Garhwa district


Garhwa district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand. Garhwa district is a part of the Palamu division, and its administrative headquarters are in the city of Garhwa.

History

On 1 April 1991, this district was created from the former Palamu district by separating its former Garhwa sub-division. Garhwa district is currently a part of the Red Corridor.

Administration

Garhwa district consists of 20 blocks.
The following are the list of the blocks in Garhwa district:
  1. Bhandaria block
  2. Danda block
  3. Garhwa block
  4. Manjhiaon block
  5. Ramkanda block
  6. Bishunpura block
  7. Bhawnathpur block
  8. Dandai block
  9. Kandi block
  10. Meral block
  11. Ramna block
  12. Ketar block
  13. Sagma block
  14. Chinia block
  15. Dhurki block
  16. Kharaundhi block
  17. Shree banshidhar nagar block
  18. Ranka block
  19. Bardiha block
  20. Barhgar Block

    Geography

Garhwa district lies between 23° 60’ and 24° 39’ north latitude and 83° 22’ and 84° 00’ east longitude. It is bordered by the Son River on the north, Palamau district of Jharkhand state on the east, Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh state on the south, and Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh on the west.

Economy

In 2006, the Indian government named Garhwa district as one of the country's 250 most forward districts, out of a total of 640. It is one of the 21 districts in Jharkhand state currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.

Sub-divisions

Garhwa district comprises three subdivisions: Garhwa, Shree banshidhar nagar and Ranka which are further divided into 20 blocks. At the time of creation, this district comprised only eight blocks: Bhandaria, Bhawanathpur, Dhuraki, Garhwa, Manjhiaon, Meral, Nagar Untari and Ranka. Later, eleven more blocks were created by reorganizing the existing blocks. These are: Chiniya, Dandai, Kandi, Kharaundhi, Ramkanda, Ramuna, Sagma, Bardiha, Danda, Bishunpura and Ketar. This district comprises 156 gram panchayat and 916 villages. It has three police sub-divisions: Garhwa, Shree banshidhar nagar and Ranka with eight police stations in Bhandaria, Bhawnathpur, Dhurki, Garhwa, Majhiyaon, Meral, Shree banshidhar nagar, and Ranka.
The district consists mostly forests and has only one city, Garhwa, which is also the district headquarters.
There are two Vidhan Sabha constituencies in this district: Garhwa and Bhawanathpur. Both are part of Palamu Lok Sabha constituency.

Transport

Garhwa is well-connected to roads and railways. Daily bus services are available from Ranchi and major districts of Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. Road communication in this district is not as good as in other districts of the state. Garhwa district is connected to Rewa in Madhya Pradesh and Ranchi in Jharkhand by National Highway No. 39. There are 210 km of state highway, 55 km of national highway and 96.95 km of district roads. Link roads and corridors are altogether 190 km.
The nearest airport is at Varanasi. Garhwa Railway Station is a major railhead of the Eastern Railway zone. National Highway 39 passes through Garhwa.

Health

Hospitals

According to the 2011 census, Garhwa district has a population of 1,322,784, roughly equal to the nation of Mauritius or the US state of New Hampshire. This gives it a ranking of 368th 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 27.71%. Garhwa has a sex ratio of 933 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 62.18%. 24.2% of the population are from Scheduled Castes and 15.6% are from Scheduled Tribes.
At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 54.52% of the population in the district spoke Hindi, 26.24% Magahi, 7.29% Bhojpuri, 5.39% Sadri and 5.29% Urdu as their first language.