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Bihar, India

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Avdisha, 8th Standard, Wisdom World School, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India - 136118

Area: 94, 163 sq. km

Capital: Patna

Jurisdiction of High Court: Patna High Court

Population: 10.41 crore (census 2011)

Principle languages: Hindi

State flower: Kachnar (Orchid Tree)

State tree: Bodhi Tree

State animal: Ox

State bird: House sparrow

Official website: http://www.gov.bih.nic.in

Bihar finds mention in the Vedas, Puranas, epics, etc., and was the main scene of activities of Buddha and the 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 of Maurya dynasty, the Sungas and the Kanvas. Then came the Kushan rulers followed by Chandragupta Vikramaditya of the Gupta dynasty. Muslim rulers made inroads into the territory during the 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 bound on the north by Nepal, on the east by West Bengal, on the 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.

Agriculture

Bihar has a total geographical area of about 93.60 lakh hectares, out of which only 55.54 lakh hectares is the net cultivated area with a gross cultivated area of 72.95 lakh hectares. The principal food crops are paddy, wheat, maize and pulses. Main cash crops are sugarcane, potato, tobacco, oilseeds, onion, chillies, jute and mesta. Bihar has a notified forest area of 6.22 lakh hectare, which is 6.65 per cent of its geographical area. About 30.64 thousand hectares net area and 44.33 thousand hectare gross area had received irrigation from different sources.

Irrigation

Bihar has an irrigation potential of 28.73 lakh hectares created through major and medium irrigation schemes and 6.63 lakh hectares through minor irrigation schemes.

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