Bokaro district

Bokaro district
बोकारो जिला

Location of Bokaro district in Jharkhand
State Jharkhand, India
Administrative division North Chotanagpur division
Headquarters Bokaro Steel City
Area 2,861 km2 (1,105 sq mi)
Population 20,61,918 (2011)
Population density 716 /km2 (1,850 /sq mi)
Literacy 62.98%[1]
Sex ratio 894
Tehsils 8
Lok Sabha Constituencies 1. Dhanbad (shared with Dhanbad district), 2. Giridih (shared with Giridih district)
Assembly Seats 4
Average annual precipitation Min-157 cms/max-195cms mm
Official website

Bokaro district (Hindi: बोकारो जिला) is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India. It was established in 1991 by carving out one subdivision consisting of two blocks from Dhanbad District and six blocks from Giridih District. Bokaro Steel City is the district headquarters. The district has a population of about 2 million (2011 census). Bokaro District is one of the most industrialised zone in India. Bokaro Steel City is also the Police HQ of Chhotanagpur Division. The district is currently a part of the Red Corridor.[2]

Contents

Geography

Bokaro district covers a geographical area of 2861 km². The average altitude of the land is 210 metres from mean sea level.

The district has a maze of valleys and sub-valleys formed by the River Damodar and its tributaries. They form an important source of water for the industries and townships which have sprung up on its banks in the last few decades. Some hills and hillocks rise above the gentle valley making it a panoramic landscape to view.

The population is drawn from all parts of India. The population is well educated and urbane. The population was 1,777,662 in 2001 census, growing to 2,061,918 in 2011.[3]

Economy

Bokaro district has a large steel plant, Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), controlled by the Steel Authority of India Limited; and several other medium and small industries. The district has already emerged prominently on the industrial map of India. Apart from the existing Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), the district has Electrosteel Castings Limited (EIL) in Chandankiyari(15 km from the City) which is expected to commence production soon. Bokaro Power Supply Corporation Private Limited, a joint venture of Damodar Valley Corporation and BSL, will be coming up with a 450 MW power plant. The primary economy is supplemented by BIADA (Bokaro Industrial Area Development Authority) governing three districts, namely, Bokaro, Dhanbad, and Giridih - which is an industrial area supplying most of the industrial supplies for the for large, medium and small companies, and there are some small mills making finished products out of steel as well as cement from the slag.

Apart from these units Bokaro also has large Thermal Power Plants- Bokaro Thermal(BTPS), Tenughat Thermal(TTPS), Chandrapura Thermal(CTPS) and New one SAIL-DVC Thermal.

Gumia is famous for its biggest explosive plant in India.

In 2006 the Indian government named Bokaro one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).[4] It is one of the 21 districts in Jharkhand currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).[4]

Upcoming projects

Bokaro Steel Plant Modernisation and extend its capacity from 4.5 MT to 7.5 MT before 2011. In the same way, further plan for SAIL to extend BSL capacity to 17 MT before 2020. Apart from this a SAIL Greenfield steel plant is planned to set up before 2015, capacity of 5 MT. So before 2020 BSL total capacity goes up to 22 MT, appx. double the present capacity (13 MT) of SAIL all Steel Plants.

ArcelorMittal Steel giant ArcelorMittal is looking to set up a 12 million tonne greenfield plant in Bokaro. The company is now looking for 8,000 acres (32 km2) of land but primarily take 2,500-acre (10 km2) of land at Petarwar/Kasmar (in Bokaro district) just 20 km from City, nearby on NH-23. The Company has been allocated 32-35 million cubic meter (mcm) of water to be drawn from the Tenughat dam. In Another move ArcelorMittal also taking an initiative to utilise the spare land of SAIL by establishing a new steel plant of 3-4 ml/ton capacity of 50:50 JV with PSU in BSL premises itself by the investment of $2.7 billion. Tata Steel[8]- NDTV learnt from sources that Tata Steel wants to set up a steel plant with a capacity of 2-3 million tonnes at an investment of up to Rs. 14,000 crore in Bokaro along with SAIL. The jointly owned plant is proposed to come up on a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) plot of land that belongs to SAIL.

Reliance Steel Plant Billionaire Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Infrastructure has identified three potential sites in Jharkhand for setting up the Rs 40,000-crore, 12 million tonne integrated greenfield steel project in which most appropriate and final location is Bokaro(On NH-32, Near Damodar Bridge).

