|
Area : 94,163 sq km
Population : 82,878,796
Capital : Patna
Principal Languages : Hindi
Bihar finds mention in the
Vedas, Puranas , epics, etc., and was
the main scene of activities of Buddha, and 24
Jain Tirthankars. Great rulers of the State
before the Christian era were Bimbisar, Udayin,
who founded the city of Pataliputra.
Chandragupta Maurya and Emperor Ashoka and
Maurya dynasty, the Sungs and the Kanvas. Then
came the Kushan rulers followed by Chandragupta
Vikramaditya of the Gupta dynasty. Muslim rulers
made in-roads into the territory during medieval
period. The first conqueror of
Bihar was
Mohammed- bin-Bakhtiar Khalji. The Tughluqs and
then the Mughals followed the Khaljis.
One of the major states of the Indian Union,
Bihar is bounded on the north by Nepal, on the
east by West Bengal, on west by Uttar Pradesh
and on the south by Jharkhand. Bihar has a
number of rivers, the most important of which is
the Ganga. The other rivers are the Sone,
Poonpoon, Falgu, Karmanasa, Durgawati, Kosi,
Gandak, Ghaghara, etc.
Bihar
has a total geographical area of about 93.60
lakh hectare, out of which only 56.03 lakh
hectare is the net cultivated area and gross
cultivated area being 79.46 lakh hectare. About
33.51 lakh hectare net area and 43.86 lakh
hectare gross area receive irrigation from
different sources. Principal food crops are
paddy, wheat, maize and pulses. Main cash crops
are sugarcane, potato, tobacco, oilseeds, onion,
chillies, jute and mesta. Bihar has notified
forest area of 6,764.14 sq km, which is 7.1 per
cent of its geographical area.
Major
Industries are: Railway Wagon Plants of Bharat
Wagon Limited at Muzaffarpur and Mokamah; Oil
Refinery of Indian Oil Corporation at Barauni;
Fertilizer Manufacturing Plant of Hindustan
Fertilizer Corporation Limited (HPCL) at Barauni
and Pyrites Phosphates & Chemicals Limited
(PPCL) at Amjhor; Cotton Spinning Mills at
Siwan, Pandaul, Bhagalpur, Mokamah and Gaya; 13
sugar mills in private sector and 15 in the
public sector located in south and north Bihar
with a total crushing capacity of 45,000 TPD. In
addition, distilleries at Gopalganj, West
Champaran, Bhagalpur and Riga (in Sitamarhi
district); Finished Leather Industry in West
Champaran, Muzaffarpur and Barauni; Jute Mills
at Katihar and Samastipur; Medicine
Manufacturing Unit at Hajipur; Food Processing
Units as also Vanaspati Manufacturing Units at
Aurangabad and Patna; besides Kalyanpur Cement
Limited at Banjari, are notable in the
industrial map of Bihar.
Roads : Bihar has
around 13,000 km of pucca roads including around
2,500 km of national highways and roughly 11,000
km of state highways and major district roads.
Railways : Bihar has
a fairly good railway network. Communication in
north Bihar is difficult as there is only one
railway bridge at Mokamah. A few railway routes
connecting important places like
Muzaffarpur-Samastipur-Barauni-Katihar and
Muzaffarpur-Chapra-Siwan have been converted
into broad gauge. The main rail junctions are at
Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Katihar and
Samastipur, etc.
Aviation : There is
an international airport at Patna, besides
landing grounds in all major districts of the
State.
Important places of tourist interest
are Rajgir, Nalanda, Vaishali, Pawapuri (where
Lord Mahavira breathed his last and attained
Nirvana ), Bodh Gaya, Vikramshila
(ruins of Buddhist University of higher
learning), Gaya, Patna (ancient city of
Patliputra), Sasaram (tomb of Shershah Suri) and
Madhubani (known for famous Madhubani
Paintings).
|
