Jharkhand in Sports

Jharkhand is a sports-loving state and consequently, the land has produced a number of eminent sports persons. Jaypal Singh, who was the captain of the Indian Olympic Hockey Team in the year 1928, hailed from Jharkhand. This team had won the first Olympic gold medal for hockey. Jharkhand is the home for a number of hockey players like the Silveneus Dung Dung, Michael Kindo, Manohar Tapno and Vimal Lakra (a member of the hockey team which won the recently held Asia Cup in Chennai).

In the recent times, the wicketkeeper-batsman M.S. Dhoni has become the most famous sports person of Jharkhand. Owing to the massive craze of cricket in India, Dhoni has emerged as the most popular face of Jharkhand in the recent times. This flamboyant stroke player was also been bestowed with the captaincy in the first 20-20 World Cup, where he led India to the cup.

A culture of sports still exists in Jharkhand. The different sports schemes are formulated by the state government, by preparing a balanced mixture of traditions as well as the modern developments. Football, cricket and hockey are some of the favourite sports of Jharkhand. Jharkhand has also been selected for hosting the 34th National Games.

The rural sports program of Jharkhand is also one of the state's annual features. This has given an impetus to the sports of Jharkhand. This program includes events such as weight lifting, athletics, archery, football, khoko, kabaddi, wrestling, hockey and the tug of war. These events are played from the block level to the state level, which are very beneficial in identifying the talents of the rural sports. Based on these competitions, a state level team is constituted, that represents the state in the National Rural Games competition.

Recently, the Jharkhand cabinet has announced two percent reservation for sportspersons in the state government jobs, which is expected to give a fillip to the existing sports culture in Jharkhand. Besides that, the state government has also decided to make sports a compulsory part of the curriculam in the schools, and soon sports syllabus will be introduced in Jharkhand's secondary and higher secondary schools.

Jute Farming in Jharkhand

Farmers of Jharkhand's Sahibganj district are now shifting to jute cultivation because of favourable climatic conditions and a growing demand for jute products.

Mostly used for making bags and other sundry items, jute is also in demand in the carpet industry due to its fine quality.

Farmers said the government should take steps to establish a factory in the vicinity so that the demand for raw products goes up.

"We do not get customers to sell the jute. If we have some company here we would have got some good money and it would be of great help," said Iftikhar Alam, a jute farmer.

Farmers sell raw jute in Kolkata.

Kiran Meri Kander, an agriculture scientist at the Farm Science Center at Sahibganj, said that two districts of Jharkhand, Pakur and Sahibganj had favourable climatic conditions to grow jute in raw form.

"For jute mainly warm and humid climate is required and temperature should be 24 to 35 degree centigrade. It will grow well at the optimum temperature of 34 degree centigrade," said Kander.

Raw jute production in India stood at 10.49 million bales in 2009/10 against 10.25 million bales in the previous year.

West Bengal accounts for over 60 percent of the country's total jute output, while the rest is produced in Orissa and the northeastern states.