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Chhattisgarh
Area : 1,36,034 sq km
Population : 20,795,956
Capital : Raipur
Principal Languages : Hindi
History and Geography
Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh came into
being on 1 November 2000 as the 26th State of the Union.
It fulfills the long-cherished demand of the tribal
people. In ancient times the region was known as
Dakshin-Kausal. This finds mention in Ramayana and
Mahabharata also. Between the sixth and twelfth
centuries Sarabhpurias, Panduavanshi, Somvanshi,
Kalchuri and Nagvanshi rulers dominated this region.
Kalchuris ruled in Chhattisgarh from 980 to 1791 AD.
With the advent of Britishers in 1854, Raipur gained
prominence instead of capital Ratanpur. In 1904,
Sambalpur was transferred to Orissa and estates of
Sarguja were transferred from Bengal to Chhattisgarh.
Chhattisgarh is bounded by southern Jharkhand and Orissa
in the east, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in the west,
Uttar Pradesh and western Jharkhand in the north and
Andhra Pradesh in the south. Areawise Chhattisgarh is
the ninth largest state and population-wise it is
seventeenth state of the nation.
Agriculture
Agriculture and allied activities account for nearly 80
per cent of the work force in the state. Out of the
geographical area of 13,787 thousand hectares, gross
cropped area is 4,799 thousand hectares, which
constitutes about 35 per cent of the total geographical
area. Kharif is the main cropping season which accounts
for about 4,640 thousand hectares. Rice is the
predominant crop of the state; other important crops are
Maize, Wheat, Niger, Groundnut and Pulses. The state has
one of the biggest collections of Rice Germplasm, which
has approximately 21,000 entries. Horticulture crops are
grown in an area of about 123 thousand hectares. States
innovative, “Rajiv Kisan Mitan” programme for
encouraging farmers, to move away from unviable
varieties of paddy to commercially viable varieties of
paddy and other crops is launched just two years ago and
now over 5.18 lakh hectares of land is under this
diversification programme.
Forest occupies about 6,247 thousand hectares which
constitutes about 45 per cent of the total geographical
area. The state has constituted 3 national parks and 10
wild life sanctuaries to conserve wild life in general
and endangered species in particular.
Industry
Chhattisgarh is generously bestowed with natural
resources like forests, minerals and surface water. Till
yesteryears-the State has undergone a radical change and
is thriving with industrial activities now. Chhattisgarh
is producing approximately 20 per cent of steel and 15
per cent in the country. Many Government of India
undertakings like Bhilai Steel Plant, National Mineral
Development Corporation, South-Eastern Coal Field
Limited, NTPC and a number of large cement plants
belonging to groups like ACC, Gujarat Ambuja, Grasim,
L&T, CCI and La-farge of France and many steel projects
(sponge iron/pig iron route) in private sector are also
under different stages of implementation. There are
approximately 130 steel re-rolling mills, a number of
mini steel plants, ferro-alloy units, steel/cast iron
casting units, engineering and fabrication units apart
from large number of agro based and food processing,
chemical, plastic, constructions material, forest
produce based units.
Strategically located in central India, Chhattisgarh is
able to supply power to units for all the time. There
are huge coal reserves (87 per cent of India) in the
state, offering cheap pithead power generation
opportunities and has potential to produce up to 50,000
MW of power. NTPC is now installing a new power
generation unit, largest ever, by it in Bilaspur
District. NTPC has started construction on its 2,640 MW
Super Thermal plant in Sipat and another 600 MW plant in
Korba. Government of Gujarat is putting up a 500 MW
generation plant in Korba. Several other states are also
interested in installing plants here. Private sector
MOUs for more than 1,500 MW and more projects are in the
pipeline. Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development
Corp. Ltd., Raipur has developed, maintained and is
managing approximately an area of 3,112 hectares of
industrial land. More than 830 industries with
investment of more than Rs 16,510 million providing
direct employment to 25,000 persons have been setup on
the land developed by this corporation. Rani Durgavati
Industrial Area-Anjani Pendra Road, Cycle Complex-Siltara
is established in Raipur District, and the I.T. Park has
been established by CHiPS.
Information Technology
E-Governance in Chhattisgarh is oriented towards
ensuring people's access to government, which makes the
government even more responsive and transparent.
CHiPs (Chhattisgarh Infotech and biotech Promotion
Society) has been setup with a high powered
governing council under the Chief Minister's chairperson
ship, to act as a prime mover for IT and Biotechnology
in the state. The largest secondary school level IT
programme “Indira Soochna Shakti” is achieving
its target. All citizen services of e-governance are
under one umbrella project called CHOICE (Chhattisgarh
Online Information for Citizen Empowerment). BHUIYAN
programme (Bhuiyan means land in Chhattisgarhi) under
CHOICE is a networked land records service accessible
from “virtual” Tehsil offices, within easy reach of
villagers on an anytime-anywhere basis.
Mineral Resources
Chhattisgarh hosts a wide variety of minerals found in
igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic terrains. Large
deposits of coal, iron ore, Limestone, Bauxite, Dolomite
and Tin ore are located in several parts of the state.
