State / UT
Jharkhand
Jharkhand is a state of the Indian Union created on 15 November 2000 under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, when eighteen districts of southern Bihar were constituted as a separate state with Ranchi as capital and Dumka as sub-capital. It carries 81 seats in a unicameral Legislative Assembly, 14 Lok Sabha seats and 6 Rajya Sabha seats, and a 2011 Census population of about 3.3 crore across what are now 24 districts. Its distinctive weight in the Republic is extractive: the state sits on the coal, iron ore and copper belt that supplies a large share of India's mineral output, while its per capita income runs well below the national average. Much of its territory falls under the Constitution's Fifth Schedule, which places tribal land and administration under a protective regime and gives the Governor a role no ordinary state executive shares.
Updated
- Capital
- Ranchi (Dumka is the sub-capital)
- Formed
- 15 November 2000, from southern Bihar
- Legislature
- Unicameral — Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, 81 seats, five-year term
- Lok Sabha seats
- 14 (Rajya Sabha: 6)
- Population (2011 Census)
- About 3.3 crore (~32.99 million), 14th largest state
- Districts
- 24
- GSDP (2025-26 BE)
- Rs 5,56,286 crore
- Per capita GSDP (2023-24)
- Rs 1,15,960, against Rs 2,15,935 for India
- High Court
- Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi
Role
Jharkhand is a federal actor of medium legislative weight and outsized material weight. Its 81-member unicameral assembly and 14 Lok Sabha seats give it a modest voice in Parliament, but the territory it governs holds the coal, iron ore and copper belt that supplies a large share of India’s mineral production — which means the state’s decisions on land, leases, royalties and law and order are inputs to the national industrial economy rather than purely local matters. The state government runs the ordinary State List: police and public order, land and land revenue, agriculture, health, school education and local government, through 24 districts and its own High Court at Ranchi, constituted with the state in 2000. The structural asymmetry is the defining fact of the unit: as of 2023-24 its per capita GSDP was Rs 1,15,960 against India’s Rs 2,15,935, roughly 54% of the national average, even as its budget for 2025-26 ran a revenue surplus of 2.6% of GSDP and a fiscal deficit of 2%. A resource state that is not a rich state is the condition its politics is organised around, and the state’s claim on revenues from coal extracted within it was a live contest with the Centre through the 2024 election.
What distinguishes Jharkhand institutionally is the Fifth Schedule. Much of its area is Scheduled Area, which places tribal land and administration under a protective constitutional regime, seats a Tribes Advisory Council, and gives the Governor powers over how Union and state legislation applies inside those areas that have no counterpart in an ordinary state. Scheduled Tribes are 26.21% of the population — a minority, but the sixth-highest concentration in the country and a decisive bloc across the assembly’s reserved seats, which is why tribal land protection recurs as the state’s central political question rather than a sectoral one. The state’s other structural inheritance is instability: three spells of President’s rule between 2009 and 2013, no ministry completing a full five-year term until the one seated in December 2014, and a chief ministership that changed hands twice in five months in 2024 without the assembly majority moving. Since 2019 the assembly has produced consecutive coalition governments of the same composition, and the 2024 election returned that coalition with 56 of 81 seats on 68.34% turnout — the state’s first back-to-back mandate for a sitting government, and a measure of how far the house has settled relative to its first decade.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
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Jharkhand constituted as India's 28th state
The Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, passed by Parliament in August 2000, came into force on 15 November 2000, carving eighteen districts of southern Bihar into a new state with Ranchi as capital. Undivided Bihar's 54 Lok Sabha seats were split 40-14 and its 22 Rajya Sabha seats 16-6; the 324-member assembly territory was divided into 243 seats for Bihar and 81 for Jharkhand. A separate High Court was established at Ranchi.
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First Legislative Assembly constituted
The unicameral 81-seat Jharkhand Legislative Assembly was constituted at Ranchi on 22 November 2000, seated in the Vidhan Sabha Bhavan. It has run on a five-year first-past-the-post cycle since, with general elections in 2000, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024.
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First of three spells of President's rule begins
Central rule was imposed on 19 January 2009 and ran to 30 December 2009 (346 days). Two further spells followed — 1 June to 11 September 2010 (103 days) and 18 January to 13 July 2013 (176 days) — making the state's first thirteen years its most institutionally unstable, with a fragmented assembly repeatedly unable to sustain a ministry.
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A ministry runs a full five-year term for the first time
The government sworn in on 28 December 2014 held office until 29 December 2019 — on the record of chief ministerial tenures since 2000, the first Jharkhand ministry to complete a full five-year term without collapse or central rule. Every preceding term had ended early.
