Understanding Bihar -- Society, Economy, Geography, Culture, and the People
Live: on-web.link/BiharParichay
Bihar Parichay is an interactive resource for understanding Bihar -- its people, problems, politics, and possibilities. It combines data, stories, maps, and research tools into a single site designed for anyone who needs to know what is actually happening in Bihar.
This is not a textbook or a tourism site. It is a working resource built for people who engage with Bihar professionally -- researchers, journalists, policy workers, political organisers, and fieldworkers conducting listening circles.
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Overview | 128 million people, 51.9% poverty, the core paradox |
| Geography | North-South divide, flood politics, Nepal water nexus, Diara lands |
| Society | Caste structure, land ownership, electoral sociology, gender indicators |
| Economy | Jobless growth, agrarian crisis, remittance dependency, 8-10M migrant workers |
| Issues | Naxal history, prohibition, health/education failure, water/sanitation |
| People | Ashoka to Karpoori Thakur, Bhikhari Thakur to Phanishwarnath Renu |
| Food | Litti chokha to makhana economics, caste on the plate, regional cuisines |
| Culture | Madhubani painting, Bidesia theatre, Chhath Puja, linguistic politics |
| Performing Arts | Bidesia, Jat-Jatin, Domkach, Sama-Chakeva, puppetry traditions |
| Crafts | 6 craft traditions with economics (maker price vs retail price) |
| Climate | Flood-drought cycle, Kosi embankment politics, heat stress, groundwater depletion |
| Justice | Naxal legacy, caste violence, prohibition enforcement, undertrial crisis |
| Digital & Media | WhatsApp politics, Bhojpuri YouTube, gender digital divide, DBT barriers |
| Stories | 45 perspective pieces -- makhana divers, child brides, ASHA workers, hooch deaths |
| Data | District indicator map, 12+ charts, Sankey & chord diagrams, Bihar vs India comparisons |
| Tools | 18 interactive tools (see below) |
- Surname Lookup -- caste category database (60+ entries)
- Bihar Lexicon -- searchable terms with etymology (Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi)
- District Data Explorer -- Census data for 20 districts
- Flood Risk Checker -- risk level and river systems (BSDMA data)
- Development Comparator -- multi-district chart generator
- Constituency Lookup -- 15 Lok Sabha seats, 2024 results, margins, caste profiles
- Issue Priority Ranker -- ranked local issues by district
- Scheme Gap Finder -- MGNREGA, PM-Kisan, Ujjwala coverage vs national average
- Reading List Generator -- 24 open-access sources, 8 topic filters
- Impact Calculator -- translates statistics into human terms
- Bihar Timeline -- 28 events from 600 BCE to 2024
- Voices of Bihar -- 20 published quotes, filterable by theme
- District One-Pager -- printable summary for fieldworkers
- Facilitator Guide -- 6 audience-specific listening circle session plans
- WhatsApp Fact Cards -- 12 pre-formatted Hindi messages, one-tap share
- District Briefing -- everything about one district on one page
- Bihar vs States -- compare Bihar against 9 states on 9 indicators
- District Indicator Map -- color-coded Bihar map by literacy, sex ratio, urbanisation, density
- 12+ Chart.js charts -- bar, line, doughnut, grouped comparisons
- Migration flow Sankey -- source districts → destination states → employment sectors (D3.js)
- Budget pipeline Sankey -- central allocation → scheme delivery with leakage at every stage (D3.js)
- Caste-politics chord diagram -- voting alignment between 7 caste groups and 5 political alliances (D3.js)
- District indicator map -- colour-coded Leaflet map (literacy, sex ratio, urbanisation, density)
- Heritage sites map -- 10 UNESCO/cultural sites with interactive markers
- CSS flow diagrams -- migration routes, cycle of deprivation, revenue flows, scheme delivery chain
- Fully bilingual -- all 17 sections translated EN/HI (Noto Serif Devanagari)
- WhatsApp sharing -- floating button + per-story share
- Search -- site-wide search across all content
- Ctrl+K navigation -- keyboard shortcuts for quick section access (1-9, S, D, T, R)
- Light/Dark/Auto theme -- 3-mode theme selector
- Offline access -- service worker caches the full site
- PNG download -- download any chart or D3 diagram with source watermark
- Print -- printable district briefings and one-pagers
- Password protected -- client-side access gate
- Responsive -- mobile-first CSS, works on all screen sizes
Single HTML file. No build system. No framework.
- Chart.js 3.9.1 -- bar, line, pie, doughnut charts
- D3.js 7.8.5 + d3-sankey -- Sankey and chord diagrams
- Leaflet.js 1.9.4 -- interactive maps
- CSS-only flow diagrams (no Mermaid dependency)
- Noto Serif Devanagari for Hindi typography
- Newsreader + DM Sans + JetBrains Mono typography
- Service worker for full offline capability
- Hosted on Netlify (static site)
All data is traceable to authenticated sources:
Census of India 2011 | NFHS-5 (2019-21) | Bihar Caste Survey 2023 | RBI Handbook of Statistics | Bihar Economic Survey | NITI Aayog MPI | ASER 2022 | ECI election data | BSDMA flood reports | CWC | NCRB | UNESCO | CPCB
Full bibliography with 45+ sources and open-access links in the References tab.
MIT License. Content under CC BY 4.0.
Bihar Parichay: because understanding a place means understanding its people, their problems, and who benefits from the solutions.