BASIM  , a

town of India, in the Akola district, Berar, 52 m . S.S.E. from Akola station of the Great Indian Peninsula railway . Pop . (1901) 13,823 . Until 1905 it was the headquarters of the district of Basim, which had an area of 2949 sq. m.; but in that year the district was abolished, its component taluks being divided between the districts of Akola and Yeotmal . Its western portion, the Basim taluk, consists of a fertile tableland, about i000 ft. above sea-level, sloping down westward and southward to the rich valley of the Penganga; its eastern portion, the taluks of Mangrul and Pasud, mainly of a succession of low hills covered with poor grass . In the Pasud taluk, however, there are wide stretches of woodland, while some of the peaks rise to a height of 2000 ft., the scenery (especially during the rains) being very beautiful . The climate of the locality is better than that of the other districts of Berar; the hot wind which blows during the day in the summer months being succeeded at night by a cool breeze . The principal crops are millet, wheat, other food grains, pulse, oilseeds and cotton; there is some manufacture of cotton-cloth and blankets, and there are ginning factories in the town . In 1901 the population was 353, 410, showing a decrease of 11 % in the decade, due to the famine of 1899—1900, which was severely felt in the district .