Kayah State ( my, ကယားပြည်နယ်, formerly Karenni State) is a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. Situated in eastern Myanmar, it is bounded on the north by
Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
, on the east by
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
's
Mae Hong Son Province
Mae Hong Son province ( Burmese: မဲဟောင်ဆောင်; th, แม่ฮ่องสอน, ; Northern Thai: ; Shan: ; formerly called ''Mae Rong Son''), also spelled ''Maehongson'', ''Mae Hong Sorn'' or ''Maehongsorn'', is one of ...
, and on the south and west by
Kayin State
Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ...
. It lies approximately between 18° 30′ and 19° 55′ north latitude and between 96° 50′ and 97° 50′ east longitude. The area is . Its capital is
Loikaw
Loikaw (, ) is the capital of Kayah State in Myanmar. It is located in the Karen Hills area, near the State's northern tip, just above an embayment on the Pilu River. The inhabitants are mostly Kayah (Karenni). Myanmar's largest hydropower p ...
(also spelt Loi-kaw). The estimated population in 1998 was approximately 207,357, according to
UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
. It is inhabited primarily by the
Karenni
Karenni may refer to:
* Karenni people
* Karenni language
* Karenni State, former name of Kayah State, Myanmar
* Karenni States
The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by ...
ethnic group, also known as Red Karen
or Kayah, a
Sino-Tibetan
Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
people.
Geography
Karenni (Kayah) State is located in the eastern part of Myanmar. The relief of Karenni (Kayah) State is mountainous with the
Dawna Range
The Dawna Range (; th, ทิวเขาถนนธงชัยตะวันตก, ทิวเขาดอยมอนกุจู), also known as Dawna Hills, is a mountain range in eastern Burma and northwestern Thailand. Its northern e ...
and the
Karen Hills
The Karen Hills, () also known as Kayah-Karen Mountains, are one of the main hill ranges in eastern Burma. They are located at the SW corner of Shan State and in Kayah State, a mountainous region where the only relatively flat area is Loikaw, t ...
also known as "Karenni-Karen" mountains separated by the
Salween River
, ''Mae Nam Salawin'' (
, name_etymology =
, image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar
, map ...
as it flows through Karenni (Kayah) State. Balu Chaung flows from
Inle Lake
Inle Lake (, ), a freshwater lake located in the Nyaungshwe Township of Shan State, part of Shan Hills in Myanmar (Burma). It is the second largest lake in Myanmar with an estimated surface area of , and one of the highest at an elevation of ...
to Than Lwin River and converges with the Salween in southern Karenni (Kayah) State.
Lawpita Dam, built in 1950 as a bilateral reparation agreement with Japan, is a major hydroelectric production dam which produces a quarter of the total hydroelectric power generation in Myanmar.
History
19th century and British rule
Karenni States is the name formerly given to a group of states that included Kantarawadi, Kyebogyi and Bawlake. These states were located south of the
Federated Shan States
The Federated Shan States ( Shan: မိူင်းႁူမ်ႈတုမ်ႊၸိုင်ႈတႆး ''Muang Hom Tum Jueng Tai''; my, ပဒေသရာဇ် ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်စု) was an administrative division of ...
and east of
British Burma. According to the 1930 census, the states had a total population of 58,761 with Kantarawadi (), 30,677, Kyebogyi (), 14,282 and Bawlake (), 13,802.
The
British government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
recognised and guaranteed the independence of the Karenni States in an 1875 treaty
[ with Burmese King ]Mindon Min
Mindon Min ( my, မင်းတုန်းမင်း, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate King of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King P ...
, by which both parties recognised the area as belonging neither to Konbaung
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
Burma nor to Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. Consequently, the Karenni States were never fully incorporated into British Burma. The Karenni States were recognised as tributary to British Burma in 1892,[ when their rulers agreed to accept a stipend from the British government. In the 1930s, the ]Mawchi
Mawachi a region in the Bawlake district of the Kayah State (formerly called Karenni State) of Myanmar.
In the 1930s, the Mawchi Mine was the most important source of tungsten in the world. Mawchi contained the world's largest granite-hosted tin- ...
Mine in Bawlake was the most important source of tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
in the world.
Independence to 1988
The Constitution of the Union of Burma
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
in 1947 proclaimed that the three Karenni States be amalgamated into a single constituent state of the union, called Karenni State. It also provided for the possibility of secession from the Union after 10 years.
In August 1948, the Karenni
Karenni may refer to:
* Karenni people
* Karenni language
* Karenni State, former name of Kayah State, Myanmar
* Karenni States
The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by ...
leader U Bee Htu Re was assassinated by central government militia for his opposition to the inclusion of the Karenni States in the Union of Burma. An armed uprising swept the state that has continued to the present day.
