Masalia is a

community development block In India, a Community development block (CD block) or simply Block is a sub-division of Tehsil, administratively earmarked for planning and development. The area is administered by a Block Development Officer (BDO), supported by several technic ...

that forms an administrative division in the

Dumka Sadar subdivision Dumka Sadar subdivision is the only administrative subdivision of the Dumka district in the Santhal Pargana division in the state of Jharkhand, India. Overview Dumka Sadar subdivision is a plateau region. It is divided into four micro subregions. ...

of the

Dumka district Dumka district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Dumka is the administrative headquarters of this district. This district covers an area of 3716.02 km. This district has a population of 1,321,442 (2011 ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Geography

Masalia, the eponymous CD block headquarters, is located at . It is located 16 km from

Dumka Dumka ( Santali: ᱫᱩᱢᱠᱟᱹ), the headquarters of the Dumka district and Santhal Pargana region, is a city in the state of Jharkhand, India. It was made the headquarters of the Santhal Pargana region, which was carved out of the Bha ...

, the district headquarters. Dumka district is a plateau region. It is divided into four micro subregions. The Dumka-Godda Uplands covers Saraiyahat, Jarmundi, Jama, Ranishwar, Shikaripara and parts of Ramgarh, Dumka and Masalia CD blocks. Scattered hillocks with forests are spread over the region with elevation above mean sea level varying from . The Deoghar Uplands covers only parts of Masalia CD block. The area has large number of hillocks covered with forests. The

Rajmahal Hills The Rajmahal Hills are located in the Santhal Pargana division of Jharkhand, India. They were located on the northern margin of the Gondwana supercontinent, and its hills are today inhabited by the Sauria Paharia people whilst its valleys are dom ...

, spread over the north-eastern part of the district, covers Ramgarh, Dumka, Kathikund and Gopikandar CD blocks. The Pakur Uplands, in the eastern part of the district, with a height of above mean sea level, covers parts of Gopikandar and Kathikund CD blocks. The two blocks, named last, also fall under the

Damin-i-koh Damin-i-koh (or sometimes referred to simply as Damin) was the name given to the forested hilly areas of Rajmahal hills broadly in the area of present Sahebganj, Pakur and Godda districts in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Etymology Damin-i-koh i ...

region of Santhal Parganas. Masalia CD block is bounded by Jama, Dumka CD block on the north,

Ranishwar Ranishwar is a community development block that forms an administrative division in the Dumka Sadar subdivision of the Dumka district in Jharkhand, India. Geography Ranishwar is located at . Ranishwar is 43 km from Dumka, the district h ...

CD blocks and Rajnagar CD block in Birbhum district, West Bengal, on the east, Fatehpur and Kundhit CD blocks in Jamtara district on the south and

Palojori Palojori is a community development block that forms an administrative division in the Madhupur subdivision of the Deoghar district, Jharkhand state, India. Geography Palojori, the eponymous CD block headquarters, is located at . It is located ...

CD block in Deoghar district on the west. Masalia CD block has an area of 459.97 km².

Masalia ''Masalia'' was a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae. It is now considered to be a subgenus of ''Heliothis''. Selected species *'' Heliothis albida'' (Hampson, 1905) *'' Heliothis philbyi'' (Brandt, 1941) *'' Heliothis perstriata'' (Brandt ...

police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at

Demographics

Population

As per the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

Masalia CD block had a total population of 124,554, all of which were rural. There were 62,828 (50%) males and 61,726 (50%) females. Population below 6 years was 20,146.

Scheduled Castes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

numbered 6,348 (5.10%) and

Scheduled Tribes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

numbered 72,900 (58.53%).

Literacy

As per 2011 census the total number of literates in Masalia CD Block was 64,374 (61.66% of the population over 6 years) out of which 39,177 (61%) were males and 25,197 (39%) were females. The

gender disparity Sex differences in humans have been studied in a variety of fields. Sex determination occurs by the presence or absence of a Y in the 23rd pair of chromosomes in the human genome. Phenotypic sex refers to an individual's sex as determined by the ...

(the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 22%. See also –

List of Jharkhand districts ranked by literacy rate This is a list of districts in the Indian state of Jharkhand ranked by literacy rate as per provisional data of 2011 census. With a literacy rate of 67.63%, below the national average of 74.04%, as per the 2011 Census, Jharkhand ranks 32nd amongst ...

Language and religion

In 2001, Santali was the mother-tongue of 660,233 persons in Dumka district, forming 41.17% of the population, followed by

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

with 615,667 persons (38.39%) and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

with 327,714 persons (20.44%). Other languages had small numbers of speakers.

is the official language in Jharkhand and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

In 2011, Hindus numbered 1,044,726, forming 79.60% of the population of Dumka district followed by Muslims with 106,865 persons (8.09%), Christians with 86,404 persons (6.54%) and other religions/ religion not stated with 83,447 (6.31%).

