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Chhattisgarh

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Chhattisgarh (Chhattisgarhi/Hindi: छत्तीसगढ़, IPA: [tʃʰət̪t̪iːsgəɽʰ]) pronunciationⓘ, a state 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

Location of Chhatisgarh in India

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

The northern part of the state lies on the edge of the great Indo-Gangetic plain: The Rihand River, 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

Main article: 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.

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 Naxalites) 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

Main article: 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."
  • On March 15, 2007, at least 55 police officers were reported killed in an attack on a police outpost in the village of Radi Bodli by Naxalite Maoist rebels.[1] The dead included 15 personnel of the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces and 34 Special Police Officers (SPOs). 12 others were injured in the attack.[2] The total forces present during the time of the attack were 23 regular officers and 55 SPOs.[3]


Economy

Chhattisgarh's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at 12 billion USD in current prices. After partition, this mineral-rich state produces 30% of the output of the old Madhya Pradesh state. The state has immense potential to graduate into the league of advanced states provided it gets a far sighted political leadership and adequate planning especially in the area of higher studies as well as technical education.

The state's economy is further fuelled by the presence of the Bhilai Steel Plant, S.E.C.Railway Zone, BALCO Aluminium Plant (Korba), and NTPC Korba (National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd) and S.E. Coal Ltd. The city of Korba is a hub for power generation, from where the electricity is supplied to several other Indian states. Chattisgarh's southern area consists of high iron ore available where NMDC is excavating to meet the iron demand in India and as well sending to countries like Japan. NMDC is located in dantewara district. Recently ESSAR has started transporting iron ore through pipe lines to vizag.

The state is also launching an ambitious plan to become biofuel self-sufficient by 2015 by planting crops of jatropha.[4]

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, 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 NH 6 (Bombay to Kolkata) passes through the state. The state also hosts NH 43 which starts from Raipur and goes up to Vizag (Vishakhapatnam).

The air infracture 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 air links to top four cities of the country i.e. Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata, and Chennai. The state, however, has airport in Bilaspur and air strips in Bhilai, Jagdalpur, Sarguja, Korba, etc.

Culture

Chhattisgarh is one of the rapidly developing states of India. The per capita income is around 250 USD as of 2001, but that is in part due to the neglect and under investment during it being the part of Madhaya pradesh. Only 20% of population lives in urban areas. Basic amenities like telephone service are not available in many areas. Cellphone services, however, are available in major parts of the State.

The state hosts many religious sects like Satnami, Kabirpanth, Ramnami Samaj, and others which originated as reaction to caste-based Hinduism practised by outsiders coming to the state.

Chhattisgarh is a favorite of anthropologists and sociologists due to its relevant profile. On Sundays, markets are arranged in some prominent villages. Chhattisgarh has identified and is developing ethnic villages and private sector is encouraged for proper maintenance and professional site management of important heritage sites/monuments.

Status of women

In many ways, the women of Chhattisgarh enjoy a unique position within India. The proportion of women in the population is second highest among states in India (commendable). The percentage of females is higher than males in the rural population as compared to the urban.

The village society is little affected by classical doctrines of Hinduism and most of the customs and cultural practices are unique. As such rural women here are though poor but are more independent, hardy, better organised and socially more vociferous and command more power in general compared to their counterparts in other parts of India, so much so that they can choose and even terminate a marriage at will. Most of the old temples here are related to women power (eg Shabari, Mahamaya, Danteshwari).

However, women generally marry at a younger age than elsewhere. Women in aged between 20 to 49 years were found to have married at median age of 15.4 years; and 34% of girls aged between 15 to 19 years are already married (according to Government). Further, there is widespread social belief in witchcraft in Chhattisgarh. Women are supposed to have access to supernatural forces, and often accused of witchcraft and called 'Tonhi' by people jealous of them. They are barbarically persecuted.

Today, with increasing urbanization, industrialization and in- migration , many of the cultural concomitants of female subservience, common to mainstream India but hitherto unknown in Chhattisgarh, have started creeping in here.

The gender ratio (number females per 1000 males) has been steadily declining over the century in Chhattisgarh: 1046 in year 1901, 1032 in 1941, 996 in 1981 and 990 in 2001; but is better than the ratio for India: 972 in 1901, 945 in 1941, 934 in 1981 and 933 in 2001.

For further information, this 103 page report titled 'A situational analysis of women and girls in Chhattisgarh' can be seen which has been prepared in year 2004 by 'National Commission of Women', a statutory body belonging to government of India.[citation needed].

Language

Chhattisgarhi is the form of Hindi language or the language in its own right that is spoken and understood by majority of people in Chhattisgarh, but a total of 93 languages are spoken in the state, representing all three of India's major linguistic groups, Munda (Austro-Asiatic languages), Dravidian and Indo-European. All dialects use the Hindi script irrespective of the language group to which they belong. Chhattisgarhi is majorly an IndoEuropean dialect/language but has an abundance of Munda and Dravidian words and features.

