Jharia

Key takeaways

Jharia belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jharia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jharia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jharia is a neighbourhood in Dhanbad city in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in Jharkhand state, India. Jharia's economy is heavily dependent on the local coal fields, used to make coke. However, fires in the coal fields have made the city heavily polluted, with several government studies recommending relocation of much of the population to nearby Belgaria. As of 2011, Jharia was the fifteenth-largest town in the state of Jharkhand.

Geography

Location Jharia is located at 23.751568°N 86.420345°E / 23.751568; 86.420345. Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the area. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map. Jharia, earlier a census town, was combined with other urban units to form Dhanbad Municipal Corporation in 2006. Jharia is spread over parts of Ward Nos. 36,37 and 38 of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation.

Overview The region shown in the map is a part of the undulating uplands bustling with coalmines in the lowest rung of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. The entire area shown in the map is under Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, except Belgaria which is under Baliapur (community development block). The places in the DMC area are marked as neighbourhoods. The DMC area shown in the map is around the core area of Dhanbad city. Another major area of DMC is shown in the map of the southern portion of the district. A small stretch of DMC, extending up to Katras is shown in the map of the western portion. The region is fully urbanised. Jharia (community development block) has been merged into DMC. Three operational areas of BCCL operate fully within the region – Sijua Area, Kusunda Area and Bastacola Area.

Police station There is a police station at Jharia.

Demographics As of 2001 India census, Jharia had a population of 81,979. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Jharia has an average literacy rate of 68%, lower than the national average of 74.5%: male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 60%. In Jharia, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Relocation According to the state government this is the worst site of India, the town of Jharia is to be shifted due to the uncontrollable coal mine fires (see below), which have found to be undousable, leading to loss of property and lives. Coal worth Rs. 60,000 crore (US$12 billion) is lying unmined, and the state government feels the shifting will help in exploiting this resource. The Jharia Rehabilitation and Development Authority is supposed to relocate much of the population to Belgaria and other towns nearby. However, as of 2017, the organization was facing considerable challenges in acquiring land and doing construction, and a 2016 book reporting on the relocation effort, found that the relocation was not accounting for Just Transition of jobs, or adequate high quality housing.

Coal field

The coal field lies in the Damodar River Valley, and covers about 110 square miles (280 square km), and produces bituminous coal suitable for coke. Most of India's coal comes from Jharia. Jharia coal mines are India's most important storehouse of prime coke coal used in blast furnaces, it consists of 23 large underground and nine large open cast mines.

Coal field fire Jharia is famous for a coal field fire that has burned underground for a century. The first fire was detected in 1916 at Bhowrah colliery owned by Eastern Coal Co Limited. According to records, it was the Khas Jharia mines of Seth Khora Ramji, who was a pioneer of Indian coalmines, whose mines were one of the first major mines to collapse in underground fire in 1930. Two of his collieries, Khas Jharia and Golden Jharia, which worked on maximum 260-foot-deep shafts, collapsed due to now infamous underground fires, in which their house and bungalow also collapsed on 8 November 1930, causing a six meter subsidence and widespread destruction. The fire never stopped despite sincere efforts by mines department and railway authorities and in 1933 flaming crevasses lead to exodus of many residents. The 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake led to further spread of fire and by 1938 the authorities had declared that there is raging fire beneath the town with 42 collieries out of 133 on fire. In 1972, more than 70 mine fires were reported in this region. As of 2007, more than 400,000 people who reside in Jharia are living on land in danger of subsidence due to the fires, and according to Satya Pratap Singh, "Jharia township is on the brink of an ecological and human disaster". The government has been criticized for a perceived lackadaisical attitude towards the safety of the people of Jharia. Heavy fumes emitted by the fires lead to severe health problems such as breathing disorders and skin diseases among the local population.

Education Raja Shiva Prasad College was established in 1951 at Bhagatdih, Jharia. It was shifted to Belgarhia, 5 km away, in 2018, because of an underground mine fire.

Ammonia pollution In 2018, researchers at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Belgium revealed a created map of global atmospheric ammonia, by combining nine years of satellite data, that show Jharia and surroundings are heavily ammonia polluted from burning coal mines. The emitted ammonia reacts rapidly with other air pollutants, and thereby helps to form fine particulate matter that shortens the human lifespan through respiratory and coronary diseases. Moreover, the gaseous ammonia and ammonium compounds formed from it in the atmosphere, are deposited into ecosystems, throughout the Himalayas, damaging sensitive habitats — especially those naturally adapted to need clean air.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jharia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jharia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jharia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jharia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jharia

In research: Jharia appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jharia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jharia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Mining communities in Jharkhand, Neighbourhoods in Dhanbad, Persistent natural fires, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jharia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Jharia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jharia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jharia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jharia in simple terms?

Jharia is a neighbourhood in Dhanbad city in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in Jharkhand state, India. Jharia's economy is heavily dependent on the local coal fields, used to make coke.

Why does Jharia matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jharia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jharia.