Jamshedpur


Jamshedpur is one of the first planned cities of India and most populous urban agglomeration in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It was founded by Jamsetji Tata, founder of Tata Groups, and was also named after him. Jamshedpur was ranked as the cleanest city of India in 2020 by Swach Survekshan 2020
Jamshedpur ranked as 15th cleanest city in India by Swachh Survekshan 2019 and was 7th cleanest city of India in 2010. City also ranked as 2nd in India in terms of 'Quality of Life' and 84th fastest growing city of world according to City Mayors Foundation.
It is the headquarters of the East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand and is the 36th - largest urban agglomeration. The city is located in nature's den in Chota Nagpur plateau, surrounded by the picturesque Dalma Hills and bordered by the rivers Subarnarekha and Kharkai.

Etymology

In 1919 Lord Chelmsford named the city, which was earlier a village called Sakchi, to Jamshedpur in honour of its founder, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, whose birthday is celebrated on 3 March as Founder's Day. J. N. Tata had written to his son Dorabji Tata about his vision of a great city in the area. On Founders Day, which is 3 March, the Jubilee Park is decorated with brilliant lightwork for about a week.
The city has several nicknames, including "Industrial capital of Jharkhand" ; "Steel City" ; "Tatanagar" after the name of its railway station or simply "Tata" in deference to the presence of Tata companies. At one time it was also known as "Kalimati" after the village near the Sakchi area. Sakchi was renamed to Jamshedpur in 1919. The only trace of the name is the main road through Sakchi area of Jamshedpur which is named Kalimati Road.

History

At the end of the 19th century, Jamsetji Tata met steelmakers in Pittsburgh to get the most advanced technology for his plant. It is said that he got the idea of building a steel plant when he heard Thomas Carlyle declaring that "the nation which gains control of iron soon acquires the control of gold" in a lecture in Manchester. At the turn of the twentieth century, Jamshetji Tata asked geologist Charles Page Perin to help him find the site to build India's first steel plant. The search for a site rich in iron, coal, limestone and water began in April 1904 in today's Madhya Pradesh. Then Maharaja of Mayurbhanj State appointed in his court renowned geologist Shri Pramatha Nath Bose, who had been instrumental in setting up of the steel plant at Sakchi. Bose, on the request of the Maharaja of Mayurbhanj State, surveyed the Gorumahisani hills of Babanghati region of then Mayurbhanja state, and found Hematite deposit there. P. N. Bose insisted Jamsetji Tata choose Sakchi for his dream plant.
The prospectors C. M. Weld, Dorabji Tata and Shapurji Saklatvala took nearly three years in a painstaking search across vast stretches of inhospitable terrain to find a location. One day they came across a village called Sakchi, on the densely forested stretches of the Chota Nagpur plateau, near the confluence of the Subarnarekha and Kharkai rivers. It seemed to be the ideal choice and the place was selected.
In 1908 the construction of the plant as well as the city officially began. The first steel ingot was rolled on 16 February 1912. It was a momentous day in the history of industrial India.
Jamsetji's plan for the city was clear. He envisioned far more than a mere row of workers' hutments. He insisted upon building all the comforts and conveniences a city could provide. As a result, many areas in the city are well planned and there are public leisure places such as the Jubilee Park. While building the city, Jamsetji Tata had said, "Be sure to lay wide streets planted with shady trees, every other of a quick-growing variety. Be sure that there is plenty of space for lawns and gardens; reserve large areas for football, hockey and parks; earmark areas for Hindu temples, Muslim mosques and Christian churches."
Messrs Julin Kennedy Sahlin from Pittsburgh prepared the first layout of the town of Jamshedpur. What the city looks like today is a testament to their visionary plans. Jamshedpur is the only million plus city in India without a municipal corporation.
Legend has it that in the late 1980s when the state government proposed a law to end the Tatas' administration of Jamshedpur and bring the city under a municipality, the local populace rose in protest and defeated the government's proposal. In 2005, a similar proposal was once again put up by lobbying politicians. The target audience was the working class. A large majority sided with the government and set up protest meetings outside the East-Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner's office. However, the objective was never achieved and Jamshedpur remains without a municipality.

