State / UT
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is a state of the Indian Union carved out of Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 2000 by the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, becoming the Republic's 26th state. It held 25,545,198 people at the 2011 Census, sends 11 members to the Lok Sabha and 5 to the Rajya Sabha, and governs itself through a unicameral 90-seat Vidhan Sabha at Raipur. Its structural distinction is a double one: it is a mineral and power state whose coal, steel and electricity output feed the national grid and national industry far out of proportion to its size, and large parts of it — above all the Bastar division — are Fifth Schedule Scheduled Areas that have been the principal theatre of India's Left-Wing Extremism problem, making the state the place where the Union's internal-security machinery and a State List government meet most directly.
Updated
- Capital
- Raipur (administrative capital area developed at Nava Raipur Atal Nagar)
- Formed
- 1 November 2000, under the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000
- Legislature
- Unicameral — Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha, 90 seats
- Lok Sabha seats
- 11
- Rajya Sabha seats
- 5
- Population (2011 Census)
- 25,545,198
- Districts
- 33, across 5 divisions (16 at formation)
- High Court
- Chhattisgarh High Court, seated at Bilaspur
- GSDP (2025-26 BE)
- Rs 6.35 lakh crore; per capita Rs 1,62,870
Role
Chhattisgarh is one of the three states Parliament created in 2000 by ordinary legislation under Article 3, and it exercises the standard equipment of an Indian state: a unicameral 90-seat Vidhan Sabha at Raipur, a Council of Ministers answerable to it, a Governor appointed by the President, and a separate High Court at Bilaspur that the Reorganisation Act provided for at birth. Its weight in the Union is modest by headcount — 25,545,198 people at the 2011 Census, 11 of 543 Lok Sabha seats, 5 Rajya Sabha seats — but disproportionate by output. The state holds the country’s third-largest coal reserves, is more than 41% forested, and exports electricity and steel into the national economy from the Korba and Bhilai complexes. Its budget for 2025-26 projects a GSDP of Rs 6.35 lakh crore with a per capita figure of Rs 1,62,870, above the national average, and targets a revenue surplus of 0.4% of GSDP with the fiscal deficit brought to 3.8% — a fiscally orthodox position for a state of its income level, resting substantially on mineral royalties and its share of central taxes.
What structurally distinguishes Chhattisgarh is the collision inside its own borders between two constitutional logics. Large tracts, above all the Bastar division in the south, are Fifth Schedule Scheduled Areas, where the Governor holds distinct powers over the application of laws and tribal administration runs on a separate constitutional track from the ordinary State List. Those same tracts sit on the mineral and forest endowment the state’s revenue depends on, and they have been the principal theatre of Left-Wing Extremism for the state’s entire existence. The consequence is that Chhattisgarh is the state where the Union’s internal-security apparatus operates most continuously alongside a State List police power — law and order is the state’s subject, but central armed police forces are a permanent presence, and the Union’s counter-insurgency policy is executed on state ground. The 2011 Supreme Court judgment disbanding Salwa Judum marked the judiciary’s insistence that this arrangement stays inside constitutional limits. By early 2026 the affected theatre had contracted sharply, which raises for the state the unresolved question of what governs Bastar once the security frame recedes: the Fifth Schedule, the mineral economy, or both in tension.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 receives assent
Parliament legislated the division of united Madhya Pradesh, allocating 90 assembly seats, 11 Lok Sabha seats and 5 Rajya Sabha seats to the new state, and providing for a separate High Court.
- reference
Chhattisgarh comes into being as the 26th state
The Act came into force. The state began with 16 districts and Raipur as capital, in the same wave of reorganisation that produced Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
- reference
Salwa Judum raised in the Bastar theatre
A state-backed anti-Maoist militia was formed in southern Chhattisgarh, arming civilians as special police officers. It became the defining controversy of the state's counter-insurgency posture.