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Power changes hands after the 2019 assembly election
The 2019 general election to the assembly produced a change of government on 29 December 2019, returning a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led coalition with the Indian National Congress to office. The incoming Speaker took the chair in January 2020.
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The chief ministership changes hands twice in five months without an election
The incumbent Chief Minister resigned on 2 February 2024 and a successor from the same party was sworn in the same day; that ministry held office to 3 July 2024, when the previous incumbent returned on 4 July 2024. The coalition's assembly majority was never disturbed — the churn was in the office, not the house.
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2024 assembly election: incumbent coalition returned with an enlarged majority
Polling was held in two phases on 13 and 20 November 2024 (43 and 38 constituencies) with counting on 24 November. Turnout was 68.34%, up 2.96 points, with female turnout at 70.46% against 65% for men. The Mahagathbandhan took 56 of 81 seats on 44.33% of the vote (JMM 34, INC 16, RJD 4, CPI(ML)L 2) against the NDA's 24 on 38.14% (BJP 21). Tribal land protection, a women's cash-stipend scheme, an infiltration narrative and the state's claim on coal revenues were the contested issues.
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Sixth Assembly seated; government sworn in
The government formed after the 2024 election took office on 28 November 2024, with JMM at 34 seats and INC at 16 forming the core of a 50-seat treasury bench and the BJP at 21 leading a 24-seat opposition. The Leader of the Opposition took office in March 2025.
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2025-26 budget: a revenue-surplus, low-deficit fiscal position on a below-average income base
The state budgeted GSDP of Rs 5,56,286 crore for 2025-26, 10% above the prior year, with expenditure excluding debt repayment of Rs 1,36,653 crore (up 12%), a revenue surplus of 2.6% of GSDP and a fiscal deficit of 2% — inside the FRBM norm. The economy grew 7.5% in 2023-24 against India's 9.2%, and is 23% agriculture, 33% manufacturing and 44% services. Per capita GSDP was Rs 1,15,960, roughly 54% of the national figure.
Frequently asked
- What is Jharkhand?
- Jharkhand is a state of the Indian Union created on 15 November 2000 under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, when eighteen districts of southern Bihar were constituted as a separate state with Ranchi as capital and Dumka as sub-capital. It carries 81 seats in a unicameral Legislative Assembly, 14 Lok Sabha seats and 6 Rajya Sabha seats, and a 2011 Census population of about 3.3 crore across what are now 24 districts. Its distinctive weight in the Republic is extractive: the state sits on the coal, iron ore and copper belt that supplies a large share of India's mineral output, while its per capita income runs well below the national average. Much of its territory falls under the Constitution's Fifth Schedule, which places tribal land and administration under a protective regime and gives the Governor a role no ordinary state executive shares.
- When was Jharkhand established?
- Jharkhand was established 2000-11-15.
- What does Jharkhand do?
- Its remit covers State List administration: law and order and the state police, land and land revenue, agriculture, health, school education, local government and state public services, Mineral administration: state-held mining leases, royalties and district mineral funds over one of India's densest coal and iron ore belts, Fifth Schedule governance: Scheduled Areas, a Tribes Advisory Council and a gubernatorial role in how Union and state law applies to tribal areas, A unicameral 81-seat Legislative Assembly with seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, Its own High Court at Ranchi, constituted with the state in 2000.
- What is the latest on Jharkhand?
- As of 2026-07-17: 2025-26 budget: a revenue-surplus, low-deficit fiscal position on a below-average income base. The state budgeted GSDP of Rs 5,56,286 crore for 2025-26, 10% above the prior year, with expenditure excluding debt repayment of Rs 1,36,653 crore (up 12%), a revenue surplus of 2.6% of GSDP and a fiscal deficit of 2% — inside the FRBM norm. The economy grew 7.5% in 2023-24 against India's 9.2%, and is 23% agriculture, 33% manufacturing and 44% services. Per capita GSDP was Rs 1,15,960, roughly 54% of the national figure.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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Official state portal; departments, schemes, notifications, state profile.
www.jharkhand.gov.in/
- Jharkhand Legislative Assembly legislation
The 81-member unicameral Vidhan Sabha at Ranchi; members, business, proceedings.
vidhansabha.jharkhand.gov.in/
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GSDP, expenditure, deficit, sector shares and per capita income, sourced to state budget documents.
prsindia.org/budgets/states/jharkhand-budget-analysis-2025-2
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Assembly and Lok Sabha election notifications, schedules and results for Jharkhand.
www.eci.gov.in/