Jharkhand झारखण्ड |
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State | ||
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Location of Jharkhand |
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Map of Jharkhand |
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Coordinates (Jamshedpur): 23°21′N 85°20′E / 23.35°N 85.33°ECoordinates: 23°21′N 85°20′E / 23.35°N 85.33°E | ||
Country | India | |
Formation | 15 November 2000 | |
Capital | Ranchi | |
Largest city | Jamshedpur | |
Districts | 24 | |
Government | ||
• Governor | Draupadi Murmu | |
• Chief Minister | Raghubar Das (BJP) | |
• Legislature | Unicameral (81 seats) | |
• Parliamentary constituency | 14 | |
• High Court | Jharkhand High Court | |
Area | ||
• Total | 79,714 km2 (30,778 sq mi) | |
Area rank | 16th | |
Population (2011) | ||
• Total | 32,988,134 | |
• Rank | 14th | |
• Density | 414/km2 (1,070/sq mi) | |
Languages | ||
• Official | Hindi | |
• Additional official | Santhali, Ho, Bengali, Urdu, Odia, Kurukh, Mundari, Kharia, Nagpuri, Panchpargania, Maithili, Khortha, Kurmali | |
Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) | |
ISO 3166 code | IN-JH | |
HDI | 0.376 (medium) | |
HDI rank | 19th (2007–08) | |
Literacy | 67.6% (25th) | |
Website | http://www.jharkhand.gov.in/ | |
Formed by the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000 by dividing Bihar on 15 November 2000 |
Population Growth | |||
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Census | Pop. | %± | |
1951 | 9,697,000 |
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1961 | 11,606,000 | 19.7% | |
1971 | 14,227,000 | 22.6% | |
1981 | 17,612,000 | 23.8% | |
1991 | 21,844,000 | 24.0% | |
2001 | 26,945,829 | 23.4% | |
2011 | 32,988,134 | 22.4% | |
Source:Census of India |
Jharkhand (lit. "Bushland") is a state in eastern India carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. The state shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh to the north-west, Chhattisgarh to the west, Odisha to the south, and West Bengal to the east. It has an area of 79,710 km2 (30,778 sq mi). The city of Ranchi is its capital while the industrial city of Jamshedpur is the most populous city of the state.
According to writers including Gautam Kumar Bera, there was already a distinct geo-political, cultural entity called Jharkhand even before the Magadha Empire. Bera's book (page 33) also refers to the Hindu epic Bhavishya Purana. The tribal rulers, some of whom continue to thrive till today were known as the Munda Rajas, who basically had ownership rights to large farmlands. Many scholars now believe that the language used by tribes in the state of Jharkhand is identical to the one used by Harappan people. This has led to interest in deciphering Harappa inscriptions using rock paintings and language used by these tribes. For a greater part of the Vedic period, Jharkhand remained unnoticed. During the age of Mahajanpadas around 500 BC, India saw the emergence of 16 large states that controlled the entire Indian subcontinent. In those days the northern portion of Jharkhand state was a tributary state of Magadha (ancient Bihar) Empire and southern part was a tributary of Kalinga (ancient Odisha) Empire.
After the last Assembly election in the state threw up a hung Assembly, RJD's dependence on the Congress extended support on the precondition that RJD will not pose a hurdle to the passage of the Bihar Reorganization Bill (Jharkhand Bill). Finally, with the support from both RJD and Congress, the ruling coalition at the Centre led by the BJP which has made statehood its main poll plank in the region in successive polls earlier, cleared the Jharkhand Bill in the monsoon session of the Parliament this year, thus paving the way for the creation of a separate Jharkhand state.