- reference
Supreme Court declares Salwa Judum unconstitutional
In the Nandini Sundar litigation the Court held the militia illegal and unconstitutional, ordered its disbanding, directed recovery of firearms and required investigation of alleged criminal acts by its members — a judicial limit on how a state may prosecute an internal-security campaign.
- reference
Jhiram Ghati ambush in the Darbha valley
A Maoist ambush on a political convoy in Sukma district killed at least 28 people, including the serving state president of the Congress organisation and the founder of Salwa Judum. It removed much of one party's state leadership at a stroke and remains the benchmark event for the security problem in Bastar.
- reference
Five new districts created, taking the count to 33
Manpur-Mohla, Sarangarh-Bilaigarh, Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai, Manendragarh and Sakti were inaugurated, continuing a two-decade subdivision of the administrative map from 16 districts at formation.
- reference
Assembly election results: government changes hands
Polling on 7 and 17 November 2023 produced 54 of 90 seats for the BJP on 46.27% of the vote against 35 for the Congress on 42.23%. A new Council of Ministers was sworn in on 13 December 2023, the state's fourth ministry since formation.
- reference
Budget 2025-26 targets a return to revenue surplus
GSDP projected at Rs 6.35 lakh crore, expenditure excluding debt repayment at Rs 1,65,000 crore, a revenue surplus of 0.4% of GSDP against a 1.3% deficit the previous year, and fiscal deficit narrowed to a targeted 3.8% of GSDP.
- reference
The Left-Wing Extremism theatre contracts to a residue
By early 2026 the national 'red corridor' had contracted from a late-2000s peak of nearly 180 affected districts to 3, following sustained operations and mass surrenders through 2024-25. The remaining theatre is concentrated in and around Chhattisgarh's Bastar plateau.
Frequently asked
- What is Chhattisgarh?
- Chhattisgarh is a state of the Indian Union carved out of Madhya Pradesh on 1 November 2000 by the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, becoming the Republic's 26th state. It held 25,545,198 people at the 2011 Census, sends 11 members to the Lok Sabha and 5 to the Rajya Sabha, and governs itself through a unicameral 90-seat Vidhan Sabha at Raipur. Its structural distinction is a double one: it is a mineral and power state whose coal, steel and electricity output feed the national grid and national industry far out of proportion to its size, and large parts of it — above all the Bastar division — are Fifth Schedule Scheduled Areas that have been the principal theatre of India's Left-Wing Extremism problem, making the state the place where the Union's internal-security machinery and a State List government meet most directly.
- When was Chhattisgarh established?
- Chhattisgarh was established 2000-11-01.
- What does Chhattisgarh do?
- Its remit covers State List subjects: law and order and the state police, land and land revenue, agriculture, public health, school education, local government, Mineral administration: leases, royalties and district mineral funds over one of the country's largest coal and iron-ore endowments, Fifth Schedule administration of Scheduled Areas, including the Governor's distinct powers over the application of laws to those areas, Forest administration over a state that is more than 40% forested, engaging concurrent forest and environment law, Co-execution of Union counter-insurgency policy in the Left-Wing Extremism theatre, alongside central armed police forces.
- What is the latest on Chhattisgarh?
- As of 2026-07-17: The Left-Wing Extremism theatre contracts to a residue. By early 2026 the national 'red corridor' had contracted from a late-2000s peak of nearly 180 affected districts to 3, following sustained operations and mass surrenders through 2024-25. The remaining theatre is concentrated in and around Chhattisgarh's Bastar plateau.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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The state government's official portal — departments, schemes, orders.
cgstate.gov.in/
- Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha legislation
The 90-seat unicameral legislature: members, business, proceedings.
cgvidhansabha.gov.in/
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ECI's state machinery — rolls, constituencies, assembly and Lok Sabha results.
ceochhattisgarh.nic.in/
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Independent reading of the state's fiscal position, GSDP and deficits.
prsindia.org/budgets/states/chhattisgarh-budget-analysis-202
- Chhattisgarh High Court other
The separate High Court created for the state by the 2000 Reorganisation Act.
highcourt.cg.gov.in/