Geography

Jamshedpur is situated in the southern end of the state of Jharkhand and is bordered by the states of Odisha and West Bengal. The average elevation of the city is 135 metres while the range is from 129 m to 151 m. Total geographical area of Jamshedpur is 209 km square. Jamshedpur is primarily located in a hilly region and is surrounded by the Dalma Hills running from west to east and covered with dense forests. The other smaller hill ranges near the city are Ukam Hill and the Jadugoda-musabani hill range. The city is also a part of the larger Chota Nagpur Plateau region. The region is formed of the sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks belonging to the Dharwarian period.
Jamshedpur is located at the confluence of Kharkai and Subarnarekha Rivers. Subarnarekha is the principal river of Jamshedpur, which flows from west to south-eastern part of the territory. Many small rivers, especially the tributaries, join the Subarnarekha river in this area. Kharkai flows from the south and joins the Subarnarekha river at a place called Domuhani. The two rivers are the major sources of drinking water and groundwater for the city. Several lakes of varying size are also located near the fringes of the city. The major of them being the Dimna lake located in between the Dalma range and the Sitarampur reservoir situated beside Kharkai river. It is also a major tourist spot in the region. Both of them also act as reservoirs for drinking water in the city.
The city falls under deciduous type of forest region and the green cover is estimated to be around 33% of the total land area. The city falls under the Seismic Zone II region.

Climate

Jamshedpur features a tropical wet and dry climate. Summers start in mid-March and can be extremely hot in May and June. The temperature variation during summer is from. The minimum temperature during winters is. The climate of Jamshedpur is marked by south-west monsoon. Jamshedpur gets heavy rainfall from July to September and receives about of rainfall annually.

Economy

Jamshedpur is home to the first private iron and steel company of India. The areas surrounding Jamshedpur are rich in minerals, including iron ore, coal, manganese bauxite and lime.
Tata Steel, situated almost at the centre of the city. Tata Steel is the largest iron and steel producing plant in India, as well as the oldest. It has been recognised as the best integrated steel plant twelve times; having won the PM's Trophy ten times and received the Certificate for Excellence twice.
Tata Motors earlier it was known as Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, which used to manufacture the railway locomotives and now manufactures heavy vehicles trucks.
It is also home to TATA Cummins Pvt. Limited, Tayo Rolls Limited, TRF.Ltd, JUSCO, The Tinplate Company of India Limited, Tata Powers, Nuvoco Vistas Corporation.Ltd, Linde plc, Praxair, Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery, Tata Ryerson, Timken India, Tata Bluescope, Tata Steel Growth Shop, Tayo Rolls, Tata Pigments, Tata Tubes, Indian Steel and Wire Products Limited, UCIL and Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt Limited.
Apart from the above large corporates, Jamshedpur has a varied and powerful industrial base established at Adityapur Industrial Area. Jugsalai is key market for wholesalers while Sakchi is popular retail low-cost market.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census of India, the city of Jamshedpur had a population of 629,659, but the Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration had a population of 1,337,131. The city is designated as a Million Plus Urban Agglomeration as per Government terminology. Males constitute 52.1% of the population and females 47.9%. Tribals constitute around 28% of the population. Jamshedpur has an average literacy rate of 89.41% – higher than the national average of 74%. In Jamshedpur, 11.5% of the population is under six years of age.

Civic administration

The civic administration of the city is under Greater Jamshedpur Metropolitan Region, Govt of Jharkhand.
The major urban local bodies are :

Railways

is a railway junction and an A-1 category model station on the Chakradharpur division, of the South Eastern Railway. Other railway stations in the city are Adityapur, Gamharia, Kandra, Govindpur etc.

