Balaghat District
Encyclopedia
Balaghat District a district
of Madhya Pradesh
state
of central India
. The town of Balaghat
serves as its administrative headquarters.
kingdoms; the portion of the district west of the Wainganga was part of the Gond kingdom of Deogarh
, while the eastern portion was part of the Garha-Mandla kingdom.
The Deogarh kingdom was annexed by the Bhonsle
Maratha
s of Nagpur
in 1743, and shortly thereafter conquered all but the northern section of the district. This section, together with the rest of the Garha-Mandla kingdom, was annexed in 1781 to the Maratha province of Saugor, then under control of the Maratha Peshwa
. In 1798 the Bhonsles also obtained the former Garha-Mandla territories.
In 1818, at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Maratha War
, The Nagpur kingdom became a princely state
of British India. In 1853, the Nagpur kingdom, including Balaghat District, was annexed by the British, and became the new province of Nagpur
. Balaghat District was then divided among the British districts of Seoni
and Bhandara
. Nagpur Province was reorganized into the Central Provinces
in 1861.
Balaghat District was constituted during the years 1867 by amalgamation of parts of the Bhandara, Mandla and Seoni districts. The headquarters of the district was originally called "Burha" or "Boora". Later, however, this name fell into disuse and was replaced by "Balaghat", which was originally the name of the district only. Administratively, the district was divided into two tehsils, Baihar tehsil in the north, which included the plateau region, and Balaghat tehsil, which included the more settled lowlands in the south. The new district was part of the Central Provinces' Nagpur Division
.
In the middle of the 19th Century the upper part of the district was a lightly settled, but a handsome Buddhist temple of cut stone, belonging to some remote period, is suggestive of a civilization which had disappeared before historic times. The first Deputy-Commissioner of the district, Colonel Bloomfield, encouraged the settlement of Baihar tehsil with Ponwar Marathas from the Wainganga Valley. About that time one Lachhman Naik established the first villages on the Paraswara plateau.Malanjkhand is the most popular copper mine in Asian Region.
In 1868-1869 the rains ceased a month before time, causing the failure of the lowland rice crop and a famine. The district suffered very severely from the famine of 1896-1897, when the output of all crops fell to only 17 percent of normal. The district suffered again in 1899-1900, when the rice crop failed again, falling to only 23 percent of normal. The population in 1901 was 326,521, having decreased 15% in the decade 1891-1901, due to the effects of famine.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the district had only 15 miles (24.1 km) of paved roads, together with 208 miles (334.7 km) of unpaved roads. The Jabalpur-Gondia railway line through the district was completed in 1904, with six stations in the district.
After Indian Independence in 1947, the Central Provinces became the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh
. In 1956, Balaghat District became part of the Jabalpur Division
of Madhya Pradesh, when the districts to the south of Balaghat, including Gondiya, Bhandara, and Nagpur districts, were transferred to Bombay State
.
Balaghat District is currently a part of the Red Corridor
.
. It occupies the south eastern portion of the Satpura Range
and the upper valley of the Wainganga River
. The district extends from 21°19' to 22°24' north latitude and 79°31' to 81°3' east longitude. The total area of the district is 9,245 km². Balaghat District is bounded by Mandla District
of Madhya Pradesh to the north, Dindori District
to the northwest, Rajnandgaon District
of Chhatisgarh state to the east, Gondiya and Bhandara
districts of Maharashtra
state to the south, and Seoni District
of Madhya Pradesh to the west. the language spoken in district is hindi
and Marathi
in the southern part of district.
The Wainganga and its tributaries are the most important rivers in the district. The town of Balaghat is on the Wainganga, which flows north and south through the district and forms part of the boundary with Seoni District. The Bagh, Nahra and Uskal rivers are tributaries of the Wainganga. The Bawanthadi and Bagh rivers define the boundary with Maharashtra.
The southern part of the Vindhyan Range
up to Katangi
is called Bhander Range. Beyond this point the escarpment enclosing the land-locked valley of Sirampur and the hill range in continuation is called the Kaimur Range.
Geographically the district is divided into three distinct parts:
production in India comes from Balaghat District. The recently discovered copper
deposit at Malanjkhand
is regarded as the largest in the country. Bauxite
, Kyanite
, and limestone
are the other main mineral
s of the district.
