Malkangiri district is the southwesternmost district in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. It has two

Vidhan sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

constituencies.

History

Local legend claims Valmiki wrote the Ramayana on the banks of the Tamasa river. The region was known as ''Malyavantagiri'' in the Ramayana, and it was believed ''Sitakunda'' was the bathing-place of Sita, near Mudulipada. Local legend claims the Pandavas spent a year in exile in the dense forests of Malkangiri. Kanamraju, Balaraju and Poturaju are the three famous Lords of this area, who are being worshiped by the people. On every alternative year, Badayatra, the festival of these Lords is celebrated throughout the district. Prior to 1936, Malkangiri was a part of Koraput district of the Madras Presidency. In 1936, Koraput District was merged into Odisha and Malkangiri Tahasil was included in Koraput District. This Tahasil was a part of Nawarangpur sub-division of Koraput District. On 1 January 1962, Malkangiri subdivision was carved out. In 1958, refugees from East Pakistan were settled in the area in the

Dandakaranya Project The Dandakaranya Project, or the DNK Project, was the form of action the Indian government designed in September 1958 for the settlement of displaced persons from Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) and for integrated development of the area with pa ...

. This project continued for 30 years until it was declared closed in the year 1988. Finally on 2 October 1992, Malkangiri was carved out of Koraput District. Today, the district has become known as a hotbed for Maoist activities.

Administrative setup

There are 07 Blocks and 07 Tahasils under one Sub-Division in Malkangiri district are listed in the following table. There are 12 Police Stations under two Police Sub-Divisions in Malkangiri district are listed in the following table.

Economy

In 2006 the

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a m ...

named Malkangiri one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the 19 districts in

currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Malkangiri district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 613,192, roughly equal to the nation of

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

or the US state of

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. This gives it a ranking of 523rd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

over the decade 2001-2011 was 21.53%. Malkangiri has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...

of 1016

females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 49.49%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 22.55% and 57.83% of the population respectively. At the time of the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, 34.06% of the population in the district spoke

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

, 23.40% Koya, 21.48%

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, 4.18% Desia, 2.97%

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

, 2.59%

Kuvi Kuvi is a South-Central Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Odisha. The language is one of two spoken by the Kandhas, with the other being the closely related and more dominant Kui language. According to the 2011 Indian census, the ...

, 1.99% Bhuiyan, 1.72%

Proja Proja (Cyrillic: ''Проја'', ) is a Serbian dish made of corn flour, baking powder, sunflower oil, sparkling water and salt. Proya is an alternative name used in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been popular in times of widespread poverty, most ...

and 1.36% Halbi as their first language. There are several other languages spoken in the district including

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and hardware. History Drummer and founder Re ...

and Gta'.

Politics

Vidhan sabha constituencies

Malkangiri has 2

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

constituencies, electing members to the

Odisha Legislative Assembly The Odisha Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Odisha state in India. The seat of the Legislative Assembly is at Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state. The Legislative Assembly comprises 147 Members of Legislative Ass ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 establishments in Orissa Districts of Odisha