Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh is the second-largest Indian state by area, occupying the centre of the country between the Gangetic plain and the Deccan. The capital is Bhopal. The Narmada runs east to west across the state; the Chambal, Betwa, Sone and Tapti drain the rest.

Agriculture employs most of the population, with soybean, wheat, gram, cotton, sugarcane and pulses as the main crops. Industry is concentrated around Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur and includes automobile components, pharmaceuticals and textiles, while the state’s mineral wealth — coal, diamonds at Panna, manganese and limestone — supports mining in the eastern districts.

Forest covers about a quarter of the state, and Madhya Pradesh holds the largest tiger population of any Indian state, in reserves including Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench and Satpura. The state also holds some of India’s most important archaeological sites: the Bhimbetka rock shelters, occupied over a very long period and among the oldest known evidence of human habitation in South Asia; the Buddhist stupas at Sanchi; and the temple complexes at Khajuraho and Ujjain. The Narmada’s dams, and the displacement they caused, have been a central environmental and political controversy since the 1980s.