Koraput district is a district of India in southern Odisha, with its headquarters at the town of Koraput. The district is located in the Eastern Ghats and is known for its hilly terrain, rich and diverse mineral deposits and its tribal culture. The district headquarters town of Koraput and its largest city, Jeypore are major centres of trade and commerce for South Odisha and located on an important road connecting Visakhapatnam to Raipur.
Etymology
Koraput district derives its name from its headquarters, the town of Koraput. According to Mr. R.C.S. Bell, the name of the town is Kora-Putti or “the hamlet of the Nux-vomica".
Some opine that the word is derived from "Khora," a tribal people who still inhabit nearby villages. According to the second theory, Koraput is a corrupted form of ‘Karaka-Pentho’. Karaka literally means ‘hail-stone’. Another opinion is often found that the term Kora was the name of a Sun God who was worshipped by the local tribals in ancient times. Hence the town was so named.
It is also believed that one ‘Khora Naiko’ laid foundation of the village during the time of Nandapur kings. He hailed probably from Ranpur and served under the Nandapur kings in the Militia, and for his faithful and meritorious services he was permitted to establish this village which was named after him as Khora Putu, and later on the name has been abbreviated to ‘Koraput.
Geography
Koraput district is located between 18 degree 13’ and 19 degree 10’ North Latitudes and 82 degree 5’ and 83 degree 23’ East Longitudes. It shares its borders with Rayagada District, Nabarangpur district, Kalanhandi district on the north, with Bastar district of Chhattisgarh on the west, with Malkangiri District on the south and with Alluri Sitharama Raju and Parvathipuram Manyam districts of Andhra Pradesh on the east. Its area is 8,807 km<sup>2</sup>, making it the third largest district of Odisha after Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh. About twenty one villages in the Kotia Gram Panchayat are the subject of a long pending territorial dispute with the State of Andhra Pradesh.
History
The early history of the district is obscure owing to the absence of written records. Its location in the hills, isolation from means of communication and the dense forests all around served to keep the district politically separate from the nearby plains on both sides. The earliest event that can be fixed with certainty is the acquisition of the tract by the Kingdom of Jeypore sometime in the 15th century. Before this, it was probably ruled by the Silavamsi Dynasty. Ruins of 10th century Jain temples in the district point to a presence of that sect as well. The Jeypore Rajas became tributaries to the Qutb Shahi Dynasty of Hyderabad by 1580. This suzerainty later passed to the Mughals, the Nizam of Hyderabad and finally descended to the East India Company when the Northern Circars were ceded to them by Emperor Shah Alam in 1765.
After cession, the district formed a part of the Madras Presidency but was largely left in the hands of the local Zamindars owing to its remote location. For administrative purposes, the entire area from the foothills of the Eastern Ghats to the boundaries of Bastar State was added to the Visakhapatnam District. This included the present day Rayagada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts as well. The Collector of the District functioned in an additional capacity as Agent to the Governor of Madras in this area and exercised significant powers of criminal justice, revenue and civil law. The usual Civil and Criminal procedure codes of British India were not applied and the tract was known as the Agency. In 1863, two Assistant Agents were appointed at Jeypore and Parvatipuram to aid the Agent in his duties.
Except for a short-lived experiment of clubbing Agency areas of Ganjam, East Godavari District and Vishakhapatnam under a Commissioner in 1920, the administrative system remained unchanged till 1 April 1936 when almost all of the Agency areas of Vishakhapatnam District along with the associated zamindaris were clubbed together to form the undivided Koraput District. The district, along with Sambalpur District and the coastal districts of Ganjam, Balasore, Puri, Cuttack and Angul together constituted a new Orissa Province of British India. It was the first linguistic province of India and Koraput became its largest district in size. A District Magistrate was appointed who was assisted by two Sub Divisional Magistrates at Rayagada and the headquarters. The district had a total of 8 Talukas - later replaced by Tahsils and Blocks. Nabarangpur subdivision was created in 1941, followed by Gunupur and Malkangiri subdivisions in 1962 and Jeypore some years later. Finally, the district was divided into four new districts in 1992 - the Jeypore and Koraput subdivisions together constituted the new truncated district of Koraput.
