Chakradharpur is a city in

West Singhbhum West Singhbhum or Pashchimi Singhbhum is one of the 24 districts of Jharkhand state, India. It came into existence on 16 January 1990, when the old Singhbhum district (then in Bihar) was bifurcated. Chaibasa is the district headquarters. The di ...

district in the 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 ...

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 ...

. It is the railway divisional headquarters of Chakradharpur (CKP) division of the South Eastern Railway. The city stands at an elevation of 227 metres (745 feet) and has urban area of 10 square kilometres bounded on the east by Jamshedpur (Tatanagar), on the west by Rourkela (Odisha), on the north by Ranchi (state capital of Jharkhand) and on the south by Chaibasa (district town of

West Singhbhum district West Singhbhum or Pashchimi Singhbhum is one of the 24 districts of Jharkhand state, India. It came into existence on 16 January 1990, when the old Singhbhum district (then in Bihar) was bifurcated. Chaibasa is the district headquarters. The di ...

). Chakradharpur is close to boundaries of two neighbouring states,

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

and

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. Chakradharpur is one of the

divisions of Indian Railways Indian Railways divides its operations into zones, which are further sub-divided into divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of 19 zones (including Metro Railway, Kolkata) and 70 Divisions on Indian Railway System. E ...

Geography

Chakradharpur is located at . It has an average elevation of 227 metre (745 ft). It is covered by mountains on most sides, and the river Sanjay running in the south-eastern periphery. Chakradharpur is believed to have been a quasi-hill station in the mid-1900s.

Demographics

As of

2011 Indian Census 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 ...

, Chakradharpur nagar parishad had a total population of 56,531, of which 28,932 were males and 27,599 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 6,467. The total number of literates in Chakradharpur was 42,940, which constituted 75.9% of the population with male literacy of 81.0% and female literacy of 70.7%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Chakradharpur was 85.8%, of which male literacy rate was 91.6% and female literacy rate was 79.6%. The

Scheduled Castes 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 ...

population was 4,972 and 8,648 respectively. Chakradharpur had 11,472 households in 2011. In the 2001 India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, Chakradharpur had a population of 38,352. Males constituted 52% of the population and females 48%. 5,102 persons were in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The total number of literates were 27,666 which is 72.1% of the total population. the effective literacy rate was Chakradharpur had an average literacy rate of 56.93%. The effective literacy of 7+ population was 83.2%.

Languages

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 ...

is the official language of the town and also the language of the majority of the people. It is followed by Odia,

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 ...

, Ho, Santhali, Mundari, Bhojpuri and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' South Eastern Railway. The first rail line on Chakradharpur Division was opened on 22 January 1890 with the laying of the long Purulia-Chakradharpur rail line. The rail network on the main trunk route passing through Chakradharpur division was completed on 18 February 1891 when the Goilkera-Jharsuguda section was opened. With the opening of this section the main line route of

Bengal Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

(BNR) was completed. The official opening ceremony of the main line from

Asansol Asansol is a (Tier-II) metropolitan city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest and most populated city of West Bengal and the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Ba ...

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...

, presided over by the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

, Lord Lansdowne, was held at Chakradharpur station on 3 March 1891. It is located on the Tatanagar–Bilaspur section of the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line. Chakradharpur division serves the mineral and industrially rich areas of Jharkhand and

. It is spread over East and West Singhbhum, Saraikela-Kharsawan, Simdega of Jharkhand and Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha. In this division lies the main corridor of freight and passenger traffic between eastern and western parts of the country. This region is aptly called the Heart of the South Eastern Railway. The development of the rail network in the area presently forming Chakradharpur division dates back to the original of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, the precursor of the South Eastern Railway. The first rail line in the area serving Chakradharpur division was laid in 1890. Presently Chakradharpur division extends over a length of 741.705 route-km, of which 335.798 route-km are located over the state of Jharkhand and 405.907 km. The main line portion of the division extends over the Salgajhari-Jharsuguda portion covering a distance of 270.38 km. In addition to the main line the division has a large number of branch lines covering Tatanagar-Badampahar, Gamharia-Kandra-Chandil, Sini-Kandra, Rajkharswan-Banspani, Padapahar-Bolani-Barbil, Bondamunda-Bimlagarh, Barsuan-Kiriburu and Rourkela-Birmitrapur sections. The importance of the route covered by the division stems from the fact that it serves six major steel plants located in the region:

