Betul () is Municipal Council town in

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

, India. It is the administrative head-quarter of Betul district and forms the southernmost part of the

Narmadapuram Division Narmadapuram Division is one of the administrative divisions in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Its capital is in Hoshangabad Hoshangabad (Hindi: ), officially Narmadapuram (), is a city in the Indian States and territories of India, ...

Name

During the early 20th century, Betul was known as Badnur.

History

Nearby fort called Kherla Quila was formerly the seat of an independent kingdom of the Gonds in the medieval and early modern period. Under

Company Rule Company rule in India (also known as the Company Raj, from Hindi , ) refers to regions of the Indian subcontinent under the control of the British East India Company (EIC). The EIC, founded in 1600, established its first trading post in India ...

, its fort was permitted to fall into ruin. Badnur became the headquarters of Betul District in 1822. Surrounded by hills on all sides, it was used by the British for the exportation of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. It supported two

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

s; the larger, Kothi Bazar, held 2015 people in the 1870s. At that time, the town had a circuit house, a

dak bungalow A dak bungalow, dak-house or dâk-bungalow was a government building in British India under Company rule in India, Company Rule and the British Raj, Raj. It may also refer to some similarly-built or -used structures in modern India, Bangladesh, ...

, a

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...

, jail, police station, pharmacy, and schools. Its population was 3766. Following

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, Betul lay near the geographical center point of the new country, which is now marked by a stone at Barsali. Betul was connected to the Delhi–Chennai line of the Indian rail network in the early 1950s. It now serves as a junction point, providing the access to the

Chhindwara District Chhindwara district () is a List of districts of Madhya Pradesh, district of Madhya Pradesh state in India, and Chhindwara town is the district headquarters. Chhindwara was the largest district in Madhya Pradesh with an area of 10,293 square k ...

on broad-gauge rail.

Geography

Betul is located at , near the geographical center point of modern India. It has an average elevation of .

Climate

Demographics

During the 2011 Indian census, Betul had a population of 103,330. Males constitute 51.12% of the population, females 48.88%. Betul has an average

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of 89.28%, higher than the national average of 74.04%. 10.82% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Education

In Betul, there are total 72 number of colleges. Some main colleges are as follows * Govt Jaywanti Haksar P G College Betul * Government polytechnic college sonaghati Betul * Bhimrao Ramrao Ambedkar College Of Education, Run By Shri Ram Shiksha Parishad, Chakkar Road Ambedk * Late Shri Nandkishore Singh Patel Memorial College, Near Link Road, Sadar, Betul * Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose College * Shri Ram Pharmacy College Jamthi Betul * Shri Balaji Institute of Technology & Management, Betul In Betul, there are many schools for primary and secondary education. Some of the main schools are * Little Flower Senior Secondary School, Betul * R D Public School, Kalapatha, Betul * Satpuda Valley Public School, Sonaghati, Betul * Kendriya Vidyalya Betul * ELC English School *Rathore Collage and School

References

Sources

* * {{Betul district Cities and towns in Betul district Cities in Madhya Pradesh