Lately, Diamondiferous Kimberlites identified in Raipur
district are likely to yield substantial quantity of
Diamonds. Medium to small deposits of gold, base metals,
quartzite, soap stone, Fluroite, Corrundum, Graphite,
Lepidolite, Amblygonite of workable size are also likely
to graduate to the category of large deposits after
prospecting. Twenty per cent of the country's steel and
cement is produced in the State. It is the only tin-ore
producing state in the country. The mineral resources
have immense potential for large investment in mining,
setting of mineral based industries and generating
employment. Chhattisgarh is nestling atop the world's
largest Kimberlite area. Eight blocks have been
demarcated for diamond exploration. Apart from diamond,
four blocks of gold exploration and five blocks for base
metal investigation have been demarcated.
Irrigation and Power
When the state came into being, the total irrigation
capacity was 13.28 lakh hectares (as on 1 November
2000). After that, 1.25 lakh hectare additional capacity
was created within 2 years and nine months, by
mobilising resources of various departments and public
participation, construction of 50,000 debris on the
farmer's land, a total of 5 lakh hectare additional
capacity had been created. Major completed projects are
Tandula, Kodar and Pairy. Hasdev, Mahanadi Reservoir
Project, Sondhur and Jonk are some of the other
projects.
The total capacity of State Electricity Board is
1,381.05 MW, out of which the thermal power share is
1,260 MW and rest is hydel power. The state government
has introduced a very pro-active power policy under
which the public sector represented by the Chhattisgarh
state electricity board, as well as the private sector
have well defined roles to play. Around 93 per cent of
19,720 inhabited villages of Chhattisgarh have been
electrified.
Transportation
The rail network in Chattisgarh is centered on Bilaspur,
which is zonal headquarters of South East Central
Railway of Indian Railways. Other main railway junctions
include Raipur, Durg and Champa. These junctions are
well connected to all the major cities of India.
The roadways infrastructure is also slowly picking up in
the state. The National Highway 6 (Bombay to Kolkata)
passes through the state. The state also hosts National
Highway 43 which starts from Raipur and goes up to
Vishakhapatnam. National Highway 16 from Hyderabad ends
at Bhopalpatnam in Dantewada district. The state has 11
National Highways (2,225 kilometres).
The air infrastructure as of now in the state is minor.
Raipur, the capital city, is the sole commercially
operating airport of the state. However, of late, Raipur
has shown huge upsurge in passenger traffic . Raipur has
links to top four cities of the country i.e. Delhi (4
Flights a day), Bombay (3 Flights a day), Kolkata (2
Flights a day), and Chennai (1 Flight a day) .It is also
connected to Jaipur , Indore (3 Flights a day), Nagpur
(2 Flights a day) , Bhubaneshwar , Ahmedabad (2 Flights
a day), Vizag , Pune , Bhopal and Hyderabad (2 Flights a
day) . The state, however, has airport in Bilaspur and
air strips in Bhilai, Jagdalpur, Sarguja, Korba. Its
rural connectivity is also improving.
Festivals
Chhattisgarh is famous for its festivals. Pola, Nawakhai,
Dussehara, Deepawali, Holi, Govardhan Pooja are
celebrated with gaiety and festivity.
Tourist Centres
Chhattisgarh situated in the heart of India, is endowed
with rich cultural heritage and attractive natural
diversity. The State is full of ancient monuments, rare
wildlife, carved temples, Buddhist sites, palaces,
waterfalls, caves, rock paintings, and hill plateaus.
Chhattisgarh offers the tourists “A Destination with a
Difference”. Bastar, with its unique cultural and
ecological identity, will come as a breath of fresh air.
Chitrakote Falls, a spot where the river Indravati has
an abrupt fall of 96 ft, which are like horse shoe
curve, are often compared to the Niagara falls.
Tirathgarh Falls, the picturesque waterfall of Kanger
river cascades down from a height of 100 ft in the form
of steps. Other important destinations are the Keshkal
valley, Kangerghat National Park, Kailash caves and
Kutumbsar caves, which are rich in natural beauty. In
Bilaspur, Mahamaya temple at Ratanpur, Khutaghat
waterfall, Dindneswari Devi temple of Mallahar and the
Achanakmar sanctuary, Udanti sanctuary near Raipur, Pali
and Kendai waterfall of Korba district are important
places of tourist interest. The Sabari temple of Kharod
Janjgir Champa, Nar Narayan temple of Sivarinarayan,
Vishnu temple of Janjgir are important religious places.
The tourism policy is focused on creating a unique image
for the State and to position it as an attractive
destination for both domestic as well as foreign
tourists. Some major objectives of this policy are: To
promote economically, culturally and ecologically
sustainable tourism in the State; encourage and promote
private sector initiatives in developing tourism-related
infrastructure; limit the role of Government to that of
facilitator and provider of public goods; increase the
contribution of tourism to the economic development of
interrelated sectors. The state has set up a State
Tourism Promoting Board as the nodal agency for
translation of the policy into action for the sustained
development of the sector. |
