Giridih

Infobox Indian Jurisdiction
native_name = Giridih
type = city (general)
locator_position = right
latd = 24.18
longd = 86.3
state_name = Jharkand
district = Giridih district
leader_title =
leader_name =
altitude = 289
population_as_of = 2001
population_city =
population_rank =
population_total = 98,569
population_density =
area_magnitude = 9
area_total =
area_telephone = 06532
postal_code =
vehicle_code_range =
unlocode =
footnotes =

Giridih (Hindi: गिरिडीह, Bengali: গিরিডি), is headquarters of the Giridih district of Jharkhand state, India. The literal meaning of "Giridih" is the "land of hills & hillocks" - "giri", a Hindi word, means "hills" and "dih", another word of the local dialect, indicates "upland". Giridih district was earlier a part of Hazaribagh district.

Geography

Giridih is located at coord|24.18|N|86.3|E|. [ [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/IN/38/Giridih.html Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Giridih] ] It has an average elevation of 289 metres (948 feet).

Nearby places

Giridih has several interesting spots, including the following:
*Usri Falls (13 km)
*Khandoli (8km) - a famous picnic spot
*Baidadih, with a well with water reputed to contain several minerals.
*Parasnath Hills and Sammet Shikharji, with the highest mountain peak in Jharkhand, 4480 feet above the sea level, it is one of the most important and sanctified holy places of the Jains. 20 out of 24 Tirthankaras (including Parshva) are believed to have attained salvation there.
*Kabir Gyan Mandir - abode to Mother Gyan, a disciple of Shri Vivek Prabhujee. There, one can get spiritual enlightenment by participating in religious discources and other functions. Recently, the temple named Guru Govind Dham has come up here over the monument of Shri Vivek Prabhujee.
* Kharagdiha, a place near Mirjaganj, in close proximity to Giridih, is the abode to the famous saint named Langtababa. He is revered both by the Hindus and the Muslims alike. His samadhi is also located at Kharagdiha.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, [GR|India] Giridih had a population of 98,569. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Giridih has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 63%. In Giridih, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Notable personalities

*Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose spent his last days in Giridih and the Sir J.C. Bose Girl's High School is named in his honour. He died in Giridih.

*The great literary figure and the Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore had also spent some time in Giridih. He wrote his Shivaji Utsav in 1904 while residing in Giridih. The house in which he resided, namely, "Dawasika Bhawan", still exists in Giridih.

*Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, an Indian scientist, mathematician, and applied statistician was born in Giridih. He was founder of ISI (Indian Statstical Institute) in 1931. R. K. Mahila College is being run in the house of the red-letter personality of India.

*The veteran film maker Satyajit Ray who is only Oscar receipient of India, spend his childhood in Giridih. He loved his ancestor's scenic beauty place as much as he sketched his great fictional character appearing in a series of science fiction books scientist Professor Shonku's residing place in Giridih beside the Usri river.

*Giridih is the headquarters of eastern region of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), a Government of India organization on statistics.

* The great Saint Langata Baba born in Giridih district and still his shrine is in Kharagdia, Giridih district where on every purnamasi we celebrate that day as his birthday.

Economy

This town used to bustle with economic activity in the period from 60s to 80's when the mineral mica processing and export community reaped tremendous gains through exports to the USSR. Since the decline of the USSR however and its split into twelve CIS countries the industry has slowly declined and is currently ailing.

However, with the formation of new state Jharkhand and governments initiative a lot of Small scale Industries have developed in Giridih. They all are basically related with metals, majority of them being Rolling Mills Like of Lal's, Mongia, Atibir. Even some of the rolling mills have grown in such a big size they have taken Bolleywood actor Dharmendra as their brand ambassador.

Education

The major educational institutions in the town include :

Saraswati Shishu/Vidya Mandir- Affiliated to the C.B.S.E. board, this school provides education up to an equivalent of the 10th Standard.

Carmel Convent School - Affiliated to the I.C.S.E board, this school provides education up to an equivalent of the 10th Standard. A co-ed institution, it was founded in 1954 and recently celebrated its 50th year.An Association of the alumni of this school, EXCA was founded some years ago.its the most preferred school of giridih known for its high grade study pattern with the most experienced teachers of many parts of India....

Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Badri Narayan Saha Public School - Affiliated to the C.B.S.E board, this school provides co-educational facilities to the children of the community up to XIIth standard. The school has recently moved to a newly built campus.The building was generously donated by J.K.Saha in the fond memory of his grandfather Late Shri Badri Narayan Saha.This school has given both engineers and doctors.

Subhash Public School in Giridih is the largest boarding school in Jharkhand. This school was started by Late Dr.Param Hans Singh. This school is affiliated to CBSE up 10+2.This school has been made a benchmark for other schools; it is the only self-financed non-aided school in Giridih, running under the guidance of Kakoli Dasgupta.

Jawahar Navodoya Vidyalaya is also one of the good institutions . It is at Gandey of Giridih.

Besides the above major institutions there are other public and private schools as well.The colleges in this town include -The Mahila College for WomenThe Giridih College affiliated to the Vinobha Bhawe University.One more institution that is helping to bring good quality education is CCL DAV Public School,beniadih.

References

External links

* [http://giridih.nic.in/ Official website of the Giridih district]
* [http://giridih.isgreat.org/ GIRIDIH ONLINE online community of members http://giridih.isgreat.org/]
* [http://www.egiridih.com/ egiridih.com - Giridih information, yellowpages]
*wikitravel|Giridih