Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar district

Amethi district is the 72nd district of the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. This district is a part of Faizabad division (officially ''Ayodhya division'') in the Awadh region of the Uttar Pradesh. It covers an area of 2329.11 km². Gauriganj is the administrative headquarters of the district.

It is better known due to being the seat of power of the Indian Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty since 1980. The former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, his grandsons Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi (the sons of Indira Gandhi), Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi, have at one time or the other, represented its constituency. However, this changed in 2019 when Rahul Gandhi was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections by Smriti Irani, a former TV actress.

Overview

Amethi was the 72nd district of Uttar Pradesh which came into existence on 1 July 2010 by merging three tehsils of the erstwhile Sultanpur district namely Amethi, Gauriganj and Musafirkhana and two tehsils of the erstwhile Raebareli district, namely, Salon and Tiloi. In 2013, however, it was proposed that the Salon sub-district be moved from Amethi district back to Rae Bareli district in Lucknow division. This was done by 2019.

Amethi is a major town of district and also a municipal board.

History

Amethi lies on the Raebareli-Amethi- Sultanpur road about 40 km south-west of Sultanpur city. Also called as Raipur-Amethi, of which Raipur belonged to the Raja of Amethi who lived at Ram Nagar. His ancestors used to live in Raipur-Phulwari where the old fort is still found. Here is also a temple called Hanumangarhi and a mosque both built about hundred years ago. About three kilometres north of Ram Nagar there is a tomb of the famous poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi (best remembered for his epic composition Padmavat) where he died, and the fort was built by Bandhalgoti Rajas.

Location

District Amethi lies at the latitude 26°9’ north and longitude 81°49’ east at an average elevation of 101 metres(331 feet) from mean sea level. The total geographic area of the districts is about 3063 km². The surface is generally level, being broken only by ravines in the neighbourhood of the rivers. The principal river is Gomti, which passes through the centre of the district. North side of this district is bounded by Faizabad District; South side is bounded by Pratapgarh District. West side is bounded by Bara-Banki District and Rai Baeilly District and the East side is bounded by Sultanpur district.

Topography

The land of Amethi district is generally plane except some regions around the Gomti River which drains almost the whole district. It may be called an agrarian area as agriculture is the main occupation of the people. Amethi district has a wet and dry climate with average temperatures ranging between 23 °C to 28 °C. Amethi experiences three distinct seasons: summer, monsoon and a mild autumn. Typical summer months are from March to May, with maximum temperatures ranging from 36° to 44 °C. The rainy season in the districts falls between June and September and July being the wettest month of the year. Winter starts from November. The daytime temperature hovers around 22 °C while night temperature is below 8 °C during December and January, often dropping to 2°to 3 °C.

Change of status and name

Chief minister Mayawati had ordered formation of Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar district on 21 May 2003 but following a change of guard her arch political rival Mulayam Singh Yadav had scrapped it on 23 November the same year. The Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar district included within it five tehsils of Sultanpur and Rae Bareli districts which form part of Amethi constituency. In December 2003, a lawyer of Amethi, Uma Shankar Pandey, had challenged the order scrapping the formation of the district in the High Court.

BSP won the 2007 Uttar Pradesh state legislative assembly election and Chief Minister Mayawati ordered the formation of the district again. The district came into existence on 1 July 2010 by merging three  tehsils of the erstwhile Sultanpur district, namely, Amethi, Gauriganj and Musafirkhana and two tehsils of the erstwhile Raebareli district, namely, Salon and Tiloi and was named as Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar.

However the name of the district was changed to Amethi after Samajwadi Party came into power in the 2012 state legislative assembly election.

In Lucknow on 7 October 2013,the State Cabinet revoked the earlier notification regarding renaming of Amethi as Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj Nagar. Now the Amethi will be known as its previous name, told Chief Secretary Mr. Akhand Pratap Singh in a media. Amethi contains a hospital (Sanjay Gandhi Hospital) at Munshiganj. The NGO, Society for Animal Health Agriculture Science and Humanity is located at Munshiganj.

Demographics

In the 2011 Indian census used the old district definitions, and so did not list Amethi district. The sub-districts (tehsils) that form Amethi district had the following populations:

Scheduled Castes made up 512,215 (24.98%) of the population.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 census, 81.32% of the population spoke Hindi, 17.16% Awadhi and 1.28% Urdu