Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti
The Samyukta Maharashtra Movement achieved its aim when the present state of Maharashtra was created on 1 May 1960. The state reorganization left Marathi-speaking areas in Northern Karnataka, such as Belgaon, outside Maharashtra. The newly liberated people of Goa in a 1967 referendum rejected merger with Maharashtra.
Geography of Maharashtra
The word "Maharashtra", the land of the Marathi-speaking people, appears to be derived from Maharashtri, an old form of Prakrit. Some consider it a corruption of the term 'Maha Kantara' (the Great Forest), a synonym for 'Dandakaranya'. Maharashtra is the third largest state (in area) in India after Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It covers an area of 307,713 km and is bordered by the states of Madhya Pradesh to the north, Chhattisgarh to the east, Telangana to the southeast, Karnataka to the south and Goa to the southwest. The state of Gujarat lies to the northwest, with the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli sandwiched between the borders. Maharashtra has coastline of 720 km.The Arabian Sea makes up Maharashtra's west coast. Maharashtra consists of two major relief divisions. The plateau is a part of the Deccan tableland and the Konkan coastal strip abutting on the Arabian Sea.