West Singhbhum district

West Singhbhum or Pashchimi Singhbhum(hindi:पश्चिमी सिंहभूम जिला) (odia:ପଶ୍ଚିମ ସିଂହଭୁମି ଜିଲ୍ଲା) is one of the 24 districts of Jharkhand state, India. It came into being in 1990, when the old Singhbhum district was bifurcated. Chaibasa is the district headquarters.

The district is bounded on north by Khunti district, on the east by Saraikela Kharsawan district, on the south by Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh districts of Odisha and on the west by Simdega district of Jharkhand and Sundergarh district of Odisha.

History

West Singhbhum (odia:ପଶ୍ଚିମ ସିଂହଭୁମି ଜିଲ୍ଲା) is one of the oldest districts of Jharkhand. After the British conquest of Kolahan in 1837, a new district was consequently constituted to be known as Singhbhum with Chaibasa as its headquarters. Subsequently three districts, namely East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Saraikela-Kharsawan have been carved out of erstwhile Singhbhum district.

West Singhbhum district came into existence when the old Singhbhum District bifurcated in 1990. With 9 community development blocks the Eastern part became East Singhbhum district with Jamshedpur as its headquarters and with remaining 23 blocks the larger Western part became West Singhbhum district with Chaibasa as its headquarters. In 2001 West Singhbhum again divided into two parts. With 8 blocks Saraikela-Kharsawan district came into existence. At present West Singhbhum remains with 15 blocks and two administrative sub-divisions.