Overview of the 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 Two subdivision, 12 development Blocks/Anchals, 154 Panchayats and 1474 Revenue Villages. There is only one municipality – that is at the district head quarter of Chatra. There are 15 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 quite 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 Wildlife 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, Nilgai, Sambhar, Peacock, Wild Boar and Deer, together with variety of snakes and birds. 

Demography

Chatra district  is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India, and Chatra is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district covers an area of 3706 km². It has a population of 791,434 (Census 2001).

According to the 2011 census Chatra district has a population of 1042886 roughly equal to the nation of Cyprus or the US state of Rhode Island.This gives it a ranking of 434rd in India (out of a total of 640).The district has a population density of 275 inhabitants per square kilometre (710 /sq mi) .Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 28.98 %. Chatra has a sex ratio of 951 females for every 1000 males,and a literacy rate of 60.18 %.

The population distribution as per the census 2011