Karmatanr (community development block)
Karmatar, also known as Karmatar Vidyasagar, is a community development block in Jamtara district, Jharkhand, India. It is part of the Jamtara Sadar subdivision and lies about 15 km from the district headquarters, Jamtara. The block covers 175 square kilometres and has its headquarters at Karmatanr, with a police station serving the area. The railway station at Karmatar was renamed Vidyasagar in 1974 in honor of the scholar Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who lived here for over 18 years starting in 1873.
Geography and boundaries: Jamtara district sits in a rolling upland area, with the Barakar river forming part of the landscape and the Ajay river flowing through the district toward West Bengal. Karmatanr CD block is bordered by Margomunda, Karon and Sarath blocks in Deoghar district to the north, by Jamtara block to the east, and by Narayanpur block to the south and west.
Administration: Karmatar CD block has 18 panchayats and 151 villages, including a census town named Karmatanr and a large village named Karua. The block’s population (2011) was 115,266 (109,398 rural and 5,868 urban in Karmatanr town). There are about 58,937 males and 56,329 females. 22,693 people were under 6 years old. Scheduled Castes numbered 7,737 and Scheduled Tribes 21,767.
Demographics and language: The main languages spoken are Khortha (about 67%), Santali (about 18%), Urdu (about 8%), Bengali (about 4%), and Hindi (about 2%). Literacy in 2011 was 53,844 people, or about 58% of those over 6 years old, with a higher rate for males (63%) than females (37%), giving a gender gap of around 26 percentage points.
Economy and living: In 2011, most workers were engaged in farming: cultivators (about 29.6%) and agricultural labourers (about 51.3%). Other workers made up about 17.3%, and those in household industries about 1.8%. Total workers were 48,098 (41.7% of the population); non-workers were 67,168 (58.3%). At that time, 145 inhabited villages had power, 114 had electricity, 142 had wells, 139 had hand pumps, and all had drinking water facilities. 144 villages had paved roads, 7 had post offices, 7 had sub-post offices, 5 had landlines, and 105 had mobile coverage. There were 2 railway stations, 24 villages with pre-primary schools, 119 with primary schools, 51 with middle schools, 4 with secondary schools, and 2 with senior secondary schools. Five villages had bank branches, and 33 had public distribution system shops.
Development: Jamtara district is considered a backward region and receives support from the Backward Regions Grant Fund to help address development gaps. The area has historical rail connections via the Raniganj–Kiul section of the Howrah–Delhi main line, which has aided transport to Karmatar.
Education and health: In terms of facilities, 24 villages had pre-primary schools, 119 had primary schools, 51 had middle schools, 4 had secondary schools, and 2 had senior secondary schools. Health facilities include 2 villages with primary health centres, 8 with primary health subcentres, 7 with maternity and child welfare centres, 1 veterinary hospital, 2 family welfare centres, and 16 medicine shops.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 02:24 (CET).