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Chhattisgarh




  base Map Label no
  state Name Chhattisgarh
  native Name Chhattisgarh
  base Map India_Chhattisgarh_locator_mapsvg
  capital Raipur
  latd 2127longd=8160
  largest City Raipur
  abbreviation IN-CT
  official Languages Hindi , Chhattisgarhi
  legislature Type Unicameral
  legislature Strength 90
  leader Title 1 Governor
  leader Name 1 Ekkadu Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan
  leader Title 2 Chief Minister
  leader Name 2 Raman Singh
  established Date 2000-11-01
  area Total 135194
  area Rank 10th
  area Magnitude 11
  population Year 2001
  population Total 20795956
  population Rank 17th
  population Density 108
  districts 16
  seal <!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: -->
  website wwwchhattisgarhnicin


Chhattisgarh ( in central India , formed when the sixteen Chhattisgarhi-speaking southeastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained statehood on November 1 , 2000 . Raipur serves as its capital. It is the 10th largest state of India by area. Chhattisgarh takes its name from 36 (Chattis is thirty-six in Hindi and Garh is Fort) princely states in this region from very old times.

It borders Madhya Pradesh on the northwest, Maharashtra on the west, Andhra Pradesh on the south, Orissa on the east, Jharkhand on the northeast and Uttar Pradesh on the north.

The Chhattisgarhi Language , part of the East-Central group of Indo-Aryan Languages , is the predominant language in the region. It is often regarded by linguists to be a dialect of Hindi, which is the official language of the state. The hill districts of the state serve as a home to the Gond peoples, who speak Dravidian Languages .


GEOGRAPHY


The north and south parts of the state are hilly, while the central part is a fertile plain. Forest s cover roughly forty-four percent of the state.

The northern part of the state lies on the edge of the great , a tributary of the Ganges , drains this area. The eastern end of the Satpura Range and the western edge of the Chota Nagpur Plateau form an east-west belt of hills that divide the Mahanadi River basin from the Indo-Gangetic plain.

The central part of the state lies in the fertile upper basin of the Mahanadi and its tributaries, with extensive Rice cultivation. The upper Mahanadi basin is separated from the upper Narmada basin to the west by the Maikal range, part of the Satpuras, and from the plains of Orissa to the east by ranges of hills.

The southern part of the state lies on the Deccan plateau, in the watershed of the Godavari River and its tributary the Indravati River .

The Mahanadi is the chief river of the state. Other main rivers are Hasdo (a tributary of Mahanadi), Rihand, Indravati, Jonk and Arpa.


DISTRICTS

See Also: Districts of Chhattisgarh


Chhattisgarh is divided into 16 districts: Bastar , Bilaspur , Dantewada (South Bastar), Dhamtari , Durg , Janjgir-Champa , Jashpur , Kanker (North Bastar), Kawardha , Korba , Koriya (Korea), Mahasamund , Raigarh , Raipur , Rajnandgaon , and Surguja .


In May 2007, 2 new districts have been constituted by the statement government to enable better administration. These new districts are Bijapur and Narayanpur . This makes the total count of districts in Chhattisgarh as 18.


POLITICS

Ajit Jogi , the first Chief Minister of the state, is Chhattisgarh's most prominent and controversial politician. There are 4 major political parties and many independents with followers in the state:

There is a heavy presence of armed insurgent communists (known as Naxalite s) in southern and northern part of the state almost running parallel Government in the hinterland – Chhattisgarh is as of 2006 the most Naxalite-affected state in the country.


HISTORY

See Also: History of Chhattisgarh




Recent events





  • Recently a law has been passed requiring Conversion from one religion to another to be notified to the authorities 30 days beforehand. Citizens who fail to do this can face up to a year in Jail . According to the BBC "conversion is a major political issue in the state."