About

The state of Jharkhand was created on 15th November, 2000, after the passage of Bihar Reorganisation Bill in 1999. Initially, it was named 'Vanachal' but later was renamed as Jharkhand. With the passage of this bill the state was formed by combining the Chota Nagpur Division and Santhal Pargana Division of South Bihar.

Jharkhand means 'the land of the forests', i.e. 'jhar' means 'forest' and 'khand' means 'land'. The capital of the state is Ranchi and the sub-capital is Dumka. The official language is Hindi. It is the 15th largest state by area and 14th largest state by population in India. Birsa Munda, a tribal freedom fighter and folk hero belonged to this state.

The history of the region dates back to Mesolithic-Chalcolithic period. Several cave paintings and stone tools have been discovered to substantiate the historicity of the state. The regions has been ruled by many prominent empires like Nanda, Maurya and Gupta. In Mahabharata period the region was referred as 'Kark Khand' due to its proximity to the Tropic of Cancer.

Jharkhand shares its borders with West Bengal in the east, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh in the west, Bihar in the North and Odisha in the South.

The state was formed with 18 districts and later reorganized to form 6 new districts. So, presently the state has 5 Divisions and 24 Districts. Interestingly, all the districts, except Lohardaga and Khunti share a border with a neighbouring state.

The public library management is mixed. The Mahant Sarveshwardas Library is being run Directorate of Culture and Archaeology, Government of Jharkahnd. The district libraries are established and managed by Department of Secondary Education, Government of Jharkhand through District Education Officers (DEOs).

At Present there are 22 public libraries established by the Government in Jharkhand. There are 4 State Public Libraries at Ranchi, Chaibasa, Dhanbad & Dumka; one Divisional Libraries at Hazaribagh; 6 District Libraries at Gumla, Lohardaga, Daltonganj, Giridih, Godda & Bokaro; 11 Sub divisional Libraries at Garhwa, Latehar, Pakur, Simdega, Chatra, Sahebganj, Saraikela, West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum, Jamtara & Khunti.