|
|
|
|
| |
History
The brand new state of Chhattisgarh has a short immediate history but a past that goes back many thousands of years. In Chhattisgarh, anthropologists have found evidence of some of the earliest settlements by humans in this part of the world. Its mythological history stretches back to the period of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata when the area was known as Dandakaranya. The region was called Dakshin Kosala in the 4th century AD and was known as Gondwana in the medieval period.
Chhattisgarh was a part of the kingdom of the Chedi dynasty between 1000 and 1400 AD. Once the kingdom splintered into smaller princely states, it came under the suzerainty of the Mughal Empire (1600s) and later passed onto the Marathas (1745). By 1758, the Marathas had annexed Chhattisgarh and ruled it directly for a while before following the ‘suba’ system of indirect governance.
Under the Marathas, the region suffered greatly - it was plundered of its natural resources, there was little administration and plenty of exploitation. There were constant skirmishes between the Marathas and the Gonds who resisted the influx of the Marathas. Soon the British stepped in and Chhattisgarh came under their control in 1818. From 1854 onwards the British administered the region as a deputy commissionership with its headquarters at Raipur.The British style of administration and particularly their revenue model soon led to discontentment and deep rooted resentment that sparked off the five year long Halba Rebellion (1774-1779) in Bastar. Chhattisgarh was amongst the first places to fire off salvoes against the British during the First War of Independence in 1857, spearheaded by Vir Narayan Singh, a local zamindar. Condemned to the gallows by the British, Vir Singh went on to acquire cult status as martyr, hero and symbol of regional aspiration.
The demand for a separate state was first made in 1925 - then resurfaced in the 1950s before it became resurgent in the 80s and 90s. Social, cultural and linguistic reasons apart, the most crucial factors in the demand for a new state were the lack of economic and social development, the exploitation of natural resources with little or no returns and the complete marginalisation of the region. It took an Act of Parliament to convert into hard reality the dreams and aspirations of the people of Chhattisgarh. The Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2000 paved the way for the creation of India’s 26th state and on the 1st of November 2000 was born the state of Chhattisgarh in the densely forested, mineral rich, predominantly tribal region of central India.
|
Economy
Despite its enormous mineral wealth and abundance of natural resources, Chhattisgarh continues to be an agrarian economy dependent on the rains. Chhattisgarh produces enough rice to supply 600 rice mills within the state and in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and so proudly claims the title of regional ‘Rice Bowl’.
Its vast reserves of mineral deposits include iron-ore, copper-ore, rock phosphate, manganese-ore, bauxite, coal, asbestos and mica. Major industries of the state are iron and steel, power generation and mining. Revenue generated from the mining of bauxite, corundum, dolomite, diamond, limestone, iron ore, tin ore, gold, china clay, quartz, silica, fireclay, fluorite and coal alone touches the Rs. 450 crore mark. The region’s economy is expected to receive a boost if the diamond exploration in Raipur district proves lucrative - in which case; it is expected to earn the state Rs. 2000 crore per annum.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel Tools
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |