Indian States: Madhya Pradesh
by Vinay Lal, copyright 2001 and 2006
(This is a slightly altered version of the
original, which was published in the
World Book Encyclopedia in 2001. The
article is intended for use mainly by students in junior and senior high
Madhya Pradesh is a state in central India. Its name
means middle province, and it is the country's largest state in area.
Madhya Pradesh is predominantly an agricultural region, with a relatively
small population. Lack of roads, railway, and other infrastructure has
hindered the overall industrial development of the state, and it has now
lost most of its impressive mineral deposits to the new state of Chattisgarh.
People and government
People. The state's population density is greater in the west than
in the east. The majority of the people live in rural areas. Bhopal is the capital, with more than
one million inhabitants. Most of
the people are Hindus, though Muslims are to be found in significant numbers
in Bhopal and some other urban
areas. There are also a small number
of Sikhs, Christians, and practitioners of other faiths.
is the most widely spoken language, followed by Marathi. Gujarati, Oriya,
Punjabi, and Urdu are also spoken by many people. The literacy rate is a little over 30 per cent.
Government. The constitutional head of state is the
governor, who is appointed by the president. The chief minister and cabinet
are elected from the legislative assembly, which has 230 members. The
state capital is Bhopal.
Madhya Pradesh has 29 elected members in the Lok Sabha (lower house) and
11 nominated representatives in the Rajya Sabha (upper house) of the Indian
There are 45 districts in Madhya
Pradesh. The collector has administrative and magisterial power at district
level. Local administration is in the hands of the gram panchayat (village
councils) of elected inhabitants.
Agriculture. Farming is the most important sector of
the economy of Madhya Pradesh. The chief areas are in the Chambal
Valley, the Malwa Plateau, the
Narmada Valley, and the Rewa Plateau. Nearly half
of the land area can be cultivated, and about a sixth of that is irrigated
by means of canals, tanks, and wells. There are more than 20 major irrigation
and power projects.
main food crops are jowar (sorghum),
rice, wheat, and coarse millets such as kondo,
kutki and sawan. Peanuts and pulses such as beans, lentils, and peas are also
important. Rice is the major crop in the east where rainfall is heavy.
In the drier eastern areas, wheat is the main food crop.
Pradesh is the largest soybean producer in India. Other commercial crops include
cotton, linseed, sesame, and sugar cane.
cover less than 25 per cent of the state. Salai trees are a source of
a resin which is used for incense and medicine. Bamboo, teak, and sal
are valuable timber trees.
Manufacturing. The major industries in the state include
the heavy electrical plant at Bhopal,
an aluminum plant at Korba, paper mills at Hoshangabad and Nepanagar,
an alkaline battery factory at Neemuch and numerous cement works. There
is a leather factory at Dewas and an explosives and gun factory at Jabalpur. There are 25 textile mills in the
state, seven of them nationalized. The state government has established
large and medium scale industries at Indore,
Ujjain, Gwalior, and Jabalpur. Bhopal is the fastest-growing
industrial centre. New industries include electronics, optical fibres,
plastics, and toolmaking.
Mining. Madhya Pradesh has
some mineral deposits of bauxite, coal, copper, dolomite, iron ore, limestone,
manganese ore, and rock phosphate. The country's largest diamond mine,
with recoverable reserves of one million carats, is at Panna. Balaghat
district is being prospected for copper ore.
Electricity. There are several major river systems
in the state with much potential for hydroelectric power generation. The most controversial of the hydroelectric
and irrigation projects, which involves the construction of hundreds of
dams along the Narmada river, has been stalled for years, though recently
Court ruled that the project would be allowed to continue. Those objecting to it point to the huge environmental
destruction, the immersion of thousands of villages under water, and the
loss by tribals of their ancestral lands.
Transportation. The provision of transportation facilities
in the state is uneven. There are good road and rail communications in
the western part, particularly along the corridor running from Gwalior in the north to Bhopal in the centre and Khandwa in the south.
