable people

• Mansukh Mandaviya (born 1 June 1972) — Indian politician and Union Cabinet Minister; born and raised in Hanol, where he attended the government primary school before completing secondary education at Songadh Gurukul.

See also

• List of villages in Bhavnagar district
• Palitana
• Samras Gram Yojana

External links

• Official website