RANCHI

town, south-central Bihar state, northeastern India. The town lies along the Subarnarekha River and is the summer capital of the state. With major rail and road connections, it is the centre of the region's agricultural, cotton, and tea trade. Silk growing and the manufacture of shellac and heavy machine tools are the major industries. Ranchi, constituted a municipality in 1869, houses a military cantonment, radium and lac (shellac) research institutes, and two mental hospitals. It is the headquarters of the National Coal Development Corporation, the Heavy Engineering Corporation, and the Hindustan Steel Company. Ranchi University, founded in 1960, includes affiliated colleges of law, medicine, and teacher training. The area in which Ranchi is situated occupies the Ranchi plateau of the Chota Nagpur Plateau system, with lofty flat-topped hills (pats) in the northwest. Rice is the principal crop in lands irrigated by the Subarnarekha, Sankh, North Koel, and South Koel rivers. Bauxite, limestone, and china clay deposits are worked in the locality. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 598,498.