Giridih


Giridih is headquarters of the Giridih district of Jharkhand state, India. The literal meaning of Giridih is the land of hills and hillocks – giri, a Hindi word, means hills and dih, another word of the local dialect, indicates land of. Before 1972, Giridih was part of Hazaribagh district.
Giridih is a centre of the prestigious Indian Statistical Institute. Giridih is also one of the six Data Processing Centres of Data Processing Division of National Sample Survey Office.

History

Giridih district was a part of Kharagdiha estate till the late 18th century. During the British Raj Giridih became a part of Jungle Terry. After Kol Uprising in 1831, the parganas of Ramgarh, Kharagdiha, Kendi and Kunda became parts of the South-West Frontier Agency and were formed into a division named Hazaribag as the administrative headquarters. The Kharagdiha Rajas were settled as Rajas of Raj Dhanwar in 1809, and the Kharagdiha gadis were separately settled as zamindari estates. Some of the notable Kharagdiha Zamindari Estates were Koderma, Gadi Palganj, Ledo Gadi, Gande Gadi, Ghoranji Gadi and Gadi Sirsia. The town of Giridih was under the rule of the Khargdiha Zamindari Estate of Salimpur and the temporary settled estate of Karharbari.
Giridih district was created on 6 December 1972 by carving some parts of Hazaribagh district. In 1999 part of it became Bokaro district.
It is currently a part of the Red Corridor.

Minerals

Land of Giridih is rich in coal, and once Giridih was boomed by mica industry which exported mainly to Japan.
There are many small and big mines of coal found in Giridih.

Geography

Giridih is located at. It has an average elevation of. Śrī Sammed Shikharji also known as the Parasnath Hills, located in Giridih is the highest mountain peak in Jharkhand. It is a conical granite peak located 4,477 feet above the sea level.
Giridih District is geographically divided into two natural divisions, which are the central plateau and lower plateau. The central plateau touches the western portion of the district near Bagodar block. The lower plateaus have an undulating surface and an average height of 1300 feet. In the north and north-west, the lower plateaus form fairly level tablelands until they reach the ghats when they drop to about 700 feet. The district has uniformly distributed and vast forests. Sal tree is the most famous and predominant trees here. Among other common trees are bamboo, semal, Mahua, palash, kusum, kend, Asian pear and bhelwa.
Giridih district is divided into two main water heads – Barakar and Usri rivers. Giridih is rich in mineral resources and has several large coal fields with one of the best qualities of metallurgical coal in India. Mica is found in abundance near the blocks Tisri and Gawan. Mica is of importance not only to Jharkhand but to India and other countries as well.

Climate

The climate of Giridih is generally dry. It is pleasant during winter season between October and March. Summer season starting April, is generally hot, with May being hottest when temperature rises up to 47C. Often high temperature is accompanied by high humidity levels, specially during June when premonsoon rain falls. It rains maximum during July and August, and rainy season continues up to mid October.

Government and politics

Nageshwar Prasad Sinha was the first MP from Giridih, when the town declared as separate district from Hazaribagh.
Ravindra Kumar Pandey from the Bharatiya Janata Party won the 2014 Indian general election from Giridih and Chandra Prakash Choudhary is the present Member of Parliament. Giridih city forms the Giridih.Sudivya Kumar from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is the current MLA from Giridih legislative seat.

Transport

Giridih is connected by Road and Rail link.

Rail

is connected to Madhupur Junction located 38 km to the east by a single broad gauge railway line. There is a single passenger train which runs five times a day between the two stations and takes about an hour to reach Giridih. The Giridih Station is under the administration of the Asansol division of the Eastern Railway zone of Indian Railways. There is also a direct train service from Giridih to Kolkata and Patna.
Parasnath Station, on the Howrah-Delhi grand chord line, is 48 km from Giridih towards the west and is under the administration of the Dhanbad division of the Eastern Central Railway zone.
New Giridih Station became operational after railway line between Koderma Junction and Maheshmunda was completed. Presently train is ferrying twice between Koderma and Maheshmunda and once between Koderma and Madhupur via New Giridih.
One new rail line is proposed between New Giridih Station and Parasnath Station via Madhuban which will cater to the needs of locals and Jain Tourists coming to Madhuban, Parasnath. There are other proposals as well to connect New Giridih Station with Dhanbad Junction via Tundi and Govindpur, and with Jhajha Station via Bengabad, Chakai and Sono.

