Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur (Hindi: [dʒəmˈʃeːdpʊr] ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the largest city in the state of Jharkhand. In terms of economy Jamshedpur has second largest economy in Jharkhand after Dhanbad. Jamshedpur stands as the third largest metropolitan area in the region. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits, the wider metropolitan area is home to around 1.3 million people. Located on the confluence of Swarnarekha and Kharkai rivers, Jamshedpur is surrounded by picturesque promenade Dalma Hills.
The modern city of Jamshedpur was established in 1912. It was named after industrialist Jamshedji Tata, who laid foundation of Asia's first steel plant in the city and established Tata Group. The city played active role in the World War I. It was a high value target during the Second World War. Following the independence of India, the city became part of Bihar. Jamshedpur was impacted severely by the communal riots in 1964 and 1979. It was also a centre of the statehood movement. In 2000, the city became part of newly-formed Jharkhand state.
A major commercial and industrial center in India, Jamshedpur is demographically diverse city. It has been ranked consistently as one of the cleanest cities in India by Swach Survekshan. The city is also ranked as 2nd in India in terms of quality of life. It is one of the fastest-growing global cities in the world. It is a local popular tourist destination known for its forests, ancient temples and royal palaces. Jamshedpur is one of the first Smart Cities in India along with Naya Raipur. It is the headquarters of the East Singhbhum district and is the 36th – largest urban agglomeration and 72nd largest city in India by population. Jamshedpur is the only million plus city in India without a municipal corporation.
In 1919 Lord Chelmsford named the city, which was previously a village called Sakchi, Jamshedpur in honour of its founder, Jamshedji Nausserwanji Tata, whose birthday is celebrated on 3 March as Founder's Day. J.N. Tata had written to his son Dorabji Tata about his vision of a great city in the area. On Founders Day, the 225-acre (0.91 km) Jubilee Park is decorated with brilliant lightwork for about a week.
The city has several nicknames including "Steel City" (which was referenced during TATA Steel's "Green City—Clean City—Steel City" campaign); "Tatanagar" after the name of its railway station Tatanagar Railway Station or simply "Tata" in deference to the presence of Tata companies. At one time it was also known as "Kalimati" (meaning "Land of Goddess Kali") after the village near the Sakchi area. Sakchi was merged into Jamshedpur as a neighbourhood in 1919. The only trace of the name is the main road through Sakchi area of Jamshedpur which is named Kalimati Road.
At the end of 19th century, Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata met steel makers in Pittsburgh to get the most advanced technology for his plant. It is said that he got the idea of building a steel plant after hearing Thomas Carlyle declare in a lecture in Manchester that "the nation which gains control of iron soon acquires the control of gold". At the turn of the twentieth century, Jamshetji Tata asked geologist Charles Page Perin to help him find the site to build India's first steel plant. The search for a site rich in iron, coal, limestone and water began in April 1904 in today's Madhya Pradesh.
The prospectors C. M. Weld, Dorabji Tata and Shapurji Saklatvala, took nearly three years in a painstaking search across vast stretches of inhospitable terrain to find a location. One day they came across a village called Sakchi, on the densely forested stretches of the Chota Nagpur plateau, near the confluence of the Subarnarekha and Kharkai rivers. It seemed to be the ideal choice and the place was selected. In 1908 the construction of the plant as well as the city officially began. The first steel ingot was rolled on 16 February 1912. It was a momentous day in the history of industrial India.
The first world war began in August 1914. It rapidly escalated to West Asia centring around the Suez Canal of Egypt and from there to the region of Mesopotamia, now called Iraq. It extended to East Africa, Palestine and rest of the Middle East. Nearly 1,500 miles of rail and 3,00,000 tonnes of steel produced in Jamshedpur were used in military campaigns across Mesopotamia, Egypt, Salonica and East Africa. After the end of the war in 1919, the company received warm acclaim from Britain.
The city's construction continued. Jamshedji's plan for the city was clear. He envisioned far more than a mere row of workers hutments. He insisted upon building all the comforts and conveniences a city could provide. As a result, many areas in the city are well planned and there are public leisure places such as the Jubilee Park and Dimna Lake. While building the city, Jamshedji Tata had said,
Messrs Julin Kennedy Sahlin from Pittsburgh prepared the first layout of the town of Jamshedpur. What the city looks like today is a testament to his visionary plans. In 1919, the industrial neighborhood was merged to form Jamshedpur according to Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the industrial establishment. As a tribute to the company's contribution in the war, on the day of city's official opening, Lord Chelmsford visited and named Jamshedpur, in honor of Jamshedji Tata.
World War II started in 1939 in the European countries and extended to the Middle East and rest of Asia. The city was a high-value target for Japan during the war. The British government sought to protect the city from attacks. Several bomb shelters were set up across the city, while anti-aircraft guns were placed on the outskirts. British and American troops were brought into Jamshedpur. Additional airfields were built at Chakulia and Kalaikunda, surrounded by several underground bunkers. A series of wheeled armoured carriers, known as 'Tatanagars', contributing to the war effort, were manufactured in Jamshedpur. Between 1940 and 1944, a total of 4,655 Tatanagar units were produced at the Railway workshop in Jamshedpur. In 1945, Tata Motors was established as "Tata Engineering & Locomotive", by purchasing the railway workshop.
An event reminiscent of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place near Jamshedpur on 1 January 1948. Over 50,000 people assembled in Kharsawan and protested against the merger of Kharsawan. The Orissa Military Police opened fire on the crowd, resulting in a massacre. Aftermath of the incident, the bodies were disposed of in wells and in the jungle, many injured were left untreated. Official records state 35 deaths, but other sources, like P.K. Deo’s “Memoir of a Bygone Era,” suggest numbers as high as 2,000.
A violent strike occurred in May 1958 by the communist-led union of the Tata Steel. The state government declared it illegal. Within a week, the violence escalated into firing, looting, arson, curfew and movement of federal troops. According to the company, 4 people were killed and 114 people were injured. About 400 people were discharged and 335,000 man-days off work and 45,000 tons of steel production lost before mid-July when the steel plant returned to normal production.
In the mid-1960s, thousands of Hindus escaped anti-Hindu violence in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and sought refuge in India, which caused communal tensions in East India. The theft of a religious relic, believed to be a hair of Prophet Mohammed in Srinagar caused brutal riots in Jamshedpur. This led to a chain of protests, resulting deadly riots where 134 people were killed in Calcutta, Rourkela, and Jamshedpur. However, it is believed that the actual death toll was in the thousands. After the riots, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated groups were finally able to take root in Jamshedpur. Many Muslims living in company quarters were killed, which gave birth to new Muslim neighborhoods in north Jamshedpur.
In April 1979, Jamshedpur experienced a deadly Hindu-Muslim violence influenced by the presence of Hindu and Muslim communal forces. It was the first major riot on the occasion of Ram Navami. 108 people were killed in the riot, among whom 79 Muslims and 25 Hindus were identified. A notable figure among the victims was Zaki Anwar, a popular secularist.
Legend has it that in the late 1980s when the state government proposed a law to end the Tatas' administration of Jamshedpur and bring the city under a municipality, the local populace rose in protest and defeated the government's proposal. In 2005, a similar proposal was once again put up by lobbying politicians. The target audience was the working class. A large majority sided with the government and set up protest meetings outside the East-Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner's office. However, the objective was never achieved and Jamshedpur remains without a municipality.
On 15 November 2000, Jamshedpur became part of new state called Jharkhand. There are wide roads, shady trees on the roadside, Dimna Dam for drinking water supply near the city, 24-hour uninterrupted electricity supply. Apart from this, many national level institutes like Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute, National Institute of Technology, National Metallurgy Laboratory, MGM Medical College, Al Kabir Polytechnic College are operating here. At present, Tata Steel is the country's largest private steel production company producing 11 million tons of steel. Jamshedpur is the only city in the country whose basic facilities are taken care of by a private company.
Jamshedpur is situated at the southern end of the state of Jharkhand and is bordered by the states of Odisha and West Bengal. The average elevation of the city is 135 metres while the range is from 129 m to 151 m. Total geographical area of Jamshedpur is 224 km square. Jamshedpur is primarily located in a hilly region and is surrounded by the Dalma Hills running from west to east and covered with dense forests. The other smaller hill ranges near the city are Ukam Hill and the Jadugoda-musabani hill range. The city is also a part of the larger Chota Nagpur Plateau region. The region is formed of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks belonging to the Dharwarian period.
Jamshedpur is located at the confluence of the Kharkai and Subarnarekha Rivers. Subarnarekha is the principal river of Jamshedpur, which flows from the west to the south-eastern part of the territory. Many small rivers, especially the tributaries, join the Subarnarekha river in this area. The Kharkai flows from the south and joins the Subarnarekha River at a place called Domuhani. The two rivers are the city's major sources of drinking water and groundwater. Several lakes of varying sizes are also located near the city's fringes. The major of them being the Dimna Lake located in between the Dalma range and the Sitarampur reservoir situated beside the Kharkai River. It is also a major tourist spot in the region. Both of them also act as reservoirs for drinking water in the city. The city falls under a deciduous type of forest region and the green cover is estimated to be around 33% of the total land area. The city falls under the Seismic Zone II region. Jamshedpur has many parks around it. Jubilee Park at Sakchi is the largest park in Jamshedpur. It was built by Jamshedji Tata, who was inspired by Vrindavanan Gardens of Mysore.
Jamshedpur has been ranked 13th best "National Clean Air City" (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India.
India's first planned industrial city, Jamshedpur was envisioned by an Indian, planned by an American, named by a British Viceroy and landscaped by a German Botanist. The central region of Jamshedpur includes Sakchi, Bistupur, Baridih and Golmuri. It is the location of important marketplaces and financial districts. Jubilee Park and Tata Steel complex dominates much of central Jamshedpur. Some of the prominent landmarks includes Keenan Stadium, Central Jama Masjid and JRD Tata Sports Complex.
The Western portion of the city has the areas of Adityapur, Gamharia, and Sonari. Sonari is a residential and commercial neighborhood, while Adityapur and Gamharia are the major industrial neighborhoods. Adityapur is also a city and a part of Jamshedpur. Gamharia has an industrial area namely Industrial Area, Gamharia. Adityapur has the Adityapur Industrial Area. There are five national highways crossing the city. Mango Bridge connects the city center to Mango. Marine Drive is a popular road and picturesque promenade in Jamshedpur. It starts from Sonari and connects Adityapur.
Adityapur has the NIT Jamshedpur.The Burma mines colony has the National Metallurgical Laboratory, a government-owned alloy and metals R&D lab. The southern part of Jamshedpur contains Jugsalai, Birsanagar, Kadma, Burmamines, TELCO Colony, Bagbera Colony and Jojobera. Jugsalai is the commercial area which is known for the wholesale market. while Birsanagar, Kadma and Bagbera consists of residential and commercial hubs. Burmamines, TELCO Colony, Bagbera Colony and Jojobera are the other main and major industrial areas of the city. Apart from north, whole areas of Jamshedpur has at least one industrial area. Other tall towers are TCE Building and Voltas House. In Jamshedpur, many hi-rise buildings are under construction now. Now the tallest building will be Ashiana Garden Sunflower Block, which will be built at Adityapur. These tall buildings are mostly on the Central and Western side of the city. Jamshedpur has 10 – 14 floors of buildings.
According to the 2011 census of India, the city of Jamshedpur had a population of 629,659, but the Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration had a population of 1,337,131. The city is designated as a Million Plus Urban Agglomeration as per Government terminology. Males constitute 52.1% of the population and females 47.9%. Jamshedpur has an average literacy rate of 89.41% – higher than the national average of 74%. In Jamshedpur, 11.5% of the population is under six years of age.
Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration includes: Jamshedpur (Industrial Town), Jamshedpur (NAC), Tata Nagar Railway Colony (OG), Mango (NAC), Jugsalai (M), Bagbera (CT), Chhota Gobindpur (CT), Haludbani (CT), Sarjamda (CT), Gadhra (CT), Ghorabandha (CT), Purihasa (CT), Adityapur (M Corp.), Chota Gamahria (CT) and Kapali (CT).
Jamshedpur's transformation from a rural area to a bustling urban center owes much to the establishment of Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited in 1907. Initially, its population remained modest until the 1921 census recorded a remarkable growth rate of 911.3%, attributed largely to immigration. People from various parts of India, notably Bihar, migrated to Jamshedpur in search of employment opportunities in industries and eventually settled in nearby areas. This influx diversified the city's demographics, with significant communities from regions like Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, and Patna contributing to its multicultural character. Moreover, migrants from neighboring cities within Jharkhand, such as Dhanbad, Ranchi, and Bokaro, also flocked to Jamshedpur for job prospects. Alongside local residents, including Muslims and Sikhs, the city also became home to refugees who arrived during the partition of India, residing in designated colonies.
The 1974 Indian smallpox epidemic was partially traced to economic migrants returning from Jamshedpur. With funding from J.R.D. Tata, the World Health Organization quarantined the city's unvaccinated population, successfully limiting further spread.
In Jamshedpur NAC town and outgrowth, six prominent spoken languages, namely Hindi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Odia, Urdu, and Punjabi, collectively cover approximately 85 percent of the total population. Other regional languages such as Magahi, Maithili and Chhattisgarhi are also spoken in the town by migrants from Bihar and Chhattisgarh. There is also a small number of people speaking tribal languages such as Ho and Santali.
Hindus form the majority religion in Jamshedpur while Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians form a significant minority. Muslims forms 6.95% of the population in Jamshedpur proper, but the western suburbs of Mango, Jugsalai and Kopali have significant Muslim populations. There are around 134 mosques in the city. Central Jama Masjid in Sakchi is the largest mosque.
Sikhs forms 4.1% of the city's population. Many Sikhs migrated to Jamshedpur after partition of India and then the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. A refugee colony with dozens of Sikh households is in Golmuri. There are 33 gurudwaras in Jamshedpur. Tribals constitute around 7% of the population, and live in Birsanagar, a very large area covering a major part of Jamshedpur, most of whom are followers of indigenous religions such as Sarna or Christians.
The largest industry in Jamshedpur is that of Tata Steel. It is situated in the centre of the city and occupies approximately 1/5 of the entire city area. It acts as a pivotal center for the industries of the city of Jamshedpur with a large number of them having direct or indirect linkages with it. Tata Motors is the second major industry. It is spread over an area of 822 acres (333 ha) in the eastern side of the city. It manufactures Medium and Heavy commercial vehicles and the main components. The company also has its own township commonly known as Telco.
Nuvoco Vistas Corp. Ltd is a cement plant located in Jojobera, Jamshedpur. It is Asia's largest Cement Grinding Unit.
There is a varied and powerful industrial base in the Adityapur Industrial Area. Jamshedpur is regarded as the industrial capital of Jharkhand.
Jamshedpur has influence on Santali, Hindi, Odia and Bengali films. Many films have been shot and based in the city and it is also sometimes called "Mini Mumbai" because of a great cinema culture and producing many film and television artists. Ritwik Ghatak's Subarnarekha, a 1962 Bengali film and Satyakam, a 1969 Hindi film starring Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore were shot in Ghatsila area. Years after, film Udaan was shot and based in the city which also got screened in Cannes Film Festival. Bubble Gum film was based in the city and portions of M.S.Dhoni: The Untold Story were also shot in Jamshedpur. Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Bengali film, Urojohaj was also shot in outskirts of city. The movie Dil Bechara, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and John Abraham's directorial Banana were also shot in the city. Many entertainers are also from this city such as Priyanka Chopra, R. Madhavan and Imtiaz Ali.
Jamshedpur is a million-plus city with four municipal corporations, Jamshedpur Notified area committee, Jugsalai Municipal corporation, Chakulia and Mango Notified area committee.
The major urban local bodies are:
Important educational institutions in Jamshedpur are:
XLRI, founded in 1949, is the oldest management institute of India; Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, established in 1961; and the engineering college National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, an Institute of National Importance, established as a Regional Institute of Technology on 15 August 1960. The National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), one of the 38 Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories, was inaugurated on 26 November 1950 by Jawaharlal Nehru. Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute (SNTI), established in 1921 as the technical training department of Tata Steel, now develops skilled employees for other companies as well. Its 400,000 volume library is one of the most popular in the city. Many high-level institutions are located in Jamshedpur. Now there is further development to set up more universities and several other educational institutions.
Jamshedpur's private clubs provide opportunities for activities, such as golf, tennis, squash, billiards, horseriding and water scootering. Jamshedpur FC is a professional football club based in Jamshedpur which competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian Football. The club is owned by Tata Steel.
Sporting facilities and academies include:
Jamshedpur has two golf courses—the Beldih Golf Course and the Golmuri Golf Course. Both of these courses are at the heart of the city. The biggest is the Beldih Golf Course which is around 6,000 yards. The Golmuri Golf Course although smaller is also challenging. They together hold the annual Tata Open Golf Tournament which is an event held under the support of the Professional Golf Tour of India. The tournament was started in 2002. Jamshedpur also has the Jamshedpur Gliding Club and the Jamshedpur Co-operative Flying club.
Jamshedpur has various local news broadcast and cable media channels including:
English, Santali, and Bengali newspapers are published from the city, including.
Hindi newspapers
English newspapers
Bengali Newspapers
The Tatanagar Junction on the Chakradharpur railway division of the South Eastern Railway, is the major railhead of Jamshedpur. Other railway stations in the city include Adityapur, Gamharia, Salgajudih, Kandra and Govindpur.
Jamshedpur is connected to other parts of India through national and state highways. The major highways are:
Jamshedpur has a bus station in Mango. This bus station have buses which go to other cities like Bokaro, Dhanbad, Ranchi etc. However, now there is a plan to update and rebuild and renovate this bus stand/station.
Sonari Airport is serving the city at present. It is spread over a 25-acre area in the Sonari area of the city. The airport is primarily used for bringing in chartered planes of the TATA group. In 2022, it was announced that the Sonari Airport will start commercial public flights for Jamshedpur to Bhubaneswar, Ranchi and Kolkata. After efforts from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of Jharkhand and Tata Steel, the airport has been reopened on 31 January 2023, with flight services provided by the new low-cost regional airline, IndiaOne Air, to Kolkata and Bhubaneswar.
Dhalbhumgarh Airport is a proposed public airport located at Dhalbhumgarh, in the state of Jharkhand, India as a greenfield airport for Jamshedpur. It will be built on the site of an abandoned World War II airfield situated 60 km (37 mi) from Jamshedpur on NH-33. The old airfield was built around 1948, as an ancillary runway for other airfields in the vicinity that were being built around India's eastern frontier as part of the war effort.
It was one of the airfields used by Allied forces to repel the advancing Japanese troops and to maintain transport links with China. As the Japanese forces came to control shipping in the China Sea, seaborne supply routes to China were cut and the difficult 500 km (310 mi) route over the Himalayas was increasingly used. The airfield was abandoned after the war. The technical team of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) conducted a survey in 2017 and approved the Dhalbhumgarh site for a greenfield airport. The government plans to invest Rs 300 crore through AAI for the new airport which will have a three-kilometre (1.9 mi) runway. In January 2018, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha announced that the Union Civil Aviation Ministry and the Jharkhand Government would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of Dhalbhumgarh Airport.
Jamshedpur has a number of popular tourist destinations, including: