Nagpur
Nāgpur ('
Marathi:' 'नागपुर') is the largest city in central
India and the third largest city in the Indian state of
Maharashtra after
Mumbai and
Pune. With a population of 2.1
million (
2001 Census), Nagpur is also the nation's 13
th largest urban conglomeration (2001 Census) and the foremost city in Maharashtra's eastern
Vidarbha region.
[ ] The city is also the state's Winter Capital and the headquarters of
Nagpur District and
Nagpur Division administrations.
[ ] On a global scale, Nagpur is estimated to be the 114
th largest city in the world
[ ] and the planet's 143
rd largest urban area in 2006 in terms of population.
[ ] Nagpur lies practically at the centre of India with the country's geographical centre (Zero Mile) being situated here.
[ ] Nagpur is popularly known as
Santra Nagari (Orange City) throughout the country as it is the centre of trade of high-quality oranges grown in the region.
[ ] Recently, Nagpur celebrated 300 years of its establishment.
[ ] |
An Orange farm near Nagpur city |
Nagpur is situated at 21° 06' N latitude and 79° 03' E longitude and a mean altitude of 310 meters above
sea level[ ] and has an area of approximately 220 km².
[ ]. As the city is located away from any major water body at the centre of the Indian peninsula, the local climate is dry or mildly humid for most of the year except for the rainy season, during which Nagpur receives an annual rainfall of 1,205 mm (47.44 in), mostly between the months of June and September.
[ ] The highest recorded rainfall was 304 mm on July 14, 1994.
[ ] Summer lasts from March to June, with temperatures peaking in the month of May. Summers in Nagpur are extremely hot, with temperatures regularly crossing 46°C (114°F). Winter lasts from November to January, during which it is not unusual for temperatures to drop below 10°C (60°F).
[ ] The highest recorded temperature in the city was 48.6 °
C (119.5 °
F) on
1954-05-26, while the lowest was 4 °
C.
The first reference to the name
Nagpur, is dated 10
th century A.D., to a copper-plate inscription discovered at Devali in
Wardha district. The inscription is a record of grant of a village situated in the visaya (district) of Nagpura-Nandivardhana during time of
Rastrakuta king Krsna III in the Saka year 862 (A.D. 940).
[ ][Nandivardhana, which was well-known as an ancient capital of the Vakatakas, is now represented by the village Nandardhan, about three miles from the temple town of Ramtek.] However, tradition ascribes the founding of Nagpur to
Bakht Buland, a prince of the
Gond kingdom of Deogarh in the
Chhindwara district. In
1743, the
Maratha leader
Raghoji Bhonsle of Vidarbha established himself at Nagpur, and had conquered the territories of
Deogarh,
Chanda and
Chhattisgarh by
1751. After Raghoji's death in
1755, Janoji, his son and successor, was forced to acknowledge the effective supremacy of the Maratha
Peshwa of Puneand in
1769. Regardless, the Nagpur state continued to grow. Janoji's successor Mudhoji (d.
1788) came to power in
1785and bought
Mandla and the upper
Narmada valley from the Peshwa between
1796 and
1798, followed by the acquisition of
Hoshangabad,the larger part of
Saugor and
Damoh by Raghoji II (d.
1816). Under this king, Nagpur covered what is now the East of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,
Orissa, and parts of
Madhya Pradesh and
Jharkhand.
In
1803 Raghoji II joined the Peshwas against the British in the
Second Anglo-Maratha War. The British prevailed, and Raghoji had to cede
Cuttack,
Sambalpur, and part of
Berar. After Raghoji II's death in 1816, his son Parsaji was deposed and murdered by Mudhoji. In spite of a treaty signed the same year with the British, Mudhoji joined the Peshwas in the
Third Anglo-Maratha War in
1817, but was forced to cede the rest of Berar to the Nizam of
Hyderabad, along with parts of Saugor and Damoh, Mandla,
Betul,
Seoni and the Narmada valley to the British after suffering a defeat at Sitabuldi in modern-day Nagpur. Mudhoji was deposed after a temporary restoration to the throne, after which grandchild of Raghoji II Raghoji III was placed on the throne. During the rule of Raghoji III (which lasted till
1840), the region was administered by a British resident. In
1853, the British took control of Nagpur after Raghoji III died without leaving an heir. From 1853 to
1861,the Nagpur province (which consisted of the present Nagpur region, Chhindwara, and Chhatisgarh) became part of the
Central Provinces and Berar and came under the administration of a commissioner under the central government. The Central Provinces were then ruled by a British governor with Nagpur as its capital. Berar was added in
1903.
