Anand, Gujarat

Anand is the administrative centre of Anand District in the state of Gujarat, India. It is administered by Anand Municipal Corporation. It is part of the region known as Charotar, consisting of Anand and Kheda districts.

Anand is known as the "Milk Capital of India". It became famous for Amul dairy and its milk revolution by the Amul trinity: Tribhuvandas Patel, Verghese Kurien and H. M. Dalaya. This city hosts the Head Office of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), the NDDB of India,the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Vidya Dairy and the Anand Agricultural University. Another famous educational hub is Vallabh Vidhyanagar, an educational suburb of Anand which has institutes like BVM (Birla Vishvkarma Mahavidhyalaya), which is the first engineering college of Gujarat, GCET (G. H. Patel College of Engineering and Technology), ADIT(A.D Patel Institute Of Technology) and Sardar Patel University.

Anand lies between Ahmedabad and Vadodara on the Western Railways, 101 km (63 mi) from the state capital Gandhinagar. It is a railway Junction and a broad gauge line from here runs to Godhra, covering Dakor, a major Hindu pilgrimage en route. MEMUs and one or two regular passenger trains ply on this route. It also has a branch line to Khambhat. DMUs Diesel Multiple Units ply on this route as it is not electrified yet. Anand Railway Station has 5 platforms, numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 are on the main line and number 5 is on the branch line to Godhra. A new platform is in construction on the branch to Ahmedabad from the Godhra line forming a triangle. The Ahmedabad Vadodara Expressway from Ahmedabad to Vadodara also passes through Anand.