Hazaribagh district is spread over a part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

In the north and the north-west the lower plateau forms a fairly level tableland till the ghats, when the height drops to about 700 ft (213 m) and slopes down gradually.

Jharkhand was a “laboratory” for Naxalites to experiment with their ideas of establishing a parallel government.

The movement was not restricted to armed operations but included kangaroo courts called Jan adalats, elected village bodies and people's police.

[6] Jharkhand, with a dense forest cover over a large part of the state, offers a favourable terrain for the Naxalites to build their bases and operate.

[8] However, in the same year, when Jharkhand police identified 13 focus areas for combating Maoist extremism, Hazaribagh district was not one of them.

[9] Meru, a constituent census town in Sadar, Hazaribagh CD block, is located at 24°1′46″N 85°27′26″E / 24.02944°N 85.45722°E / 24.02944; 85.45722.

[13] As of 2011, Sadar, Hazaribagh CD block had 25 gram panchayats,[14] 80 inhabited villages[15] and 3 census towns (Meru, Maraikalan and Okni II).

[16]Hazaribag Muffasil police station serves this CD block.

[18] According to the 2011 Census of India, Hazaribagh CD block had a total population of 147,609, of which 118,276 were rural and 29,333 were urban.

[16] Large villages (with 4,000+ population) in Hazaribagh CD block are (2011 census figures in brackets): Harhad (4,093), Kolghatti (4,317), Oreya (4,925), Lakh (4,412) and Mandari Khurd (5,470).

It includes factory, mining, plantation, transport and office workers, those engaged in business and commerce, teachers, entertainment artistes and on.

Other species are: bamboo, khair, sali, semal, mahua, tamarind, mango, black-berry (jamun), peepal, karnaj, jack-fruit, margosa (neem), kusum, palas, kend, asan, piar and bhelwa.

Irrigation facilities in this hilly area are inadequate and generally farmers depend on rain for their cultivation.

Other important crops grown are: bazra, maize, pulses (mainly arhar and gram) and oilseeds.

The fund, created by the Government of India, is designed to redress regional imbalances in development.

[32] The 79.7 km long first stage railway project from Koderma to Hazaribagh costing ₹ 936 crore was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 20 February 2015.