Interesting Facts about Jharkhand

 Quick Basic Facts about Jharkhand

• Capital – Ranchi
• Official Language – Hindi
• Area – 79,714 Sq Km
• Area Rank – 16th
• Population – 3,29,88,134
• Population Density – 414/Sq Km
• Sex Ratio – 947 females per 1000 male
• Literacy Rate – 67.63 %
• No. of Districts -18
• Assembly Seats – 81 (Unicameral)
• Lok Sabha seats – 14
• Rajya sabha seats -6
• Created on – 15 nov 2000
• First Chief Minister – Babulal Marandi
• First Governor – Shri Prabhat Kumar
• Highest Peak – Parasnath, height 1366 Mtr

Official Symbols of Jharkhand

• The state bird is Koel.
• State animal is elephant
•  State tree is Sal
• State flower is palash.

Historical Facts about Jharkhand

• Almost 100 years prior to the rebellion of 1857, the local tribals of Santhal region launched their first revolt under the leadership of Tilka Manjhi in 1771.
• Santhal rebellion broke out in year 1855 under the leadership of two brothers Sindhu and Kanhu.
• Birsa Muda revolt broke out in year 1895 and lasted till 1900. It was the longest and biggest tribal revolt. This was also the last tribal revolt.
• With formation of Jharkhand Party (earlier Adivasi Mahasabha) under leadership of Jaipal Singh in 1949, the Jharkhand liberation movement became stronger and political.
• The movement for separate adivasi homeland strengthened when santhal leader Shibu Soren formed Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in 1972.
• Jharkhand is the 28th state of Indian union which came to existence on 15 Nov, 2000.
• This state has remained the centre of Naxalite insurgency . Since the upsurge of naxalites from 1967, thousands of people have been killed in fighting by naxalites and Police along with counter naxalite groups like Salwa Judum.

Geographical Facts about Jharkhand

• Jharkhand shares its border with 5 states – Bihar in north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in West, Odisha in south and West Bengal in east.
• The literal meaning of the Jharkhand is Land of bushes, Jungles (Jhari – Bushes)
• The main rivers flowing through state are Damodar, Mayurakshi, Barakar etc
• Most of the state lies on Chhota Nagpur Plateau which is the source of Koel, Damodar, Brahmani and Subarnrekha rivers.

Economic Facts about Jharkhand

• Industrial city Ranchi is the capital and Dumka is sub capital city. Jamshedpur is the largest and biggest industrial city.
• Jamshedpur is the first planned industrial city of East Singhbhoom district. Jamshedpur city along with Tata Steel Plant was established in year 1907 by Jamshetji Tata. Tata Steel Ltd which was formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd (TISCO) is the first private Iron and Steel company of India. Tata Motors Ltd formerly name as Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO) is also located in Jamshedpur.
• Presently Tata Steel is the second largest Iron and Steel company of India (first is JSW Steel, year 2016) and it was also ranked 11th Iron and Steel company of the world in year 2013.
• Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) is another important iron and steel company located in Bokaro district and got established in year 1964 as Limited company. It was later merged with SAIL.
• Some other important Iron and Steel companies of Jharkhand are Bihar Sponge Iron Ltd of Chandil, MECON Ltd Ranchi, Hindustan Malleables & Forgings Ltd Dhanbad, JAMIPOL (joint venture of Tata Steel and SKW Stahl, Germany), Usha Martin Jamshedpur.
• The state is rich in mineral resources such as iron ore, coal, mica, limestone, graphite, asbestos, dolomite etc. and accounts for 40 % of total mineral resources of India.

Social and Cultural Facts about Jharkhand

• This state is tribal dominated region with 28 % of people are tribal and 12 % belong to scheduled Cast. The main tribes of this state are Santhal, Oraon, Munda, Ho, Kharia, Bhumji etc.
• Jharkhand has a literacy rate of 67.6 % which is well below national average of 74.04 %. Jharkhand is the sixth most illiterate state of India.
• Hinduism is the main religion of state with 68.6 % hindus, 14.5 % of Muslim and about 4.5 % are Christians.
• Main festivals enclude Karam festival which is quite popular among Oraon tribe. Other festivals include Vat Savitri and Teej.
• Deoghar is the ancient city of Jharkhand known for its temples. Baidyanath Dham which is one of twelve famous Shiva Jyotirlings is located in Deoghar district. Besides the main Baidynath temple there are 21 other different temples also located in the campus depicting different hindu Gods and Goddesses.
• Naulakha Temple of Deoghar is a major tourist attraction. The architecture of the temple is similar to Belur Math of Kolkata. This temple is known to be build by donation of Rs 9 Lakhs (hence the name nau-lakha) by queen Charushila.
• Jagannath temple of Rachi was by king Thakur Ani Nath Shahdeo of Barkagarh Jagannathpur in 1691. The architecture of this temple is similar to that of famous Jagannath temple of Puri, Odisha. Similar to Rath Yatra of Puri, this temple also organise annual Rath Yatra which attracts thousands of local and outsider devotees.
• Jharkhand is known for world famous educational institutes like Indian School of Mines Dhanbad, Xavier School of Management (XLRI) Jamshedpur, National Institute of Technology NIT Jamshedpur, BIT Mesra etc.
• Folk dances of Jharkhand include Paika, Chau, Jadur, Karma, Nachini, Natua, Agni etc.

Famous Persons related with Jharkhand

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni – The famous cricketer and captain of Indian team in ODIs was born in Ranchi.
• Meenakshi Sheshadri – Popular actress of hindi films and winner of Miss India in year 1981 was born in Sindri.
• Priyanka Chopra – Famous bollywood actress and winner of Miss World title in year 2000 was born in Jamshedpur.
• Tanushree Dutta –  Famous Bollywood actress and winner of Miss India title in year 2004 was born in Jamshedpur.
• Famous politicians like Subodh Kant Sahay, Arjun Munda, Shibu Soren, Madhu Koda, Raghuvar Das were born in Jharkhand (the then Bihar State).