ABSTRACT
The Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act 2000 created a separate state of Chhattisgarh out of sixteen south-eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh state. The Industrial Policy of Chhattisgarh (2004–9) identifies Chhattisgarh as a twenty-first-century state, with abundant natural resources. Forty-one per cent of the state is under forest cover, and, alongside the biodiversity that is implied in this rich forest cover, the state possesses large deposits of minerals, such as coal, iron ore, bauxite, tin, uranium, dolomite and limestone. While Chhattisgarh is rich in both mineral resources and biodiversity (over eighty-eight species of medicinal plants are available here), the policy of successive governments here has been a single, pointed agenda of increasing industrial growth across the state, thus sacrificing biodiversity for natural-resource exploitation. What this chapter seeks to examine is the application of the government of Chhattisgarh’s policy that prioritizes industry over agriculture, as well as the impact of a narrowly defined, forest-based economy that is industry focused. The tribal-dominated districts of Dantewada, Bastar, Kanker, Jashpur, Sarguja, Koriya and Kawardha have been particularly affected by this policy.