In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj
named Balaghat one of the country's 250 most backward districts
(out of a total of 640
). It is one of the 24 districts in Madhya Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).
section of South East Central Railway
runs north and south through the district, along the valley of the Wainganga. The line was formerly narrow gauge for its entire length, but the section between Balaghat and Gondia was converted to broad gauge
in 2005-2006, connecting Balaghat to India's national broad gauge network for the first time. Work is underway to convert the Balaghat-Jabalpur section to broad gauge as well. A narrow gauge branch line runs west from Balaghat to Katangi
and Ramrama Tola via Waraseoni.
Balaghat is directly connected by bus with larger cities such as Bhopal, Nagpur, Gondia, Jabalpur, Raipur, etc. The nearest airport is at gondia.
The nearest airport is at Nagpur.
Balaghat District has a population
of 1,701,156, roughly equal to the nation of The Gambia
or the US state of Nebraska
. This gives it a ranking of 288th in India (out of a total of 640
). The district has a population density of 184 PD/sqkm . Its population growth rate
over the decade 2001-2011 was 13.56 %. Balaghat has a sex ratio
of 1021 females
for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate
of 78.29 %.
As per the 2001 Census, the total population of the district is 1,497,968, of which 1,236,083 is rural population and 129,787 is urban. Out of the total population, 113,105 are Scheduled Caste and 298,665 are Scheduled Tribes. The no. of males was 682,260 and the no. of females was 683,610. According to the District website the total area of the district is 9245 km², making the population density 162 persons per km².
In the 1991 Census, the total population of the district was 1,365,870.
(Tectona grandis), sal (Shorea robusta), bamboo
and saja are the main trees. Fauna includes tiger
, leopard
, bear
, nilgai
, deer
, and gaur
, and birds like peacock, Red Bulbul and Koyal. Kanha National Park
lies partly within the district.
Districts of Madhya Pradesh
Following is the list of districts in the Indian state Madhya Pradesh. It has 50 districts grouped into ten divisions.Bhopal Division* Bhopal District* Raisen District* Rajgarh District* Sehore District* Vidisha DistrictChambal Division...
of Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of central India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The town of Balaghat
Balaghat
Balaghat is a city and a municipality in Balaghat district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Balaghat District. The town was originally called "Burha" or "Boora", but this name was replaced by "Balaghat", which was originally the name of the district...
serves as its administrative headquarters.
History
At the beginning of the 18th century, the district was divided among two GondGondi people
The Gondi, Goindi or Gond people are people in central India, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra , Chhattisgarh, northern Andhra Pradesh, and Western Orissa. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe in Central India.The Gondi language is related to...
kingdoms; the portion of the district west of the Wainganga was part of the Gond kingdom of Deogarh
Deogarh, Madhya Pradesh
Deogarh, also known as Devgarh, is a village in Chhindwara District of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is located 24 miles southwest of Chhindwara, picturesquely situated on a crest of the hills....
, while the eastern portion was part of the Garha-Mandla kingdom.
The Deogarh kingdom was annexed by the Bhonsle
Bhonsle
The Bhonsle were a prominent clan within the Maratha clan system who served as rulers of several states in India.The most prominent member of the clan was Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha empire...
Maratha
Maratha
The Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...
s of Nagpur
Nagpur kingdom
The Kingdom of Nagpur was a kingdom in east-central India founded by the Gond rulers of Deogarh in the early 18th century. It came under the rule of Marathas of the Bhonsle dynasty in the mid-18th century...
in 1743, and shortly thereafter conquered all but the northern section of the district. This section, together with the rest of the Garha-Mandla kingdom, was annexed in 1781 to the Maratha province of Saugor, then under control of the Maratha Peshwa
Peshwa
A Peshwa is the titular equivalent of a modern Prime Minister. Emporer Shivaji created the Peshwa designation in order to more effectively delegate administrative duties during the growth of the Maratha Empire. Prior to 1749, Peshwas held office for 8-9 years and controlled the Maratha army...
. In 1798 the Bhonsles also obtained the former Garha-Mandla territories.
In 1818, at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Maratha War
Third Anglo-Maratha War
The Third Anglo-Maratha War was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by 110,400 British East India Company troops, the largest...
