foot and a party of Sikhs were killed at Chatra on October 2nd 1857 in action against mutineers of the Ramgarh Battalion. Lieutenant J. C. C. Daunt of the 70th Bengal Native Infantry and sergeant D. Dynon of the 53rd regiment were awarded Victoria Cross for conspicuous gallantry in the battle, in which the mutineers were completely defeated and lost all their four guns and ammunitions. At the same time, another inscription on the bank of the Phansi Talab immortalises the two revolutionary subedars, namely, Mangal Pandey and Nadir Ali Khan. Independence movement The independence movement in this district gathered momentum in 1921. One of the most significant events of the Quit India Movement in 1942, was the escape of Jai Prakash Narayan along with six other from The Hazaribagh Central Jail on 9 November 1942 (the night of festival of Diwali). Jai Prakash Narayan came to Tatra (a village in this district )where he was at the home of panchkodi dubey, and then proceeded towards Sherghati en route to Varanasi. The notable participants in the independence movement from this district include Chotanagpur Kesri, Babu Ram Narayan Singh, and Babu Shaligram Singh. Post-independence The district is currently a part of the Red Corridor. Administration The territory covered by the present district was earlier known as Chatra sub-division of Hazaribagh district. Politics |} Blocks/Mandals Chatra district consists of 10 Blocks. The following are the list of the Blocks in Chatra district: Demographics According to the 2011 census Chatra district has a population of 1,042,886, roughly equal to the nation of Cyprus or the US state of Rhode Island. This gives it a ranking of 434rd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 28.98%. Chatra has a sex ratio of 951 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 60.18%. Scheduled Castes (SC) constitutes 32.7% while Schedule Tribes (ST) were 4.4% of total population. Hindus make up 86.6% of the population while Muslims make up 11.19%. Christianity makes up 0.63%, while other religions make up 1.58% of the population. At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 39.71% of the population in the district spoke Khortha, 39.21% Hindi, 12.47% Magahi, 5.47% Urdu, 1.72% Kurukh. Economy In 2006, the Indian government named Chatra one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out