Jharkhand

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar state on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east. An area of 28,833 sq mi (74,677 km²).
The industrial city of Ranchi is its capital. Some of the other major cities and industrial centers are Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Sindri, Deoghar, Hazaribagh.
The name Jharkhand comes from the Sanskrit Jharikhanda which is the ancient name of the regions dense forest - Jharikhanda.
Jharkhand is famed for its mineral wealth and forestry products.
Jharkhand is now advancing economically much faster than its northern neighbor, Bihar. Jharkhand's poverty rate declined 2% per year from 1994-2002. Unlike some other Indian states, Jharkhand's reduction in poverty was faster in the rural areas than in the urban ones. Its percentage of immunized children grew from 9% in 1998-99 to nearly 50% now, according to UNICEF. Jharkhand has made primary education so accessible that 95% of children ages 6-11 are enrolled in school as opposed to 56% in 1993-94. In general Education has manage to get a higher priority in Jharkhand.Jharkhand has a rich variety of flora and fauna. The National Parks and the Zoological Gardens located in the state of Jharkhand present a panorama of this variety.
Betla National Park (Palamu), 25 km from Daltonganj covers an area of about 250 square kilometres. The national park has a large variety of wild life like tigers, elephants, bisons locally called gaurs, sambhars, hundreds of wild boar and 15 to 20 feet (6.1 m) long python, herds of spotted deer (cheetals), rabbits and foxes. The mammalian fauna to be seen at Betla National Park also include langurs, rhesus, blue bull and wild boars. The lesser mammals are the porcupine, hare, wild cats, honey badgers, jackals, Malabar giant squirrel, mongoose, wolf, antelope, etc. In 1974, the park was declared Project Tiger Reserve