, The Nagpur kingdom became a princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
of British India. In 1853, the Nagpur kingdom, including Balaghat District, was annexed by the British, and became the new province of Nagpur
Nagpur Province
Nagpur Province was a province of British India that covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh states. It was formed in 1853 when the British annexed the princely state of Nagpur. In 1861 it was merged into the Central Provinces...
. Balaghat District was then divided among the British districts of Seoni
Seoni District
Seoni District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town of Seoni is the district headquarters.-Geography:Seoni district forms part of the Satpura tableland, containing the headwaters of the Wainganga. It is largely covered with forest...
and Bhandara
Bhandara district
Bhandara district is an administrative district in the state of Maharashtra in India. The district headquarters are located at Bhandara. The district occupies an area of 3890 km² and has a population of 1,135,835 of which 15.47% are urban . It is fondly called as the 'District of Lakes'...
. Nagpur Province was reorganized into the Central Provinces
Central Provinces
The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur....
in 1861.
Balaghat District was constituted during the years 1867 by amalgamation of parts of the Bhandara, Mandla and Seoni districts. The headquarters of the district was originally called "Burha" or "Boora". Later, however, this name fell into disuse and was replaced by "Balaghat", which was originally the name of the district only. Administratively, the district was divided into two tehsils, Baihar tehsil in the north, which included the plateau region, and Balaghat tehsil, which included the more settled lowlands in the south. The new district was part of the Central Provinces' Nagpur Division
Nagpur Division
Nagpur Division is one of six administrative divisions of Maharashtra State in India. Nagpur is the easternmost division in the state, with an administrative headquarters in the city of Nagpur...
.
In the middle of the 19th Century the upper part of the district was a lightly settled, but a handsome Buddhist temple of cut stone, belonging to some remote period, is suggestive of a civilization which had disappeared before historic times. The first Deputy-Commissioner of the district, Colonel Bloomfield, encouraged the settlement of Baihar tehsil with Ponwar Marathas from the Wainganga Valley. About that time one Lachhman Naik established the first villages on the Paraswara plateau.Malanjkhand is the most popular copper mine in Asian Region.
In 1868-1869 the rains ceased a month before time, causing the failure of the lowland rice crop and a famine. The district suffered very severely from the famine of 1896-1897, when the output of all crops fell to only 17 percent of normal. The district suffered again in 1899-1900, when the rice crop failed again, falling to only 23 percent of normal. The population in 1901 was 326,521, having decreased 15% in the decade 1891-1901, due to the effects of famine.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, the district had only 15 miles (24.1 km) of paved roads, together with 208 miles (334.7 km) of unpaved roads. The Jabalpur-Gondia railway line through the district was completed in 1904, with six stations in the district.
After Indian Independence in 1947, the Central Provinces became the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
. In 1956, Balaghat District became part of the Jabalpur Division
Jabalpur Division
Jabalpur Division is an administrative geographical unit of Madhya Pradesh state of India. Jabalpur is the administrative headquarters of the division...
of Madhya Pradesh, when the districts to the south of Balaghat, including Gondiya, Bhandara, and Nagpur districts, were transferred to Bombay State
Bombay State
The Bombay State was a state of India, dissolved with the formation of Maharashtra and Gujarat states on May 1, 1960.-History:During British rule, portions of the western coast of India under direct British rule were part of the Bombay Presidency...
.
Balaghat District is currently a part of the Red Corridor
Red corridor
The Red Corridor is a term used to describe an impoverished region in the east of India that experiences considerable Naxalite communist insurgency...
.
Geography
Balaghat District is located in the southern part of Jabalpur DivisionJabalpur Division
Jabalpur Division is an administrative geographical unit of Madhya Pradesh state of India. Jabalpur is the administrative headquarters of the division...
. It occupies the south eastern portion of the Satpura Range
Satpura Range
The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat state near the Arabian Sea coast, running east through Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and these two east-west ranges divide the...
and the upper valley of the Wainganga River
Wainganga River
The Wainganga is a river of India, which originates about 12 km from Mundara village of Seoni district in the southern slopes of the Satpura Range of Madhya Pradesh, and flows south through Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in a very winding course of approximatedly 360 miles...
