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Historical Background
A great and far reaching change came
over the sense when Saadat Khan was appointed governor
of the subah of Avadh including the
faujdari (commaandarship) of
Gorakhpur on 9th September, 1772. At
that time Bansi and Rasulpur were
held by the Sarnet raja; Binayakpur
by the Chauhan chieftain of Butwal;
Basti by the Kalhan ruler; Amorha by
the Kayastha raja; Nagar by the
Gautams; Mahuli by the elder line of
Suryavamsis; while Maghar alone was
under the direct control of the
nawab's deputy, who was strengthened
by the Muslim garrison.
In November 1801 ovember 1801 Saadat Ali
Khan, successor of Nawab
Shujauddaula surrendered Gorakhpur,
which then was inclusive of the
present district Basti and other
territory to the East India Company.
Routledge had become as a first
Collector of Gorakhpur.Some steps
had been taken by Collector to
inforce some order in the matter of
collection of land revenue yet in
order to assist the process a force
was raised in March, 1802 by Caption
Malcolm Mcleod. To cure the local
chieftains of their obstinate
attitude all their Fords, save those
of Basti and Amorha Raja, were raise
to ground.
The part played by the
Basti in the freedom struggle of
1857 is generally not ascribable
exclusively; as the district was
still forming but an outlying
portion of Gorakhpur, possessing no
civil station of its own. After
capture of Gorakhpur by the English
on January 5 1858, the freedom
fighter had moved west ward an form
double entrenchment at amorha in the
south western part of the district,
to obstruct the march of Rowcroft
from Gorakhpur. The army opposed to
Rowcroft was composed of about 15000
men entrenched at Belwa this large
army of the nationalists comprised
troops led by Mehndi Hasan the Nazim
of Sultanpur, the Rajas of Gonda,
Nanpara, Atrauli and the Raja of
Chaurda in the Behriech district and
many other talukdars including
Guljar Ali, the rebel Sayyed of
Amorha. In this action at Amorha
which was one of the most memorable
events of the freedom struggle, the
freedom fighters were able to
encircle the British force oppose to
them.
In this struggle the loss freedom
forces was estimated between 4 and 5
hundred killed and many others
wounded. The position of the freedom
forces at Amorha was reinforced by
Mohammad Hasan of Gorakhpur who had
join them later, with four thousand
men. Rowcroft, hearing the arrival
of Mohd. Hasan at Amorha, sent a
detachment, under Major Cox. These
were the events which had marked the
conclusion of the freedom movement,
so for the Basti was concerned.
With the restoration of order and
the discomfiture of the freedom
fighters came the day of reckoning,
and a heavy account had to be
settled. Mohd. Hasan escaped the
hard of the victors in consideration
of his assistance once given to
Colonel Lennox. The Bobu of Bakhira
was hanged and the Raja of the Nagar
avoided a similar fate by staving
himself to death in prison with the
bayonet of the prison guard. The
Rani of Amorha lost her property for
her complicity in the war
independence which was given to Rani
of Basti. The agent of Basti Rani
was given land assessed at Rs.
1000=00. Similarly several others
who had supported the British in
some way or other betraying the
freedom fighters, were awarded
grants of land. The supporters of
the freedom movement having been
suppressed and the leaders
annihilated, the alien rulers
settled down to organised the civil
administration. The peace of the
district was secured by the
maintenance of a garrison at
Gorakhpur and also by the recognised
police force. The one event of prime
interest was the formation of the
present district on the sixth of
May, 1865.
The Non-Co-operation Movement begin
to appear in the district towards
the close of 1920. In the
preparation for this movement
Mahatma Gandhi along with Jawahar
Lal Nehru had visited the district
on October 8, 1919. He had addressed
a large gathering at Hathiyagarh
Rehar near old town of district
Basti. Fortunately for India's
struggle for freedom, the fatal
inertia that had practically put an
end, after calling off the
Non-co-operative movement, to all
its outwards activities, was removed
by an action of the British
government, namely the appointment
of Siman Commission in 1928. The
people of this district received a
fresh impetus with the next visit of
Mahatma Gandhi along with Jawahar
Lal Nehru on October 8, 1929.
The Quit India resolution
pass by All India Congress Committee
in its session at Bombay on August
8, 1942, marked the turning point in
India's struggle for freedom. In
Basti the movement had taken a
serious turn. It was due to several
causes, particularly the poverty of
the people and nearness of the area
to the B.H.U. at Varansi, from where
batches of students arrive with the
message of Do or Die. The students
of Walterganj staged demonstration
and organised meeting on august 15,
1942. A few days later the Railway
station at Gaur was attacked causing
damage to government property.
In 1946 the Congress was again
returned and it formed the
Government. Then the came the long
cherished dream of Independence true
on the midnight of August 14-15,
1947. On the ave of Independence,
thousands from the town and
surrounding country side assembled
at district headquarter Basti to
hail freedom. National flag was
hoisted at the Collectorate and
other government and semi government
buildings,private buildings too,
throughout the district were
bedecked with flag.
LOCATION & BOUNDARIES:-
The district lies
between the parallels of 26° 23' and
27° 30' North and Latitude and 82°
17' and 83° 20' East longitude. Its
maximum length from north to south
is about 75 km. and breadth from
east to west about 70km. The
district lies between newly created
district Sant Kabir Nagar on the
east and Gonda on the west On the
south, the Ghaghra river separates
it from the Faizabad and newly
created district named Ambedkar
Nagar. While on the North it is
bounded by district Sidharth Nagar.
AREA:-According
to the 1991 census the district
covered an area of 7,309 sq. km.
and with regard to size it occupies
7th place in the state. Owing to the
changing course of the Ghaghra, the
area of the district is subjected to
frequent alterations.
POPULATION:- POPULATION:-According
to the census 1991, the district had
a population of 27,50,764 persons of
which 14,37,727 were males and
13,13,037 females. Of these 75,299
persons, resided in urban areas and
29,08,791 in the rural areas.
Total literacy of this district
is 8,21,206 of which 6,04,029 are
males and 2,17,77 are females.
Whereas the literacy rate of this
district is 21 percent only. Total
population of SC is about 5,79,812
of which 5,55,610 are residing in
rural area and 24,202 are residing
in urban area
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