Economy

Agriculture

More than 80 per cent population depends on agriculture. The area under cultivation is 43 per cent. Main crops are paddy, wheat, maize, groundnut, pulses and oilseeds. Forests occupy 45 per cent of the area. The tribals of Bastar often complement their economy by community hunts like Pandum and Parad.

Industry

Apart from Bhilai Steel Plant with 40 lakh tonnes capacity, eight sponge iron plants in the private sector, 13 ferro-alloy plants, 125 steel rolling mills and one H.R. strip plant have also been establishes. Chhattisgarh has nine major cement plants. Besides, iron casting units, engineering and fabrication units, agro-based food processing, chemical and plastic industries have been established.

Mineral Resources

Chhattisgarh is rich in mineral resources. Twenty per cent of the country's steel and cement is produced in the State. Iron-ore, limestone, dolomite, coal, bauxite are found in abundance. It is the only tin-ore producing state in the country. Other minerals such as korandum, garnet, quartz, marble, diamond are also found in Chhattisgarh. Compared to 1998-1999, the production of coal, iron ore and limestone registered an increase of 29,49 lakh tonnes, 13.40 lakh tonnes and 30.13 lakh tonnes respectively in 1999-2000. The revenue receipt from minerals in 2001-02 is likely to increase to Rs. 455 crore from Rs. 394.50 crore during the preceding year.

Irrigation and Power

The irrigation potential of 13.39 lakh hectares was created during 1999-2000. An additional irrigation potential of 0.18 lakh hectares was created during 2000-01. Ravishankar Sagar Mahanadi Project, Hasdeo-Bango, Kodar, Jonk, Pairi and Arpa are some of the important irrigation projects.

The total capacity of state Electricity Board is 1.360 MW out of this the thermal power share is 1.240 MW. Korba based National thermal Power Corporation's capacity is 2,000 MW and a new unit of the plant is being stage of commissioning. Around 90%pf 19,720 inhabited villages of Chhattisgarh have been electrified.