Padma is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Barhi subdivision of the Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.
Overview
Hazaribagh district is spread over a part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. The central plateau, averaging a height of , occupies the central part of the district. On all sides, except on the western side, it is surrounded by the lower plateau, averaging a height of , the surface being undulating. In the north and the north-west the lower plateau forms a fairly level tableland till the ghats, when the height drops to about and slopes down gradually. The Damodar and the Barakar form the two main watersheds in the district. DVC has constructed the Konar Dam across the Konar River. It is a forested district with cultivation as the main occupation of the people. Coal is the main mineral found in this district. China clay is also found in this district. 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%.
History
The Padma Palace (also referred to as Padma Fort) of Ramgarh Raj is located at Padma. The Shivgarh gate is one of its main attractions. There is a photo gallery displaying the history of Ramgarh Raj.
Padma block was established on 27 September 1995.
Maoist activities
Right from its inception in 2000. Jharkhand was a “laboratory” for Naxalites to experiment with their ideas of establishing a parallel government. As of 2005, 16 of the 22 districts in the state, including Hazaribagh district, was transformed into a “guerrilla zone”. The movement was not restricted to armed operations but included kangaroo courts called Jan adalats, elected village bodies and people's police. Jharkhand, with a dense forest cover over a large part of the state, offers a favourable terrain for the Naxalites to build their bases and operate. Annual fatalities in Jharkhand were 117 in 2003 and 150 in 2004. In 2013 Jharkhand was considered one of the two states in the country most affected by Left wing extremism and Jharkhand police set up an exclusive cell to deal with Maoist activities. However, in the same year, when Jharkhand police identified 13 focus areas for combating Maoist extremism, Hazaribagh district was not one of them.
Geography
Padma is located at .
Padma CD block is bounded by Barhi CD block, on the north and a part of the east, Ichak CD block on a part of the east and the south, and Mayurhand CD block, in Chatra district, and Katkmsandi CD block on the west.
Padma CD block has an area of 126.54 km2. As of 2011, Padma CD block had eight gram panchayats, 40 inhabited villages and no census towns. Barhi police station and Padma police out-post serve this CD block, Headquarters of this CD block is at Padma.
Hazaribag Wildlife Sanctuary is from Padma.
The Gram Panchayats covered by Padma intermediate panchayat are: Bandarbela, Bihari, Kutipisi, Padma, Pindarkon, Romi, Saraiya, and Suryapura.
Demographics
Population
According to the 2011 Census of India, Padma CD block had a total population of 56,014, all of which were rural. There were 28,941 (52%) males and 27,073 (48%) females. Population in the age range 0-6 years was 9,378. Scheduled Castes numbered 9,928 (17.72%) and Scheduled Tribes numbered 843 (1.50%).
Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in Padma CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Padma (7,896) and Saria (4,855).
Literacy
census, the total number of literate persons in Padma CD block was 32,133 (68.90% of the population over 6 years) out of which males numbered 19,195 (79.92% of the male population over 6 years) and females numbered 12,938 (57.20% of the female population over 6 years). The gender disparity (the difference between female and male literacy rates) was 22.71%.
census, literacy in Hazaribag district was 70.48%. Literacy in Jharkhand was 67.63% in 2011. Literacy in India in 2011 was 74.04%.
See also – List of Jharkhand districts ranked by literacy rate
Language and religion
At the time of the 2011 census, 51.70% of the population spoke Hindi, 43.88% Khortha, 2.43% Magahi and 1.01% Urdu as their first language.
Rural poverty
40-50% of the population of Hazaribagh district were in the BPL category in 2004–2005, being in the same category as Godda, Giridih and Koderma 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%.