Thinking Citizen Blog — Madhya Pradesh — Central India, Population 72 Million Up From 18 Million In 1951, Capital Bhopal
Thinking Citizen Blog — Tuesday is Economics, Finance, and Business Day
Today’s Topic: Madhya Pradesh — central India, population 72 million up from 18 million in 1951, capital Bhopal
To review: so far we have covered the Punjab (the home of the Sikhs), Rajasthan (and its capital of Jaipur “The Pink City”), Telangana (and its capital Hyderabad (nicknamed “Cyberabad”), Uttar Pradesh (population 240 million) and its capital of Lucknow and most sacred city of Varanesi, Karnataka and its capital Bangalore, “The Silicon Valley of India,” Tamil Nadu and its capital Chennai (formerly Madras) to Maharashtra and Mumbai, the financial capital of India, Gujarat, the hub of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, and Bihar — the birthplace of the Maurya and Gupta empires. It is also home of the Bodhi Tree where Gautama Buddha experienced enlightenment in roughly 500 BCE. Then, Odisha, one of the poorest of Indian states but also one of the fastest growing. Historically, famous for the Kalinga War (261 BC). More recently, ruled by what you might call the Patnaik Dynasty — from 1960 to 2024. Two weeks ago, the “National Capital Territory of Delhi.” Last week, Kerala, a place of beautiful beaches, the world’s richest temple, a high literacy and low poverty rate and India’s strongest communist tradition.
Today, Madhya Pradesh. Have you lived or worked there? What do you know about Madya Pradesh that the rest of us would delight to learn?
Experts — please chime in. Correct. elaborate, elucidate.
GEOGRAPHY — Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Maharastra to the south, Gujarat to the west, Rajasthan to the northwest, Chattisgarh to the east. (Madya Pradesh literally means “central province.”)
1. “The state straddles the Narmada River, which runs east and west between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges; these ranges and the Narmada are the traditional boundaries between the north and south of India.”
2. “Madhya Pradesh also has three major seasons — Summer, Monsoon, and Winter.”
3. “The humidity is relatively very low and the region usually experiences frequent mild dust storms. The southwest Monsoon usually breaks out in mid-June and the entire state receives a major share of its rainfall between June and September. The south and south-east regions tend to experience a higher rainfall whereas the parts of the north-west receive less.”
NB: Forest accounts for 31% of the state and about 12% of India’s total forest area. It has 11 national parks, the most of any state in India. Noteworthy animals include big cats (Royal Bengal Tiger and the leopard). Do you have a favorite national park in India?
IS LUCKNOW (the capital and the richer cultural heritage) OR INDORE (the commercial hub) THE LARGEST CITY IN MADHYA PRADESH? Below is the Chota Imambara in Lucknow. What is your favorite site in either city?
1. Many sources say Indore is the largest city. Others say it is Lucknow.
2. Estimates of Lucknow’s metropolitan population range from 2.8 to 4.0 million.
3. Estimates of Indore’s — from 2.8 to 3.6 million.
NB: Indore “is consistently ranked as the cleanest city in India” due to its superior waste management system. Is this reputation merited?
BHOPAL DISASTER OF 1984 — THE WORST INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT IN WORLD HISTORY
1. A gas leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant exposed over 500,000 people to toxic chemicals.
2. Fatalities: estimates from 3,787 to 16,000. Immediate deaths: 2,259 (versus 30 at Chernobyl).
3. Injuries: 558,125.
NB: “In June 2010, seven former employees of United Carbide India, all Indian nationals and many in their 70s, were convicted of causing death by negligence.”
RELIGIOUS SPLIT — 91% HINDU, 6.6% MUSLIM, .8% JAIN, .3% BUDDHIST, .3% CHRISTIAN .3%, SIKH .3%. AN AGRARIAN ECONOMY — “The major crops of Madhya Pradesh are wheat, soybean, gram, sugarcane, rice, maize, cotton, rapeseed, mustard and arhar.”
1. The largest diamond and copper reserves in India.
2. GDP per capita at $2,086 trails the national average of $2,677, and ranks 26th of 33 Indian states. Note Gujarat at $4,306 and Karnataka at $4,637, The national average for India is $2,677, roughly 20% of the global average of $13,138. China’s is $12, 614. That of the US? $86,601.
THE TWO MAJOR PARTIES ARE THE BJP (THE PARTY OF MODI) AND THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS — do you know anything about the politics of Madhya Pradesh that the rest of us should know?
1. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 165 seats out of the total of 230 in the legislative assembly.
2. The Indian National Congress has 64.
3. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in Mohan Yadav (1965 — ), above, a member of the BJP, has been in the legislature since 2013, and like 52% of the Indian population is classified a member of the category of Other Backward Classes (OBC) as distinct from Scheduled Caste (SC), 16.6% of the population and Scheduled Tribes (ST), 8.6% of the population.
CONCLUSION
Every day is a good day to be reminded of the big picture — demographic, economic, sociological, and historical.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhya_Pradesh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cleanest_cities_in_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Madhya_Pradesh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Backward_Class
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduled_Castes_and_Scheduled_Tribes
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY INTO FOURTEEN BOOK-LENGTH PDFs:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN — Please share:
a.) the coolest thing you learned this week related to business, economics, finance.
b.) the coolest thing you learned in your life related to business, economics, finance.
c.) anything at all related to business, economics, finance.
d.) anything at all