Jharkhand borne as the 28th state of the country on 15th November, 2000, the name Jharkhand derives from the association of two words- jhar meaning forest, and khand meaning a piece (of land) confirming the name the state has 29 % area under forests.
The landscape and relief and topography of the Jharkhand is heterogeneous with several mountains, hills, plateaus, and rivers dotting the state.
Jharkhand is a landlocked state, covered by the Cottanagpur plateau, about 3000 feet above the mean sea level. It has number of hills, hillocks and mountain ranges covered with dense subtropical and Monsoon forests.
The Jharkhand is the 15 th largest state of the country having total geographical area of 78,096 Sq Kms which constitutes approximately 2.34% of the total land area of the country. It is thus
(ii) Demography: According to 2001 census, Jharkhand 13th most populous state in the country inhabited by approximately 2.69 crore people which constitutes about 2.59% of the total population of the country.
The cultural landscape of the state is inriched by the 32 different tribes which constitute about 27.6 % of the state population.The Scheduled Castes constitute nearly 11.85% , and minorities is about 12 % of the state’s population.
Almost 70.86 lakh people that constitute about 26.03% of the total state population are tribals.
The neighboring states Chattisgarh have a tribal population of about 31.8%, Orissa 22.1%, M.P.20.3%, and W.B. 5.5%.
The major tribal groups of the Jharkhand
(i) Santhals (35.47%), are the dominant tribes of the Jharkhand are mainly settled in the districts of Dumka,Deoghar,Sahebganj, Pakur,Godda and Jamtara called Santhal Parganas in combined.
(ii) Oraons (18.03%), second dominant tribes resides in the districts of Ranchi,Hazaribag, Gumla,Lohardagga, Latehar, Chatra, Palamu, Garhwa and Singhbhum.
(iii) Mundas (14.56%), are the third most dominant tribes of Jharkhand mostly settled in the above mentioned districts.Oraons & Mundas mostly inhabit North& South Chottanagpur Commissionaries.
(iv) Hos (9.23%) are also found in Jharkhand who resodes in Singhbhum(West) comprising the Kolhan region.
Santhal,Oraons,Munda and Hos together holds 77.03% of the total tribal population of the States.
Jharkhand is also inhabited by27other tribes like the Kharwar (3.83%),Lohra (2.91%),Kharia(2.44%),Bhumij(2.35%),Gond(1.66%),Mahali(1.59%),MalPaharia(1.37%),Bedia(1.04%),Chero(0.90%),ChikBaraik(0.69%),SawariaPaharia(0.68%),Karmali(0.66%),Sewar(0.50%),Kora(0.48%),Paharia(0.41%),Kisan(0.40%),Korwa(0.38%),Birhors(0.07%),Banjaras(0.01%),Asurs(0.13%),Baiga(0.06%),Khond(0.02%),Bathudi(0.03%),Binjhia(0.17%),Birajia(0.07%),Gorail(0.09%),Kol&Kalwar (0.10%).
Some tribes like the Kharias, Asurs and Birhors are classified as the most primitive together comprising approximately 2.64% of the total tribal population of the state.
Religion: Hinduism is the dominant religion of Jharkant. Although tribals mostly believe in followanimism (the worship of nature deities and other spirits). Some of the tribals have converted to Christanity.The state also has a significant Muslim and Christian population with few Sikhs and Jains as well.
Language: Most of the people of Jharkhand speaks Hindi language. The Santhals the largest tribal population in the state, speak Santali, a Munda language that has a written script.The Oraon speak Kurukh, a Dravidian language, while most of the other tribes speak Munda languages (a subfamily of the Austro-Asiatic languages).
Urbanisation: As per 2001 cencus 22.3 % of the people in state lives in urban areas which is better than Parrent state Bihar’s 10.5% however this is lower than the average of Nation 27.8% .
The State having five towns which has population of more than 1 lakh. The population density in Jharkhand is 338 in 2001 and varies from a minimum of 148 per sq. km to a maximum of 1167 per sq km.