Road

The NH 19 /Grand Trunk Road passes through Giridih district but away from the city.
Giridih has a bus terminus in the center of the town. The bus stand is divided into platforms for private buses. A Government Bus terminus is just adjacent to the main bus terminus. There are regular bus services from the city to other parts in the district. Bus service to Dhanbad, Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Deoghar, Asansol, Durgapur, Kolkata, Howrah, Patna, Ranchi and Jamshedpur is available. Private cars and taxi facilities are available in the city. Other transport is trekkers, autos, rickshaws and mini buses.

Air

By air, there is a landing airstrip known as Boro aerodrome at the district headquarters of Giridih. Giridih is well connected to some of the popular airports of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal and they are :
  1. Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi
  2. Gaya Airport
  3. Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport, Patna
  4. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata

    Demographics

Population

India census, Giridih had a population of 143,529, it is the 8th largest city of jharkhand. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Giridih has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 63%. In Giridih, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age. The language spoken is known as Khortha.

Religion

is the prominent religion of giridih city followed by 67.66% of the population. Islam is the dominant minority religion in the city followed by 30.31% of the people. Other minorities are Christians 0.84%, Sikhs 0.55%, Jains 0.47%, Buddhists 0.04%, and others 0.07%.

Economy

This town used to bustle with economic activity in the period from the 1960s to 1980s when the mineral mica processing and export community reaped tremendous gains through exports to the USSR. However, since the decline of the USSR and its split into twelve CIS countries, the industry has slowly declined and is currently ailing.
On the southern side of Giridih, in Beniadih, are the coal mines of Central Coalfields Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited. It is the largest industry in the Giridih district and major contributor to the economy of the town. Central Coalfields Limited itself is a Miniratna.
The Data Processing Center of Data Processing Division of National Sample Survey Office provides complete IT solution from sample selection, software development to processing and tabulation of data canvassed through various socio-economic surveys of National Sample Survey Organisation.
Mica business also contribute a lot in the trade data, mainly mica are exported to China, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, US the total value of mica exports are 100 million, the main mica exporters are Jalan Mica Exports, Ratan Mica Exports, Jai Mica, Mount Hill Etc.
In 2006 the Indian government named Giridh one of the country's 250 most backward districts. It is one of the 21 districts in Jharkhand currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.
Presently, there are more than a dozen Sponge Iron and Rolling Mill Factories in Giridih. The name of few are Mongia Steel, SriBir, Siscon, Baba, Salasar, SriRam, Lal Steel, Saluja Gold, Gouri Shanker etc.
There is an Industrial Area adjacent to the city, which is full of small, medium and large Factories, these units provide employment to the locals and also to people from different parts of the country. These are namely Mongia Steel, Saluja Steel & Power, and Shivam Group of Companies.
However, pollution remains a critical issue in the surroundings of the Industrial Area which needs to be addressed by Municipal Corporation of Giridih, Chamber of Industries & Commerce and other authorities.

Culture

Kheer Kadam, Kalakand, Rajbhog, Tilkut, Ghewar and Piau are popular sweet here.
Shivratri, Durga Puja, Chhath, Deepawali, Holi, Guru Purnima, Ram Navami, Eid ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Moharram, Vishwakarma Puja, Saraswati Puja, Raksha bandhan, Karma Mahavir Jayanti, Shyam Mahotsav, Sarhool, and Christmas are among the long list of festivals celebrated in Giridih. After Chhath puja, a local village fair held is at Pachamba known as Gaushala fair.

Education

Giridih has many prestigious schools and colleges.
The prominent colleges in this town include –
Schools include –
Hindi newspapers Hindustan Dainik, Dainik Bhaskar, Prabhat Khabar and Dainik Jagran are the popular newspapers as the local language is Hindi. The main English newspapers covering Giridih are The Telegraph, The Times of India and The Hindustan Times. City News channel for the cable network provides the local news from Giridih. Doordarshan Jharkhand is the official channel covering Giridih.

Tourism

Giridih has several religious and scenic tourist spots, including the following: