Pratapgarh, Rajasthan

Maharana Kumbha ruled Chittorgarh in the 14th century. Due to a dispute with his younger brother Kshemkarn he expelled him from his territory. Kshemkarn's family was a refugee for some time and lived in the Aravali ranges in near south of Rajasthan. In 1514, his son Rajkumar Surajmal became the ruler of Devgarh, and this Raj later came to be known as Pratapgarh Raj. As the environment of Devgarh was not found to be suitable by the royal family, one of the descendants of Raja Surajmal, Rajkumar Pratapsingh started to build a new town near Devgarh in 1698 and named it Pratapgarh.[2]

Pratapgarh District is a newly constituted district in Rajasthan state. it came into existence on 26 January 2008 as the 33rd district of Rajasthan. Pratapgarh is located at 24.03° N 74.78° E. It has an average elevation of 491 metres (1610 feet). It is said to be the second highest place in Rajasthan after Mount Abu[3]

As of 2011 Indian Census, Pratapgarh had a total population of 42,079, of which 21,499 were males and 20,580 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 5,154. The total number of literates in Pratapgarh was 31,687, which constituted 75.3% of the population with male literacy of 80.5% and female literacy of 69.9%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Pratapgarh was 85.8%, of which male literacy rate was 92.2% and female literacy rate was 79.2%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 5,344 and 3,459 respectively. Pratapgarh had 8749 households in 2011.[1]

The city is a blend of old and new cultures. In nearby villages, the tribal culture still thrives. Every Sunday when the tribes come to the city to buy merchandise in the weekly haat market, the city also looks tribal. After the declaration as a district, new development plans has been executed in the city by state government.

There are three cinema halls. They are Archana, Pratap and Samata. The Pratap theatre was the first cinema hall in the whole Udaipur zone when it was built in 1945. The former Darpan cinema has now been shut off to run some other business. Communication services are being run by Airtel, BSNL(evdo), Idea, Reliance, Tata Indicom, and Vodafone. Due to its strategic location the Airport Authority of India has installed here a VOR station for guiding aircraft their path. It is said that Pratapgarh is midway between Delhi-Mumbai route.

Though Pratapgarh is connected to all important towns by road, a railway line is unlikely, since due to the height at which it is located, it would be very costly to build a railway line.

The standard of education in Pratapgarh has risen radically since the late 1980s. The first English-language middle school was opened in 1989. Since then many education institutes have opened up. Educational services are available now for primary (up to 5th class), middle (up to 8th class), secondary (up to 10th class), higher secondary (up to 12th class) and graduation (Bachelor's degree). The city also have a cram school for pre medical and engineering courses.

Pratapgarh is a popular venue for ecotourism. The Sita Mata Wildlife Sanctuary encompasses attractive fauna and flora, including flying squirrels, black-naped monarchs, and lesser floricans.