“Be sure to lay wide streets planted with shady trees, every other of a quick growing variety. Be sure that there is plenty of space for lawns and gardens, reserve large areas for football, hockey and parks; earmark areas for Hindu Temples, Mohammedan Mosques and Christian Churches.”
- Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata in a letter to His son Dorabji Tata in 1902.

Jamshedpur; the ‘dream come true’ of India’s giant industrialist J N Tata and the first planned industrial conurbation of India is the largest and the most populated metropolitan of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Visualized by Jamsetji Tata in early 20th century and christened as ‘Jamshedpur’ by Lord Chelmsford in the honor of its founder, this metropolis originally reckoned by the epithet ‘Kalimati’ is now bequeathed with an adoring sobriquet ‘the Steel City of India’. Also known as ‘Tatanagar’ after its Tatanagar Railway Station, Jamshedpur functions as the administrative command center of the East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Nestled on the Chota Nagpur Highlands and enclosed by the imperial Dalma Hills, Jamshedpur is delimited by the Subarnarekha River to its north and the Kharkai River to its west. The Jamshedpur city along with its adjoining terrains (Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration) happens to be the third largest city of Eastern India following Kolkata and Patna.

Jamshedpur, one of the most burgeoning industrial plazas of Eastern India houses a number of leading companies of the country including Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Tata Technologies Limited, Telcon, Praxair, Lafarge Cement, BOC Gases, Tinplate, TCS, TCE, and many others. Not only that, Jamshedpur is also the home to ‘Adityapur’; one of the enormous industrial zones of India where more than 1,200 small and medium scale industries operate. On the other hand, Jamshedpur is acclaimed not only for its Herculean industrial breakthrough but also for its standing as one of the most ‘well engineered’ and ‘well maintained’ urban settlements of India. Due to the high standards of living, commendable sanitation and hygiene, safety and welfare of the residents, well laid roads and avenues and overall impressive ambience, Jamshedpur has been ascribed as a ‘Global Compact City’ by United Nations under their ‘Global Compact Cities Pilot Program’.

Jamshedpur was proclaimed the 7th cleanest city of India in the year 2010 while it was pronounced the 7th richest city of the country in 2007. What is more, Jamshedpur has also been declared the 84th fastest evolving burghal in the world for the timeline of 2006–2020. It is to be noted that Jamshedpur happens to be the only ‘million plus’ city of India that doesn’t have a municipal corporation. Jamshedpur is a cosmopolitan civic where people from all over the country coming from diverse social, cultural and religious backgrounds dwell in a harmonious symmetry. All the Indian festivals including Diwali, Holi, Idd, and Christmas are celebrated here with equal zest and enthusiasm. True to its nickname; ‘a Mini India’, Jamshedpur justly embodies the axiom ‘Unity in Diversity’.

The genesis of Jamshedpur can be traced back to the late 19th century AD when the sire ‘Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata’ conceived the idea of India’s First Steel Plant deriving the inspiration from Thomas Carlyle’s statement, “the nation which gains control of iron soon acquires the control of gold”. J N Tata met the steel makers of Pittsburgh to acquire the most advanced scheme as well as technology for his prospective steel plant. He also met a proficient geologist named ‘Charles Page Perin’ and asked for his facilitation in finding the site for his steel plant. The hunt for the ground affluent in iron, limestone, coal and water commenced in the present day Madhya Pradesh in 1904 and almost after three years the commission of Dorabji Tata, Shapurji Saklatvala and C. M. Weld hit upon the Sakchi village lodged along the dense woods of the Chota Nagpur Terrain adjacent the confluence of the Subarnarekha and Kharkai Rivers.

The construction of the Steel Plant as well as the potential Jamshedpur city formally instigated in 1908 AD and the earliest steel ingot was rolled on February 16, 1912. Jamsetji Tata had a clear vision of the ‘to be’ Jamshedpur city and he had envisaged a lot more than the sheer barricades for the workers. He had persisted upon availing all the conveniences and comforts of a proper, well developed city which resulted into the modern well planned Jamshedpur. The first layout of Jamshedpur was prepared by an eminent architect from Pittsburgh; Messrs Julin Kennedy Sahlin. Over the years this brain child of J N Tata grew with its innumerable thriving industries and achieved such heights that today Jamshedpur has been deemed the 84th fastest progressing metropolitans in the world for the timeframe of the years 2006–2020. A noteworthy fact is that, Jamshedpur is the one and only ‘million plus’ city of India that has no municipal corporation.

In late 1980s, the state government solicited a law that would end the administration of Tatas in Jamshedpur and bring it under a municipality. However, the locals protested the proposal and Jamshedpur remains sans a municipality even today. Had Jamsetji Tata lived to see Jamshedpur, he would have been proud of his son Dorabji Tata who executed and materialized the blueprint J N Tata had designed well up to the mark. He left no stone unturned to emulate the last teaching of his father –

“If you cannot make it greater at least preserve it. Do not let things slide. Go on doing my work and increasing it, but if you cannot, do not lose what we have already done.”