Dumka

Dumka दुमका
city
Dumka दुमका Show map of Jharkhand Dumka दुमका Show map of India Location in Jharkhand, India
Coordinates: 24°16′N 87°15′E / 24.27°N 87.25°E / 24.27; 87.25Coordinates: 24°16′N 87°15′E / 24.27°N 87.25°E / 24.27; 87.25
Country	India
State	Jharkhand
District	Dumka
Area
• Total	4,404.02 km2 (1,700.40 sq mi)
Elevation	137 m (449 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	47,584
• Density	300/km2 (800/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Hindi
• Other important	Santali, Bengali
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	814101
Telephone code	06434
Vehicle registration	JH 04
Sex ratio	974 ♂/♀
Website	dumka.nic.in

Dumka, headquarters of the Dumka district & Santhal Pargana region, is a City in the state of Jharkhand, India. It was made the headquarters of the Santhal Pargana region, which was carved out of the Bhagalpur and Suri districts after the Santal Hool of 1855. Dumka was carved out of the southern part of Bihar along with 18 other Districts on 15 November 2000 to form Jharkhand as 28th State of India. Dumka a peaceful and green city is also Sub Capital of Jharkhand State.

Etymology

There are two theories on how Dumka got its name. The first one suggests that Dumka's name derives from the Santali word sumk for "shunted" or "small," because during the British Raj, it was a small town compared to Suri and Bhagalpur.

The other is that Dumka derives its name from the Persian word damin-i-koh, which means 'skirts (an edge, border or extreme part) of the hills'. The Mughals assigned this name to the town and its vicinity on account of the presence of hillocks and undulating terrain.

History

• Stone-age: On the basis of tools unearthed the original inhabitants appear to be the Mon-khmers and the Mundas.
• Early History: The earlier inhabitants of the present-day district of whom there is same record, it appears, were the Paharias (for example, the Maler and Sauria Paharias). The Greek traveler Megasthenes identified these people as Mallis. He referred to the Sauria Paharias as savars of Odisha.
• Medieval History: Due to inaccessibility of the area caused by the cliffs of the Rajmahal Hills, it was a place of strategic economic importance, with a fort at Teliagarhi.
• After the 1539 victory of Sher Shah Suri at Chousa, the area fell into the hands of the Afghans, but it was soon lost to the Mughals under Akbar when Hussain Quli Khan was made viceroy of Bengal.
• British Period (Raj): The English representative, Dr. Gabriel Bokgliton, procured a farman from Shah Jahan.
• 1742-1751: The area of Dumka close to Rajmahal witnessed frequent inroads by the Marathas under Raghoji Bhosle and Peshwa Balaji Rao.
• 1745: Raghoji Bhosle entered Rajmahal via the hills and jungles of Santal Pargana. The early stay of the English was spent in subduing the Paharias.
• 1769: Dumka remained a Ghatwali police post under Birbhum District of Bengal.
• 1775: Dumka was transferred to Bhagalpur Division.
• 1865: Dumka was made an independent district after being carved out of Bhagalpur.
• 1872: Dumka was made headquarters of the whole district of Santal Pargana.
• 1889: Paul Olaf Bodding started his service in India (Dumka/Benagaria) after Lars Olsen Skrefsrud, and Bodding created the first alphabet for the Santhals. The NELC-church was created as a Lutheran Church in this area - before the Catholics had established a mission in this area at all.
• 1902: The first municipality was established.

1920: Motor cars and buses were introduced.

• 1952: The Apostolic Prefecture of Malda was erected. In 1962, it was promoted to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dumka.
• 1983: Dumka was made the divisional headquarters of Santhal Pargana.
• 2000: Dumka became the sub-capital of Jharkhand.
• 2011: Dumka is connected with the newly built Jasidih - Dumka railway line.
• 2012: Intercity express to Ranchi started via Jasidih.

