Jharkhand /dʒɑrˈkɑːnd/^{[citation needed]} (Hindi: झारखण्ड; Bengali: ঝাড়খন্ড; Urdu: جھاڑکھنڈ; Jhārkhaṇḍ, pronounced [ˈdʒʱaːrkʰəɳɖ] ( listen)) is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east. It has an area of 79,714 km² 49,821 sq mi (129,040 km²). The industrial city of Ranchi is its capital and Dumka is sub capital while Jamshedpur is the largest and the biggest industrial city of the state. Some of the other major cities and industrial centres are Dhanbad, Bokaro and Hazaribagh.

The name "Jharkhand" means "The Land of Forests".

According to some writers like Gautam Kumar Bera, there was already a distinct geo-political, cultural entity called Jharkhand even before the period of Magadha Empire. Bera's book (page 33) also refers to the Hindu Mythological book Bhavishya Purana. The tribal rulers, some of whom continue to thrive till today were known as the Munda Rajas, who basically had ownership rights to large farmlands. During the Mughal period, the Jharkhand area was known as Kukara.

Neera Yadav, originally from Vaira Phirozpur village, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India, is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. She was part of the 1971 batch of service graduates. She is married to Mahendra Singh Yadav, an officer of the Indian Police Service who later resigned from the service to pursue his political career.

She has been posted at different positions in the bureaucracy in Uttar Pradesh. She shot into fame as District magistrate of Jaunpur district during flood crisis for her daring rescue operations. But later she was selected among the top three most corrupt IAS officers of Uttar Pradesh in a voting done by her own colleagues. She was appointed the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, later resigning the position after a decision by the Supreme Court of India, thus becoming the second IAS officer in succession after Akhand Pratap Singh to have done so.

Post retirement, she joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in 2009 but resigned after Media questions over the decision.