Roadways

Jamshedpur is connected to other parts of India through national and state highways. The major highways are:
is serving the city at present. It is spread over a 25-acre area in the Sonari area of the city. The airport is primarily used for bringing in chartered planes of TATA group.In previous days there were flights from Jamshedpur to Kolkata.
Dhalbhumgarh Airport is a proposed public airport located at Dhalbhumgarh, in the state of Jharkhand, India as a Greenfield airport for Jamshedpur. It will be built on the site of an abandoned World War II airfield situated 60 kilometres from Jamshedpur on NH-33.
The old airfield was built around 1942, as an ancillary runway for other airfields in the vicinity that were being built around India's eastern frontier as part of the war effort. It was one of the airfields used by Allied forces to repel the advancing Japanese troops and to maintain transport links with China. As the Japanese forces came to control shipping in the China Sea, seaborne supply routes to China were cut and the difficult, 500 km route over the Himalayas was increasingly used. The airfield was abandoned after the war.
The technical team of the Airports Authority of India conducted survey in 2017 and approved the Dhalbhumgarh site for a greenfield airport. The government plans to invest Rs 300 crore through AAI for the new airport which will have a 3-kilometre-long runway. In January 2018, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha announced that the Union Civil Aviation Ministry and the Jharkhand Government would sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the construction of Dhalbhumgarh Airport.

Education and research

Important educational institutions in Jamshedpur are: XLRI, founded in 1949; Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, established in 1961; and the engineering college National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, an Institute of National Importance.
The National Metallurgical Laboratory, one of the 38 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research laboratories, was inaugurated on 26 November 1950 by Jawaharlal Nehru.
Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute, established in 1921 as the technical training department of Tata Steel, now develops skilled employees for other companies as well. Its 400,000 volume library is one of the most popular in the city.

Tourist attractions

Jamshedpur has a reputation as the sports capital of Jharkhand with Tata Steel promoting sporting activities. Jamshedpur's private clubs provide opportunities for activities, such as golf, tennis, squash, billiards, horseriding and water scootering.
Jamshedpur FC is an ISL team based in Jamshedpur. The team is owned by Tata Steel.
Academies and stadiums include:
JRD Tata Sports Complex has an international standard multi-use stadium and an eight-lane monosynthetic track. It is primarily used for football and athletics but it has facilities for various other sports including archery, basketball, field hockey, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, skating, yoga as well as a modern gymnasium, are available at the complex. The stadium hosted the women football competition & archery event of the 34th National Games in 2011.
Keenan Stadium hosted its 1st International One Day Cricket match on 7 December 1983 in which India lost to the touring West Indies Team. Many other International matches have been played here in which India has won only one match against South Africa in 1999–2000.
Tata Football Academy was started in 1987 to nurture budding Indian footballers and raise the standard of Indian football. TFA is a football club in Jamshedpur, sponsored by Tata Steel. Today, Tata Football Academy is one of the premier football breeding grounds in India.
Tata Archery Academy: archery is a sport indigenous to the tribal people of Chhotanagpur and Santhal Pargana. Tata Steel has pursued and nurtured the local tribals and provided them with facilities and training to bring them up to international competition standards in archery. Its students have attributed a lot of fame to the institute by bringing in many medals in National and International competitions.
Tata Steel Adventure Foundation – Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest, is the director of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation.
Jamshedpur has two golf courses—the Beldih Golf Course and the Golmuri Golf Course. Both these courses are at the heart of the city. The biggest is the Beldih Golf Course which is around 6,000 yards. The Golmuri Golf Course although smaller is also challenging. They together hold the annual Tata Open Golf Tournament which is an event held under the support of the Professional Golf Tour of India. The tournament was started in 2002. Jamshedpur also has the Jamshedpur Gliding Club and the Jamshedpur Co-operative Flying club.

Media

Jamshedpur, have influence on Hindi, Bengali and Bhojpuri cinema. A lot of films got shot and based in the city and it is also called "Mini Mumbai" because of a great cinema culture and producing many film and television artists.
Ritwik Ghatak's Subarnarekha, a 1962 Bengali film and Satyakam, a 1969 Hindi film starring Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore were shot in Ghatsila area. Years after, film Udaan was shot and based in the city which also got screened in Cannes Film Festival. Bubble Gum film was based in the city and portions of was also shot in steel city. Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Bengali film, Urojohaj was also shot in outskirts of city.
Upcoming film, Dil Bechara starring Sushant Singh Rajput and John Abraham's directorial Banana was also shot in the city.

Print media

, English, Santali and Bengali newspapers are published from the city, including Dainik Jagran, Khobor kagoj The Telegraph, Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan Dainik, The Times of India, Prabhat Khabar, The Pioneer and The Avenue Mail. Jamshedpur Research Review

Notable people