Vijayanagara- 31st district of Karnataka

The Karnataka Government recently notified that, the Vijayanagara has become the 31^st district of Karnataka officially.  The district has its headquarter at Hosapete.

About Vijayanagara District

• Vijayanagara is located in Hyderabad-Karnataka region.
• The district also be the home to UNESCO World Heritage sites namely the Hampi and Virupaksha Temple.
• Vijayanagara district has been named after the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire.
• The district was established out of the ore-rich Ballari district in accordance with the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964.
• The district will comprise of six taluks namely the Hosapete, kotturu, Kudligi, Hagaribommanahalli, Harapanahalli and Hoovina Hadagali.

Background

The Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had announced his plan of creating a new Vijayanagara district in the month of September, 2019. The Chief Minister had cited it is required to create a new district for the administrative reasons. He was of the view that. Creation of the new district will help in promoting the tourism to the places like Hampi temple. He also said, the move will help in the development of six talukas that are part of the district. Thus, the Karnataka Cabinet formally approved the creation of a new vijayanagara district on November 18, 2020.

Criticism

The plan of creating the new district was highly criticised and faced opposition from the ruling party. Further, the move was criticised because of the view that division of the Ballari district to create a new district could lead to a linguistic dispute in between Telugu speaking people and Kannada speaking people with in the district.

Hampi or Hampe

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is located in east-central Karnataka. The site is a pilgrimage centre of the Hindu religion. The Hampi region used to be the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in 14th century. Hampi-Vijayanagara was the second-largest medieval-era city of the world following Beijing.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2021