Social,
Environmental & Economic Sustainability
Our analysis of the rank of the district
Backwardness : 155
Sex Ratio Rank : 91
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 448 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 286 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Challenges of the district : Our research with local communities
Limited livelihood.
Unemployment is a big issue faced by the youth. Due to lack of employment
opportunities people take solace in crime.
The number of Dacoit cases has increased.
Environment degradation needs to be given attention.
We do have schools in our district, but the quality provided is
very stagnant.
Government should give attention in improving and giving quality
education.
Unemployment is the root cause of all the issues. So government
should eradicate this social issue.
Brief About Chitrakoot District
A newly district was created on 6th May 1997 in U.P. named Chhatrapati
Shahuji Mahraj- Nager, which comprises of Karwi & Mau Tehsils
and has been carved out from the Banda district. After some time,
the district name was converted in Chirakoot on 4 th Sept. 1998.
It falls in the northern Vindhya range of mountains spread over
the states of Utter Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The larger part
is included in the District Chitrakoot of U.P. and the District
Satna of Madhya Pradesh. The word "Chitrakoot" has been
used here to refer to this larger area and symbolizes the rich
and varied cultural,religious, historical and archaelogical heritage
of the various places and sites of this area. Lacs of peoole gather
here at these sites on each Amavasya. Somwati Amavasyas, Deepawali,
Sharad-Poornima, Makar-Sankranti and Ram Nawami are special occassions
for such gatherings and celebrations.
History
Celebrated in the entire Indian literature and sacblack books;
the abode of Lord Ram, his spouse Sitaji and his brother Lakshman
during their exile for about eleven years and a half; capable
of purifying the human heart and of attracting the tourists by
its charms of nature. Chitrakoot is a holy place famous both for
its natural scenery and its spiritual altitude. A tourist is as
much thrilled by sighting its beautiful waterfalls, playful young
deer and dancing peacocks as a pilgrim is overwhelmed by taking
a dip in the Payaswani/ Mandakini and by immersing himself in
the dust of the Kamadgiri. From times immemorial, the Chitrakoot
area has been a live centre of inspiration for cosmic consciousness.Thousands
of mendicants, hermits, sages and saints have attained higher
and higher spiritual status and have exerted a beneficial impact
on the world through their penance, sadhana, yoga, tapasya and
various arduous spiritual endeavours. Nature has been very generous
in bestowing over the area all the gifts in her power, which enable
it to attract pilgrims and tourists alike from all over the world.
Atri, Anasuya, Dattatreya, Maharshi Markandeya, Sarbhang, Sutikshna
and various other sages, seers, devotees and thinkers have lived
in this area through all the ages; and knowledgeable people say
that many of such figures are still engaged in tapasya here in
various caves and little known places. This lends the area a spiritual
aroma which permeates its entire atmosphere and makes it spiritually
alive to this day
Chitrakoot is the teerth of all teerths. According to the Hindu
belief, Prayagraj (modern name- Allahabad) is the king of all
teerths; but Chitrakoot is rated as more elevated. When Chitrakoot
did not go to him as all the other teearths did, Prayagraj was
told that Chitrakoot enjoyed a higher status and it was Prayagraj
who was expected to go to Chitrakoot and not vice versa. It is
said that Prayagraj comes every year to wash off his sins by bathing
in the Payaswini. It is also said that all the gods and goddesses
came to Chitrakoot when Ram performed the Shraddha ceremony of
his father to partake of the shuddhi (i.e. a feast given to all
the relatives and friends on the thirteenth day of the a death
in the family). They were captivated by the beauty of the place.
Lord Ram's presence there added a spiritual dimension to it. So
they were unwilling to depart. Vashishtha, the family priest sensing
their desire to stay and in accordance with the wishes of Lord
Ram, forgot to utter the visarjan (departure) mantra. Thus, all
the gods and goddesses have made this place their permanent abode
and are always present there. Today also, even when a mere tourist
reaches this place strewn profusely with ancient rocks, caves,
ashrams and temples with sages engaged in holy and spiritual sadhana,
he loses himself unwittingly in the atmosphere charged with unceasing
holy rites and enlightening sermons and partakes of the bliss
of a world very different from our own. Thousands of pilgrims
and seekers of the truth from all parts of the world resort to
this place impelled by an irrepressible desire to improve and
elevate their lives.
Chitrakoot has had its own identity and this very name since
times immemorial. The first known mention of the place is in the
Valmiki Ramayan, which is believed to be the first ever Mahakavya
composed by the first ever poet. As an unwritten composition,
an epic of growth, it was handed down from generation to generation
by an oral tradition. As Valmiki is said to be contemporaneous
with (or even earlier than) Ram and is believed to have composed
the Ramayan before the birth of Ram, the antiquity of its fame
can well be guaged. Valmiki speaks of Chitrakoot as an eminently
holy place inhabited by the great sages, abounding in monkeys,
bears and various other kinds of fauna and flora. Both the sages
Bharadwaj and Valmiki speak of Chitrakoot in glowing terms and
advise Ram to make it his abode during the period of his exile,
as the place was capable of relieving a person of all his desires
and of giving him a calm of mind that could make him achieve the
highest of the goals in his life. Lord Ram himself admits this
bewitching impact of this place. In the ‘Ramopakhyan’ and descriptions
of teerthas at various places in the Mahabharat, Chitrakoot finds
a favoublack place. It ‘Adhyatma Ramayan’ and ‘Brihat Ramayan’
testify to the throbbing spiritually and natural beauty of Chitrakoot.
The writer has been told that the latter work devotes as many
as sixteen cantos to the description of Chitrakoot and its principal
places. Entire Indian literature relating to Ram gives it a unique
pride of place. The Rev. Father Kamil Bulke even mentions a ‘Chitrakoot—Mahatmya’;
found among the collections of Mackenzie.Various Sanskrit and
Hindi poets also have paid similar tributes to Chitrakoot. Mahakavi
Kalidas has described this place beautifully in his epic ‘Raghuvansha’;.
He was so much impressed with its charms that he made Chitrakoot
(which he calls Ramgiri because of its time-honoublack associations
with lord Ram) the place of exile of his yaksha in Meghdoot. Tulsidas,
the saint-poet of Hindi has spoken very reverently of this place
in all his major works-Ramcharit Manas, Kavitawali, Dohawali and
Vinay Patrika. The last-mentioned work contains many verses which
show a deep personal bond between Tulsidas and Chitrakoot. He
spent quite some part of his life here worshipping Ram and craving
his darshan. It was here that he had what he must have consideblack
the crowning moment of his achievements--ie. the darshan of his
beloved deity Lord Ram at the intercession of Hanumanji. His eminent
friend, the noted Hindi poet Rahim (i.e. Abdur Rahim Khankhana,
the soldier-statesmen-saint-scholar-poet who was among the Nav-Ratnas
of Akbar) also spent some time here, when he had fallen from favour
with Akbar's son Emperor Jahangir. According to the Beetak literature
of the Pranami sect, the saint-poet Mahamati Prannath wrote two
of his books-Chhota Kayamatnama and Bara Kayamatnama here. The
exact place where Prannath lived and composed these works interpretting
the Quran and showing its similarities with Shrimad Bhagwat Mahapuran,
could not be traced.