The original purpose of the railways was to connect Bombay
(Mumbai) with Delhi and, to a lesser extent,
Delhi with Madras (Chennai)
They have expanded to incorporate places like Jabalpur in the heart of Madhya Pradesh into
the rail network. Bhopal can be reached
easily from Delhi.
The Shatabdi Express covers the 700 kilometres from Delhi
in under eight hours.
total length of surfaced and unsurfaced roads is over 90,000 kilometres.
This includes nearly 3,000 kilometres of national highway. In many districts,
however, there is poor road coverage, which hinders economic development.
There are airports at Bhopal, Guna, Gwalior,
Indore, Khajuraho, and Jabalpur.
Location and description. Madhya Pradesh shares boundaries with
the following states: Uttar Pradesh to the north, Chattisgarh to the east,
Maharashtra to the south and southwest, Gujarat
to the west, and Rajasthan to the northwest.
Land features. The state occupies the Deccan Plateau.
It has a number of hill ranges and is the source of some of the most important
Vindhya Range of uplands runs diagonally
across the state from around Dhar to just south of Khajuraho. South of
it is the Satpura Range,
which extends from Khandwa to the Kanha
National Park. In the north, the Rewa Plateau overlooks the
plain of the Ganges (Ganga) River around Allahabad
in Uttar Pradesh. Several rivers,
such as the Keu, dissect the Vindhyas, and here have cut deep ravines.
Generally well wooded, the hills rise in places to 600 metres.
low-lying areas of Gwalior and Bundelkhand
have lighter soil, while the Narmada
Valley contains deep
rich alluvial (river silt) deposits.
Climate. The monsoon dominates the climate, with most of the yearly
rain falling between June and September. Bhopal,
for example, receives 120 centimetres a year, of which 90 per cent is
in the rainy season. The season preceding the rains (March to May) is
hot and dry, with temperatures exceeding 33 °C everywhere and often reaching
44 °C. The average maximum during the monsoon is 30 °C, and the minimum
19 °C. Humidity levels are much higher than at other times of the year.
The monsoon causes luxuriant plant growth. The winters are dry and pleasant.
The average maximum temperature from November to February is 27 °C, and
the minimum 10 °C. Annual rainfall tends to decrease from south to north
and from east to west.
Wildlife. Madhya Pradesh has some pockets of dense
forest. The main areas are the
Vindhya-Kaimur ranges and the Satpura range. Teak, sal, and bamboo are
the most important commercial trees.
is a rich wildlife in these forests, including bison, black buck, wild
buffalo, cheetal (spotted deer), leopard and sambar
(large brown deer). Kanha National Park
is the only habitat of the hardground barasingha
(swamp deer). Shivpuri and Bandhogarh parks are important game reserves.
Shivpuri is known for its albinotic (white) tigers.
Rivers and lakes. Of the river systems in the state, the
Narmada, the Chambal, and the Tapti are the most important.
The Narmada River
rises in the heart of the state and flows west. At Jabalpur, it runs through marble gorges. Along
its northern edge are the Bharner Hills, part of the Vindhya
Range. To the south of the Narmada
River, and forming the southern
border of the state, are the Satpura
Range, the highest
of which are the Mahadeo Hills. The
Chambal River forms the northern border of the
state with Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It joins the Yamuna (Jumna)-Ganges system in Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh. The several
lakes in the state are all artificially constructed reservoirs. Near Bhopal is the Halali reservoir
and further south is the Tawa reservoir, fed by rivers from the Mahadeo
Hills. The largest is Gandhi Sagar near the state boundary with Rajasthan.
Some of the
earliest inhabitants of what is now Madhya Pradesh were groups such as
the Bhils and Gonds. Descendants of an ancient race, they were once wide-ranging
hunters and gatherers, or nomadic farmers, who moved from place to place.
The simple tribal people were no match for the later waves of aggressive
invaders, who gradually pushed them into the hill forest parts of the
region. Among these invaders were Rajputs, Marathas, and Muslims from
Central Asia and beyond.
of the earliest states that existed in Madhya Pradesh was Avanti, of which
Ujjain was the capital.
Ujjain is in the western part of the state.