Rural poverty

60-70% of the population of Dumka district were in the BPL category in 2004–2005, being in the same category as Ranchi and Jamtara districts. Rural poverty in Jharkhand declined from 66% in 1993–94 to 46% in 2004–05. In 2011, it has come down to 39.1%.

Economy

Livelihood

In Masalia CD block in 2011, amongst the class of total workers, cultivators numbered 21,222 and formed 32.58%, agricultural labourers numbered 33,219 and formed 50.99%, household industry workers numbered 2,326 and formed 3.57% and other workers numbered 8,381 and formed 12.86%. Total workers numbered 65,148 and formed 52.31% of the total population. Non-workers numbered 59,406 and formed 47.69% of total population. Note: In the census records a person is considered a cultivator, if the person is engaged in cultivation/ supervision of land owned. When a person who works on another person's land for wages in cash or kind or share, is regarded as an agricultural labourer. Household industry is defined as an industry conducted by one or more members of the family within the household or village, and one that does not qualify for registration as a factory under the Factories Act. Other workers are persons engaged in some economic activity other than cultivators, agricultural labourers and household workers. It includes factory, mining, plantation, transport and office workers, those engaged in business and commerce, teachers and entertainment artistes.

Infrastructure

There are 290 inhabited villages in Masalia CD block. In 2011, 108 villages had power supply. 8 villages had tap water (treated/ untreated), 290 villages had well water (covered/ uncovered), 288 villages had hand pumps, and all villages had drinking water facility. 31 villages had post offices, 14 villages had sub post offices, 6 villages had telephones (land lines), 49 villages had public call offices and 73 villages had mobile phone coverage. 286 villages had pucca (paved) village roads, 37 villages had bus service (public/ private), 3 villages had railway stations, 9 villages had autos/ modified autos, and 43 villages had tractors. 7 villages had bank branches, 2 villages had agricultural credit societies, 1 village had cinema/ video hall, 1 village had public library and public reading room. 78 villages had

public distribution system The Public Distribution System (PDS) is an Indian food security system that was established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to distribute food and non-food items to India's poor a ...

, 18 villages had weekly haat (market) and 70 villages had assembly polling stations.

Agriculture

Dumka district is a rural dominated area with a large population residing in the villages. "Agriculture practices are the main source of income for the rural people of the district." It is a hilly district receiving considerably high rainfall (1088mm to 1244mm annual average), resulting in a considerable vegetative cover. Ruthless exploitation of forests has reduced them to bushes without any big trees. Only 6.42% of the agricultural lands are irrigated by wells and tanks. Major crops in the district are paddy, maize and wheat. The availability of land has been a major problem. "The Santals have played an important part in the reclamation of land." The District Gazetteer of the Santal Parganas (1938) writes, "In the olden areas, from which he (the Santal) moved on at an earlier date, he seems to have done the first clearing of the jungle, and the first rough sloping of shapes and levels. The more civilised Bengali, Bihari and upcountry immigrant came at his heels, pushed him off the land by force, cajolery, trickery, seized upon his improvements by the application of larger capital or steadier labour developed the embryo bandhs and tanks into works of considerable size," In Masalia CD block, 54.77% of the total area was cultivable area and 33.69% of the cultivated area was irrigated area.

Massanjore Dam

Massanjore Dam Massanjore Dam is a hydropower generating dam over the Mayurakshi River located at Massanjore near Dumka in the state of Jharkhand, India. The Massanjore dam (also called Canada Dam ), across the Mayurakshi, was commissioned in 1955. It was formall ...

was built in 1955, with the assistance of the Government of Canada.

Backward Regions Grant Fund

Dumka district is listed as a backward region and receives financial support from the

Backward Regions Grant Fund Backward or Backwards is a relative direction. Backwards or Sdrawkcab (the word "backwards" with its letters reversed) may also refer to: * "Backwards" (''Red Dwarf''), episode of sci-fi TV sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' ** ''Backwards'' (novel), a nov ...

. The fund created by the Government of India is designed to redress regional imbalances in development. As of 2012, 272 districts across the country were listed under this scheme. The list includes 21 districts of Jharkhand.

Education

Masalia CD block had 32 villages with pre-primary schools, 214 villages with primary schools, 64 villages with middle schools, 7 villages with secondary schools, 3 villages with senior secondary schools, 71 villages with no educational facility.
.*Senior secondary schools are also known as Inter colleges in Jharkhand

Healthcare

Masalia CD block had 3 villages with primary health centres, 9 villages with primary health subcentres, 3 villages with maternity and child welfare centres, 3 villages with allopathic hospitals, 3 villages with dispensaries, 2 villages with family welfare centre, 12 villages with medicine shops.
.*Private medical practitioners, alternative medicine etc. not included

References

{{Santhal Pargana Division topics Community development blocks in Dumka district