SAIL-POSCO JV Steel Plant steel minister Virbhadra Singh last month announced another new steel plant for Bokaro as part of a joint venture with Posco and SAIL by using FINEX technologies for high quality steel. The Capacity of Steel plant will be 1.5 mt, establish in BSP peripheri of 500 acres (2.0 km2).

Bhushan Steel has also acquired land for its steel plant, capacity of 3MT/annum.

Electrosteel Castings Limited A European steel major has acquired 2,500 acres (10 km2) of land 18 km from the city and is setting up 3.5 MTPA steel plant in there. They have invested close to Rs 80 Bn on this project which is expected to be operational in FY 2010-11.

SAIL and Jaypee Group[13] has a JV of 50:50 to set up a Cement Factory of capacity 2.1 MT by waste product of steel plant. DVC and SAIL[14] has a joint venture of 50:50 to extend the capacity of Bokaro power plant from 500 MW to 1000 MW. ONGC[15] has started exploring Methane Gas for Commercial use from Parbhatpur (10 km from Bokaro).

SEZ : Jharkhand government's second SEZ after Jamshedpur is planned to set up in BIADA in 500 acres (2.0 km2) land. Software Technology Park[16]- Buoyed by the success of the software technology park (STPI) in the state capital, the government is planning to set up two more STPIs — one in Jamshedpur and the other in Bokaro. The Bokaro Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) to make land available for the projects. It has suggested availability of land in the Balidih industrial area, where the ancillary units of Bokaro steel plant are housed.

Being an industrial area, agriculture has taken a back seat and is nothing worth mentioning except small amounts of paddy grown in the fringes of the city by the villagers.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Bokaro district has a population of 2,061,918,[5] roughly equal to the nation of Botswana[6] or the US state of New Mexico.[7] This gives it a ranking of 222nd in India (out of a total of 640).[5] The district has a population density of 716 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,850 /sq mi) .[5] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 15.99 %.[5] Bokaro has a sex ratio of 916 females for every 1000 males,[5] and a literacy rate of 73.48 %.[5]

Education

Besides the steel plant, Bokaro is also known for what the students from the city have achieved over the years. Presently, students from all over the state of Jharkhand, as also from other places, come to the city to make a difference to their professional lives. The city has provided myriads IITians, Doctors, and civil servants (IAS, IPS, IFS officers) to the country.

The city has a number of schools affiliated to the central and state education boards.

Some Reputed Schools -

Colleges & Institutes -

Bokaro is the education hub for IIT-JEE, AIEEE and AIPMT aspirants in Jharkhand.

The city has many technical institutes providing training in the field of Software, Hardware & Multimedia. There are many small institutes providing coaching to those preparing for competitive examinations and also teaching how to speak English. Most of these institutes are located in and around the City Centre, which is at the heart of Bokaro.

The students from the city schools are well known to excel in numerous public competitive examinations specially in engineering and medical streams. The wave of success was started by Prasoon Kumar Jha who topped [Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination(IIT JEE)] in 1993. The following year 1994 saw Neeraj Sinha topping several national level medical college entrance examinations. The above mentioned students had graduated from Delhi Public School at Bokaro Steel City. Subsequent years have continued to witness students from the city excelling in all major entrance examinations of the country. In 2011, Anshul Kumar Rai (again a student of DPS, Bokaro) achieved an All India Rank of 64 in the IIT JEE.

Bokaro is a dream destination for IIT JEE and CBSE Medical Aspirants as the education here is quite focused towards competitive exams. The district also boasts of very large expatriate population in US, UAE, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

References

  1. ^ "District-specific Literates and Literacy Rates, 2001". Registrar General, India, Ministry of Home Affairs. http://www.educationforallinindia.com/page157.html. Retrieved 2010-10-10. 
  2. ^ "83 districts under the Security Related Expenditure Scheme". IntelliBriefs. 2009-12-11. http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2009/12/naxal-menace-83-districts-under.html. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
  3. ^ http://www.census2011.co.in/census/district/93-bokaro.html
  4. ^ a b Ministry of Panchayati Raj (September 8, 2009). "A Note on the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme". National Institute of Rural Development. http://www.nird.org.in/brgf/doc/brgf_BackgroundNote.pdf. Retrieved September 27, 2011. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f "District Census 2011". Census2011.co.in. 2011. http://www.census2011.co.in/district.php. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
  6. ^ US Directorate of Intelligence. "Country Comparison:Population". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html. Retrieved 2011-10-01. "Botswana 2,065,398" 
  7. ^ "2010 Resident Population Data". U. S. Census Bureau. http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php. Retrieved 2011-09-30. "New Mexico - 2,059,179" 

External links