Avanti was a centre of Buddhism and of Pali, the language of early Buddhist
literature. Avanti formed part of the Mauryan Empire of 300-200 B.C. (see
Mauryan Empire). Several pillars and stupas of this period stand in Sanchi
and Ujjain. The stupas of Sanchi
are famous (see India,
about 100 B.C. to the A.D. 1500's, various dynasties ruled part or most
of the state. They included the Sunga dynasty (185-73 B.C.), the Ksaptrapas
and the Nagas (A.D. 100-300), and the Guptas (300-400). The Hunas (Huns)
struggled to seize control of Malwa during this period. Malwa was in western
Madhya Pradesh and had developed out of the earlier state of Avanti. In
the 600's, it became part of Harsha's northern Indian empire. After Harsha's
time, different parts of Madhya Pradesh were again ruled by different
dynasties. These dynasties include the Pratiharas, the Paramaras, the
Chandellas, and the Chedis. Up to the 1200's, there were also a number
of Gond tribal kingdoms in Madhya Pradesh.
Paramara king Bhoja was an enlightened monarch, a poet, and a patron of
both art and literature. The Chandella king Dhanga, who reigned from 954
to 1002, commissioned the building of the magnificent temples of Khajuraho.
Turks conquered Gwalior,
in northern Madhya Pradesh, in the 1000's. The Delhi Sultanate incorporated
Gwalior in 1231. Malwa
emerged as an independent kingdom under the Muslim Khalji dynasty
in 1401, centered around the majestic capital of Mandu. Mahmud Khan Khalji
(reigned 1436-1469) was the most powerful king of Malwa. He fought against
Gujarat, Delhi, and Mewar. Baz Bahadur
reigned in the 1500's as the last ruler of an independent Malwa. He was
a great patron of art and music.
annexed Malwa to the Mughal Empire in the mid-1500's. A large part of Madhya Pradesh, including Malwa,
came under Maratha rule with the decline of the Mughal Empire in the 1700's.
The chief Maratha kingdoms in Madhya Pradesh were Dhar, Dewas, Gwalior, and Indore.
1817-1818, territories in Madhya Pradesh known as the "Saugor-Nerbudda"
came under the control of the British following their victory over the
Marathas in the Anglo-Maratha wars. The British extended their influence
into the area by making treaties with the native rulers and annexing part
of the territory. The area under direct British administration in time
became known as the Central
Provinces and consisted of Malwa, Bundelkhand,
and the part of Jharkhand state which is known as Baghelkhand.
anti-colonial movement in Madhya Pradesh was relatively weak. When India gained independence in 1947, the Central Provinces and Berar
became Madhya Pradesh. Adjoining territories were added to the new state.
In 1956, the government detached eight Marathi-speaking districts and
added them to Bombay state (now Maharashtra).
also became part of Madhya Pradesh. Feudal influences still persist in
the politics of Madhya Pradesh. The main political parties are the Congress
Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and at present Congress is
Bhopal in 1984, poisonous gas leaked from
a factory owned by the Union Carbide Corporation of the United States.
More than 2,000 people died as a result of the leak and about 200,000
people were injured. It is estimated
that some 75,000 people have died since then from illnesses caused by
the gas leak. Though the gas leak is described as one of “the
worst industrial accidents in history”, subsequent investigative reporting
and research have established that Union Carbide, which has made strenous
attempts to evade its moral and legal responsibilities, was criminally
negligent and refused to meet the minimum safety standards.
Its chairman at that time, Warren Anderson, for whom a warrant
of extradition has been issued by the Indian government, remains a fugitive
from justice. For a tragedy of this magnitude, Union Carbide
got away virtually scot free.
Facts in brief
about Madhya Pradesh
census — 48,520,934
Area: 308,346 sq. km.
State capital: Bhopal.
Largest cities: Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Ujjain.
Agriculture — millet,
oilseeds, soybean, wheat.
Manufacturing — cement,
heavy electrical goods, paper, textiles.
Mining — diamonds,
bauxite, coal, copper ore, limestone.