Lohardaga district is one of the twenty-four districts of the Indian state of Jharkhand. The district is named after the town of Lohardaga, the administrative headquarters of the district. The district was created from a portion of Ranchi district in 1983. This district is surrounded by Latehar district in the north, Gumla district in south and west and Ranchi district in the east. The district is situated between 23°30' and 23°40' north latitudes and 84°40' and 84°50' east longitudes. The district covers an area of 1491 km². As of 2011, it is the least populous district of Jharkhand. It is currently a part of the Red Corridor.
Geography
District has a number of small hill blocks covered with forests. The general slope of the district is from west to east. The main rivers of the district are South Koel, Sankh, Nandni, Chaupat’s and Fulijhar etc. These are mainly Rain fed Rivers and dried up in the summer months. Some springs are also seen in the hilly tract of the district. Geologically the area in comprised with Archean Granites and Gneisses. In the uplands considerable thickness of late-rite of Pleistocene age is found in the Granite and Gneisses tracts. Alluvium of recent to sub-recent age is found in the river valleys. The most important mineral of the district is bauxite. Other minerals which are found in the district are feldspar, fire clay and china clay and have less economic importance. The major part of the district is covered with Golden Alluvium, Red and Sandy and Red and Gravelly soils. Laterite and Red and Yellow soils are also found elsewhere in the district. The district enjoys a healthy and pleasant climate throughout the year. The annual average temperature is 23 °C and the district receives an annual average rainfall of 1000–1200 mm.
Economy
The inhabitants of this district mainly depend on agriculture, forest produce and seasonal migration to different parts of the country. 80% of the population depends upon agriculture. The main crop of this area is paddy. In the small irrigated area wheat is grown to meet the annual food sufficiency. Also this district is linked with larger vegetable markets like Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Calcutta. There is a cold storage in the district. But profitable vegetable cultivation is being limited to road side non-tribals. Generally, villagers of the district keep plough animals. Also they keep goats and poultry birds as buffer. Although there is a dairy chilling plant in the district headquarters, dairy is practised by very few people mainly non-tribal. The net sown area is only 55% of the total area of the district. Two blocks i.e. Kisko and Senha have large area under dense forest cover. The forest cover is around 32-35% of the total area of the district. The average land holding per household is 1.65 Ha. The per capita agriculture land is around 0.28 Ha. Net irrigated area is 13.4% of net sown area. Most of the villages except the hilly pockets of the district are connected with the roads. Still some of the hamlets have no linking roads. Electricity is supplied from Patratu Thermal Power Station which is in the Ramgarh district. Out of 354 villages only 25 have rural electrification. Water supply system is not available in rural area. The villagers get their drinking water from tube wells and dug wells. In 2006 the Indian government named Lohardaga 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.
Administration
Lohardaga district consists of 7 blocks. The following are the list of the blocks in Lohardaga district:
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, Lohardaga district has a population of 461,790, roughly equal to the nation of Suriname. This gives it a ranking of 549th in India. The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 26.67%. Lohardaga has a sex ratio of 985 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 68.29%. Schedule Caste constitutes 3.3% while Schedule Tribe were 56.9% of total population.
Languages
At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 38.96% of the population in the district spoke Kurukh, 33.17% Sadri, 13.87% Urdu, 12.5% Hindi and 0.63% Mundari as their first language. Among the languages here is Sadri, Kurukh and Asuri, a Munda language spoken by approximately 17 000.
Education and health services
There are 318 primary schools, 68 middle schools, 20 High schools, 2 higher secondary schools and two degree colleges and one degree college for girls in the district. In this district, there is a district hospital, one referral hospital, five primary health sub-centres, ten additional primary health centres, seventy three health sub-centres.
