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Area : 1,36,034 sq km
Population : 20,795,956
Capital : Raipur
Principal Languages : Hindi
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 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.
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.
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 chairpersonship, 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.
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,
Statite, 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.
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.
Roads :
The total length of the roads in the State
is 35,388.54 km. The length of the national
highways is 1,827.30 km, state highways are
3,611 km, district roads are 2,118 km and rural
roads are 27,566 km.
Railways :
Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Rajnandgaon, Raigarh and
Korba are important railway stations. Total
railway route length is 1,053 km. New railway
zone in Bilaspur started functioning from 1
April 2003.
Airlines :
Raipur is connected with New Delhi, Nagpur,
Mumbai and Bhubaneswar by daily flights.
Bilaspur, Bhilai, Raigarh, Jagdalpur, Ambikapur,
Korba, Jashpurnagar and Rajnandgaon are having
airstrips.
Chhattisgarh is famous for its festivals. Pola,
Nawakhai, Dussehara, Deepawali, Holi, Govardhan
Pooja are celebrated with gaiety and festivity.
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.
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