In 1952, the former Shan state of Mong Pai
Mongpai, also known as Mobye ( my, မိုးဗြဲ), was a Shan state in what is today Burma. It belonged to the Central Division of the Southern Shan States
The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms ...
(1901. pop - 19,351) was added to Karenni State, and the whole renamed Kayah State, possibly with the intent of driving a wedge between the Karenni
Karenni may refer to:
* Karenni people
* Karenni language
* Karenni State, former name of Kayah State, Myanmar
* Karenni States
The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by ...
(in Kayah State) and the rest of the Karen people
The Karen, kjp, ပ်ုဖၠုံဆိုဒ်, my, ကရင်လူမျိုး, , th, กะเหรี่ยง ( ), also known as the Kayin, Kariang or Kawthoolese, are an ethnolinguistic group of Sino-Tibetan language ...
(in Karen State
Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ca ...
), both fighting for independence.
In 1957, pro-independence groups already active in the area formed the Karenni National Progressive Party
The Karenni National Progressive Party ( my, ကရင်နီအမျိုးသားတိုးတက်ရေးပါတီ; Abbreviation, abbr. KNPP) is a Karenni people, Karenni political organisation in Kayah State, Myanmar (Burma). I ...
(KNPP), backed by its own army, the Karenni Army
The Karenni Army ( my, ကရင်နီ တပ်မတော်; abbreviated KA, KnA or KiA) is the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), and operates in eastern Kayah State (also known as Karenni State), Myanmar (Burma ...
(KA). Apart from a brief ceasefire in 1995, the KA has been fighting ever since. Rivals to the KNPP include the leftist Kayan New Land Party
The Kayan National Party is a political party in Myanmar.
Unlike Kayan New Land Party and other parties which failed to be approved by the Union Election Commission (UEC) in Kayah State, it was allowed to register to contest the election in 2011. ...
(KNLP), and the Karenni National People's Liberation Front (KNPLF), both of which are now allied with the Myanmar military.
Post-1988
In 1996, Myanmar's State Law and Order Restoration Council
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
(SLORC) of stepped up its campaign to crush Karenni independence with a population transfer program, forcibly moving villagers to designated relocation sites to deprive the pro-independence forces of bases of support. The Myanmar government has been accused of massive human rights violations
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
in the region.
Demographics
Ethnographers
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
classify anywhere from seven to ten ethnic groups
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
(not including ethnic sub-groups) as native to Kayah State. In addition, Shan, Intha, and Bamar
The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of th ...
live in the north and Pa-O
, native_name_lang = my
, image = Pa O Tribe Kalaw Shan Myanmar.jpg
, caption = A Pa'O woman near Kalaw, southern Shan State
, population = 1,400,000 (2014 est.)
, popplace = Myanmar, Thailand
, rels ...
in surrounding hills. Each group is also known by more than one name. Clearly, ethnicity in Kayah State is a complex issue, made more complex by the current political situation. According to the 1983 census conducted by United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and the Burmese government, the Kayah composed 56.12%, while Bamar
The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of th ...
(17.58%), Shan (16.66%), Karen
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
(6.45%), mixed races (2.08%), and other groups formed minorities. Ethnolinguists distinguish the following linguistic groups in Kayah State:
# Karenni
Karenni may refer to:
* Karenni people
* Karenni language
* Karenni State, former name of Kayah State, Myanmar
* Karenni States
The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by ...
/ Kayah (Red people)
# Padaung ( Kayan)
# Bwe
# Geba
# Manumanaw (Kayaw)
# Yantale
# Zayein ( Kayăn Lahta)
# Geko (Kayăn Kakhong)
# Yinbaw (Kayăn Kangan)
# Paku (Karen
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
)
Religion
According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, Buddhists
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, who make up 49.9% of Kayah State's population, form the largest religious community there. Minority religious communities include Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
(45.8%), Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
(1.1%), Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
(0.1%), and animists
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, hu ...
(1.9%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Kayah State's population. 1.2% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.
According to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee
The State Saṅgha Mahā Nāyaka Committee ( my, နိုင်ငံတော် သံဃာ့မဟာနာယကအဖွဲ့, abbreviated Mahana or in Burmese, SSMNC in English) is a government-appointed body of high-ranking Buddhis ...
