Lalitpur district General information

Lalitpur District is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh state of India. Lalitpur District is a part of Jhansi Division. Lalitpur is the main town and administrative headquarters.

History

Lalitpur District was formerly part of the state of Chanderi, founded in the 17th century by a Bundela Rajput who was descended from Rudra Pratap of Orchha. Chanderi, along with most of Bundelkhand, came under Maratha hegemony in the 18th century. Daulat Rao Sindhia of neighboring Gwalior annexed Chanderi state in 1811. In 1844, the former state of Chanderi was ceded to the British, and became the Chanderi District of British India, with Lalitpur town as the district headquarters. The British lost the district in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and it was not reconquered until late 1858. In 1861, the portion of the district west of the Betwa, including Chanderi, was returned to Gwalior, and the remainder was renamed Lalitpur District. Lalitpur District was made part of Jhansi District from 1891 to 1974.

Climate

The climate of the district is the Central India type sub-tropical and may be characterised by a very hot dry summer and cold winter. Like other districts of the Bundelkhand region, this also shows four distinct seasons. Summer being from March to mid-June, Monsoon from mid-June to September, post-monsoonal transition between October and November while the winter months are December to February.

Population

The district has a population of 977,447 (2001 census). It is joined to Jhansi District of Uttar Pradesh by a narrow corridor to the northeast, but is otherwise almost completely surrounded by Madhya Pradesh state; to the east lies Tikamgarh District, to the south Sagar District, and to the west Ashoknagar and Shivpuri districts. Lalitpur, Jalaun, and Jhansi districts form Jhansi Division.

Division

Lalitpur is divided into three tehsils, Lalitpur, Mehroni, and Talbehat; four towns, Lalitpur, Mehroni, Talbehat, and Pali; and 754 villages. In 2004 the district magistrate is Umadher Dwivedi, and the Superintendent of police is L.V.A. Dev Kumar, and the District Information Officer is Murlidhar Singh.

Hills

The district forms a portion of the hill country of Bundelkhand, sloping down from the outliers of the Vindhya Range on the south to the tributaries of the Yamuna River on the north. The extreme south is composed of parallel rows of long and narrow-ridged hills. Through the intervening valleys the rivers flow down over ledges of granite or quartz. North of the hilly region, the granite chains gradually turn into clusters of smaller hills.

Rivers

The Betwa River forms the northern and western boundary of the district, and most of the district lies within its watershed. The Jamni River, a tributary of the Betwa, forms the eastern boundary. The Dhasan River forms the district's southeastern boundary, and the southeastern portion of the district lies within its watershed.

Soil

The soils of Lalitpur are also representative of Bundelkhand comprising all the four varieties. The soils here have developed from the Vindhyan ranges of rocks which in this area are formed of gneiss, granite, quartzite and at times sandstone, limestone and slate.