TATA, one of the most respected industrial houses in India, started the country's first textile mill at Nagpur
[ ], then formally known as Central India Spinning and Weaving Company Ltd. The company was popularly known as "Empress Mills" as it was inaugurated on 1st January 1877, the day queen
Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.
Nagpur was a scene of significant political activity during India's freedom struggle. The city hosted two annual sessions of the Indian National Congress and the Non Co-Operation Movement was launched in the Nagpur session of 1920. After
Indian Independence in
1947, Central Provinces and Berar became a province of India, and in
1950 became the Indian
state of
Madhya Pradesh, again with Nagpur as its capital. However when the Indian states were reorganized along linguistic lines in
1956, the Nagpur region and Berar were transferred to
Bombay state, which in
1960 was split between the states of
Maharashtra and
Gujarat. Nagpur is the only Indian city to have lost the status of a state capital during the reorganizaton of states. If the demand for a separate state of Vidharbha is granted in future, the city is set to regain its former status as state capital.
The entire political community of Maharashtra descends on the city for the two week duration of the winter session of the
Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly, which is held in the month of December.
[ ] In addition, a bench of the
Bombay High Court is located in the city.
[ ] Nagpur is an important city for the scientific community as it is home to the headquarters of a number of national level scientific and governmental establishments like the National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute (NEERI), Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), National Research Centre for Citrus, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Aluminium Research and Development Centre, the Indian Bureau of Mines, India's Intellectual Property Training Institute, the National Academy of Direct Taxes, the Chief Controller of Explosives of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, and the South Central Zone Cultural Centre in addition to a regional office of the Indian Meteorological Department.
Nagpur is also an important city for the Indian armed forces as the headquarters of Maintenance Command of the Indian Air Force and an Ordinance factory and Staff College for the Indian Armed Forces are located in the city. The Nagpur suburb named Kamptee is home a neatly laid out cantonement area of the Regimental Centre of Indian Army's Brigade that is made up of the National Cadet Corps' Officers' Training School, Institute of Military Law, and other establishments of Indian Army. Furthermore, Nagpur's National Civil Defence College provides civil defence and disaster management training to pupils from all over India and abroad. The city is also the home for Indian Air Force's giant IL-76 transport planes nicknamed "Gajraj."
Due to Nagpur's geographical position, all distances within India are measured from Zero Mile, which is located in the Civil Lines locality in the city.
[ ]On the outskirts, just 17km from the city is a small town
Koradi [ ] famous for the
MSEB thermal power station
[ ] and the ancient Shri Mahalaxmi Devi temple, which draws devotees to its doors throughout the year (especially during annual
Navratri festival).
Deekshabhoomi is famous throughout India as the site where Dr.
B. R. Ambedkar embraced
Buddhism to promote his efforts to overcome discrimination against lower-caste and
untouchable Hindus, and is also the largest hollow stupa in the world.
[ ] Dalits and Buddhists from all over the country converge to Deekshabhoomi every year on
Ashoka Dahsmi.
Situated near Kasturchand Park, the Sitabuldi fort was the site of a fierce battle between the British and the
Bhonsle Empire in 1817. The battle was a turning point as it laid the foundations of the downfall of the Bhonsle Empire and eventually the British acquisition of Nagpur city.
[ ] Almost every part of the city has at least one major
Hindu temple. The Sri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir in Ram Nagar is probably the most popular religious spot in the city. The Catholic Seminary located at Seminary Hills is one of the finest in the state. In addition, a
Buddhist Dragon Palace Temple located on the outskirts of the city has become popular tourist spot in recent times due to its exquisite architecture and serene environment.
The city also contains a few lakes that are popular as tourist spots with locals -
Ambazari, Telangkhedi (which underwent major renovation recently), Gandhisagar, Gorewada, and Sonegaon. With its scenic gardens and recreation facilities, the Ambazari Lake has historically been one of the most popular spots in Nagpur, a status that it retains to this day. Another popular spot is the Maharajbag Zoo, originally a garden developed by the Bhonsle rulers.
