Droupadi Murmu’s nomination as Presidential candidate may have propelled the little known Rairangpur in Odisha’s Mayubhanj district to claim a spot in country’s map now, but the region was not a ‘dull or ordinary’ place in the past. More than a century ago, the tribal heartland of Odisha had played a key role in laying the foundation for an incredible industrial journey.
About 20 km from Rairangpur lies Gorumahisani, India’s first iron ore mine, and widely dubbed as ‘mother mine’ for empire of Tata Steel that has grown to a global steel behemoth having crude steel capacity of 34 million tonnes per annum.
India’s legendary geologist P. N. Bose had written a letter to J.N. Tata (founder of Tata Steel) about the discovery of Gorumahisani Iron Ore Mine on February 24, 1904, which led to the establishment of Tata Iron and Steel Company at Sakchi (now in Jharkhand) on August 26, 1907. Bose was then State Geologist of Mayurbhanj princely state after his stint at the Geological Society of India.