’s 2016 statistics, 2060 Buddhist monks were registered in Kayah State, comprising 0.4% of Myanmar's total Sangha
Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...
membership, which includes both novice samanera
A sāmaṇera (Pali); sa, श्रामणेर (), is a novice male monastic in a Buddhist context. A female novice is a ''śrāmaṇerī'' or ''śrāmaṇerikā'' (Sanskrit; Pāli: ''sāmaṇerī'').
Etymology
The ''sāmaṇera'' is a ...
and fully-ordained bhikkhu. The majority of monks belong to the Thudhamma Nikaya
Thudhamma Nikaya ( my, သုဓမ္မာနိကာယ, ; also spelt Sudhammā Nikāya) is the largest monastic order of monks in Burma.
It is one of 9 legally sanctioned monastic orders (''nikāya'') in the country, under the 1990 Law Co ...
(82.4%), followed by Shwegyin Nikaya
Shwegyin Nikāya (, ; also spelt Shwekyin Nikāya) is the second largest monastic order of monks in Burma. It is one of nine legally sanctioned monastic orders (''nikāya'') in the country, under the 1990 Law Concerning Sangha Organizations. Sh ...
(17.6%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other small monastic orders
Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...
. 303 thilashin
A ( my, သီလရှင်, ,( mnw, သဳလ, ), "possessor of morality", from Pali ''sīla'') is a female renunciant in Burmese Buddhism; a Burmese Theravada Buddhist nun. They are not fully ordained nuns, as the full ordination is not ...
were registered in Kayah State, comprising 0.5% of Myanmar’s total thilashin community.
The Kayans’ traditional religion is called Kan Khwan, and has been practised since the people migrated from Mongolia during the Bronze Age. It includes the belief that the Kayan people are the result of a union between a female dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
and a male human/angel hybrid.
The major religious festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
is the three-day Kay Htein Bo festival, which commemorates the belief that the creator god gave form to the world by planting a small post in the ground. During this festival, held in late March or early April, a Kay Htoe Boe pole is erected and participants dance around the pole. This festival is held to venerate the eternal god and creator messengers, to give thanks for blessings during the year, to appeal for forgiveness, and pray for rain. It is also an opportunity for Kayan from different villages to come together to maintain the solidarity of the tribe.
The Kayan have a strong belief in augury and nothing is done without reference to some form of divination, including breaking thatch grass, but most importantly consulting the chicken bones.
Nowadays the annual Kay Htein Bo festival is always accompanied by a reading of the chicken bones to predict the year ahead. Fowl bone prognostication can be witnessed in the Kayan villages in Thailand's Mae Hong Son province during the annual festival and during “Cleansing Ceremonies” which are held when a family has encountered misfortune. Dreams are also used to make predictions.
Politics
As with many other states in Myanmar, which have ethnic minority populations, Kayah state has its own fair share of alleged human rights abuses by the Burmese military junta and the Burmese armed forces.
It has been alleged that villagers live under the constant threat of rape, beatings, arbitrary arrest
Arbitrary arrest and arbitrary detention are the arrest or detention of an individual in a case in which there is no likelihood or evidence that they committed a crime against legal statute, or in which there has been no proper due process of ...
or execution, conscription as slave labour
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
for the Myanmar army, and having their food and possessions taken without compensation.
"The SPDC also arbitrarily closes roads for non-military travel in Karenni State,
further restricting villagers movements. Landmines are often planted along roads to prohibit the villagers' movements. Villagers, fearful of landmines and potentialinjuries, further restrict their own movements.
Even with a valid travel pass villagers are still vulnerable to abuses and exploitation. There have been reports of arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and rapes of villagers who have had permission to travel. Villagers have also been shot at when they have been outside of their communities."["Living Ghosts: The spiraling repression of the Karenni population under the Burmese military junta." ''Burma Issues'', March 2008.]
It has also been alleged that the relocation centers have inadequate access to water, food, medical services, and educational facilities. An estimated 50,000 Karenni
Karenni may refer to:
* Karenni people
* Karenni language
* Karenni State, former name of Kayah State, Myanmar
* Karenni States
The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by ...
people classified as IDPs (Internally Displaced Person
An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee.
A ...
s) and thousands more are in refugee camps
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...
in Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
.
"Currently there are 4,800 IDPs in eight forced relocation sites throughout Karenni
State. These relocation sites are a result of the Burmese military regimes mass
relocation program in Karenni State in 1996. Following the collapse of the
ceasefire between SLORC and the KNPP, tens of thousands of people were
forcibly evicted from their homes during this program.
"Most relocation sites are located close to military camps, army bases and along
main roads. This increases the vulnerability of exploitation and abuse. IDPs are
subjected to force labour demands from the soldiers and arbitrary taxation
(essentially theft). IDPs are also vulnerable to torture; murder and rape by soldiers
and their movements are heavily restricted.
