Betul district () is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

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 ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

in central

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The city of Betul serves as its administrative headquarters. The district is a part of

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, ...

. History of Betul traces its origin to Satyug according to Skand puran river Tapi in Satyug came to earth for protecting world from excessive heat therefore Tapi is also known as Adi Ganga. Moreover Lord

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

also passed through Betul during his pathway to south, Pandavas passed through Betul during the Agyaat vaas in Vidharbha and built a temple of

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

in Barahling . Between 161 BC and 130 BC, Betul was the kingdom of the Kundala. From 9th to 12th century, the history of Jains is found in Betul, and its historical evidence can be seen in Muktagiri group of temples. Founder of

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...

also visited the holy city and meditated for 15 days in Multai at the origin of holy river Tapi. According to the Persian historian Farishta, there was a Gondwana kingdom, which included Khedla, Devgadh, Gadhmandla, Chandasirpur, etc. during the 13th-14th century. The most popular of the Gond kings was Eel. During 16th and 17th century. Khedla fort of Betul was continuously invaded by the Mughals In the 18th century, the area of Betul was under the control of Maratha ruler of Berar Raghavji Bhosale, In 1818 AD in Sitavardi, the British Maratha war was fought. In the Treaty, the entire area of Betul was given to the British. During British period, the headquarters of Betul was at Betul Bazar. In 1822, the British shifted the district headquarters to Baddnoor dhana and made Betul the district headquarters. In the older times, Betul was called Badnoor ''Badd'' means bad and ''noor'' means eye and so Badnoor means evil eye. It is said that in the old times, criminals were kept at this place after mutilation. Hence the name of this place came to be known as Badnoor during the reign of be known as the Gond kings. Initially, Betul was divided into four administrative regions Bhaggudhana, Chunnidhana, Baddnoordhana and Tikari. Betul is called by the British as the area with a wonderful supernatural environment and Betul's natural beauty and high mountain peaks of Satpura range has mesmerized the crown hence Betul was described as a destination of vacations for British officials. Betul is going to complete the 200 golden years of its establishment in 2022. It was the same year in

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

the capital of Himachal Pradesh when British officer Ross constructed the first British residence, a mere wood cottage. His successor Lt. Charles Patt Kennedy' erected the first pucca house in 1822 named after Lt. Kennedy as 'Kennedy House' of

. Officer from northern command visited Betul and mentioned Betul and

as the two faces of one coin in his dairy. Since then the unbroken relationship between

and Betul which was established by the British in the pages of history continues till today. Once a freedom fighter was hanged in Faasi mines and since the area around named as Fassikhadan. The historic Kamani Gate was part of the Victoria Hostel built in the year 1902, where the children of British officers/employees and merchants were sent to stay for education. The Hindi meaning of Betul in cottonless, Cotton was not grown in this region of Berar. For this reason, it was named Betul.

History

Betul is remembered for the forest Satyagraha that took place in 1930. Ganjan Singh Korku and Banjari Singh Korku were prominent leaders of the movement.

Geography

It lies almost wholly on the

Satpura range The Satpura Range, formerly also known as the Seeonee Hills, is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range paralle ...

and occupies nearly the whole width of the range between the Narmada Valley on the north and the Berar plains on the south. Betul district situated in the heart of India has the distinction of being the place of origin of the holy river Tapti and Wardha. Situated at the focal point of Akhand Bharat, this district shelters the tribal culture. This tribal-dominated district is situated between the Satpurs hills and Berar plains in the south.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Betul district has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 1,575,362, roughly equal to the nation of

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

or the US state of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. This gives it a ranking of 314th in India (out of a total of

640 Year 640 ( DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...

). 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. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

over the decade 2001–2011 was 6.85%. Betul has a

sex ratio A sex ratio is 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. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 970

females An organism's sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and male ...

for every 1000 males, and a

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 70.14%. 19.62% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes made up 10.11% and 42.34% of the population respectively. The district has an area of .

Religion

Hindus are by far the most numerous with 95.58% and Muslims are 2.39%. Those from tribal religions are 0.83%, while Buddhists who were 9,600 in number.

Languages

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 44.69% of the population in the district spoke

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, 27.69% Gondi, 12.86%

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

, 11.13% Korku and 1.69% Bengali as their first language. Pawari/Bhoyari is a language exclusively spoken by the people of Kshatriya Pawar (Bhoyar Pawar) caste. Main

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

s inhabiting the district are Gonds and Korkus. The remaining population are castes like Kshatriya Pawar (Bhoyar Pawar),

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

Chamar Chamar (or Jatav) is a community classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's Reservation in India, system of affirmative action that originated from the group of trade persons who were involved in leather tanning and shoemaking. They a ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Pal Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

, Patil and Soni.

Tourist places

*Khamla Hill Station *Sihari forest village *Hanuman dol *Balaji Puram *Shri Ram Van Gaman path *Mathardeo hills * Akhand Bharat Kendra Bindu *Ladi Bori Rest house *Melghat tiger corridor *Rani Pathar Waterfall *Dharakho Forest range *Dhapada Safari *Satpura tiger reserve *Khedi Waterfall *Chikhlar Waterfall *Chikaldhara Waterfall *Kukru Hill Station *Muktagiri Hills Jain group of temples *Jatashankar *Chhaval Renuka Maa *Bhopali Chhota Mahadeo *Kerpani Hanuman mandir *Dhaarul Amba Mai *Salbardi *Tapti Udgam Multai *Satpura Dam *Sapna Ecotourism *Churna wildlife *Khedla Qila *Bhavargad Qila *Bhairav Garh *Shiv mandir Bhensdehi *Gawasen Forest trekking *Tulja Bhawani Siddhpeeth Hiwra *Barahling *Sonaghati

Education

* Kendriya Vidyalaya, Betul *Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Betul *Little Flower Senior Secondary School, Betul *R D Public School, Kalapatha, Betul *Satpuda Valley Public School, Sonaghati, Betul *ELC English School, Betul *Rathore College and School, Betul *Government Jaywanti Haksar Post Graduate College, Betul *Government Polytechnic College, Betul *Shri Ram Pharmacy College, Jamthi, Betul *Institute of Computer Science and Technology, Sadar Betul *H.L. Agrawal B.Ed. College, Betul *Shri Balaji Institute of Technology & Management, Betul *Government Girls College, Betul *Government Industrial Training Institute, Betul

Transport

Betul railway station is major railway station of District, it's is located between Bhopal and Nagpur station.https://indiarailinfo.com/departures/15

Economy

Betul is the fastest developing district of Madhya Pradesh according to ministry of statics. Betul is emeriging as an example of development from bottom to top .As in 2006 the

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj () is a branch of the Government of India. The Ministry is in charge of the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The Ministry is headed by a minister of cabinet rank / Min ...

named Betul one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of

). It was one of the 24 districts in Madhya Pradesh previously receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).But today Betul has successfully achieved the title of one of the fastest emerging district in the central zone.

References

External links

Official website
{{Betul district Districts of Madhya Pradesh