. The district extends from 21°19' to 22°24' north latitude and 79°31' to 81°3' east longitude. The total area of the district is 9,245 km². Balaghat District is bounded by Mandla District
Mandla District
Mandla District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town of Mandla is administrative headquarters of the district. It is part of Jabalpur Division....
of Madhya Pradesh to the north, Dindori District
Dindori District
Dindori District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state of central India. The town of Dindori is the district headquarters. The district is part of Shahdol Division.-Economy:...
to the northwest, Rajnandgaon District
Rajnandgaon District
Rajnandgaon District is a district of in the state of Chattisgarh in India. The administrative headquarters the district is Rajnandgaon town.-History:The district was carved out from the erstwhile Durg district on 26 January 1973...
of Chhatisgarh state to the east, Gondiya and Bhandara
Bhandara district
Bhandara district is an administrative district in the state of Maharashtra in India. The district headquarters are located at Bhandara. The district occupies an area of 3890 km² and has a population of 1,135,835 of which 15.47% are urban . It is fondly called as the 'District of Lakes'...
districts of Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
state to the south, and Seoni District
Seoni District
Seoni District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The town of Seoni is the district headquarters.-Geography:Seoni district forms part of the Satpura tableland, containing the headwaters of the Wainganga. It is largely covered with forest...
of Madhya Pradesh to the west. the language spoken in district is hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
and Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
in the southern part of district.
The Wainganga and its tributaries are the most important rivers in the district. The town of Balaghat is on the Wainganga, which flows north and south through the district and forms part of the boundary with Seoni District. The Bagh, Nahra and Uskal rivers are tributaries of the Wainganga. The Bawanthadi and Bagh rivers define the boundary with Maharashtra.
The southern part of the Vindhyan Range
Vindhya Range
The Vindhya Range is a range of older rounded mountains and hills in the west-central Indian subcontinent, which geographically separates the Indian subcontinent into northern India and Southern India.- Introduction :...
up to Katangi
Katangi
Katangi is a town and a nagar panchayat in Balaghat district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.-Geography:Katangi is located at . It has an average elevation of 442 metres ....
is called Bhander Range. Beyond this point the escarpment enclosing the land-locked valley of Sirampur and the hill range in continuation is called the Kaimur Range.
Geographically the district is divided into three distinct parts:
- The southern lowlands, a slightly undulating plain, comparatively well cultivated and drained by the Wainganga, Bagh, Deo, Ghisri and Son rivers.
- The long narrow valley known as the Mau Taluka, lying between the hills and the Wainganga river, and comprising a long, narrow, irregular-shaped lowland tract, intersected by hill ranges and peaks covered with dense jungle, and running generally from north to south.
- The lofty plateau, in which is situated the Raigarh Bichhia tract, comprising irregular ranges of hills, broken into numerous valleys, and generally running from east to west. The highest points in the hills of the district are as follows: - Peaks above Lanji, 2300 or 2500 feet (762 m); Tepagarh hill, about 2600 ft (792.5 m).; and Bhainsaghat range, about 3000 ft (914.4 m). above the sea. The Banjar, Halon and Jamunia rivers, tributaries of the NarmadaNarmada RiverThe Narmada , also called Rewa is a river in central India and the fifth largest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third largest river that completely flows within India after Ganges and Godavari...
, drain a portion of the upper plateau.
Economy
About 80% of the manganeseManganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
production in India comes from Balaghat District. The recently discovered copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
deposit at Malanjkhand
Malanjkhand
Malanjkhand is an open-pit copper mine in India. Located near the town of Malaj Khand, northeast of Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh, at an altitude of 576 MRL. It falls in the tehsil of Baihar, which is from the project, on the way to , Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh State. It is the largest base metal...
is regarded as the largest in the country. Bauxite
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
, Kyanite
Kyanite
Kyanite, whose name derives from the Greek word kuanos sometimes referred to as "kyanos", meaning deep blue, is a typically blue silicate mineral, commonly found in aluminium-rich metamorphic pegmatites and/or sedimentary rock. Kyanite in metamorphic rocks generally indicates pressures higher than...
, and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
are the other main mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
s of the district.
In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj
Ministry of Panchayati Raj
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India looking after the ongoing process of decentralization and local governance in the States....
named Balaghat one of the country's 250 most backward districts
Poverty in India
Poverty is widespread in India, with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 41.6% of the total Indian population falls below the international poverty line of 1.25 a day...