[ ] The Zoo contains several rare species of birds and animals. Pench forest reserve, which is the setting for
Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book", is 45 miles to the north of Nagpur.
The Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground (VCA) in Nagpur is one of the nine test venues in the country.A new stadium of VCA is coming up on wardha road which boasts a steating capacity of wooping 80,000 people.
[ ][ ]Nagpur boasts many restaurants specializing in Indian as well as international cuisine. Liberty and Smruti are the two most popular movie theatres, screening all major Bollywood releases. The city is now enjoying its first multi-screen theatre (multiplex)"Poonam Plaza" a 3 screened multiplex whish is managed by inox. Three other such multiplex's are coming up in the city shortly.
Nagpur has two five-star hotels: Hotel Tuli International and Hotel Pride. The other major hotel is Hotel Centre Point. Residency Resturant a small fast food hub in the city have many different varites of tea i.e a total 10 types is searving the people from last 50 years.
|
The annual Shobha Yatra held on Ram Navami in the city |
The city's culture is cosmopolitan as it contains a large number of people from other Indians states as well as people belonging to the world's major faiths. Every year on
Ram Navami (which ususally falls in late March or early April), Nagpur plays host to spectacular shobha yatra in which a massive procession of floats depicting various events from the
Ramayana is organized by the Sri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir.
[ ] The procession snakes through several important streets of the city from late afternoon to well past midnight and is witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people from the city as well as other parts of India. 10-day long celebrations are held on
Ganesh Chaturthi and
Durga Puja festivals in almost every locality in the city. Like the rest of India, Nagpur celebrates other major Hindu festivals like
Diwali,
Holi and
Dussera with fervour and enthusiasm. Processions are also held on important festivals of other religions such as
Eid e Milad,
Gurunanak Jayanti,
Mahavir Jayanti and Moharram.
Nagpur plays host to a variety of cultural events throughout the year. A week long Kalidas festival organized by Maharashtra government and the South Central Zone Cultural Centre acts as a venue for a series of music and dance performances by such artistes of national repute as Ustad
Amjad Ali Khan and
Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
[ ] The South Central Cultural Zone actively sponsors various cultural programmes in Nagpur city, such as the Orange City Craft Mela and Folk Dance Festival, which is noted for its numerous folk-dances.
[ ] Nagpurians are also fond of Indian classical music and dance as is evident from the regular performances held by famous artists like Pandit
Bhimsen Joshi.
[ ] Besides, there are regular stagings of
Marathi plays that have a large following.
Nagpur has a vibrant media scene with its own TV as well as radio station. In fact, All India Radio's Nagpur station is among the earliest set up in India. Major newspapers in Marathi, Hindi, and English languages are published in the city.
Lokmat,
Sakal,
Tarun Bharat, and
Loksatta are major
Marathi language newspapers published in Nagpur, while
Dainik Bhaskar and
Nav Bharat and leading
Hindi ones. The locally published newspaper
The Hitavada is the leading English language daily in Central India.
[ ]Although the middle class continues to comprise the major chunk of Nagpur's population, in recent times the city has attracted the affluent in increasing numbers and was the fastest growing
crorepati city in India in
2004.
[ ] Although historically the city has not reaped the benefits of India's economic boom in comparison to cities like
Hyderabad and
Bangalore, Nagpur remains one of the most livable cities in the country due to its citizen- friendly statistics. The city's crime has remained at a constant level. In general, the housing supply is good and moderately priced in comparison to megacities like Mumbai and
Delhi, although the price of land has skyrocketed in posh localities like Ramdaspeth and Civil Lines.
[ ] Nagpur enjoys good quality and abundant water supply thanks to a successful crackdown on water theft by the local municipal corporation (NMC).
[ ] However, different parts of the city have been affected by power cuts ranging from two and half to four hours in recent times due to the acute shortage of electricity in the state of Maharashtra.
[ ] One notable fact about Nagpur is that it has remained peacful even as other Indian cities like
Kolkota and Mumbai went through violent episodes of communal conflicts for one reason or another.
[ ] Recently, the city was judged as the cleanest and second greenest in India after
Bangalore.
[ ]*
The Civil Lines contains most of the government offices in Nagpur including the Bombay High Court bench and the Vidhan Bhavan. The area is noted for its greenery and relative cleanliness.
*
Sitabuldi is the main commercial part of the city. It contains numerous shops and a large wholesale vegetable market.
*
Dharampeth is noted for its up-scale shops and a vegetable market that is in general pricier than the one at Sitabuldi.
* Mahal (Old Town)
* Ramdaspeth contains numerous up-scale shops and malls.
* Dhantoli
*
Itwari is the wholesale business center of Nagpur
* Gandhibagh
|
The Butibori Industrial Estate |
Nagpur has been the centre of commerce in the Vidarbha region since early days and currently is a large trading centre for a number of commodities and services. However, Nagpur's economic importance has gradually declined relative to Mumbai and Pune after the merging of Vidarbha into the Maharashtra because of a prolonged period of neglect by the state government. During this period, the state and central government offices were the main source of employment in the city. However, Nagpur is witnessing an economic boom in recent times and attracted Rs. 5,000 crore in investment in 2004.
[ ] Currently a significant number of industries are located within the vicinity of Nagpur city. The Butibori industrial area is the largest in all of Asia in terms of area.
[ ] The estate's largest unit is
Indo Rama Synthetics, which manufactures synthetic polyester yarn. Other notable units in Butibori include the power transmission company KEC, Hyundai Unitech, ACC Nihon Castings Ltd.
[ ] The estate also houses a number of other textile units, a washing machine plant belonging to the
Videocon group, besides several medium-sized units that manufacture a variety of products. In addition, the first food park in the state of Maharashtra is situated in the estate.
[ ] Though Butibori could not quite live up to its original promise, industrial activity is picking up due to the saturation in the Mumbai-Thane-Pune belt.
The Hingna industrial estate located on the western fringes of the city is made up of around 900 small and medium industrial units. The major ones among them are tractor manufacturing plant of
Mahindra and Mahindra, casting units of NECO Ltd (the country's largest casting group),
[ ] units of International Combustions,
Bajaj Auto group,
Candico ( the largest confectionary manufacturing plant in India
[ ]), Ajanta toothbrushes, Sanvijay Group (largest steel rolling group of companies for long products in Central India)
[ ] and
Vicco Laboratories.
[ ] In addition, Nagpur is also home to well-known ice-cream maker
Dinshaws, and the nationally famous sweetmakers
Haldiram's.
[ ]Nagpur is also the next most favoured IT destination in Maharashtra after
Mumbai and
Pune due to factors favorable to the IT industry like the location in the centre of India, good infrastructure, and the availability of a large pool of skilled labor from local and regional educational institutions.
[ ] In the near future, Nagpur will also have a Rs. 10,000 crore Special Economic Zone (SEZ)
[ ] attached that has already attracted some of India's top-notch Information Technology companies like
Satyam Computer Services and
L&T Infocity.
[ ]Nagpur is a major education centre in Central India. Founded in 1923,
Nagpur University (recently renamed Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University)
[ ] has geographical jurisdiction over the five districts of Nagpur division and gives affiliation to hundreds of colleges. The city is also home to three medical colleges - the Government Medical College, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, and privately run NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences.
[ ] Furthremore, Nagpur has several reputed engineering colleges like the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) (which is now a deemed university) and the Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT). The city is also home to several reputed public as well as private colleges like Hislop College and Shivaji Science College. A world-class 25-acre campus of Institute of Management Technology (IMT) is also situated in Nagpur.
[ ] And last but not least, a National Fire Service College that runs the country's only graduation course in Fire Engineering is also situated in the city.
[ ] These educational institutions attract students from all over the country and contribute to Nagpur's varied student community. A very small number of foreign students are also present in the city.
Nagpur also has a number of fine schools that offer education through Marathi, Hindi, and English media. In recent times there has been a spurt of privately-funded schools affiliated with CBSE (Central Board for Secondary Education).
[ ]Nagpur city had a literacy rate of 89.3% in 2001, which is quite high by Indian standards.
[ ]Being situated at the centre of the country, Nagpur is a very important roadways and railway junction and a transit for almost all the trains that span the country lengthwise and breadthwise, especially trains connecting India's four major metropolitan cities (Mumbai, Delhi,
Chennai, and Kolkota) located in the four corners of the country.
[ ] Nagpur railway station is the main railway station, while the much smaller Ajni railway station is the other railway station in Nagpur city.
