Chhattisgarh

, state, central India; created from SE Madhya Pradesh in 2000. Most of Chhattisgarh lies in the valley of the Mahanadi and Sheonath rivers; its eastern section occupies the Deccan plateau, with hills in the west and the Maikal Mts. in the north. The capital is Raipur; other cities include Bastar and Bhilainagar, which houses the state's largest steel plant. The population is more than two thirds rural and consists of various ethnic groups, almost 45% of whom are non-Hindu tribes. Agriculture employs some 80% of the workforce in the relatively undeveloped state, with rice by far the largest crop; others include various cereal grains and legumes. Covering almost a half of Chhattisgarh's area, dense forests yield timber and other wood products, although present development is not substantial. The state is rich in natural resources, with abundant deposits of gold, diamonds, coal, uranium, bauxite, corundum, dolomite, iron, copper, limestone, tin, and other minerals. Long a part of Madhya Pradesh state, but historically (traced back to the 4th cent. A.D.) and culturally distinct from it, the region had been a hotbed of separatist activity since the early 1920s. In recent years, Chhattisgarh has been the site of activity by the Maoist Naxalite movement.

Location of Chhattisgarh 
Capital Raipur
21.27� N 81.60� E 
Largest city Raipur 
Abbreviation IN-CT 
Official languages Hindi, Chhattisgarhi 
Formation 2000-11-01 
Area 135,194 km� (?) 
Time zone IST (UTC +5:30) 

Chhattisgarh, a state in central India, formed when the sixteen southeastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained statehood on November 1, 2000. Raipur serves as its capital.

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

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 plain of the Mahanadi and its tributaries, with extensive rice cultivation. The southern part of the state lies on the Deccan plateau, in the watershed of the Godavari River and its tributary the Indravati. Forest covers roughly forty percent of the state.

The Chhattisgarhi language, part of the East-Central group of Indo-Aryan languages, predominates language in the region. The hill districts of the state serve as a home to the Gond peoples, who speak Dravidian languages.

Districts

Bastar, Bilaspur, Dantewada (South Bastar), Dhamtari, Durg, Janjgir-Champa, Jashpur, Kanker (North Bastar), Kawardha, Korba, Koriya (Korea), Mahasamund, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, and Surguja.