H.L.Shukla has given following classification: 

                           0)Pre-Munda
                                 |
         1)Pre-Munda (Southern)        2)Pre-Munda (Northern)
                 |                           |
         1)Gadba    2)Kharia     1)Korku 2)Mawasi 3)Nihali   4)Pre-Kherwari
                                                                 |
                                                   1)Korba         2)Bidaho
                                                       |
                                     1)Nagesia 2)Sounta or Toori 3)Majhi 4)Majhwar 5)Kherwari

                                               0)Pre-Dravid
                                                      |
           1)South-Central                       2)Central                    3)Northern
                |                                    |                              |
1)Dormi  2)Dandami-Maria  3)Bhuria  4)Abujh-Maria   1)Parji or Dhurbi       1)Kurukh or Oraon
                                                  
                                            



                              0)Indo-European
                                     |
                              0)Pre-Aryan
                                     |
               1)Half-Magadhi    2)Magadhi      3)Pijani
                     |                |               |
              1)Eastern Hindi    1)Oriya  1)Halbi  2)Sadri
                     |                 |
              1)Chhattisgarhi     1)Bhatri

Since Sanskritized Khari Boli or Hindi is the language of India (and Chhattisgarh) for official use like recruitment, education and there is lack of local people (at least from all ethno-language groups) in the state/local administration; there is ongoing change in the linguistic profile of the state accelerated with more interaction with outside world and desire to get developed.

In northern Chhattisgarh, dialects from all these three language groups are in use today; in middle part of Chhattisgarh, only Indo-European dialects have survived; and in southern Chhattisgarh, Dravidian and Indo-European dialects are in use. According to H.L. Shukla- Munda dialects are progressing to the stage of becoming extinct; among Dravidian dialects, Parji is also facing extinction problem, Kurukh (Oraon) and Gondi are struggling; and IndoEropean dialects are in the process of losing their identity.

Munda Language Family

According to 1971 census of India, Korku was the major Munda dialects spoken by more than 200,000 people (It is not clear whether this count is for whole India or is specific to Chhattisgarh). Korku, Kharia and Korba are major Munda dialects in use in Chhattisgarh.

Other than these three, Muasi, Toori (in Raigarh), Nihali-Mankari, Khaerwari, Birhord, Kodaku (Sarguja), Dhelki, Mahto, Kora-Majhi, Munda, Mundari and Santhali are other Munda dialects spoken in Chhattisgarh which are either sub-dialects of above stated three dialects or are in the stage of extinction.

The only known speaker of Gadba (Munda dialect spoken in Bastar district) has died at the age of 80 (according to H.L.Shukla).

Dravidian Language Family

According to 1971 census of India, Kurukh or Oraon was mother-tongue of 300,609 people in Chhattisgarh and there were around 30,000 speakers of Parja or Dhurbi.

Gondi is the Dravidian language spoken by Gond tribals who call themselves Koitor or Koitol and therefor H.L. Shukla has called their language Koitor and has kept Dormi, Dandami-Maria, Bhuria, Abujh-Maria, Koya, Ghotul-muriya and others under this language. According to 1961 census of India, there were 3,900,000 Koitor or Gond tribals in India. Two thirds of these Gond/Koitor tribals are distributed over Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh according to 1971 census. As of now, almost more than half of these tribals use the dialects (other than Koitor) in use in their respective areas. (Near Bhopal (capital of Madhyapradesh) which was once the stronghold of Koitor people, one cannot hear Koitor dialect in the circumference of 100 km).

Indo-European Language Family

Among 93 dialects spoken in Chhattisgarh, 70 are classified as belonging to this family. Under Chhattisgarhi group, the dialects spoken by Agariya, Binjhwari, Baigani, Bhuliya, Lariya, Dhanwar, Panka, Dindwar and many other tribals are included. Sadri is the dialect understood by many of the different tribal groups (Sadri is the name given to the Indo-European dialect which is adopted by tribal groups when they do not use their own dialect) - Sadri is in use from Chhattisgarh and Orissa to West-Bengal. Similarly Halbi is understood by many of the different tribal groups in southern Chhattisgarh (earlier there were many different opinions about the language family of Halbi, but now it is usually accepted as an Indo-European dialect) - in 1951 census, it was found that more than 99% of Halbi speakers can speak at-least two dialects.

Notes

  1. ^ "Maoist Rebels Kill 49 Police Officers in India's Chhattisgarh". Bloomberg News. 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2007-03-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Chhattisgarh Naxals attack toll rises to 49". PTI. 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2007-03-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Naxals kill 50 security personnel in Chhattisgarh9{Lead: Chhattisgarh Naxal attack)". DailyIndia.com. 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2007-03-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Indian State to Plant 160 Million Jatropha Plants in Quest for Biofuel Self-Sufficiency". 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

References

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