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.

Jharkhand Politics

Jharkhand politics has been at the middle of interest right from early days of the state's creation, following its breakaway form Bihar in 2000. Politics in Jharkhand has an elderly history. It's been the site of plenty of tribal revolutions right from the British days and it was a similar kind of insurgence that led to the creation of the independent state of Jharkhand. However, modern day Jharkhand politics feature an electoral technique, divided between the assembly and parliamentary constituencies of the state, where plenty of political parties compete for power. In fact, Jharkhand politics feature a lot of political parties virtually unmatched by any other state in India.
Jharkhand Constituencies
Jharkhand has 14 parliamentary constituencies and as plenty of as 81 assembly constituencies, distributed over the 12 districts of the state. The winners from the parliamentary constituencies go on to represent the state in the lower house of India's bicameral legislative structure and the winners form the assembly constituencies and become member of the state legislative assembly. The 2005 assembly elections saw a wing by the BJP led NDA coalition, defeating the UPA coalition, led by the INC. The result was seen to be consistent with the results of the 2004 general elections in India. The results of the general elections in Jharkhand were not concurrent with the giant scale anti-incumbency felt across India that brought the UPA to power. The success was accorded to a large degree of popularity of the JMM, the state party in the politics of Jharkhand.
Political Parties in Jharkhand
Jharkand elections see the participation of plenty of national, state and registered political parties. all national level parties take interest in Jharkhand politics. Indian National Congress (INC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) are a number of the most prominent presence of national parties in Jharkhand politics. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) is the largest of the state level political parties. Plenty of of the regional parties, which are registered but with maximum political impact as of now, also take a keen interest in the politics at Jharkhand.

About Jharkhand's Art & Culture

The cultural mosaic of Jharkhand was dreamt about, formed & polished by generations of communities, which have inhabited this land since time immemorial.

From the legendary Asurs & Santhals, to the Banjara, Bihor, Chero, Gond, Ho, Khond, Lohra, Mai Pahariya, Munda, Oraon, Kol or Kawar-over thirty-two tribal groups (28 % of the total population of the state), have left their impression on the culture of the region. & with them, were the cross-cultural influences of local non-tribal communities & successive waves of Buddhism & Jainism, Mughal rule & the reign of the Hindu emperors of Bengal.
Art historians ascribe the 'oldest cave paintings' in India, the "scroll paintings" to a Jharkhand tribe known as the Shabars, who today live on the fringe of extinction. It is an established fact that Stone Age tools discovered in Hazaribagh district & axes & spearheads present in the Chaibasa area, are remnants of a civilization dating back a few thousand years. 10,000 to 30,000 years elderly rock paintings, paintings in gigantic caves in the Sati hills & other indicators of ancient, even pre-historic, human settlements are present in profusion.