Profile of Chatra District





Chatra district was a subdivision of Hazaribagh district and was created as districts vide notification no. 128 dated 29-05-1991 Personnel and Administrative Reforms Dept., Govt. of Bihar. The district comprises of one subdivision, ten development Blocks/Anchals, 125 Panchayats and 1479 Revenue Villages. There is only one municipality - that is at the district head quarters of Chatra. There are 9 thanas (Police Station) in Chatra District. Chatra is passing through a very serious phase of extremists' violence by the banned naxal outfit called the M.C.C. (Maoist Communist Centre). How ever in the recent past the Chatra Police have been quiet successful in stemming the red tide of the naxal wave. The Chatra Police has made a number of important arrests of naxalite personnel as well as seized a number of arms and ammunition along with lethal explosive materials and devices. The success of the Chatra Police against the naxal outfits has to a large extent led to the limiting of naxal violence.
A full-fledged judgeship has started functioning from 16th of June 2001. Under District and Session Judge, assisted by Additional District Judge, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Judicial Magistrates and Munsiff Magistrate. The District also has a functioning District Consumer Forum. The forest portion comprises of 4 territorial divisions (North, South Chatra, Koderma, Hazaribagh West) one afforestation division and 2 state trading divisions. The forest of Chatra is full of variety of medicinal plants, Kendu leaves, Bamboo, Sal, Teak, other timber species and a wide range of carnivorous & herbivorous wild animals. The district has one wild life sanctuary also known as the Lawalong Wild Life Sanctuary, which hosts even tigers. The sanctuary was established vide Bihar Govt notification no. 49/ 48/333 - F, dated 15/07/1978. 82 villages are located within the sanctuary area of which 21 villages are in the core area and 61 villages are situated in the buffer zone. The area of the sanctuary is 26, 886.23 hectares. In the sanctuary the principal animals that are found are Tigers, Leopards, Bear, Neelgai, Sambhar, Peacock, Wild Boar and Deer, together with variety of snakes and birds. LOCATION AND AREA The district is situated in the extreme northwest part of the state of Jharkhand. It is bounded on the north by Gaya (Bihar State) district and Hazaribagh district and on the east by Hazaribagh district, on the south by Palamu and Ranchi district and on the west by Gaya (Bihar State) and Palamu district. This district has come into being in the year 1991, as previously it was part of Hazaribagh district. The district headquarters is located at Chatra

Headquarters	Chatra	Units			Units
Total Area	3706	sq. Kms.	Forest Area	2161.14	sq. Kms.
Net Irrigation Area	772.40	sq. Kms.
Total Population	790.680*	'000	Total Literates	273.17	'000
Total Male	402.565*	'000	Total Female	388.11	'000
Urban Population	41.99*	'000	Rural Population	748.69	'000
Rural Population - Male	380.2*	'000	Rural Population Female	368.47	'000
Urban Population - Male	22.3*	'000	Urban Population - Female	19.66	'000
Total SC Population	256.45*	'000	Total ST Population	29.60	'000
Total Male Literacy	179.08*	'000	Total Female Literacy	94.08	'000
Rural Literates	245.76*	'000	Urban Literates	27.41	'000
Rural Literates - Male	163.13*	'000	Rural Literates - Female	82.62	'000
Urban Literates - Male	15.95*	'000	Urban Literates - Female	11.46	'000
Rural Male Literacy %	44.54*		Rural Female Literacy %	22.82
Urban Male Literacy %	71.43*		Urban Female Literacy %	58.29
Literacy Rate %	34.55*		Educational.Block	06
Sub-division	01		C.D.-BLOCK	10
Total no of villages	1479		Tot No. of Village without habitat	160
*Census 2001