Population

Demographics

As of 2011 India census,^[1] Dumka had a population of 1,321,096. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Dumka has an average literacy rate of 62.54%, lower than the national average of 74.4%: male literacy is 75.17% and, female literacy is 49.60%. In Dumka, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.}

Religion, languages and culture

Dumka District contains many popular Hindu temples, such as Basukinath, Sirshanath, Maluti Mandir, Shiv Pahar and Dharamsthana. Crowds visit these places during the month of Sawan.

Chootonath is also very famous place of local KRAM KAND and MUNDAN.

The Catholic minority is served by its own Roman Catholic Diocese of Dumka.

Besides the national official language Hindi, Santali, Odia and Bengali are important.

Geography

Dumka is located at 24°16′N 87°15′E / 24.27°N 87.25°E / 24.27; 87.25.^[2] It has an average elevation of 137 metres (449 feet). The Dumka district has an area of 3716.02 km² and consists of only one subdivision, namely, Dumka. Under the Dumka subdivision, there are 10 blocks, namely, Dumka, Gopikander, Jama, Jarmundi, Kathikund, Maslia, Ramgarh, Ranishwar, Ranibahal,Shikaripara and Saraiyahat.

	Deoghar, Allahabad, Kanpur, New Delhi	Bhagalpur, Purnia, Godda, Hashdia	Siliguri, Guwahati, Shillong
	Giridih, Hazaribagh		Rampurhat, Dhaka, Aizawl
		Dumka
	Dhanbad, Bokaro	Rourkela, Asansol, Durgapur	Suri, Sainthia, Kolkata, Bay of Bengal

Physiography

Dumka has a predominantly undulating terrain with hard rocks under the ground. The entire district has a topography with high ridges and valleys bounded by mountains and rivers. The soil fertility is poor due to extensive erosion, acidity and low retaining capacity.

Climate

Dumka has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cwa), with warm, wet summers and mild winters.

Tourist places

Malooti mandir

Malooti mandir

Malooti mandir

Malooti mandir

Malooti mandir

Malooti mandir

Masanjore Dam

Masanjore is a famous picnic spot situated in Dumka District of Jharkhand. This small village is about 30 km south of Dumka. The picturesque Masanjore dam on the Mayurakshi River is a major draw. From the counterpart rupee fund created through supplies of wheat and other materials from Canada for use in India, Canada Govt. devoted those funds to further development of the Mayurakshi project And Masanjore dam was commissioned in 1955. That's why the Dam is still mentioned as Canada Dam. The dam is bounded by hills and forests, a perfect place for outing. Mayurakshi Bhawan Bungalow and Inspection Bungalow offer excellent and comfortable accommodation in the village. By road, Masanjore is connected with Vakreshwara (59 km), Sainthia (50 km), Tarapith (70 km), Rampurhat (62 km) and Deoghar (98 km).

Kurwa park (Shrishti)

It is a small picnic spot about 5 km to the south of Dumka. It has a beautiful park, facilities for boating and a small hill.

Chutonath

It is situated 20 km from the district headquarters. It is a beautiful place and picnic spot having natural beauty surrounded by hillocks and river. Chutonath is a religious place of Hindu god Lord chutonath.

Dharmasthan

It is temple situated in Tin bazaar at the heart of Dumka Town,It is very famous for goddess kali, during the Durga puja 7 days special puja is organised here.

Politics

The first Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi, hailed from Dumka constituency. In 2000, when Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar, NDA came to power in Jharkhand with Marandi as the Chief Minister. However, he had to resign and make way for Arjun Munda (BJP) for the post in 2002 following pressure exerted by coalition allies primarily JD(U). Recently, he formed his own party with Stephan Marandi, another political leader of the state.

Shibu Soren is another familiar and famous politician associated with Dumka. His political career has been mired in controversies, starting since Indira Gandhi's prime ministership. Recently, he was sent to Dumka jail after being convicted of murdering his private secretary Shashinath Jha. But, the Delhi High Court acquitted him of the murder charge of his private secretary due to lack of evidence. A number of cases are still pending before the Jamtara Session Court and some of the other courts of the Jharkhand. He is currently holding the place of MP from Dumka constituency, while his son Hemant Soren was representing Dumka in the Legislative Assembly & is deputy CM of the state.

