Exploring Jharkhand:
A Journey Through India's Hidden Gem of Nature, Culture, and History
Introduction to Jharkhand
- Jharkhand is one of the states in the eastern part of the country, carved from the southern region of Bihar in 2000:
- Name: "Jharkhand" literally means "The Land of Forests." It comes from two words: "Jhar" (a forest) and "Khand" (land).
- Location: Jharkhand forms the north with Bihar, the west with Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the south with Odisha, and the east with West Bengal.
- Capital: The capital of Jharkhand is Ranchi and its sub-capital is Dumka.
- Size: Jharkhand is the 15th largest state of India in terms of area.
- Population: Jharkhand is the 14th largest state of India in terms of population.
- Official language: The official language of Jharkhand is Hindi.
- Famous for: Jharkhand is famous for waterfalls, hills, and holy places, such as Baidyanath Dham, Parasnath, Dewri, and Rajrappa.
- Economy: Jharkhand is a major mineral producer, accounting for more than 4 percent of the Indian total mineral production. However, poverty has also been very high and the state suffered from its poverty line being at 39.1% which meant that more than 39 percent of the state population lived below it.
- Geography: Above 29% of Jharkhand is covered with forests and woodlands that rank among the highest in India, and the state is mainly rural with nearly 24 percent of its population living in cities.
- History: Statehood for Jharkhand was the culmination of long demands from the Adivasis, or Scheduled Tribes, who feel that the Bihar administration treated them shabbily.
A Brief History of Jharkhand
The history of Jharkhand is marked by a long time of dwelling, the conquest of the region by various empires, and more than 70 years of struggle for statehood:
Ancient history
The region has seen human presence since the Stone Age and was first conquered by the Maurya Empire. The region was conquered later by Sultan Adil Khan II of Khandesh in the 15th century and by the Mughal emperor, Akbar.
British period
The area was taken over by the British East India Company in the late 18th century and then by the British Raj in the mid-19th century. Their expansion into the area led to different uprisings against their rule, such as the Ho revolt (1820–27) and the Munda uprising (1831–32).
Independence
Following India's independence in 1947, it was partitioned into Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa.
Statehood
The state of Jharkhand was established from the southern part of Bihar in the year 2000, as it was because of a long struggle of Adivasis or Scheduled Tribes who were of the opinion that they hardly reaped any benefit from this socioeconomic factor after independence. Therefore, the Bihar Reorganisation Act was passed in the year 2000, making Jharkhand the 28th state of India.
Jharkhand is located in the eastern region of India. The state borders West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha. It is the 15th largest state in terms of area and the 14th largest in terms of population..
Geography of Jharkhand
Location: Jharkhand shares borders with Bihar in the north, West Bengal in the east, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh towards the west, and Odisha in the south.
Area:
Jharkhand occupies 79, 716 square kilometers.
Landform:
The lands of Jharkhand are covered with rolling hills, forests, plateaus, and rivers.
Chota Nagpur Plateau:
This region is basically covered by hills, valleys, and plateaus. The majority of the region is under two main plateaus - Hazaribag and Ranchi. The highest point of Jharkhand is Parasnath, a granite peak on the Hazaribag plateau, 4,477 feet above sea level.
Rivers:
Damodar, Subarnarekha, Brahmani, and Son rivers flow through Jharkhand.
Soil:
Jharkhand has various types of soil, including red soil, micacious soil, sandy soil, black soil, and laterite soil.
Vegetation:
Dense woodlands cover Jharkhand. Its flora consists of sal, gambhar, jackfruit, and mango trees.
Wildlife:
Major animals found in the forests of Jharkhand are tigers and Asian elephants.
Climate and Best Time to Visit
Winter (October–March)
Monsoon (15 June–October)
Flora and Fauna
The state of Jharkhand comprises a large variety of flora and fauna. Flora of Jharkhand has fantastic biodiversity. The fauna of Jharkhand also has tourist attractions with wildlife sanctuaries.
Jharkhand is a name that symbolizes 'the territory of the forest' where lots and lots of variety and biodiversity of flora and fauna are in every nook and corner of the state. Most of the tourists have visited Jharkhand in all its wildlife, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, and India's finest bird sanctuaries. The fauna of Jharkhand has an extraordinary and unique variation and diversification with almost 200 avifauna found in Jharkhand.
From having evergreen forests and a large variety of flowers and trees to having animals like elephants, tigers, bears, wild boar, and much more flora and fauna, Jharkhand has a special place amongst other states in India. Birds of Jharkhand are of a considerable variety, having almost 200 varieties of birds, including the world's rarest to India's rarest birds.
Flora of Jharkhand
Flora of Jharkhand mainly consists of dry and deciduous types of flowers, plants, and trees. Jharkhand is a semi-arid landscape which in turn is the reason for the lack of moisture during the scorching summer months, thereby causing fauna species to grow with minimum water, and hence, new and unique biodiversity naturally develops.
Most parts of the fruit dry trees and plants have a lot of nutrients and antioxidants. Some of the most important trees to the flora of Jharkhand include sal, gambhar, jackfruit, Jamun, kendu, shisham, Katha, pesar, lac, mahua, mango, baheda,aasan, and bamboo.
A major portion of the tourism in Jharkhand comes only due to the extensive range of flora and evergreen forests in Jharkhand. Flora of Jharkhand, which covers evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, is spread along the Jharkhand, but a greater portion lies in the southwestern parts. The hilly regions and valleys are viewed with dry, deciduous trees. Chotanagpur plateaus comprise several moist tropical forests, the dominant vegetation of Jharkhand.
The extreme conditions are the ridges, favorably beneficial for growth in southern areas. The bright red peppers in the skyline in the fall season are the Palash flowers, also referred to as the forest fire, another beauty of the flora of Jharkhand.
Fauna of Jharkhand
Most of the tourism in Jharkhand is due to the wildlife and birds of Jharkhand, with the wildlife of Jharkhand forming the central part of the attraction for the national sanctuaries. There are different animals in the Betla National Park over more than 250 kilometers of the Latehar district, like elephants, bison, tigers, wolves, and many other interesting animals.
Betla National Park has so much to offer to tourists, from the big mammals to the giants. The wildlife sanctuary at Hazaribagh also features the spectacular beauty of the wildlife of Jharkhand. Dedicated to the Situ conservation of the wildlife of Jharkhand, they have ten wildlife sanctuaries and one national park. For the crocodiles, they have breeding center programs in Jharkhand. They have a project on a tiger reserve and natural park at Chakla and a deer reserve in the Ranchi district of Jharkhand.
Presently, under the situ, conservation of the wildlife of Jharkhand, a tiger and elephant research conservation project is in process in Jharkhand, which has been one of the reasons for the development of the Palamau tiger reserve and the Singhbhum elephant reserve.
Birds' Reserve in Jharkhand
Chota Nagpur plateau is world-famous for the variety of flora and birds of Jharkhand. The Koel is the national bird of Jharkhand and resides in the Chota Nagpur plateau. A very renowned bird woodpecker is identified with the yellow crown in the Hazaribagh region. Being one of the most exceptional biodiversity, a set of birds of Jharkhand has been accompanied by many migratory birds. To name a few, we have Bar Headed Geese from Mongolia, White Necked Stork, Oriental White Ibis, and Northern Shoveler.
The cases of poaching migratory birds of Jharkhand
Due to the increasing rate of poaching of the migratory birds of Jharkhand, the government has also increased its security around the areas where these migratory birds tend to form groups like the area and riverside of the dam.
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