Harda District

Harda District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state of central India. The town of Harda is the district headquarters. The district is part of Bhopal Division. Harda district was organized in 1998.

The district has an area 2644 km2, and a population 474,174 (2001 census), a 25% increase from 1991. Harda District is bounded by the districts of Sehore to the north, Hoshangabad to the northeast, Betul to the southeast, Khandwa to the south and west, and Dewas to the northwest. Harda District was created in 1998, when it was divided from Hoshangabad District. It is part of the Jabalpur Division of Madhya Pradesh.

Harda lies in the Narmada River valley, and the Narmada forms the district's northern boundary. The land rises towards the Satpura Range to the south. The movie Matrubhoomi, which deals with the consequences of female infanticide, was filmed in the Ranhai Kala of this district.

One of the youngest freedom movement participant from central India Guru Radha Kishan was born in 1925 in BID village of the district. Guru Radha Kishan openly challenged a British Police Official and slapped him in front of a large gathering while the officer started abusing Indians in a freedom movement rally in Indore. A widely respected Swatantrata Sangram Senani known for his integrity, honesty and transparency. He fought valiantly for the economic deprivation for the poor and underprivileged classes of society.

In an address about him Mohammad Shafi Qureshi, Governor of Madhya Pradesh said that " Before anything Guruji is a noble soul with a pious heart. People like him are extremely rare in the society today, it's an honour to facilitate such a selfless individual."

A man of principles who refused to accept any pension and never applied for the same till it was declared as Sammaan Nidhi, even when he had almost no source of income he never accepted any recognition from the government prior to that for being a freedom fighter. This complete insulation from material desire sets him apart from many other freedom fighters who held high offices in independent India. Vinayakrao Sahasrabudhe another eminent freedom fighter from Harda was an associate of Guru Radha Kishan.

Gandhian Freedom Fighter Mahesh Dutt Mishr, President of the Hindu Mahasabha Narayanrao Raghunathrao Kekre, Former Minister and RSS pracharak Madhukar Harne, Executive Director Clean Slate Internet Design Program and Consulting Professor of EE Stanford University Gurudatta Parulkar ( He also served on the board of a network security company called NetSift that was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2005 ) also hails from Harda.

Former Rajyasabha member Rameshwar Agnibhoj a known freedom fighter and the first cabinet minister from the district came from a dalit family of Masangaon village, worked for upliftment of dalits.

Kamal Patel a former minister of MP is the present MLA.

As of 2011 it is the least populous district of Madhya Pradesh (out of 50).