Malkangiri

Malkangiri, historically known as Malikamardhangiri, is a town and municipality in Malkangiri district in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarter of the Malkangiri district. Malkangiri has been the new home of the East Bengali refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh), who have been rehabilitated since 1965 under the Dandakaranya Project. Some Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were also rehabilitated in the town, following the armed struggle of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the early 1990s, although most of them have now returned to their country. Currently, it is one of the most naxalite-affected areas of the state, and is a part of the Red Corridor.

==History== Malkangiri, or Malikamardhangiri, as it was historically known, was founded by king Malakimardhan Krishna Dev for his queen. He was the 11th ruler of Jeypore kingdom from 1676 to 1681 CE. He was a valorous military genius who defeated the joint forces of the French and the army of Golconda, and captured fifteen French canons. He killed the general of the Golconda army, Malik Mohammad, and therefore was named Malik-mardhan, meaning 'destroyer of Malik'. He also constructed a strong fort named Malikamardhangadha, and it is surmised that the whole area in which the fort was located came to be known in the course of time as Malikamardhangiri, and later the British renamed it as Malkangiri. When the Orissa Province was formed under British Raj in April 1936, the town was a taluka of the Nowrangpur sub-division of Koraput district of Orissa (now Odisha). In 1962, it was upgraded to a sub-division of Koraput district. The present Malkangiri got its identity as an independent district due to reorganization of districts of Odisha on 1 October 1992, with effect from 2 October 1992. Since 1967, the town along with its district has been one of the worst affected regions due to the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency, although in recent years, the effect has been considerably reduced.