As per latest 2011 India census, Ranchi has a population of 2,912,022, making it the 46th largest city in India and third largest city in Jharkhand after Jamshedpur and Dhanbad. Males constitute 51.3% of the population and females 48.7%.Ranchi is the second most populous district of Jharkhand after dhanbad. Ranchi city has an average literacy rate of 87.68% (census 2011), higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 92.48%, and female literacy is 82.48%. In Ranchi, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. The city witnessed a sudden surge in population after the declaration of the new state of Jharkhand in 2000. Owing to the rising employment opportunities and opening of numerous regional and state level offices, banks, and FMCG companies, the city witnessed a rapid influx of employment seeking migrants. As per a study done by ASSOCHAM in late 2010, Ranchi was the highest employment generating Tier-III city in India with a share of 16.8%, followed by Mangalore and Mysore.
NH 33 and NH 23 passes through Ranchi. Roads connecting major cities are providing movement for passenger and freight traffic. Buses of the Jharkhand State Road Transport Corporation and private buses ply regularly to connect Ranchi to the other parts of Jharkhand. Also, Bihar State Road Transport Corporation run regularly for major cities (Patna, Gaya, Purnea etc.) of Bihar. Regular bus services are there to Kolkata and other towns of neighboring states. Private buses also ply regularly to Jamshedpur, Siwan, Begusarai, Rourkela, Dumka, Varanasi, Khagaul, Hajipur, Patna and Kolkata. Luxury Mercedes buses are also available from Ranchi to Gaya and Patna. A new ring road is under construction around the city to reduce the growing traffic overload on the city roads. Three flyovers are coming up for smooth movement of traffic in busiest zones of the city. All major NH and other roads are being widened to six lanes or eight lanes.
An International Cricket stadium with an indoor stadium and a practice ground has been constructed. This international stadium will host an International Match between India and England on 19 January 2013. Apart from that, this stadium will also host two IPL 6 matches for KKR and Celebrity Cricket League Matches for Bhojpuri Dabanggs. A Tennis Academy, which was inaugurated by Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik, also runs besides the Cricket stadium. Ranchi is among six cities in Hockey India League to be played in January 2013. Ranchi franchise was bought by Patel-Uniexcel Group and the team named Ranchi Rhinos. Ranchi is also famous for being the hometown of World Cup winning Captain of Indian Cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India’s ace archer Deepika Kumari, gold medal winner of Commonwealth Games 2010 and current world no.1 rank holder, also hails from Ranchi.
Ranchi is now well connected with major cities of India via rail routes and one of the most profitable station in South Eastern Railways. Ranchi Railway Station with station code RNC is main station of Ranchi. Apart from Ranchi station, there are few more stations in city namely, Hatia Station, Tatisilwai Station and Namkom Station. Many important trains start from Hatia station as well. 16 trains start, 16 trains end and 20 trains pass from Ranchi Railway station. It is well connected with metro and major cities of India like Jaipur, Bilaspur, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam, Vijaywada, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Patna, Amritsar, Nagpur, Gorakhpur, Pune, Raipur, Cuttack, Puri, Rourkela, Durg, Ajmer, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Jammu, Surat, etc.
Ranchi is the healthcare hub not only for the people of Jharkhand but also for people of nearby states. Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) is one of the biggest and oldest hospitals of Ranchi. Government Hospitals like the Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP) and RINPAS are famous throughout the country for Psychiatric treatment. Ranchi also has several private hospitals like Abdul Razaque Ansari Memorial Weavers Trust Hospital (an Apollo Hospital franchisee),Orchid Medical Centre, Rani Hospital, Nagarmal Modi Seva Sadan which is the oldest trust hospital in Ranchi. Other major hospitals include Guru Nanak Hospital, Raj Hospital, ESI Hospital, HEC Hospital and Military Hospital, Namkom. An upgraded Sadar Hospital is also about to be inaugurated in the city centre.
Ranchi is witnessing a boom in retail sector as there many malls functional in the city and many more are in the pipeline. Fast food giants like Dominos, Subway, KFC,Pizza hut Dosa Plaza, Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), Moti Mahal Delux Restaurant have their counters functional in the city and others are also opening their outlets sooner. GEL Church complex and Roshpa Tower are shopping points with many retails outlets and restaurants. Hi Street Mall, Eastern Mall(Pantaloons), Reliance Mart, Big Bazaar, Bazaar Kolkata, Vishal Mega Mart, Reliance Fresh, Reliance Trends, Reliance Footprint, Spring City Mall, galaxia mall are other shopping centres in Ranchi. Satya Paul Sarees and Gitanjali Lifestyle have already opened their outlets while West Side is coming up.
The name Ranchi comes from the original Oraon village Archi at the site. Archi derives from the Oraon word for bamboo grove or stave. According to legend, after an altercation with a spirit, a farmer beat the spirit with his bamboo stave or archi. The spirit shouted archi, archi, archi and vanished; Archi became Rachi, and Rachi became Ranchi. One historically significant neighborhood is Doranda (‘duran’ ‘????’ means song and ‘daah’ ‘???’ means water in the Mundari language), between the Hinoo (Bhusur) & Harmoo Rivers, where the civil station, treasury and church established by the British Raj were destroyed by rebel forces during the Sepoy Mutiny. The present Purani (old) Ranchi marks the site of the old village of Archi.
Ranchi has a humid subtropical climate. However, due to its position and the forests around the city, it is known for its pleasant climate. Its climate is the primary reason why Ranchi was once the summer capital of the undivided State of Bihar. Ranchi used to be a preferable hill station in the past. Temperature ranges from maximum 42 to 20 °C during summer, and from 25 to 0 °C during winter. December and January are the coolest months with temperature getting to freezing point in some places of the city. The annual rainfall is about 1430 mm (56.34 inches). From June to September the rainfall is about 1,100 mm.
Birsa Munda Airport (IXR) of Ranchi has direct flights from Patna, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Few major airlines like Air India, GoAir and Jet Airways serve this purpose. A new international terminal is being built which is spread over 19,676 square metres of land, is furnished with the finest equipment imported from China, Germany and Singapore, and has the capacity to handle 500 domestic and 200 international passengers at a time. This terminal will have some ultra modern facilities. It will start operating from July 2012.
Ranchi has a hilly topography and its combination with dense tropical forests ensures that it enjoys a comparatively moderate climate compared to the rest of the state. Previously, it was accorded a ‘hill station’ status during the British rule. Rapid population growth and industrialization have caused considerable change in the weather pattern and rise in average temperatures. This has resulted in gradual loss of this “Hill Station” like status.
Hindi, Bengali, Urdu and English newspapers are published from the city, including Dainik Jagran, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan, Prabhat Khabar, Ranchi Express, Sunmarg, The Times of India, The Pioneer, The Telegraph, The Hindustan Times, The Economic Times and representations of national media houses like MiD-Day, Planman Media’s magazines (The Sunday Indian, Business & Economy, The Human Factor, 4Ps etc.).
Ranchi was ruled by Munda Rajas.. The old Ram Temple in Ranchi was their royal palace. Possibly, the area was included in the Magadh Empire during the reign of Ashoka ( 273-232 B.C. ). With the decline of Mauryan power, King Kharavela of Kalinga led on army through Jharkhand and ransacked Rajgriha and Pataliputra of Magadh. Later, Samudra Gupta (335-380 A.D.) must have passed through the area on his expedition to the Deccan.
Ranchi /’r??nt?i/ is the capital of and the second-most populous city in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Orissa, Western West Bengal and the present eastern Chhattisgarh. Jharkhand State was formed on 15 November 2000 by carving the Bihar divisions of Chota Nagpur and Santhal Parganas.
GEL Church: Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur, Assam in short G.E.L. Church on 2 November 1845 by four German Missionaries named Emil Schatz, Fredrik batsch, Augustus Brandt and E. Theodor Janke sent by Fr. Johaness Evangelista Gossner of Berlin. They arrived Ranchi and erected their tents and G.E.L. Church was inaugurated with church service on 2 November 1845.
Bulk of the public transport constitute of auto rickshaw and cycle rickshaw. A city bus service under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission was started in 2010 to meet the demands of public transport. There are a total of 150 city buses operating in Ranchi. The Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC) was given the responsibility of running the buses in Ranchi.
TV programming is provided by regional news channels like Sahara Samay, ETV Bihar and Jharkhand, etc. There are several news channels like News 11, City News, Maurya TV, Taaza TV, Mahua News,Divine News etc. broadcast by local cable operators in city areas. Ranchi has a Doordarshan Kendra, which telecasts its own programs on National Network from 5 PM to 8 PM everyday.
Ranchi is located on the southern part of the Chota Nagpur plateau which forms the eastern edge of the Deccan plateau. Ranchi is referred to as the “City of Waterfalls”, due to the presence of numerous large and small falls of around the close vicinity of the city. The most popular ones are Dassam Falls, Hundru Falls, Jonha Falls, Hirni Falls and Panchghagh Falls.
Panchghagh Falls:Panchghagh falls is on Ranchi-Chakradharpur Road about 6 km from Khunti. This fall consists of five streams formed in a row due to the breaking up of the Banai river which falls from a good height. Cemented walkways connect the different cataracts, of which stream 2 is the most popular while 5 is the biggest, though a bit inaccessible.
Angrabari (Amreshwar Dham): It is a temple consisting of the deity of Lord Shiva, Ram and Sita, Hanuman and Ganesh. It is situated near Khunti at a distance of about 40 km from Ranchi. The Shankracharya Swami Swarupanand Saraswati, having been captivated by serene, placid and celestial beauty of Angrabadi rechristened it as Amreshwar Dham.
Tagore Hill: The Morhabadi Hill famous as Tagore Hill is an important tourist spot. The elder brother of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Jyotirindranath Tagore has built a house(Shantidham) on the hill. It is known as Tagore Hill due to its association with tagore family. Rath yatra similar to Puri is held every year.
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