Amethi was the 72nd district of Uttar Pradesh which came into existence on 1 July 2010 by merging three tehsils of the erstwhile Sultanpur district namely Amethi, Gauriganj and Musafirkhana and two tehsils of the erstwhile Raebareli district, namely, Salon and Tiloi.[9] In 2013, however the Salon sub-district moved from Amethi district back to Raebareli district in Lucknow division.[10]
Amethi is a major town of district and also a municipal board.[9]
History
Amethi lies on the Raebareli-Amethi-Sultanpur road about 40 km south-west of Sultanpur city. Also called as Raipur-Amethi, of which Raipur belonged to the Raja of Amethi who lived at Ram Nagar. His ancestors used to live in Raipur-Phulwari where the old fort is still found. Here is also a temple called Hanumangarhi and a mosque both built about hundred years ago. About three kilometres north of Ram Nagar there is a tomb of the famous poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi (best remembered for his epic composition Padmavat) where he died, and the fort was built by Bandhalgoti Rajas.[11]
Change of status and name
Chief minister Mayawati had ordered formation of Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar district on 21 May 2003 but following a change of guard her arch political rival Mulayam Singh Yadav had scrapped it on 23 November the same year. The Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar district included within it five tehsils of Sultanpur and Rae Bareli districts which form part of Amethi constituency. In December 2003, a lawyer of Amethi, Uma Shankar Pandey, had challenged the order scrapping the formation of the district in the High Court.[12]
BSP won the 2007 Uttar Pradesh state legislative assembly election and Chief Minister Mayawati ordered the formation of the district again. The district came into existence on 1 July 2010 by merging three tehsils of the erstwhile Sultanpur district, namely, Amethi, Gauriganj and Musafirkhana and two tehsils of the erstwhile Raebareli district, namely, Salon and Tiloi and was named as Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar.[9]
In the 2011 Indian census used the old district definitions, and so did not list Amethi district.[14] The sub-districts (tehsils) that form Amethi district had the following populations:[15][16]
Population of the subdistricts that form Amethi district in the 2011 census.[15][16]
Amethi district had a population of 2,050,133. Amethi district had a sex ratio of 976 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 59.14%. 79,759 (3.89%) lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes made up 512,215 (24.98%) of the population.[15][16]
At the time of the 2011 census, 81.32% of the population spoke Hindi, 17.16% Awadhi and 1.28% Urdu as their first language. The main language in the district is Awadhi but most people return their language as 'Hindi' on the census.[17]
