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Tourist Centres
Major tourist centres in the state are Amarkantak, Banjari Baba, Bhoramdev, Champaranya,
Chitrakoot, Dudhadharimath, Indrawati National Park, Kangerghati National Park,
Jagdalpur, Bastar, Danteswari Temple, and many more.
On November 1, 2000, India gave birth to a new state-Chhattisgarh. The new
state is carved out of India’s largest state of Madhya Pradesh with an area of 443,000
square kilometers. Though Chhattisgarh with an area of 135,194 square kilometers
accounts for only 30 per cent of the total area of Chhattisgarh, it is still a considerable
size, which is equivalent to almost sixteen times the size of
Kerala
The demand for the new state can be traced to a meeting of the Raipur district Congress
in 1924 when the idea of a separate entity of Chhattisgarh was mooted. The leaders
who took part in that meeting were of the view that the region of Chhattisgarh was
culturally and historically distinct from the rest of Madhya Pradesh.
The political leaders are hailing the creation of the new state of Chhattisgarh
as a right direction towards bringing prosperity and stability of both the states
concerned- Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. However concerns are being voiced from
some quarters that the bifurcation of the largest state of Madhya Pradesh may lead
to opening of floodgates of similar more demands from separatist groups cultural
and historical uniqueness.
India’s latest state will have its Capital at Raipur and the High Court at Bilaspur.
The Capital may be shifted later to Nandghat, about midway between Raipur and Bilaspur
on the banks of the Shivnad River.
Bastar, Bilaspur, Dantewara, Dhamtari, Durg, Janjgir, Jashpur, Kanker, Kavardha,
Korba, Mahasamund, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Sarguja and West Sarguja are the
sixteen
districts of Chhattisgarh.
Of the 320 MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, 90 belong to the districts of Chhattisgarh. They
will become the members of the Legislative Assembly of the new state. Lok sabha
will see 11 members from the state while Rajya Sabha will have five members from
the same state.
The newly formed state is richly endowed with
natural resources. Its forest revenue which alone accounts for 44%
of the total state’s forest revenue has been the main source of income of Madhya
Pradesh. It has rich deposits of limestone, iron-ore, copper-ore, rock phosphate,
manganese ore, bauxite, coal, asbestos and mica that contribute to around 48% of
Madhya Pradesh’s revenue from minerals.
Agriculture is the main activity for the population of 1,76,00,000 of this landlocked
state enveloped by
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and of course
Madhya Pradesh. 80% of the population is engaged in agriculture which is one crop
a year. Known as the Rice Bowl of India, the region of Chhattisgarh supplies food
grain to 600 rice mills.
However, in spite of its abundant natural resources and manpower pool, Chhattisgarh
remains a poverty stricken and socially backward region. A cursory look at some
parameters will reveal this fact. Take literacy rate, as high as 81.3 per cent of
the population above 19 years of the district of Bastar is illiterate. The rest
of the state is slightly better in this respect. 49% of the households do not have
drinking water. 68% of the households do not have an electricity connection (though
it produces more power than it consumes; Chhattisgarh contributes 35.66% of total
power generated in Madhya Pradesh). Infant mortality is high: 84 deaths per thousand
live births against the national average of 71%. 41% of the women worked as labourers
in the grueling activities (the national average is just 22.3).About half of its
female population gets married between the ages of 15 and 19.
Now with a new government in place for Chhattisgarh, there are valid reasons to
hope that the general condition of the state will improve, if not dramatically.
Economy
The mineral rich State is economically very poor. It will have to depend on the
nighbouring states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Agriculturally it is a very productive
area. Called the country's Rice Bowl, it supplies foodgrain to almost 600 rice mills.
With substantial deposits of limestone, iron-ore, copper ore, rock phosphate, manganese
ore, bauxite, coal,asbestos and mica, Chhattisgarh is one of the minieral rich State
of India.Chhattisgarh contains about 525 million tonnes of dolomite reserves, accounting
for 24 per cent of the country's share.It has healthy bauxite reserves of an estimated
73 million tonnes, an impressive reserves of iron ore at about 2,000 million tonnes
and coal at 29,000 million tonnes. Tin ore reserves exceed 27,000 million tonnes.
The mineral revenue that will accrue to Chhattisgarh will exceed Rs 600 crore annually.
Deobogh in Raipur district contains deposits of diamonds. Prospecting of diamonds
has begun here and when extraction starts in about two years' time, it is expected
to generate an additional RS 2,000 crore a year for the state. Chhattisgarh also
accounts for more than 70 per cent of India's total production of tendu leaves that
are used for making bidis.
But despite the high levels of productivity with natural and mineral resources,
Chhattisgarh has remained backward because the money earned is not ploughed back
into the region. Poverty pervades the 16 districts comprising the region. As a result,
the region has for long nursed a grudge against the rest of Madhya Pradesh which
has treated Chhattisgarh like a colony.
Hotels of Chhattisgarh
The State has hotels of star and non star category catering to the needs of the
tourists visiting Chhasttisgarh. Besides it has resorts, restaurants and cafés which
cater to the needs of all segment of travelers.
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