Nuapada district

Nuapada district ନୁଆପଡା ଜିଲ୍ଲା
District
Location in Odisha, India
Coordinates: 20°39′00″N 82°49′59″E / 20.65°N 82.833°ECoordinates: 20°39′00″N 82°49′59″E / 20.65°N 82.833°E
Country	India
State	Odisha
Established	27 March 1993
Headquarters	Nuapada
Government
• Collector	Contact details: Md. Sadique Alam (IAS)
• Member of Lok Sabha	arka keshari deo
Area
• Total	3,408 km^2 (1,316 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	606,490
• Density	157/km^2 (410/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Odia, English
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	766 xxx
Vehicle registration	OD-26
Sex ratio	1020 ♂/♀
Literacy	58.20%
Lok Sabha constituency	Kalahandi
Vidhan Sabha constituency	2, 71.Nuapada, 72.Khariar
Climate	Aw (Köppen)
Precipitation	1,230 millimetres (48 in)
Website	www.nuapada.nic.in

Nuapada(odia:ନୁଆପଡା ଜିଲ୍ଲା) is a district of Odisha, India.

History

The District of Nuapada was a part of Kalahandi District until early March 1993, but for administrative convenience, Kalahandi District was divided into two parts — Kalahandi and Nuapada.^[1] Nuapada District now comprises one sub-division Nuapada, five tehsils (Nuapada, Komana, Khariar, Sinapalli and Boden) and five community development blocks (Khariar, Sinapalli, Boden, Nuapada and Komna).

Geography

Nuapada district is in the western part of Odisha, lying between latitude 20° 0' N and 21° 5' and between longitude 82° 20' E and 82° 40' E. Its boundaries extend in the north, west and south to Mahasamund district in Chhattisgarh and in the east to Bargarh, Balangir and Kalahandi districts. The district has an area of 3407.5 km² and the administrative headquarters is located at Nuapada.

The plains of Nuapada subdivision are fringed by rugged hill ranges stretching southward, which belong to the main line of the Eastern Ghats and contain extensive plateaus of about 4000 ft (1200 m) in elevation with thick tropical vegetation. They contain such mineral deposits of laterite, graphite and bauxite.

Economy

Due to the conspicuous absence of any industry, the economy revolves around agricultural activities. Three major irrigation projects — the Upper Jonk, the Sunder dam, and the upcoming Lower Indira Irrigation Project — provide support to 45,000 acres of land. Rice is the main crop in the entire district. Other crops like corn (maize), cotton, and onion make up a major share of crops under cultivation. More than 10,000 households migrate to other states in search of better employment opportunities every year after the harvesting season is over. Though the district is tops in MGNREGS implementation, the advance provided by labor contractors before Nuakhai festival lure ignorant laborers into the plot.Due to unregistered and uninformed migration protection of migrant laborers has become a challenge to the government. In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Nuapada one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).^[2] It is one of the 19 districts in Odisha currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).^[2]

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Nuapada district has a population of 606,490 ^[3] roughly equal to the nation of Solomon Islands^[4] or the US state of Wyoming.^[5] This gives it a ranking of 524th in India (out of a total of 640).^[3] The district has a population density of 157 inhabitants per square kilometre (410/sq mi) .^[3] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 14.28%.^[3] Nuapada has a sex ratio of 1020 females for every 1000 males,^[3] and a literacy rate of 58.2%.^[3]

Flora and fauna

The hillsides rising up precipitously from the plains are covered with dense sal forests. The forests of the district are managed under Forest Division namely Khariar Division. According to their composition, the forests can be classified into sal forests, teak forests, miscellaneous forests where sal, teak and other species occur in mixture and bamboo forest. All these are situated in the dry deciduous forest zone. Timber is by far the major forest produce and sal is no doubt, a major constituent of these products. Other important species are bija, asan, bandhan and teak. Among the minor forest produces of this region are kendu leaf, bamboo, broom-grass, mohua flower and seed, antia bark and sabai-grass. Timber, bamboo and kendu leaf are the main exports outside the state.

Places of Interest

Yogeswar Temple, Patora

Situated at a distance of 18 km, from Nuapada Yogeswar temple at Patora is famous for its ancient Shiva Linga.^[6] Gulshan Kumar helped for the construction of the new temple.^[7]

Khariar is one of the major town of this district. It is also the largest town of this district. Khariar is a major transportation hub in Nuapada District as people from the three blocks namely Boden, Sinapali and Khariar depend upon the mode of transportation available in Khariar. Though Khariar is not connected by rail, it is well connected by roads. The major roads passing through Khariar are NH 353, SH 16 etc. The southern part of Nuapada district depends upon Khariar for most of the activities.

Politics

Vidhan sabha constituencies

The following are the two Vidhan sabha constituencies^[8][9] of Nuapada district and the elected members^[10] of that area

No.	Constituency	Reservation	Extent of the Assembly Constituency (Blocks)	Member of 14th Assembly	Party
71	Nuapada	None	Nuapada, Komna, Khariar Road (NAC)	Basanta Kumar Panda	BJP
72	Khariar	None	Boden, Sinapalli, Khariar, Khariar (NAC)	Duryadhan Majhi	BJP

Drought and starvation

Nuapada district was perennially in the news during the 1980s due to acute drought conditions and allegations of deaths by starvation. When Nuapada district was carved out of Kalahandi district, all the drought-prone blocks came under the jurisdiction of Nuapada district, whereas the fertile land came under Kalahandi district. Hence the proverbial "starvation deaths" of Kalahandi were actually a feature of Nuapada and not of Kalahandi district.

The situation has changed tremendously at the outset of 21st century. Nuapada produces surplus paddy which is used by other deficit district. Due to well-monitored public distribution system starvation is no more a concern. However, underdevelopment particularly in Naxal affected Sunabeda plateau riddled with Naxal violence taking the place of starvation death in recent times.

International media attention

Nuapada (then under Kalahandi) had made news headlines when a tribal woman named Phanas Punji of Amlapalli village in the district sold off her teen-aged sister-in-law Banita to an unemployed blind man for forty rupees and a saree.^[11] Following the incident, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a visit to the village.^[12] The incident has since become part of Odisha folklore.^[13]

References

1. State Government Notification No. DRC-44/93/14218/R dated 27 March 1993
2. Ministry of Panchayati Raj (8 September 2009). "A Note on the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme" (PDF). National Institute of Rural Development. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
3. "District Census 2011". Census2011.co.in. 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
4. US Directorate of Intelligence. "Country Comparison:Population". Retrieved 2011-10-01. Solomon Islands 571,890 July 2011 est.
5. "2010 Resident Population Data". U. S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-09-30. Wyoming 563,626
6. "Patora Jogeswar Temple". orissatravels.com. 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2012. The Linga of Lord Siva (Sibalinga) is pretty old, dating back to 6th century
7. "Tourism :: Photo Gallery". nuapada.nic.in. 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2012. The help of cassette king late Gulshan Kumar is significant.
8. Assembly Constituencies and their EXtent
9. Seats of Odisha
10. "List of Member in Fourteenth Assembly". ws.ori.nic.in. Retrieved 19 February 2013. MEMBER NAME
11. "The Agony of Kalahandi".
12. "Nothing has changed for Kalahandi".
13. "Kalahandi's Banita was sold - now she sells herself".

External links

• Official website