Gawan block is a community development block (CD block) that forms an administrative division in the Khuri Mahua subdivision of the Giridih district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Overview Giridih is a plateau region. The western portion of the district is part of a larger central plateau. The rest of the district is a lower plateau, a flat table land with an elevation of about 1,300 feet. At the edges, the ghats drop to about 700 feet. The Pareshnath Hill or Shikharji rises to a height of 4,480 feet in the south-eastern part of the district. The district is thickly forested. Amongst the natural resources, it has coal and mica. Inaugurating the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in 2016, Raghubar Das, Chief Minister of Jharkhand, had indicated that there were 23 lakh BPL families in Jharkhand. There was a plan to bring the BPL proportion in the total population down to 35%. Maoist activities Jharkhand is one of the states affected by Maoist activities. , Giridih was one of the 14 highly affected districts in the state., Giridih was identified as one of the 13 focus areas by the state police to check Maoist activities. In 2017, the Moists, in Giridih district, have torched more than 50 vehicles engaged in road construction or carrying goods. Geography Gawan is located at . Gawan CD block is bounded by Kawakole CD block, in Nawada district of Bihar, on the north, Tisri CD block on the east, Dhanwar CD block on the south and Satgawan CD block, in Koderma district, on the west. Gawan CD block has an area of 336.76 km2. It has 17 gram panchayats, and 137 inhabited villages. Gawan police station serves this block. Headquarters of this CD block is at Gawan. 48.59% of the area has forest cover. Rivers in Gawan CD block are: Sankh, Barki, Chakli, Sakri and Likhar. Gram panchayats in Gawan CD block are: Pasnour, Manjhne, Birne, Amtaro, Gawan, Serua, Sankh, Patna, Badidih, Malda, Nagwan, Gadar, Kharsan, Pihara (E), Pihara (W), Nimadih and Jamdar. Demographics Population According to the 2011 Census of India, Gawan CD block had a total population of 115,962, all of which were rural. There were 59,039 (51%) males and 56,923 (49%) females. Population in the age range 0–6 years was 22,682. Scheduled Castes numbered 18,913 (16.31%) and Scheduled Tribes numbered 5,295 (4.57%). Literacy census the total number of literate persons in Gawan