Box 1: **District re-organisation in Orissa** Orissa became a separate state in 1936 after its separation from the province of Bihar and Orissa, which was itself separated from the province of Bengal in 1912.

On its formation in 1936, the state of Orissa comprised six districts: Cuttack, Puri, Balasore, Sambalpur, Ganjam and Koraput. By 1949, the 24 princely states were also integrated with the State of Orissa, which then comprised 13 districts: Cuttack, Puri, Balasore, Ganjam, Koraput, Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Balangirpatna, Boudh-Khonmandal, Mayurbhanj, and Kalahandi. These 13 districts are now commonly referred to as the 'undivided districts'.

In 1973, a Committee was established to consider the question of district/subdivision re-organisation in Orissa. No decision was taken on the recommendations of the Committee until 1990, apart from the renaming of Boudh-Khondmals district as Phulbani in 1986. In 1992, four new districts were declared (Gajapati, Malkangiri, Nowarangpur, Rayagada), followed by 10 more in 1993 (Khurda, Nayagarh, Sonepur, Bargarh, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Nuapara, Angul, and Bhadrak), and a further three in 1994 (Jharsuguda, Deogarh, and Boudh), bringing the total number of districts in Orissa to 30. The new district boundaries are shown in the Map together with those of the former, undivided districts.

# The selected districts are:

**Sambalpur,** originally belonging to the Central Provinces land revenue system. Located on the border with Madhya Pradesh in the north-west, it consists of a wide expanse of fairly open country, fringed by forest-clad hills and a series of low hill ranges of irregular shape (Sarap, 1991). Over half the total area of the district is classified as forest land, compared with the state average of around a third of total land area. Sambalpur district has a total population of just over 800,000 (1991 census) of which nearly 75 percent live in the rural areas. The scheduled caste (17 percent) and scheduled tribe (35 percent) population together constitute more than half of the district's total population. The terrain is generally rocky and undulating, which makes it difficult to regulate the flow of water. Only 52 percent of the net sown area in the district is irrigated. Soils are generally deficient in nitrogen and phosphate which limits crop productivity.

**Khurda,** lying in the coastal plains region of Eastem Orissa, was carved out of Cuttack district in 1993. According to the 1991 census, its total population was just over 1.5 million. More than one-third of the people live in urban areas including the state capital Bhubaneswar. The scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population together make up less than 19 percent of the district's population. The Bengal tenurial system was prevalent in Khurda. Only 21 percent of the district land area is classified as forest land. Soils are fertile loams, and a high proportion (84 percent) of the net sown area is irrigated by canals.

**Ganjam** is the largest district in Orissa, with a total population of 2.7 million. Only 15 percent of the total population reside in urban areas. Ganjam formerly fell under Madras Presidency. Scheduled castes (18 percent) and scheduled tribes (3 percent) constitute 21 percent of the district's population. The forested area of Ganjam district is the same as the state average (36 percent), and the share of net sown area that is irrigated is high (94 percent).

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