In addition to being an important destination for the
Indian Railways, Nagpur is a major junction for roadways as India's two major national highways (Kanyakumari-Varanasi (no 7) and Hawrah-Dhule (no 6)) pass through the city. They in the stretch from Variety square to Reserve Bank square, the midpoint of which is marked by Zero Mile Stone.
[ ] Moreover, Nagpur city has good roads and has undertaken major upgradation and renewal works under Integrated Road Development Project or IRDP. Erstwhile Commissioner of the Corporation Dr T Chandrashekhar played a key role in this development project. The Inland Container Depot at Nagpur run by Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) is fastest growing inland port in the country.
[ ]Due to the city's central location, Nagpur's Air Traffic Control (ATR) is the busiest in India
[ ], with more than 300 international flights flying over the city every day in 2004.
[ ] Domestic airlines such as Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, and Air Deccan connect Nagpur with Mumbai (5 flights daily), Delhi (2 flights daily), Hyderabad (1 flight daily and 1, 4 times a week), and Kolkata (1 flight thrice a week and another twice a week). In October 2005, Nagpur's Sonegaon Airport was declared an international airport and was renamed Dr. Ambedkar International Airport.
[ ] Initial flights between Nagpur and
Sharjah were launched by
Air Arabia with the intention of tapping the strong demand for international travel within Central India.
[ ] In April 2006 Indian Airlines connected Nagpur and
Bangkok with a non-stop twice weekly service. Likewise, Qatar Airways has announced that it will start a thrice-weekly service from Nagpur to
Doha in the summer of 2006.
Nagpur is set to be prominent on India's aviation map as the country's first ever Multi-modal International Cargo Hub (MIHAN) was completed near the city airport in 2006, and is expected to contribute significantly to the development of the city as well as the economically backward Vidarbha region.
[ ][ ]In the early phase of its development, the city was lead by the then mayor,
Sushrut Kulkarni, who is famous for being the leading activist during India's freedom struggle.The
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica offers a picture of Nagpur in the early part of the 20th century::The city is 1125 ft. above the sea; Pop. (1901) 127,734. The town is well laid out, with several parks and artificial lakes, and has numerous Hindu temples. The prettily wooded suburb of
Sitabaldi contains the chief government buildings, the houses of Europeans, the railway station and the cantonments, with fort and arsenal. In the centre stands Sitabaldi Hill, crowned with the fort. Beyond the station lies the broad sheet of water known as the Jama Talao, and farther east is the city, completely hidden in a mass of foliage. Handsome tanks and gardens, constructed by the Maratha princes, lie outside the city. The palace, built of black basalt and profusely ornamented with wood carving, was burnt down in 1864, and only the great gateway remains. The garrison consists of detachments of European and Indian infantry from Kampti (
Kamptee). Nagpur is the headquarters of two corps of rifle volunteers. It is the junction of two important railway systems, the Great Indian Peninsula to Bombay and the Bengal-Nagpur to Calcutta. The large weaving population maintain their reputation for producing fine fabrics. There are steam cotton mills and machinery for ginning and pressing cotton. The gaol contains an important printing establishment. Education is provided by two aided colleges, the Hislop and the Morris, called after a missionary and a former chief commissioner; four high schools; a law school; an agricultural school, with a class for the scientific training of teachers; a normal school; a zenana mission for the management of girls schools; an Anglican and two Catholic schools for Europeans. There are several libraries and reading rooms.
*
Naga*
Deekshabhoomi
#
Nagpur sizzles at 47.6 deg C,
TNN,
Times of India (Bombay), pg 1,
2005-05-23*
Map of Nagpur city*
NIC page on Nagpur*
Gazetteer on the Nagpur District*
Information on Nagpur City*
Pictures of Nagpur and Nagpurians.*
Birds and birdlife in Nagpur*
Pictures of the Butibori Industrial Area*
Official Website of the Sri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir*
Official website of the Central Railway's Nagpur Division*
The Man Behind Nagpur's Transformation*
"Just Arrived: Nagpur, the next Airlines hub."*
Famous Nagpurian Hospitality*
Origin of the Logistics industry in Nagpur*
Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur*
VNIT Nagpur*
Govt. Polytechnic, Nagpur*
Birds spotted in Nagpur region*
Birds spotted around Koradi lake
