Faunal Diversity of River Subernarekha in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Jharkhand is a state (79,714 km) in eastern India and it came into existence after bifurcation from the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Odisha to the south and West Bengal to the cast. The city of Ranchi is its capital and Dumka is sub capital while Jamshedpur is the largest and the biggest industrial city of the state. Jharkhand is famous for its rich mineral resources like Uranium, Mica, Bauxite, Granite, Gold, Silver, Graphite, Magnetite, Dolomite, Fireclay, Quartz, Field spar, Coal (32% of India), Iron, Copper (25% of India) etc. Forests and woodlands occupy more than 29% of the state which is amongst the highest in India. Jharkhand has two major rivers Subernarekha and Damodar. The population of Jharkhand is 31.9 million (2012). The 2011 census listed the state's official literacy rate at 67.63% (Male: 78.45%; Female: 56.21%). The Economy of Jharkhand gets from the rich storehouse mineral resources sector.

Forests in Jharkhand cover an area of 23,605 km which constitutes about 29.61% of the total area of the state. Moreover, out of the 23,605 km of forests, 82% of area falls under the protected forests, whereas 17.5% of the land falls under reserve forests. Some of the important forests and national parks of Jharkhand are Betla National Park, Hazaribagh Wild Life Sanctuary, Dalma Wild Life Sanctuary, Lawalong Wild life. Sanctuary, Udhwa Bird Sanctuary, Saranda- Sal Forest, Mahuyadar Wild Life Sanctuary, Koderma Wildlife Sanctuary, Topchanchi Wildlife Sanctuary. It contains two major types of forests, namely-Tropical Zone Dry Forests and Tropical Zone Wet Forests.

Subarnarekha means 'streak of gold. With a drainage area of 1.93 million ha the smallest of India's major inter-state river basins is a mute host to effluents from various coal mining and other processing units of the three states.

The rain-fed river Subernarekha originates 15 kms south of Ranchi on the Chhotanagpur plateau draining the states of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal before entering the Bay of Bengal. The total length of the river is 450 kms and its important tributaries include the Raru, Kanchi, Karakari, Kharkal, Garra and Sankh rivers.

**Contents and Sample Pages**