Social,
Environmental & Economic Sustainability
Our analysis of the rank of the district
Backwardness : Does not figure in list of 447 backward
districts
Sex Ratio Rank : 532
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : D
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 382 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 117 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Challenges of the district : Our research with local communities
The various socio economic and development challenges
are as follows.
There are no hospitals in our district. The villages do not have
any medical facilities. For getting treated, people are forced to
travel around 12 Km to reach the nearest hospital. There are no
recreational facilities for the senior citizens of our district.
Even the transportation facilities are Kaput.
Brief About Mandi District
The present District Of Mandi was formed with the merger of two
princely states Mandi and Suket on 15th April 1948, when the State
of Himachal Pradesh came into existence. Ever since the formation
of the district, it has not witnessd any changes in it's jurisdiction.
The chiefs of Mandi and Suket are said to be
from a common ancestor of the Chandravanshi line of Rajputs of
Sena dynasty of Bengal and they claim their descent from the Pandavas
of the Mahabharata. The ancestors of the line believed to have
ruled for 1,700 years in Indarprastha(Delhi), until one Khemraj
was driven out by his Wazir, Bisarp, who then took over the throne.
Khemraj, having lost his knogdom, fled eastward and settled in
Bengal, where 13 of his successors are said to have ruled for
350 years. From there they had to flee to Ropar in Punjab, but
here also the king, Rup Sen, was killed and one of his sons, Bir
Sen, fled to the hills and reached Suket.The State of Suket is
said to have been founded by Bir Sen, an ancestor of the Sena
Dynasty of Bengal. The seperation of Mandi from suket took place
about the year 1200 AD. Upto that time, it was the single state
of Suket. The then reigning chief Sahu Sen had a quarrel with
his younger brother Bahu Sen, who left Suket to seek his fortunes
elsewhere. Bahu Sen after leaving Suket settled at Manglan in
Kullu, where his descendents lived for 11 generations. Then then
chief, Kranchan Sen was killed fighting against the Kullu Raja
and his Rani, who was pregnant at that time. fled alone to her
father who was the chief of Seokot, who had no son. Here she gave
birth to a baby boy who was named Ban, the tree under which he
was born. Ban had hardly crossed the age of 15 when he defeated
the chief of Kilti who used to plunder travellers.On the death
of the chief of Seokot, Ban succeeded to the chiefship of Seokot.
He, after some time killed the Rana of Sakor and took posesssion
of his lands. he then changed his residence to Bhiu, on the banks
of Beas and a few miles from the present Mandi town.
Mandi emerged as a seperate state in the begining
of the sixteenth century. Down the line of descendants of Ban
came Ajbar Sen, nineteenth in descent from Bahu Sen, who founded
Mandi Town in 1527 AD, the capital of the erstwhile state of Mandi
and the headquarters of the now Mandi District. Ajbar Sen was
the first great ruler of Mandi. He was probably the first to assume
the designation of Raja. He consolidated the territories that
he had inherited and added to them new ones that he wrested from
the hands of his neighbours. He built a palace here and adorned
it with four towers. He also built the temple of Bhut Nath and
his Rani constructed that of Trilok Nath.
Down the line of descendants was Raja Sidh Sen,
who succeeded Raja Gur Sen in 1978 AD. Mandi had never been so
powerful before his reign and after that never was. He captured
great areas from the adjoining areas. it was during his reign
that Guru Govind Singh, the tenth guru of the sikhs visited Mandi
in the close of the 17th century. He had been imprisoned by Raja
singh, the chief of Kullu, from whom he had sought assistance
against Mughal troops and his followers believe that Guruji escaped
by using miraculous powers. Raja Sidh Sen, who is also considered
to be a posessor of great miraculous powers, entertained his with
great hospitality. He built the great tank before the palace.
He also built the temples of "Sidh Ganesha" and "Trilokinath".
The entire history of both the states of Mandi
and Suket is littered with wars with among themselves and other
adjoining states. These two states had always been rivals and
generally enemies, but there was no great result of their warfare.
The fertile valley of Balh was the common ground of desire and
dispute.
On 21st February 1846 the chiefs of Mandi and
Suket visited Mr. Erskine, Suprintendent of the Hill States for
the British Government, owing their allegiance to the Britishers
and securing their protection. on 9th march, 1846 a treaty was
concluded between the British Government and the Sikh Durbar whereby
the whole of the Doab area between the Beas and the Sutlej was
ceeded to the British Government, and this included the ststes
of Mandi and Suket also.
On 1st November 1921, both the state of Mandi
and Suket were transferred from the political control of Punjab
Government to that of Government of India till 15th August 1947,
India's Independence Day.
