Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur, also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. Located on the confluence of Swarnarekha and Kharkai rivers, the city is surrounded by Dalma Hills. It is the largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million in the wider metropolitan area, Jamshedpur is the third largest metropolitan area in the region and 36th largest urban area in the country and 72nd most populous city in the country.
The modern industrial city of Jamshedpur was built over the village of Sakchi by Dorabji Tata, who chose the location for his father Jamshedji Tata's planned steel city. The project began in 1908, with the steel plant operating by 1912, and the city was formally named Jamshedpur by Lord Chelmsford in 1919 in honor of Jamshedji. During World War I, Tata Steel supplied for British military campaigns across the Middle East and Africa. In World War II, Jamshedpur was a high-value target. This led to the deployment of British and American troops in the region, establishment of air bases to repel potential Japanese attacks, maintain links with mainland China via the Burma Road and participate in the U.S-led bombing campaign in Japan. The city's history is embedded with frequent labor unrest and strikes, visits by well-known figures and independence movement.
Following the independence of India in 1947, Jamshedpur became part of the state of Bihar. The city experienced spells of growth and development alongside on occasions of unrest, violence and terrorism. Jamshedpur experienced deadly communal violence in 1964 and 1979, affecting the city directly and spillover of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. By the 1990s, organized crime increased, and mafia activities emerged in northern Jamshedpur, with notable gang wars and the assassination of well-known figures in political and business circles. The intensity of crime nearly brought about the collapse of industries in Jamshedpur. The state government intervened. Between 1994 and 1996, the city police under Ajoy Kumar, launched a crackdown on gangs, which led to a decline in crime. Subsequently, Jamshedpur was an important stronghold for the statehood movement. Thus on 15 November 2000, the city became part of the state of Jharkhand.
A major commercial and industrial centre in India, Jamshedpur is demographically diverse city. It has been ranked consistently as one of the cleanest cities in India by Swach Survekshan, 2nd in India in terms of quality of life. Jamshedpur is one of the fastest-growing global cities in the world and first smart cities in India along with Naya Raipur. It is a local popular tourist destination known for its forests and ancient temples. Jamshedpur is the only million plus city in India without a municipal corporation.
Etymology
In 1919 Lord Chelmsford named the city, which was previously a village called Sakchi, Jamshedpur in honour of its founder, Jamshedji Nausserwanji Tata, whose birthday is celebrated on 3 March as Founder's Day. J.N. Tata had written to his son Dorabji Tata about his vision of a great city in the area. On Founders Day, the 225-acre Jubilee Park is decorated with brilliant lightwork for about a week.The city has several nicknames including "Steel City" ; "Tatanagar" after the name of its railway station Tatanagar Railway Station or simply "Tata" in deference to the presence of Tata companies. At one time it was also known as "Kalimati" after the village near the Sakchi area. Sakchi was merged into Jamshedpur as a neighbourhood in 1919. The only trace of the name is the main road through Sakchi area of Jamshedpur which is named Kalimati Road.
History
Foundation
At the end of 19th century, Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata met steel makers in Pittsburgh to get the most advanced technology for his plant. It is said that he got the idea of building a steel plant after hearing Thomas Carlyle declare in a lecture in Manchester that "the nation which gains control of iron soon acquires the control of gold". At the turn of the twentieth century, Tata asked geologist Charles Page Perin to help him find the site to build India's first steel plant. The search for a site rich in iron, coal, limestone and water began in April 1904 in today's Madhya Pradesh.The prospectors C. M. Weld, Dorabji Tata and Shapurji Saklatvala, took nearly three years in a painstaking search across vast stretches of inhospitable terrain to find a location. One day they came across a village called Sakchi, on the densely forested stretches of the Chota Nagpur plateau, near the confluence of the Subarnarekha and Kharkai rivers. It seemed to be the ideal choice and the place was selected. In 1908 the construction of the plant as well as the city officially began. The first steel ingot was rolled on 16 February 1912.
The city's construction continued. Jamshedji's plan for the city was clear. He envisioned far more than a mere row of workers hutments. He insisted upon building all the comforts and conveniences a city could provide. As a result, many areas in the city are well planned and there are public leisure places such as the Jubilee Park and Dimna Lake. While building the city, Jamshedji Tata had said,
Messrs Julin Kennedy Sahlin from Pittsburgh prepared the first layout of the town of Jamshedpur. What the city looks like today is a testament to his visionary plans. In 1919, the industrial neighborhood was merged to form Jamshedpur according to Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the industrial establishment. As a tribute to the company's contribution in the war, on the day of city's official opening, Lord Chelmsford visited and named Jamshedpur, in honour of Jamshedji Tata.
British colonial era
The first world war began in August 1914. It rapidly escalated to West Asia centering around the Suez Canal of Egypt and from there to the region of Mesopotamia, now called Iraq and then extended to East Africa, Palestine and rest of the Middle East. Nearly 1,500 miles of rail and 3,00,000 tonnes of steel produced in Jamshedpur were used in military campaigns across Mesopotamia, Egypt, Salonica and East Africa. After the end of the war in 1919, the company received warm acclaim from Britain.World War II started in 1939 in the European countries and extended to the Middle East and rest of Asia. The city was a high-value target for Japan during the war. The British government sought to protect the city from attacks. Several bomb shelters were set up across the city, while anti-aircraft guns were placed on the outskirts. British and American troops were brought into Jamshedpur. Additional airfields were built at Chakulia and Kalaikunda, surrounded by several underground bunkers. A series of wheeled armoured carriers, known as 'Tatanagars', contributing to the war effort, were manufactured in Jamshedpur. Between 1940 and 1944, a total of 4,655 Tatanagar units were produced at the Railway workshop in Jamshedpur. In 1945, Tata Motors was established as "Tata Engineering & Locomotive", by purchasing the railway workshop.
Contemporary
An event reminiscent of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place near Jamshedpur on 1 January 1948. Over 50,000 people assembled in Kharsawan and protested against the merger of Kharsawan. The Orissa Military Police opened fire on the crowd, resulting in a massacre. Aftermath of the incident, the bodies were disposed of in wells and in the jungle, many injured were left untreated. Official records state 35 deaths, but other sources, like P.K. Deo's "Memoir of a Bygone Era," suggest numbers as high as 2,000.A violent strike occurred in May 1958 by the communist-led union of the Tata Steel. The state government declared it illegal. Within a week, the violence escalated into firing, looting, arson, curfew and movement of federal troops. According to the company, 4 people were killed and 114 people were injured. About 400 people were discharged and 335,000 man-days off work and 45,000 tons of steel production lost before mid-July when the steel plant returned to normal production.
In the mid-1960s, thousands of Hindus escaped anti-Hindu violence in East Pakistan and sought refuge in India, which caused communal tensions in East India. The theft of a religious relic, believed to be a hair of Prophet Mohammed in Srinagar caused brutal riots in Jamshedpur. This led to a chain of protests, resulting deadly riots where 134 people were killed in Calcutta, Rourkela, and Jamshedpur. However, it is believed that the actual death toll was in the thousands. After the riots, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated groups were finally able to take root in Jamshedpur. Many Muslims living in company quarters were killed, which gave birth to new Muslim neighborhoods in north Jamshedpur.
In April 1979, Jamshedpur experienced a deadly Hindu-Muslim violence influenced by the presence of Hindu and Muslim communal forces. It was the first major riot on the occasion of Ram Navami. 108 people were killed in the riot, among whom 79 Muslims and 25 Hindus were identified. A notable figure among the victims was Zaki Anwar, a popular secularist.
Legend has it that in the late 1980s when the state government proposed a law to end the Tatas' administration of Jamshedpur and bring the city under a municipality, the local populace rose in protest and defeated the government's proposal. In 2005, a similar proposal was once again put up by lobbying politicians. The target audience was the working class. A large majority sided with the government and set up protest meetings outside the East-Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner's office. However, the objective was never achieved and Jamshedpur remains without a municipality.
On 15 November 2000, Jamshedpur became part of new state called Jharkhand. There are wide roads, shady trees on the roadside, Dimna Dam for drinking water supply near the city, 24-hour uninterrupted electricity supply. Apart from this, many national level institutes like Shavak Nanavati Technical Institute, National Institute of Technology, National Metallurgy Laboratory, MGM Medical College, Al Kabir Polytechnic College are operating here. At present, Tata Steel is the country's largest private steel production company producing 11 million tons of steel. Jamshedpur is the only city in the country whose basic facilities are taken care of by a private company.