India gives birth to a new state at the stroke of midnight Tuesday, when a tribal-dominated region the size of Greece will be formally sliced off the massive central state of Madhya Pradesh.
Chhattisgarh will become India's 26th full-blown state, with an area of 135,194 square kilometers (54,077 square miles) and a population of 17.6 million.
While the campaign for statehood only began in earnest in the 1970s, its roots go back nearly 80 years when local leaders began to claim a distinct cultural identity for the region.
Chhattisgarh is the first of three new states to be created this year, but unlike the other two -- Uttaranchal and Jharkhand -- its gestation has been totally peaceful.
Nevertheless, there have been some birthing pains, including a bitter struggle within the Congress party, which will control the new state assembly, over the appointment of the chief minister.
The state government will take on a region that, while rich in mineral resources, is still extremely backward with negligible industrial activity and an overwhelmingly rural population largely made up of lower castes and tribes.
The main task for the new administration will be to counter the growing Maoist rebel (Naxalite) movement in the new state's poorer areas.
Seven of Chhattisgarh's 16 districts have a strong Naxalite presence.
The state's designated director general of police, Mohan Shukla, said this week that he would seek a special budget of 150 million rupees (three million dollars) to arm his police force with new weaponry capable of tackling the Naxalite threat.
The Naxalite movement, which is widespread across the least developed regions of India, champions the rights of landless peasants through a guerilla war against landlords and state authorities and institutions.
The creation of new states is a sensitive issue in India, which has been plagued by insurgencies demanding statehood, autonomy or outright independence since the end of British rule in 1947 -- NEW DELHI (AFP)
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