Lohardaga district is one of the twenty-four districts of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n state of

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 . I ...

. The district is named after the town of

Lohardaga Lohardaga is a town and the district headquarters of Lohardaga district in the Indian state of Jharkhand, west of Ranchi, the state capital. Earlier (early 1900s) Lohardaga was the commissionary headquarters for Chotanagpur. It was only late ...

, the administrative headquarters of the district. The district was created from a portion of Ranchi district in 1983. This district is surrounded by Latehar district in the north,

Gumla Gumla is a city which is the district headquarters in the Gumla subdivision of the Gumla district in the state of Jharkhand, India. History Gumla began as a hamlet. A week-long "Cow Fair" (''Gau-Mela'') took place every year, where items in d ...

district in south and west and Ranchi district in the east. The district is situated between 23°30' and 23°40' north latitudes and 84°40' and 84°50' east longitudes. The district covers an area of 1,502 km². As of 2011, it is the least populous district of

(out of 24). It is currently a part of the Red Corridor.

Geography

District has a number of small hill blocks covered with forests. The general slope of the district is from west to east. Latehar district is situated in the north of this district, Ranchi district in the east and

Gumla district Gumla district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India, and Gumla town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Etymology For centuries, the place was a meeting center for people from the hinterland who flocke ...

in the south-west. Lohardaga district consists of two broad physiographic divisions – the hilly tract and the plateau region. The hilly tract extends over the western and north-western parts of the district. The high hill tops of this region are known as ''pat''. The plateau region is a part of the Gumla Plateau, which lies in the southern portion of

Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the ...

. Lohardaga and Bhandra CD blocks are entirely in the plateau region. Other administrative areas, such as Kisko, Senha and Kuru CD blocks are partly in the plateau region and partly in the hilly tract. The main rivers of the district are South Koel, Sankh, Nandni, Chaupat’s and Fulijhar etc. These are mainly rain fed rivers which dry up in the summer months. Some springs are also seen in the hilly tract of the district. Geologically the area in comprised with Archean Granites and Gneisses. In the uplands considerable thickness of late-rite of Pleistocene age is found in the Granite and Gneisses tracts. Alluvium of recent to sub-recent age is found in the river valleys. The major part of the district is covered with Golden Alluvium, Red and Sandy and Red and Gravelly soils.

Laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

and Red and Yellow soils are also found elsewhere in the district. The most important mineral of the district is

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...

. Other minerals which are found in the district are

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) felds ...

, fire clay and china clay and have less economic importance. The district enjoys a healthy and pleasant climate throughout the year. The annual average

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

is 23 °C and the district receives an annual average

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

fall of 1000–1200 mm.

Politics

Economy

The net sown area is only 55% of the total area of the district. Two blocks i.e. Kisko and Senha have large area under dense forest cover. The forest cover is around 32-35% of the total area of the district. The average land holding per household is 1.65 Ha. The per capita agriculture land is around 0.28 Ha. Net irrigated area is 13.4% of net sown area (0.8% by canals, 7% by wells, 2% by tanks & 3.6% by lift irrigation and others). In 2006 the Indian government named Lohardaga one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the 21 districts in Jharkhand currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Administration

Lohardaga district consists of 7 blocks. The following are the list of the blocks in Lohardaga district:

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Lohardaga district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 461,790, roughly equal to the nation of

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

. This gives it a ranking of 549th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 26.67%. Lohardaga has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species dev ...

of 985 females for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 68.29%. Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 3.32% and 56.89% of the population respectively. Other religions (mainly Sarna) are most practiced by 51.10% of the population. Hindus are 24.34%, Islam is 20.57% and Christianity is 3.63%.

Languages

At the time of 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. Informatio ...

, 38.96% of the population in the district spoke Kurukh, 33.17%

Sadri Sadri is a municipality in the Pali district of Rajasthan, India. It is considered the gateway to Marwar from Mewar. Sadri is one of the main places of worship for the Jain community. Ranakpur Temple and Shri Parshuram Mahadev Mandir are locate ...

, 13.87%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' 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 ...

as their first language. Other languages spoken here includes Asuri, a Munda language spoken by approximately 17,000 people.

Education and health services

There are 318 primary schools, 68 middle schools, 20 High schools, 2 higher secondary schools and two degree colleges and one degree college for girls in the district. In this district, there is a district hospital, one referral hospital, five primary health sub-centres, ten additional primary health centres, seventy three health sub-centres.

References

External links

Travel guide and maps of LohardagaLohardaga district websiteLohardaga district
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lohardaga District Districts of Jharkhand 1983 establishments in Bihar