Rourkela Steel Plant Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), in Rourkela, Odisha is the first integrated steel plant in the public sector in India. It was set up with West Germany collaboration with an installed capacity of 1 million tonnes in the 1960s. It is operated by Ste ...

; Bhilai Steel Plant;

Durgapur Steel Plant Durgapur Steel Plant is one of the integrated steel plants of Steel Authority of India Limited, located in Durgapur, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. It was set up with the help of United Kingdom. Product mix Tonnes/annum : Merchan ...

;

Bokaro Steel Plant Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) is located in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand. It is the fourth integrated public sector steel plant in India built with Soviet help. It was incorporated as a limited company in 1964. It was later merged with the state ...

; Tata Steel, Jamshedpur and IISCO, Burnpur. It also serves the cement belt of Bilaspur division and the heavy traffic in general merchandise on the Howrah-Mumbai trunk route. The division covers some of the most difficult and picturesque terrains of the South Eastern Railway, passing through the verdant forest of Saranda including the two Saranda tunnels on the main line between Mahadevsal and Posoita stations. The division loads bulk requirement of iron and manganese ores, dolomite, limestone and other raw materials for all major steel plants of the country. Two steel plants, Rourkela steel plant and TISCO at Jamshedpur, are located within the division. It serves the Sponge Iron Plant at Manikui and other ancillary industries spread around the two plants, as well as the cement factories located at Jhinkpani, Rajgangpur, Tatanagar, Dhutra and mini cement plants and sponge-iron manufacturing industries around Rourkela. The main commodities loaded on the division comprise raw material for steel plants, cement and other general merchandise. The Chakradharpur division has 86 stations.

Chakradharpur railway station Chakraharpur railway station serves Chakradharpur in West Singhbhum district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History The Bengal Nagpur Railway was formed in 1887 for the purpose of upgrading the Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway and then extendin ...

is one of the important stations since its foundation.

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

visited here to inspect the facilities during the British Rule, which he mentioned in his book ''Third class in Indian Railways''.

From the history

Justice Harihar Mahapatra mentioned his visit to Chakradharpur around 1916, in his book ''My Life, My Work''. The rich mineral deposits around the Sanjay-Binjay valley was mentioned in the book ''Prehistoric India'' by Panchanan Mitra. The book also tells about the cave paintings and natural belongings of the adjoining region, including facts from Mr. Anderson's collections and their visit during the early 20th century. The rich presence of the Anglo Indian Community in Chakradharpur Railway Colony was mentioned in the book ''Pagan Love: Anglo Indian Story'' by Mervyn Rupert Welsh. The book also tells about the Burton Lake, which is now a hangout zone. The Geological Survey of India says there is a rich deposit of a composite batholith of a banded trondhjemitic material intruded by tonalite, granodiorite, granite and alkali-feldspar granite which was metamorphosed and deformed by a F3 event, which they named "Chakradharpur Granite Gneiss".

mentioned his visit to Chakradharpur Railway Station in his book ''Third Class in Indian Railways''.

Notable people

* Sailesh Kumar Bandopadhyay, Indian activist, Gandhian and recipient of

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

in 2010. *

Deep Sengupta Deep Sengupta (born 30 June 1988) is an Indian chess player. He is India's 22nd player to be awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE. Sengupta competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2017. Career Born in Chakradharpur, Sengupta started chess with t ...

, Indian chess player and Grandmaster. * Anna Kashfi, British Indian film actress who had a brief Hollywood career in the 1950s and Marlon Brando's first wife.

References

External links

South Eastern Railways, Chakradharpur Division
{{Kolhan Division Cities and towns in West Singhbhum district