Abujhmarh

Geographically isolated and largely inaccessible, the area continues to show no physical presence of the civil administration, and is also known as "liberated-zone" as it is an alleged hub of Naxalite-Maoist insurgency, the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its military wing, People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), who run a parallel government in the area.

Dandakaranya, literally meaning "the abode of the demon Dandaka", also finds mention in Hindu epic, Ramayana.

[9] After independence of India, its isolation continued, except when in 1958 the government refugees from East Bengal in the Dandakaranya area in the present Bastar division, and later the hills started getting exploited for its mineral wealth, like the Bailadila Hills excavated for its deposits of high-grade iron ore.[8] The tribals remained backward and exploited by prevalent feudalism in India,[8] majority of them started cultivation only recently, and education was undertaken only at small schools run either by NGOs and missionaries.

[12] After being pushed out of Andhra Pradesh, post 2003, Naxals made these forests their hub, and even established a revenue generation system which includes land sharing, cooperative farming and running foodgrain and seeds banks.

[6] On the night of 19 May 2005, Naxals made a coordinated attack on two police outposts adjoining the hills, one at Chhota Dongar in Narayanpur and another at Dhau Dai, 8 km (5.0 mi) away, subsequently senior police officials managing the response were trapped in Pharasgaon near Narayanpur and 6-hour gun-battle, later an army helicopter had to be called in for their rescue.

[14] As this area is largely uncharted, in 2009, satellite mapping of region was done by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to locate villages.

[6][11] Majority of the tribals live under dire poverty, and survive of the traditional shifting cultivation or slash-and-burn—known locally as penda kheti—for six months in a year, they cultivate a small grained rice, korsa, and for the rest of the period survive by selling the rice along with forest products like tendu leaves, and occasionally come out to the weekly markets, haat bazaar of near by towns to sell their produce.