(out of a total of 640
Districts of India
A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. Districts are further subdivided, in some cases into Sub-Divisions, and otherwise directly into tehsils or talukas.District officials include:...
). It is one of the 24 districts in Madhya Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).
Divisions
Administratively, the district is divided into eight development blocks: Waraseoni, Balaghat, Katangi, Paraswada, Baihar, Khairlanji, Laanji, and Kirnapur.Transport
The Jabalpur-GondiaGondia
Gondia, or Gondiya , is a city in the state of Maharashtra in western India, and is the administrative headquarters of Gondia District. Gondia is also known as Rice City by local people due to abundance of rice mills in the area. Gondia is very close to Madhya Pradesh state, and is considered the...
section of South East Central Railway
South East Central Railway
The South East Central Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Bilaspur and comprises Nagpur division, reorganized Bilaspur division of South Eastern Railway and new Raipur division....
runs north and south through the district, along the valley of the Wainganga. The line was formerly narrow gauge for its entire length, but the section between Balaghat and Gondia was converted to broad gauge
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
in 2005-2006, connecting Balaghat to India's national broad gauge network for the first time. Work is underway to convert the Balaghat-Jabalpur section to broad gauge as well. A narrow gauge branch line runs west from Balaghat to Katangi
Katangi
Katangi is a town and a nagar panchayat in Balaghat district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.-Geography:Katangi is located at . It has an average elevation of 442 metres ....
and Ramrama Tola via Waraseoni.
Balaghat is directly connected by bus with larger cities such as Bhopal, Nagpur, Gondia, Jabalpur, Raipur, etc. The nearest airport is at gondia.
The nearest airport is at Nagpur.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census2011 census of India
The 15th Indian National census was conducted in two phases, houselisting and population enumeration. Houselisting phase began on April 1, 2010 and involved collection of information about all buildings...
Balaghat District has a population
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...
of 1,701,156, roughly equal to the nation of The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
or the US state of Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
. This gives it a ranking of 288th in India (out of a total of 640
Districts of India
A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. Districts are further subdivided, in some cases into Sub-Divisions, and otherwise directly into tehsils or talukas.District officials include:...
). The district has a population density of 184 PD/sqkm . Its population growth rate
Family planning in India
Family planning in India is based on efforts largely sponsored by the Indian government. In the 1965-2009 period, contraceptive usage has more than tripled and the fertility rate has more than halved , but the national fertility rate is still high enough to cause long-term population growth...
over the decade 2001-2011 was 13.56 %. Balaghat has a sex ratio
Sex ratio
Sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. The primary sex ratio is the ratio at the time of conception, secondary sex ratio is the ratio at time of birth, and tertiary sex ratio is the ratio of mature organisms....
of 1021 females
Women in India
The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful...
for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate
Literacy in India
Literacy in India is key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate grew to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was a greater than sixfold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%, and India currently has the...
of 78.29 %.
As per the 2001 Census, the total population of the district is 1,497,968, of which 1,236,083 is rural population and 129,787 is urban. Out of the total population, 113,105 are Scheduled Caste and 298,665 are Scheduled Tribes. The no. of males was 682,260 and the no. of females was 683,610. According to the District website the total area of the district is 9245 km², making the population density 162 persons per km².
In the 1991 Census, the total population of the district was 1,365,870.
Flora and Fauna
About 52% of the district's area is covered with forest. TeakTeak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
(Tectona grandis), sal (Shorea robusta), bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
and saja are the main trees. Fauna includes tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
, leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
, bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
, nilgai
Nilgai
The nilgai , sometimes called nilgau, is an antelope, and is one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India and eastern Pakistan; it is also present in parts of southern Nepal. The mature males appear ox-like and are also known as blue bulls...
, deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, and gaur
Gaur
The gaur , also called Indian bison, is a large bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986 as the population decline in parts of the species' range is likely to be well over 70% over the last three generations...
, and birds like peacock, Red Bulbul and Koyal. Kanha National Park
Kanha National Park
Kanha National Park is a national park and a Tiger Reserve in the Mandla and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. In the 1930s, Kanha area was divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon and Banjar, of 250 and 300 km² . Kanha National Park was created on 1 June, 1955. Today it stretches over an...
lies partly within the district.