Keonjhar district is full of natural scenic beauty with greenery forest, rivers and water fall that enhance the beauty of Tribal District. This district is surrounded by the Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Jajapur, Anugul, Sundergardh and West Singhbhum of Jharkhand with an area of 8303 sq. Km. which lies between 850 .11’’ to 860. 22’’ east longitude and 200. 01’’ north latitude. Previously, i.e. during the pre independent period it was a princely state(Gadajata Rajya) and it merged with the state of Odisha with effect from 01/01/1948 and become a fullfledged district having its head quarters at Keonjhargargh.The average elevation of the district is 500 mtrs. above the sea level. The major river of the district is Baitarini originates from Gonasika hill and flows and passes boarder of Singhbhum(Jharkhand), Mayurbhanj, Jajpur and finaly falls in Bay of Bengal at Dhamara Bhadrak District. The Population of the district is 180200 ( as per 2011 census). The Climatic condition has been characterized by hot-summer, cold- winter and prolonged erratic monsoon. The summer starts from March to June. The average temperature of the district is 280 Celsius. The normal monsoon starts from second week of June and ends in September which is 75% of rain fall and the rest 25% comes from October to December. The December and January are the cold months with the average temperature of 220 Celsius. The rural population of the district is 86%. There are 69% of the population are BPL. The literacy rate of the District is 68.24%( as per 2011 census). Around 80% of workforce earn their livelihood through a traditional agriculture and vagetables cultivation such as paddy, wheat, maize, moong, biri, kulthi, til, groundnut, mustard, jute, potatoes, sugarcane, mango, tomato and earn a lot of money both during rabi and kharif season. It has also two major irrigation project under construction viz. Kanpur Irrigation Project and Anandapur Barrage Project which is likely to be completed shortly which will enhance the irrigational potential. Besides it has three medium irrigation project i.e. Shalandi, Kanjhari, Remala Irrigation Project. As a result the people of these area produce the double crops and enhance their economy. The district has total cultivable land of 192391 hectors out of 649310 hectors of total area. There are also 178896 hectors and 50260 hectors and 54123 hectors of forest land, non agricultural land , barren and non cultivable land respectively. There is also an area of 4978 hhectors cover with miscellaneous trees and groves. This district has forest resources/ produced like mahua flowers, kendu leaf, sal leaf, jhuna, kusum, timbers both sal and non-sal in huge quantities. The people make sal plate , chaupati and earn their livelihood with good amount of money.
It has a vast mineral resources like iron ore, manganese, chromite, magnesite , pyrophyelite, quartize and serpentine with 133 nos. of mines and 14213 nos. of people engaged in these sectors. Besides the quantum of expert is 11975000 M.T. ( 2011 census) of the district in the mineral sector and earn huge amount of foreign money. There also 901 nos. of MSME industries and gives 2652 nos. of employment(2014-15 statistics). Ancillary business such as automobiles, repairing shops, fuel filling stations and motor parts business have been grown up throughout the district.
Besides the district has collected /received a huge sum of rupees 15994560925 as District Minerals Development fund and utilize rupees 162987252(in Crores) under different fields such as afforestation, drinking water, education, health, infrastructure, irrigation, skill development, Women & Child Development and watershed development respectively upto Aprill 2018( w.e.f. 12/01/2015 to 30/04/2018).
There are 8,17,66,12,48 and 34 nos. of sub-divisional/ other, CHC, PHC, Mobile Unit, Ayurvedic, Homeopathic hospitals and Dispensary respectively in the District. However a medical college and hospital is under construction at Keonjhar. So the health sector is better than some other district.
There are 5 nos. of NH running in the district viz. NH49, NH20, NH215, NH520,NH 220 which connect Calcutta to Mumbai, Jhamsedpur to Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Vizag. There is also rail link of 117.39 K.M. in the district which facilitates the communication and transportation.
Besides 2069 Villages have been electrified out of total 2123 nos. of villages of the district. There are also 210 nos. of Banks both Nationalised, Gramin, Private and Co-operative which are involve with the banking and financial activities of the district.The district is implementing some anti proverty schemes i.e.
- MGNREGS,
- PMAY, GGY,
- BGJY,
- MLALAD,
- MPLAD,
- SFC
- CFC for the socio-economic development of the people.
The district is also 20 nos. of tourist places to which thousands and thousands of tourists visit the scenic spots and the district earn huge amount of money.The Keonjhar( Tribal dominated ) district is considered as the most un-urbanized and mineral riched district of the state as well as country.
