Gadchiroli District

 
Gadchiroli District is an administrative district in

Maharashtra, India. It is the most backward district in Maharashtra. The town of Gadchiroli is the administrative

headquarters of the district.
 
Gadchiroli District is situated in the southeastern corner of Maharashtra, and is

bounded by Chandrapur District to the west, Gondia District to the north, Chhatisgarh state to the east, and Andhra Pradesh

state to the south and southwest. Gadchiroli District was created on August 26, 1982 by the separation of Gadchiroli and

Sironcha tehsils from Chandrapur District.
 
Demography
 
As per the 2001 Census of

India, the population of the district is 970,294 of which 6.93% were urban. [1] Male and female population is 4,91,101 and

4,79,193 respectively. Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population in the district is 1,08,824 and 3,71,696. The literacy

rate of district is 60.1%. The tribal community population that resides in the district is 38.3 %.
 
Seven

languages are spoken in the district ie, Gondi, Madiya , Marathi, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali,

Chattisgadi.
 
Geography
 
The main river basin of the district is the Godavari, which

flows west to east and forms the southern boundary of the district. The major tributaries of the Godavari are the Indravati

and the Pranhita, which is in turn formed by the confluence of the Wainganga and the Wardha near Chaprala village of

Chamorshi Taluka.
 
Dhanora, Etapalli, Aheri and Sironcha talukas in the eastern part of the district are covered

by forest. Hills are found in Bhamragad, Tipagad, Palasgad and Surjagad

area.
 
Economy
 
The district is categoried as a tribal and undeveloped district and

most of the land is covered with forest and hills. Forests cover more than 79.36 % of the geographical area of the district.

This district is famous for bamboo and Tendu leaves. Paddy is the main agricultural product of the district. The agriculture

products of the district are Jowar, Linseed, Tur, and wheat. The Main profession of the people is farming.
 
There

is no large scale Industry in the district except the paper mill at Ashti in Chamorshi Taluka, and the paper pulp factory at

Desaiganj. There are many rice mills in the district. The Tussar silk worm centre is in Armori Taluka. Only, 18.5 kilometers

of railway lines pass through the district.
 
The district is well known for Naxalite activities; Naxalites

(People's War Group) have taken shelter in the dense forests and hills of this

district.
 
Divisions
 
The district is divided into three sub-divisions, Gadchiroli,

Aheri and Desaiganj which are further divided into 12 talukas. Each sub-division has four talukas. Gadchiroli sub-division

consists Gadchiroli, Dhanora, Chamorshi and Mulchera talukas, Aheri sub-division consists Aheri, Sironcha, Etapalli and

Bhamragad talukas and Desaiganj (Wadsa) sub-division consists Wadsa, Armori, Kurkheda and Korchi talukas. There are 467 Gram

Panchayats and 1688 Revenue Villages. The district has 12 Panchayat Samitis. Only two municipalities, Gadchiroli and Wadsa

(Desaiganj) exist in the district.
 
The district has three Legislative Assembly constituencies, Gadchiroli,

Armori and Sironcha. While Armori (ST) constituency is part of Chimur Lok Sabha constituency, Gadchiroli (ST) and Sironcha

(ST) are part of Chandrapur Lok Sabha constituency.