"The relocation sites are also inadequate to sustain a healthy and economically
viable livelihood. The majority of relocation sites do not have sanitation facilities,
electricity or access to safe drinking water. The land surrounding the sites is
often barren and over populated. As productive land has usually been claimed by
the original inhabitants or confiscated by the soldiers, opportunities to farm are
limited. There are also very few employment opportunities in forced relocation
sites."
Administration
The state capital is Loikaw
Loikaw (, ) is the capital of Kayah State in Myanmar. It is located in the Karen Hills area, near the State's northern tip, just above an embayment on the Pilu River. The inhabitants are mostly Kayah (Karenni). Myanmar's largest hydropower p ...
. The state is divided into 4 districts which are divided into 7 townships with 106 wards and villages.
Districts
![Kayah state districts map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Kayah_State_Districts_map.svg)
Townships
Towns
* Bawlakhe
Bawlakhe ( my, ဘော်လခဲမြို့) is a town in the Kayah State of eastern part of Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British ...
* Demoso
Dimawhso ( my, ဒီးမော့ဆိုမြို့) is a town in the Kayah State of eastern part of Burma. It is ''de jure'' a part of Burma, but is currently controlled by the Karenni National People's Liberation Front as of 15 Decembe ...
* Hpasawng
HpaSaung ( my, ဖားဆောင်းမြို့, MLCTS: ''hpaa.chaung.mrui'') is a town in the Kayah State of eastern part of Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions req ...
* Hpruso
Hpruso ( my, ဖရူဆိုမြို့) is a town in the Kayah State of eastern part of Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British Engl ...
*Lawpita
* Loikaw
Loikaw (, ) is the capital of Kayah State in Myanmar. It is located in the Karen Hills area, near the State's northern tip, just above an embayment on the Pilu River. The inhabitants are mostly Kayah (Karenni). Myanmar's largest hydropower p ...
*Loilinlay
*Mawchi
* Mese
*Nanmekon
* Shadaw
Shadaw ( my, ရှားတောမြို့) is a town in the Kayah State of eastern part of Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British E ...
*Ywathit
Government
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Kayah State High Court
Transport
Kayah State is served by Loikaw Airport
Loikaw Airport is an airport in Loikaw, Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronoun ...
and Loikaw Train station
Economy
Kayah State has a primarily extraction-based economy. The main crop is rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
, mostly irrigated
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
, with other important crops including millet, maize, sesame, groundnut, garlic, and vegetables. Mineral products include alabaster
Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...
, tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
, and tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
. Valuable woods such as teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...
and pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
were once produced, but the forests have largely been stripped bare by illegal logging
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a pro ...
authorised by the Tatmadaw
Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...
(Burmese military). The hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
power plant at Lawpita Falls outside of Loikaw is of strategic importance, as it supplies over 20% of Myanmar's total electrical power.
Kayah State has theoretical tourist
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
potential, if the political situation is resolved. The state has rugged mountains, river streams, lakes and waterfalls; however, transport and communication are difficult. At present, Kayah State is open to outsiders by permit only, which can be difficult to obtain depending on the current military situation. Even with a permit, usually only a radius around Loikaw is allowed. The central government effectively controls only Loikaw and parts of the western half of the state.
16 January 2012
As of 2018, the state is the most electrified in Myanmar, at 87%.
Education
* Loikaw University
* Technological University, Loikaw
* Computer University, Loikaw
Computer University, Loikaw is a university in Loikaw, Kayah State, Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some Briti ...
Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities of Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
and Mandalay
Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).
Mandalay was fo ...
. According to official statistics, Kayah State has the lowest number of public schools in the country. Loikaw University is the state's main university.
Health care
Kayah State, most of Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
, has poor health care facilities due to the alleged mismanagement by the Burmese military junta and economic sanctions
Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they ma ...
by the US government. Although health care is nominally free, in reality patients have to pay for medicine and treatment even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. As Kayah State is perhaps the most isolated state in Myanmar, it has great difficulties in addressing health concerns.
In 2016, Loikaw General Hospital was upgraded with the 1.945 billion yen funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The following is a summary of the public health care system in the state.
Gallery
File:Loikaw clock tower.jpg, Loikaw Clock Tower
File:Taung Kwe Pagoda.jpg, Taung Kwal Pagoda
See also
* Kayah State Cultural Museum
References
*
External links
Official website
{{Administrative divisions of Burma (Myanmar)
States of Myanmar
Members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization