Gandey block
Gandey block is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Giridih Sadar subdivision of the Giridih district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Overview. Giridih is a plateau region. The western portion of the district is part of a larger central plateau. The rest of the district is a lower plateau, a flat table land with an elevation of about 1,300 feet. At the edges, the ghats drop to about 700 feet. The Pareshnath Hills or Shikharji rises to a height of 4,480 feet in the south-eastern part of the district . The district is thickly forested. Amongst the natural resources, it has coal and mica. Inaugurating the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in 2016, Raghubar Das, Chief Minister of Jharkhand, had indicated that there were 23 lakh BPL families in Jharkhand. There was a plan to bring the BPL proportion in the total population down to 35%. Maoist activities. Jharkhand is one of the states affected by Maoist activities. , Giridih was one of the 14 highly affected districts in the state., Giridih was identified as one of the 13 focus areas by the state police to check Maoist activities. In 2017, the  Moists, in Giridih district, have torched more than 50 vehicles engaged in road construction or carrying goods. Geography. Gandey is located at . Gandey CD block is bounded by Bengabad CD block on the north, Margomunda CD block in Deoghar district and Narayanpur CD block in Jamtara district, on the east, Tundi CD block, in Dhanbad district, across the Barakar River, on the south and Giridih CD block on the west. Gandey CD block has an area of 393.2 km. It has 26 gram panchayats, 266 inhabited villages. Gandey, Ahilyapur and Taratanr police stations serve this block. Headquarters of this CD  block is at Gandey. 29.45% of the area has forest cover. Rivers in Gandey CD block are Usri, Pichri, Barki and Jaithi. Gram panchayats in Gandey CD block are: Badkitand, Jharghatta, Dasdih, Barmasiya 1, Fuljori, Ghatkul, Mednisare, Gandey, Udaypur, Champapur, Dokidih, Karribank, Barmasiya 2, Fulchi, Pandri, Taratand, Kunselwadah, Badkunda, Parwatpur, Ahiliyapur, Budhudih, Jamjori, Rasanjori, Gajkunda, Fuljhariya and Banki Kala. Demographics. Population. According to the 2011 Census of India, Gandey CD block had a total population of 175,087, all of which were rural. There were 90,407 (52%) males and 84,640 (48%) females. Population in the age range 0–6 years was 37,094 . Scheduled Castes numbered 14,020 (8.01%) and Scheduled Tribes numbered 41,591 (23.75%). Literacy. census the total number of literate persons in Gandey CD block was 77,685 (56.30% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 49,994 (69.90% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 27,691 (41.66% of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 28.24%. See also – List of Jharkhand districts ranked by literacy rate Language and religion. In 2001, Khortha was the mother-tongue of 988,198 persons in Giridih district, forming 51.89% of  the population, followed by Hindi with 392,263 persons (20.60%), Urdu with 309,960 persons (11.24%) and others with 309,960 persons (16.28%) with no information. Hindi is the official language in Jharkhand and Urdu has been declared as an additional official language. In 2011, Hindus numbered 1,856,202, forming 75.90% of the population of Giridih district followed by Muslims with 508,586 persons (20.80%), Christians with 14,645 persons (0.60%) and other religions/ religion not stated with 66,041 (2.70%). Rural poverty. 40-50% of the population of Giridih district were in the BPL category in 2004–2005, being in the same category as Godda, Koderma and  Hazaribagh districts. Rural poverty in Jharkhand declined from 66% in 1993–94 to 46% in 2004–05. In 2011, it has come down to 39.1%. Economy. Livelihood. In Gandey CD block in 2011, amongst the class of total workers, cultivators numbered 17,656 and formed 24.96%, agricultural labourers numbered 37,447 and formed 52.93%, household industry workers numbered 1,955 and formed 2.76% and other workers numbered 13,684 and formed 19.34%. Total workers numbered 70,742 and formed 40.40% of the total population, and non-workers numbered 104,345 and formed 59.60% of the population. Infrastructure. There are 266 inhabited villages in Gandey CD block. In 2011 , 143 villages had power supply. 1 village had tap water (treated/ untreated), 260 villages had well water (covered/ uncovered), 260 villages had hand pumps, and all villages had drinking water facility. 25 villages had post offices, 8 villages had a sub post office, 17 villages had telephones (land lines) and 179 villages had mobile phone coverage. 263 villages had pucca (paved) village roads, 47 villages had bus service (public/ private), 22 villages had autos/ modified autos, and 57 villages had tractors. 23 villages had bank branches, 11 villages had agricultural credit societies, 2 villages had cinema/ video halls, 7 villages  had public library and public reading room. 77 villages had public distribution system, 29 villages had weekly haat (market) and 108 villages had assembly polling stations. Agriculture. Hills occupy a large portion of Giridih district. The soil is generally rocky and sandy and that helps jungles and bushes to grow. The forest area, forming a large portion of total area, in the district is evenly distributed all over. Some areas near the rivers have alluvial soil. In Gandey CD block, the percentage of cultivable area to total area is 23.87%. The percentage of cultivable area to the total area for  the district, as a whole, is 27.04%. Irrigation is inadequate. The percentage of irrigated area to cultivable area in Gandey CD block is 13.35%. May to October is the Kharif season, followed by the Rabi season. Rice, sown in 50% of the gross sown area, is the main crop in the district. Other important crops grown are: maize, wheat, sugar cane, pulses and vegetables. Backward Regions Grant Fund. Giridih district is listed as a backward region and receives financial support from the Backward Regions Grant Fund. The fund created by the Government of India is designed to redress regional imbalances  in development. As of 2012, 272 districts across the country were listed under this scheme. The list includes 21 districts of Jharkhand. Education. Gande CD block had 105 villages with pre-primary schools, 215 villages with primary schools, 78 villages with middle schools, 7 villages with secondary schools, 2 villages with senior secondary schools, 47 villages with no educational facility. Healthcare. Gande CD block had 1 village with community health centre, 2 villages with primary health centres, 7 villages with primary health subcentres, 2 villages with allopathic hospitals, 5 villages with veterinary hospitals, 1 village with family welfare centre, 12  villages with medicine shops.