ABSTRACT
Jharkhand occupies the east of the Chotanagpur plateau, the northern part of the state consisting of a rough crescent of territory above the plains of Bihar, extending into the plains where it reaches up to a short north-eastern border along the River Ganga (Ganges). The central waist of the state is dominated by hills in the west, the end of the Hazaribagh Range, while the lower lands around Ranchi, the state capital, provide a link between north and south. The rest of the state spills south in three bulges of territory, the south-eastern extension again reaching into the plains, those divided between West
Bengal and Orissa. The climate is tropical, but tempered by altitude, with the average annual rainfall across the state being some 1,400 mm (56 inches).