The district was severely affected by Naxalism after 2000, though instances of violence have come down after 2014. It is currently a part of the Red Corridor and has extensive deployment of police and paramilitary forces at sensitive places.
Geography and Climate
Koraput comes under the Eastern Ghat Highland Agro climatic Zone. It is composed of two separate plateaus at an average elevation of 3000 and 2000 feet respectively which are separated from each other and the surrounding plains by a ring of hills.
The 3000 feet plateau forms the boundary of the district with Andhra Pradesh and part of Rayagada district. A line of hills marks its outer boundary to the east reaching a height of 5486 feet at Deomali, the highest peak of Odisha, near Pottangi and 5316 feet at Sinkaram Gutta near Araku on the Andhra Pradesh border. Most of the hills have been denuded of forests due to generations of shifting cultivation and lack any major wildlife. The rainfall averages approximately 160 cm and falls in the Monsoon months of July–August. The plateau itself is marked by undulating hills and valleys through which numerous streams run down to join the Indravati to the north and the tributaries of the Godavari to the south. Most of the land is given over to the cultivation of paddy, ragi and flax. Narayanapatna and Bandhugaon blocks of the district are located before the ring of hills as noted above and geographically form a part of the Nagavali River valley, being located at a significantly lower altitude. The district headquarter town of Koraput is located on this plateau, as are most of the industrial areas of the district.
The Jeypore subdivision is a part of the 2000 feet plateau and forms approximately the western third of the district. It is divided from the 3000 feet plateau by a range of hills that runs from the Malkangiri border to the Indravati river. Low hills, some of them reaching to about 3000 feet mark this plateau. They are occasionally covered with jungle but most of the land is given over to paddy cultivation. The plateau gradually slopes west towards Bastar and falls through another ring of hills to the lower plains of Malkangiri to the south. The rainfall is slightly higher and averages about 190 cm annually.
The district overall has a warm and humid type of climate, though significantly more pleasant than the rest of Odisha. Mean Maximum summer temperature is 34.1 C and Mean Minimum Winter temperature is 10.4 C. The temperature on the 3000 feet plateau is often much lower and can approach close to freezing during peak winter at certain places.
Three large rivers flow through Koraput district. The Indravati rises in Kalahandi District and is dammed immediately afterwards, forming a large reservoir - the backwaters of which have cut off certain villages in Dasmantapur Block of Koraput. The river then forms the boundary between Koraput and Nabarangpur district throughout before entering Chhattisgarh near Nagarnar, slightly north of the main Jeypore-Jagdalpur road.
The Kolab River (known as the Sabari River in its later course) rises near the Andhra Pradesh border at Sinkaram. It then flows north west in a winding course before reaching the Kolab Dam slightly south of Koraput town. The massive reservoir has a catchment area of 1630 sq km and spans the Sadar, Semiliguda and Nandapur blocks of the district. After the dam, the river descends onto the 2000 feet plateau at Bagra near Jeypore through a small cataract before flowing north west and then suddenly south in Kundura block. It then enters the Bastar district before turning east again and forming the border with Koraput. It finally flows into Malkangiri and onwards to the Godavari River.
The Machchkund (better known as the Sileru River) enters the district near Chatwa on the Araku road. It forms the boundary between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh for many kilometers before the Jalaput Dam. It then continues along the southern boundary of the district in a series of rapids before falling down 540 feet at Duduma Waterfalls. The river is tapped here for the Machchkund Power Plant. It then flows through a close gorge through Malkangiri before going on to join the Sabari River.
