Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

. The town of Asifabad is its district headquarters and kagaznagar as its largest town. It is named after Gond tribal leader Kumuram Bheem. It was earlier part of

Adilabad district Adilabad district is a district in the northern area of Telangana, India. It is known as the gateway district to South India. The district's headquarters is the town of Adilabad. Adilabad district is bounded by Asifabad district to the east, ...

and it became a new district in 2016. The district share boundaries with

Adilabad Adilabad, also known as Edlawada and Eddulapuram, is a city which serves as the headquarters of Adilabad district, in the Indian state of Telangana. Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Lambadi and Gondi are the most spoken languages of Adilabad. Adilabad ...

Nirmal Nirmal is a city and the district headquarters of Nirmal district in the Indian state of Telangana. It is famed for its toys made out of wood. The district headquarters is located in the city of Nirmal. It borders the Telangana districts of A ...

, Mancherial districts and with the state boundary of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. It is the second most backward district in India, according to the 2018

NITI Aayog The NITI Aayog (; abbreviation for National Institution for Transforming India) serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of the Republic of India, and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development, and foste ...

ranking.

History

The predominantly tribal region around the town of Asifabad was ruled by many dynasties like the Kakatiyas,

Mauryas The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary source ...

, Satavahanas,

Chalukyas The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...

, Qutub Shahis ,

Asaf Jahis The Asaf Jahi is a Muslim dynasty that ruled the Hyderabad State. The family came to India in the late 17th century and became employees of the Mughal Empire. They were great patrons of Indo-Persian culture, language, and literature, and the f ...

and Gonds. In the early 20th century, the district was known as ''Jangam'' and Asifabad served as its headquarters. In 1905, the district was merged into the neighbouring

. In 1913, Asifabad was made as headquarters of the district prior to the status being lost to

town in 1941. Following the creation of

state, the districts were re-organized in 2016. As a result, Asifabad district was again carved from

and was renamed after the Gond martyr Komaram Bheem.

Geography

The district is spread over an area of . Hills dominate the western part of the district and

Pranhita The Pranahita River is the largest tributary of Godavari River covering about 34% of its drainage basin conveying the combined waters of the Penganga River, the Wardha River, and the Wainganga River. By virtue of its extensive network of tr ...

river runs parallel to the east. It is home to endangered species of

vultures A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

which have made Palarapu rocks their home in the forests of Bejjur. The Sirpur forest is also home to

tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is tradition ...

and other wild animals. Cotton and Paddy are the major crops grown in this area.

Demographics

As of the 2011 Census, the district has a population of 515,812. Komaram Bheem district has a sex ratio of 998 females for every 1000 males and a literacy rate of 56.72%. 66,206 (12.84%) were under 6 years of age. 428,828 (83.14%) lived in rural areas. 86,984 (16.86%) lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 81,596 (15.82%) and 133,627 (25.91%) of the population respectively. At the time of the 2011 census, 37.36% of the population spoke Telugu, 27.85%

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

, 12.48% Gondi, 7.27%

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, 3.73%

Lambadi Lambadi, Lambani, Lamani or Banjari is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Banjara people across India. The language does not have a native script. Regional dialects are divided between the Banjara of Maharashtra (written in Devanaga ...

, 3.51% Bengali, 3.05%

Kolami Kolami (Northwestern Kolami/Southeastern Kolami) is a tribal Central Dravidian language spoken in Maharashtra and Telangana states of India. It falls under the Kolami–Naiki group of languages. It is the most widely spoken Central Dravidian l ...

, 2.53% Koya and 1.46%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

as their first language.

Divisions

This district has two revenue divisions; Asifabad and Kagaznagar and is sub-divided into 15

mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative c ...

s. Present MLA of Asifabad constituency is Athram Sakku and Sirpur-T is Koneru Konappa.

Mandals

Notable people

* Komaram Bheem, freedom fighter * Konda Laxman Bapuji, freedom fighter

Places of interest

* Jode ghat * Komaram Bheem reservoir * Komaram Bheem waterfalls * Vattivagu reservoir * Gangapur temple, Rebbena * Jodeghat, Kerameri * Kadamba forest reserve, a tiger reserve * Kerameri ghats * Komaram Bheem irrigational project * Palarapuguttalu, a vulture reserve * Savatula Gundam Waterfalls * Shiva Mallana temple * Shivakeshava temple, Wankidi * Sirpur forest reserve * Thrishul Pahad * Tonkini Hanuman temple, Sirpur-T

References

{{Telangana Districts of Telangana