Jharkhand

Jharkhand 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.

History

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.

Post-independence

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.

Geography

At 1366 m Parasnath is the highest point in the state of Jharkhand. It is easily accessible from Parasnath railway station. At present 29.61% of the state's total landmass is covered by forest.

Flora and fauna

Part of the reason for the variety and diversity of flora and fauna found in Jharkhand state may be accredited to the Palamau Tiger Reserves under the Project Tiger. This reserve is abode to hundreds of species of flora and fauna, as indicated within brackets: mammals (39), snakes (8), lizards (4), fish (6), insects (21), birds (170), seed bearing plants and trees (97), shrubs and herbs (46), climbers, parasites and semi-parasites (25), and grasses and bamboos (17).

Religion

As per 2011 Census of India, Hinduism is the major religion in the state with 67.8% adherents followed by Islam (14.5%) and Christianity (4.3%). Other religions constitute 12.8% of state population, which is primarily Sarnaism. The total population of Jharkhand is 3.2 crore, of which Hindus are 2.2 crore (67.8%).

Language

Hindi

Modern Standard Hindi or simply Hindi, is a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Bhartiya (bhasa) language. Hindi is one of the official languages of the Union of India, and the lingua franca of the Hindi belt languages. Hindi is widely spoken in Jharkhand.

Santhali

Santali is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho and Mundari. It is spoken by around 6.2 million people in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Most of its speakers live in India, in the states of Jharkhand.

Angika

Angika is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in eastern Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and the Terai region of Nepal. Angika is written in the Devanagari script; although the Anga Lipi and Kaithi scripts were used historically. Angika is a Bihari language closely related to languages such as Bajjika, Maithili and Magahi. It was classified as a dialect of Maithili by George A. Grierson in the Linguistic Survey of India.

Naxal insurgency

Jharkhand has been at the centre of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. Since the uprising of the Naxalites in 1967, 6,000 people have been killed in fighting between the Naxalites and counter-insurgency operations by the police, and its paramilitary forces .

Despite having a presence in almost 7.80% of India's geographical area (home to 5.50% of India's population), the state of Jharkhand is part of the "Naxal Belt" comprising 92,000 square kilometres, where the highest concentrations of the group's estimated 20,000 combatants fight. Part of this is due to the fact that the state harbours a rich abundance of natural resources, while its people live in abject poverty and destitution. The impoverished state provides ample recruits for the communist insurgents, who argue that they are fighting on behalf of the landless poor that see few benefits from the resource extractions. As the federal government holds a monopoly on sub-surface resources in the state, the tribal population is prevented from staking any claim on the resources extracted from their land. In response, the insurgents have recently begun a campaign of targeting infrastructure related to the extraction of resources vital for Indian energy needs, such as coal.

On 5 March 2007, Sunil Mahato, a member of the national parliament, was shot dead by Naxalite rebels while watching a football match on the Hindu festival of Holi near Kishanpur, 160 km (99 mi) east of the state capital, Ranchi .

Health

On account of salubrious climate, Jharkhand, particularly its capital Ranchi, has been like a health resort. As far back as 1918, facilities were set up for treatment of mentally challenged.[better source needed][not in citation given] European Mental Hospital was established along with Indian Mental Hospital. Today they are called Central Institute of Psychiatry and Ranchi Institute of Neuro-psychiatry and Allied Sciences respectively. In certain areas of Jharkhand, poverty and consequent malnutrition have given rise to diseases like tuberculosis (TB). In fact, TB has assumed epidemic proportions in certain areas of the state. For management and treatment of such TB, Itki TB Sanatorium, Ranchi, established in 1928 has been doing exemplary work as a premier institute for clinical and programmatic management of TB. The Itki TB Sanatorium is well equipped and accredited by Government of India for quality assurance and Culture and Drug Sensitivity Testing for M.TB. It provides free of cost treatment for TB as well as Drug resistant TB. Likewise, in the field of treatment of cancer, Tata Main Hospital, Jamshedpur,[better source needed] is rendering pioneering work. In the same way Bokaro General Hospital equipped with modern facilities for the treatment Cancer and heart related problems with capacity of 1100 beds one of the largest in eastern India.

Fluoride in groundwater presents a public health problem in Jharkhand. A recent survey led by the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi in collaboration with UNICEF in the northwest districts of Palamau and Garhwa found fluoride levels above the drinking WHO drinking water guidelines. Excessive amounts of fluoride in drinking water can lead to dental fluorosis, prevalent bone fractures, and skeletal fluorosis, an irreversible disabling condition. Some work has focused on combating fluorosis through increased calcium intake by consuming local plants. Researchers at Princeton University and the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi are currently investigating defluoridation options, while performing an epidemiological survey to assess the extent of fluoride linked health problems and the impact of future interventions.

Almost 80% of Jharkhand's people are farmers, although it contains 40% of India's mineral reserves it has some of India's poorest people, in Summer 2009 the state was threatened by drought, with people criticising the government for not providing food aid or assistance.