Chinawal is a village in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state, India. It is situated at the foothills of the Satpura range in a generally hot and dry climate. The densely populated village is surrounded by the flat land and nutrient-rich black soil.
The flora and fauna of Chinawal have been impacted by the human habitation and cultivation of the land, but non-human life like neem trees, tree squirrels and graculas can still be found in and around the village. Using modern methods of the agriculture and agronomic practices, villagers of the Chinawal village have achieved a high growth rate of agriculture produce especially of bananas which is noted by the Government of Maharashtra and various other institutions.
Chinawal is also known for its educational facilities. It has Marathi, Urdu and English medium schools which offer education from the kindergarten up to higher secondary school, and which is facilitated by the students' accommodations and school buses.
The 'vangyache bharit' loving villagers also favor urad dal, shev bhaji, puran poli and kheer in their dishes.
Geography
Chinawal village is located at in Raver tahsil and Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state of India. It has an average elevation of 246 metres (810 feet) from the sea level. It is situated at the foothills of Satpura range which is in the north-east region of Deccan Traps and Khandesh. Landscape surrounding village is approximately flat, free of dikes and hills. The loam to clayey soil is of volcanic origin which contain poor to moderate organic carbon and nitrogen, poor amount of phosphorus and high to very high amount of potassium. Level of soil salinity and alkalinity is very low, hence non-agricultural land is almost non-existent. Such volcanic ash rich soil is well-suited for the cultivation of cotton and banana crops. Naturally occurring neem trees are often grown in controlled way for the shade in hot summer. Landscape of Chinawal village, street sides and borders of the farm lands are chiefly dotted with these neem trees.
Administration
Since the establishment of the gram panchayat in 1936, Chinawal village has seen notable progress. The entire village is electrified. Shikshan Prasarak Mandal has built many school buildings and hostels. The village has excelled in banana production, which warranted the visit of Kerala government officials in 2004 to Chinawal during their study tour. In August 2011, many farmers from the villages of Yamunanagar and Kernal districts in Haryana visited the Chinawal village on behalf of the government of Haryana to study its agricultural production.
In April 2013, Chinawal village received an award under 'Mahatma Gandhi Tantamukt Gaon Mohim' (Mahatma Gandhi Dispute-Free Village Mission) for the year 2011-12 from the government of Maharashtra. But some general issues remains. In 2012, Jalgaon district health officials had declared water from 36 villages as 'unsafe for drinking', which included drinking water sample from the Chinawal village. Reason given by the health officials was general unhygienic conditions in and around villages which included mixing of the animal and human waste in drinking water supply chain due to lack of cleanliness and open defecation, excess use of fertilizers in the farms etc. Illegal sale of Alcoholic beverages, including country wine, is rampant in and around Chinawal village even on dry days and some time teenagers are employed to smuggle wine bottles.
The job of road construction and repair falls under zilla parishad. Despite repeated complaints to the representatives of the Raver region, the condition of roads leading to Chinawal and other villages remains poor and it impacts transport of the banana production and overall economy of the village. The job of electricity supply falls under the Government of Maharashtra. Villagers and farmers suffers due to many hours of daily power loadshedding. Farmers can not irrigate their farms regularly and it affects agricultural production. Sometime sand is illegally smuggled from the bed of the Suki river which is near to the Chinawal village, but when it is legally sold, gram panchayat of the Chinawal village do not receive its 10% share in the income regularly from the state government and it affects the development work of the village.