Madhya Pradesh gets 51st district, 'Agar-Malwa'

Madhya Pradesh government today gave nod to creation of the new district of Agar-Malwa, taking the number of districts in the state to 51.
The decision was taken by the state cabinet at its meeting here, chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, official sources said.
The district will come into existence on August 16, the sources said.
The new district will be created by bifurcating Shajapur district; it will comprise the tehsils of Agar, Badoud, Susner and Nalkheda. Headquarters would be at Agar town.
Spread over 2,785 square km, Agar-Malwa will have population of 4.80 lakh.
IAS officer D D Agrawal and R S Parihar would be the first Collector and Superintendent of Police (SP) respectively of Agar-Malwa.

Among other decisions, the cabinet also sanctioned 'Mukhymantri Yuva Engineer-Contractor Scheme', under which young engineering graduates will get loans of upto Rs 25 lakh for starting own ventures, they said.
Apparently with an eye on Assembly polls, cabinet also decided to continue zero per cent interest short-term loan facility for farmers in 2013-14.
Further, 18,500 hectares of land would be given to the National Thermal Power Corporation to set up a power plant in Narsinghpur district.