Jharkhand GK: Formation, Minerals and Culture

The correct answer is C, 15 November 2000. Jharkhand was created on that day under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, becoming the twenty-eighth state of India, and the date was chosen because it is the birth anniversary of the tribal leader Birsa Munda, now observed nationally as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas. Option A is wrong because 1 November 2000 is the formation day of Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh. Option B is wrong because 9 November 2000 is the formation day of Uttarakhand, then called Uttaranchal, carved out of Uttar Pradesh. Option D is wrong because 2 October is Gandhi Jayanti and has no connection with the reorganisation. The three new states of that year are almost always asked together, so hold the order as Chhattisgarh first, Uttarakhand second and Jharkhand third.

The correct answer is B, Bihar. The southern, largely tribal plateau districts of Bihar were separated to form Jharkhand under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, after a demand that had been pressed since the days of the Chhotanagpur Unnati Samaj and the Adivasi Mahasabha led by Jaipal Singh Munda. Option A is wrong because Odisha lies to the south of Jharkhand and lost no territory to it. Option C is wrong because West Bengal borders Jharkhand on the east but was not divided. Option D is wrong because Madhya Pradesh was the parent state of Chhattisgarh, not of Jharkhand, and this is the most frequently chosen wrong answer. The word Jharkhand itself means the land of forests, a name used for this plateau country long before the state existed.

The correct answer is C, Dumka. Ranchi is the capital of Jharkhand and the seat of its High Court, while Dumka, the headquarters of the Santhal Pargana division in the east of the state, was named the sub-capital so that administration would not be concentrated entirely in one city. Option A is wrong because Jamshedpur is the largest city and the industrial centre of the state, built around the Tata iron and steel works, but it holds no capital status. Option B is wrong because Dhanbad is the coal city, sitting on the Jharia coalfield, again without capital status. Option D is wrong because Hazaribagh is known for its wildlife sanctuary and for Sohrai and Khovar painting. The pairing to carry is Ranchi as capital, Dumka as sub-capital and Jamshedpur as the largest city.

The correct answer is B, Parasnath Hill. Standing in the Giridih district on the Chhotanagpur plateau, Parasnath is the highest point in Jharkhand and is revered by Jains as Sammed Shikhar, the place where a number of their Tirthankaras are believed to have attained liberation, which makes it one of the most important Jain pilgrimage sites in India. Option A is wrong because Netarhat in Latehar district is called the Queen of Chhotanagpur and is famous for its sunrise and sunset points, but it is not the highest. Option C is wrong because Dalma Hill near Jamshedpur gives its name to a wildlife sanctuary. Option D is wrong because Trikut Hill near Deoghar is a pilgrimage spot of modest height. Papers often combine the highest point with the faith it is sacred to, so learn the two together.

The correct answer is A, Ulgulan. The word means the great tumult, and it is the name given to the movement Birsa Munda led in the Chhotanagpur region in 1899 and 1900 against landlords, moneylenders, missionaries and the colonial administration, demanding the restoration of tribal land rights; Birsa died in Ranchi jail in June 1900, and the agitation contributed to the passing of the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act in 1908. Option B is wrong because Hul is the name of the Santhal rebellion of 1855 and 1856. Option C is wrong because Fituri refers to tribal risings in the Andhra region. Option D is wrong because the Kol Uprising of 1831 and 1832, led by figures such as Buddhu Bhagat, came earlier and involved the Kol tribes. Keep Hul with the Santhals and Ulgulan with the Mundas.

The correct answer is B, Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu. The Santhal Hul of 1855 and 1856 was raised in the Santhal Pargana region against revenue officials, moneylenders and the police, and was led by Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu along with their brothers Chand and Bhairav; its suppression led the colonial government to create a separately administered Santhal Pargana. Option A is wrong because Buddhu Bhagat was a leader of the Kol Uprising of 1831 and 1832 and Jatra Oraon began the Tana Bhagat movement in 1914. Option C is wrong because Tilka Manjhi led an earlier rising in the Bhagalpur region and Birsa Munda belongs to 1899 and 1900. Option D is wrong because Jaipal Singh Munda and later leaders belong to the political movement for a separate state, not to a nineteenth century rebellion.