Administration
The district administration is headed by a Collector and District Magistrate, usually called the Collector who combines in his office the roles of revenue collection, law and order maintenance and implementation of development programmes. He is assisted at headquarters by an Additional District Magistrate (ADM) and by two Sub Collectors cum Sub Divisional Magistrates posted at Koraput and Jeypore for the first two roles. Below subdivision level, the district is divided into 14 Blocks which are co-terminus with Tahsils. While the former deals with the development aspect, the latter is a revenue unit. The Block Development Officer (BDO) and Tahsildar cum Executive Magistrate are the respective heads of each. The Collector and one of the Sub Collectors are usually officers of the Indian Administrative Service while the other officers belong to the Odisha Administrative Service.
The 14 Blocks/Tahsils in Koraput district under two sub-divisions are listed in the following table.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ 14 Tahasils/Blocks
! # !! Koraput Sub-Division !! Jeypore Sub-Division
|-
|| 1 || Koraput || Jeypore
|-
|| 2 || Bandhugaon || Boipariguda
|-
|| 3 || Dasamantapur || Borigumma
|-
|| 4 || Laxmipur || Kotpad
|-
|| 5 || Machhakund (Lamtaput) || Kundura
|-
|| 6 || Nandapur ||
|-
|| 7 || Narayanpatna ||
|-
|| 8 || Pottangi ||
|-
|| 9 || Similiguda ||
|}
In addition to the officers noted above, a chief development officer cum executive officer, Zila Parishad, usually belonging to the Indian Administrative Service is posted at Koraput. He supervises the functioning of the BDOs directly and reports to the Collector who is ex officio Chief Executive Officer of the Zila Parishad. Various line departments like education, health care, agriculture are headed by officers of the rank of Deputy Collectors who are also directly under the operational control of the Collector. All departments also have a parallel setup at the block level with the BDO directly supervising the field level functionaries. Each block is further divided into Gram Panchayats. Koraput has a total of 240 Panchayats which are headed by an elected head called the Sarpanch assisted by an executive officer.
The four urban areas of Koraput, Kotpad, Sunabeda and Jeypore are each headed by an executive officer who report to the Collector through the Project Director, District Urban Development Agency.
Maintenance of law and order is supervised by the Superintendent of Police (SP), an officer of the Indian Police Service. The SP is technically under the Collector but in practice is almost completely independent except for certain statutory functions. He is assisted by Additional and Deputy SPs at the headquarters and by SDPOs at police subdivision levels. The district has a total of 23 thanas or Police Stations, each headed by an Inspector in-charge. Owing to the Naxalite issue, Koraput has a heavier than usual police presence and companies of Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and the Special Operations Group of the Odisha Police are deployed throughout the district.
There are two Divisional Forest Officers posted in the District for each subdivision. They belong to the Indian Forest Service and are responsible for the preservation of wildlife and management of forests.
The civil and criminal justice system are under the District and Sessions Judge at Jeypore. He is assisted by Additional District Judges, Civil Judges (Senior and Junior) Divisions and Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrates. The Collector, ADM and SDMs are also Executive Magistrates and report to the District and Sessions Judge in that capacity.
The entire district is a designated area under the 5th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. This means that sale of tribal land to non-tribals is prohibited. In addition, there are other legal and cultural protections extended to the tribal population of the district.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census Koraput district has a population of 1,379,647, roughly equal to the nation of Eswatini or the US state of Hawaii. This gives it a ranking of 356th in India (out of a total of 640).
The largest tribe in the current district are the Parojas, literally meaning "subject", a generic term applying to many different tribal communities in Koraput. They are a significant population in the south and west, on the higher plateau regions. Almost all speak an Odia dialect as their mother tongue. The community has a population of around 2.2 lakhs.
The second largest community are the Khonds, who mainly live in the eastern mountains and have a population of 2 lakhs. Other major communities include the Bhottada, Gadaba and Bhumia.
The non tribal population is mostly of the castes and communities common to the rest of Odisha, and the Scheduled Caste population is predominantly from the Domba community. The only addition here is of a substantial Telugu element. The Telugus form an important commercial class and are also to be found in Government employment.