This district has the major tribal populations among them important tribes are Sabara, Kisan, Kurukh, Bhuiyan, Munda, Santal. This district has unique diversity in terms of tribal culture, language and other focal culture. Kurukh people speak their mother tongue Kurukh language with Sadri language. Munda people speak their Ho language and Kisan people speak their Kisan dialect and Kharia speak their Kharia. Sadri and local Odia dialect is also quite popular among tribal communities.
Geography and climate
Jharsuguda is located at. It has an average elevation of. It is located in Western Odisha. State highway 10 and National Highway 69 pass through this place. The Ib river flows along the Western side of Jharsuguda town and the river Bheden flows in the south. The area of the town is 70.47 km2, and has a population of 579,499. The town is situated at 21.82° north longitude and 84.1° latitude and at a height of 700–750 feet above mean sea level. The highest temperature recorded during the summer months is 48.0 °C. It has an average rainfall of 1,527 mm.
Culture
Jharsuguda is a cosmopolitan city housing people from various regions of India. Major festivals celebrated in the town are:
Nuakhai: This is an important festival for the people of Western Odisha. This festival falls during Autumn season. It is a harvest festival celebrated after the first crops are harvested. Families gather during this period and eat together. After that, the younger take the blessings of elders and dance with friends.
Bhai Jauntia: A festival observed by the women of this region where a sister prays for the betterment of her brother.
Rath Yatra: Rath Yatra is celebrated in the town & villages of the district. Lord Jagannath, his elder brother lord Balabhadra and his younger sister Subhadra travel in a wooden car to their mausi mandir.
Durga Puja: Durga Puja has been celebrated in public pandals in the town for more than half a century. It is one of the most celebrated festival locally in Jharsuguda. Most remarkable and favoured among these are specially Durga pandals of Sarbahal, Chowki para and Mangal Bazar and Puja by Sri Santimai Mukharjee in Chowki Para are major crowd pullers for their majestic and innovative pandals. Traditional Bengali crowd gathers in KaliMandir which is one of the oldest Durga Puja in Jharsuguda
Ganesh Puja: Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganesh puja is also one of locally most celebrated festival which is a 10-day public celebration.
Diwali and Chhat: It is celebrated with great pomp and show.
Since the Colonial era, the city has had a relatively developed transportation network. Primary modes of transport are auto rickshaws, 'Savaris', taxi vans and municipal or state operated buses. The Jharsuguda Airport had been under expansion at Durlaga. It has an airstrip since British times, which is currently upgraded to a full-fledged airport. First flight from Jharsuguda took off in September 2018 after PM Modi dedicates VSS Airport to nation. On February 28, 2019, low cost airline Spicejet announced regional connectivity from Jhasurguda to various state capitals such as Kolkata, Hyderabad as well as with New Delhi under the UDAN regional connectivity scheme. Jharsuguda railway station is an important railway junction on the Tatanagar–Bilaspur section of the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line and the Jharsuguda-Vizianagaram line. The railway station comes under South Eastern Railway. Jharsuguda is connected to various towns of the states by State Highway 10 and National Highway 49.
