Chhattisgarh, a state of India, has 27 administrative districts.
At the time of separation from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh originally had 16 districts. Two new districts: Bijapur and Narayanpur were carved out on May 11, 2007 and nine new districts on Jan 1, 2012. The new districts have been created by carving out the existing districts to facilitate more targeted, focused and closer administration. These districts have been named Sukma, Kondagaon, Balod, Bemetara, Baloda Bazar, Gariaband, Mungeli, Surajpur and Balrampur
A district of an Indian state is an administrative geographical unit, headed by a district magistrate or a deputy commissioner, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service. The district magistrate or the deputy commissioner is assisted by a number of officials belonging to different wings of the administrative services of the state.
A superintendent of Police, an officer belonging to Indian Police Service is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues.
Before Indian independence, present-day Chhattisgarh state was divided between the Central Provinces and Berar, a province of British India, and a number of princely states in the north, south, and east, which were part of the Eastern States Agency.
The British province encompassed the central portion of the state, and was made up of three districts, Raipur, Bilaspur, and Durg, which made up the Chhattisgarh Division of the Central Provinces. Durg District was created in 1906 out of the eastern portion of Raipur District.
The northern portion of the state, comprising present-day Koriya, Surajpur,Surguja, Jashpur, and Raigarh districts, was divided among the six princely states of Chang Bhakar, Jashpur, Koriya,Surajpur, Raigarh, Surguja, and Udaipur. To the east the states of Nandgaon, Khairagarh, and Kawardha comprised parts of present-day Rajnandgaon and Kawardha districts. In the south, the state of Kanker comprised the northern portion of present-day Kanker District, and the state of Bastar included present-day Bastar and Dantewada districts and the southern part of Kanker District.