The correct answer is A, Latehar. Betla National Park lies in the Latehar district on the Chhotanagpur plateau and forms the core of the Palamu Tiger Reserve, which was among the first group of tiger reserves notified when Project Tiger was launched in 1973 and is often cited as the place where an early census of tigers by pugmark counting was attempted. Option B is wrong because Giridih is the district of Parasnath Hill. Option C is wrong because Dumka is the sub-capital and headquarters of Santhal Pargana. Option D is wrong because Bokaro is known for its steel plant and for the Bokaro thermal power station. The state's other protected areas, the Hazaribagh and Dalma wildlife sanctuaries, are asked in the same group, so keep the district with each name.

The correct answer is B, 1948. The Damodar Valley Corporation was created by an Act of Parliament in 1948 as independent India's first multipurpose river valley project, built on the American Tennessee Valley Authority model to control the floods of the Damodar, generate power and supply water across what is now Jharkhand and West Bengal; its dams include Maithon and Panchet on the Barakar and Damodar, and Tilaiya and Konar. Option A is wrong because 1938 precedes independence and the Act. Option C is wrong because 1956 is the year of the States Reorganisation Act, a date candidates transfer here by mistake. Option D is wrong because 1964 is associated with the agreement for the Bokaro Steel Plant, built with Soviet assistance. The Damodar was long called the sorrow of Bengal for its floods.

The correct answer is B, the sal tree. Sarhul marks the new year for many tribal communities of the Chhotanagpur plateau and is celebrated when the sal tree comes into flower in spring; the village priest offers the first sal blossoms, and only after the festival may the new flowers and fruit of the season be used. Option A is wrong because the banyan, though sacred in much of India, is not the tree of Sarhul. Option C is wrong because the mahua is economically important in the region for its flowers and oil but belongs to other observances. Option D is wrong because the peepal has its own place in worship elsewhere. Sal is also the state tree of Jharkhand, which is why this pair is asked twice over, once as a festival and once as a state symbol.

The correct answer is B, Jharkhand. Seraikela, in the Seraikela Kharsawan district, gives its name to one of the three recognised styles of Chhau, a masked dance drama inscribed on the UNESCO list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2010; the other two styles are Mayurbhanj in Odisha, which is danced without masks, and Purulia in West Bengal. Option A is wrong because Odisha hosts the Mayurbhanj style, not Seraikela. Option C is wrong because West Bengal hosts the Purulia style. Option D is wrong because Chhattisgarh has its own folk forms such as Panthi and Raut Nacha but no Chhau style. Jharkhand's other performing traditions, Paika, Jhumar, Domkach and Karma, are asked alongside Chhau. A further point worth carrying is that Chhau grew out of martial exercise and is danced chiefly around the spring Chaitra Parva festival, which is why its vocabulary of steps still resembles mock combat; the Seraikela style is also noted for the delicacy of its masks, which are made locally.

The correct answer is A, East Singhbhum. The Jaduguda mine in the Singhbhum belt began operating in the late nineteen sixties and is India's first and best known uranium mine, worked by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited, whose headquarters is also in the district; the same belt holds the copper mines around Ghatsila and Mosaboni. Option B is wrong because Koderma is the centre of the mica belt and is called the mica capital of India. Option C is wrong because Palamu is known for its tiger reserve and for its old forts. Option D is wrong because Sahebganj lies in the Santhal Pargana on the Ganga and is known for stone quarrying. Jharkhand's mineral questions almost always ask the district, so pair uranium with East Singhbhum, mica with Koderma and coal with Dhanbad.

The correct answer is C, Madhya Pradesh. Jharkhand is bounded by Bihar to the north, West Bengal to the east, Odisha to the south, Chhattisgarh to the west and Uttar Pradesh to the north-west, so it touches five states, and Madhya Pradesh is not among them. Option A is wrong as a choice because Chhattisgarh does border Jharkhand on the west. Option B is wrong because Odisha borders it on the south. Option D is wrong because West Bengal borders it on the east. The confusion arises because Madhya Pradesh was the parent state of Chhattisgarh, and candidates who remember that the two new states of 2000 came from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar sometimes assume a shared boundary. Count the five neighbours clockwise from Bihar to fix them.