In 2014 state election BJP coalation got majority in Assembly and Raghubar Das become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, another familiar and famous politician associated with Jamsedhpur.

Education

Zila School, National School, Govt. Girls School and Dumka Central School provide education till +2 level. Other reputable schools which provide education through secondary level are N.E.L.C.,S.S. Vidya-Vihar, Don Bosco School, Sido Kanhu High School, St. Teresa High school (for girls) and Holy Child, and St. Joseph's High School, . Other schools of similar repute include Ananda Marga School (in Kurwa), Modern Sainik School, Green Mount Academy and New Life Academy (in Kathikund block). Santhal Pargana College and A. N. College run under the Sido Khanu Marmu University. S. P. College offers undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses in various disciplines of science, arts and commerce and also have 7 big Hostel for college students . Recently the B.Ed. course was also introduced. An IGNOU study center provides for distance learning education in various certificate, diploma, graduation and postgraduate courses. Another well known university is Birsa Agricultural University which provides technical education related to agriculture.

Now Dumka is blessed with a Government Engineering College,the first of its kind ever to be established in the district.The same was being inaugurated on 25 May 2014 by chief minister Hemant Soren who assured of its carving a niche in arena of technical education.A whooping amount of Rs 41 crore was spent by state Science & Technology department towards realism of this dream.Techno India group is entitled to run the institute on public-private partnership.The very first batch of 2014-2015 session will have a total of 5 branches.The seats allocated for the prescribed branches are:-

Apart from engineering special heed is also given to establish Medical college in the district.Land acquisition for the same is the only problem to be addressed in order to establish one.Dumka also has a polytechnic institute and an ITI (Industrial Training Institute).This clearly depicts the intention, towards establishing Dumka as a tech center apart from the conventional mineral center.

Transport

Rail

Jasidih–Dumka–Rampurhat
Track gauge: Broad gauge 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)
Legend
km from Howrah–Delhi main line 0 Jasidih 6 Deoghar 7 to Banka 14 Nowadih Jharkhand–Bihar border 25 Chandan to Banka --------------------------------- 11 State Highway 6 16 Mohanpur Trukati Hills 392m 26 Ghormara 40 Chandanpahari 49 Basukinath 59 Jama 64 State Highway 6 65 to Bhagalpur 71 Baraplasi Nonihat 100 Hansdiha 109 Kumradol Jharkhand–Bihar border 115 Pandetola 124 Mandar hill 128 Mandar Vidyapith Halt 133 Panjwara Road to Banka 4 Telia 8 Murahara 15 Banka --------------------------------- 138 Barahat 142 Punsia 149 Dhauni 155 Sanjha 160 Tikani 165 Hatpuraini 166 Gani Dham Halt 168 Kollikhutaha 176 Bhagalpur to Sahibganj Loop --------------------------------- 65 Madanpur Halt 72 Dumka 77 Kurwa 90 Barmasia 97 Sikaripara 110 Harinsing 117 Piragaria Jharkhand–West Bengal border 124 Adalpahari 136 Rampurhat to Sahibganj Loop

However, in July 2011, Dumka was connected to Jasidih with the newly built Jasidih - Dumka railway line. Since then, the city has seen a growing number of three-wheelers on the road. There is also ongoing work on a new railway line, which will connect Dumka to Bhagalpur (Bihar) and Rampurhat (west Bangal) in coming years. 18619/Ranchi - Dumka Intercity Express terminates here.

Road

Dumka is connected by road to the neighboring city. Buses are the preferred mode of transport and are run by both government agencies and private operators. Dumka has good connectivity to neighboring districts with buses. There is a luxury night bus service between Dumka - Ranchi and Kolkata. The road network of Dumka is very well maintained.

See also

• Dumka District

References

External links

• Official Site
• Tourist Places in Dumka
• Schools in Dumka
• Santal-Tribes of Dumka
• Media coverage of Engg college in Dumka.