Jharkhand

Jharkhand was separated from Bihar in 2000 and lies on the Chhotanagpur plateau in eastern India. The capital is Ranchi. The state is hilly and forested compared with the plains to its north, with the Damodar valley running through its north-eastern districts.

It holds a large share of India’s mineral reserves — coal, iron ore, copper, bauxite, mica and uranium — and its cities include Jamshedpur, where Tata Steel’s first plant was built in 1907, and Bokaro, with a large public-sector steel plant. Forests cover roughly a third of the state and support a substantial tribal population alongside cultivation of rice, maize and pulses.

The gap between the value extracted from Jharkhand and the living standards of its residents is the state’s central political fact. It has some of India’s largest mineral revenues alongside some of its lowest human development indicators, and the districts with the richest deposits are also those with the weakest public services. A Maoist insurgency has persisted in parts of the state for decades, and displacement for mining and dams has been extensive.