Punjab (India)
Punjab (
Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬ/پنجاب,
Hindi: पंजाब,
IPA: / /) (Also spelled
Panjab) is a
state in northwest
India. Punjab (India) borders
Punjab (Pakistan) to the west,
Jammu and Kashmir to the north,
Himachal Pradesh to the northeast,
Haryana to the south and southeast,
Chandigarh to the southeast and
Rajasthan to the southwest. The total area of the state is 50,362 square kilometres (19,445 square miles). The population is 24,289,296 (2000). Punjab's capital is Chandigarh which is administered separately as a
Union Territory since it is also the capital of neighbouring Haryana. Other major cities of Punjab include
Amritsar,
Jalandhar,
Ludhiana and
Patiala. The state is the location of one of the world's first and oldest civilizations, the
Indus Valley Civilization,
India's first civilization.
Punjab (India) historically forms a part of the larger
Punjab region, which also includes the province of
Punjab (Pakistan), the Indian states of
Haryana and
Himachal Pradesh and
Delhi and the Union Territory of
Chandigarh.
The word "Punjab" is a combination of the
Persian words 'Punj' (پنج)
Five, and 'Aab' (آب)
Water, giving the literal meaning of the
Land of the Five Rivers. The five rivers after which Punjab is named after are the
Jhelum; the
Chenab; the
Ravi; the
Beas and the
Sutlej - all of them are the tributaries of the
Indus river.
Agriculture is the largest sector in Punjab. Excluding agriculture other major industries include the manufacture of scientific instruments, electrical goods, machine tools, textiles, sewing machines, sports goods, starch, tourism, fertilizers, bicycles, and the processing of pine oil and sugar. Punjab is considered to have the best infrastructure in
India, this includes road, rail, air and river transport links that are extensive throughout the region.
The Punjabi culture is one of self-dependence, self-reliance and hard work, which have made Punjabis statistically on average the wealthiest in
India. These character traits comes from Punjab's difficult history, in particularly due to the number of outside invasions, (Greeks, Arabs, Turkish, Iranians, Mughals and Afghans), and fight backs from Punjabis in response to these incredibly hostile acts. This heroism of Punjabis was highlighted with
Alexander the Great's invasion of Punjab. In a letter to his mother he wrote,
"I am involved in the land of a leonine and brave people, where every foot of the ground is like a well of steel, confronting my soldier. You have brought only one son into the world, but everyone in this land can be called an Alexander". Some of India's best intellectuals, business people, sports people, artists, military and political leaders come from this state. Punjabis customarily value and show great respect for their traditions and history. Traditional historic Punjabi culture is renowned for its tolerance, progressive and logical approach to life. The state is the location of one of the world's first and oldest civilizations, the
Indus Valley Civilization,
India's first civilization. As a consequence it has some of the richest cultural history in the world.
Sikhism is the main religion of Indian Punjab, and is the persuasion of about 60% [
1] of the population. Hinduism forms the prevalent minority religion. The holiest of
Sikh shrines, the
Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as the
Golden Temple, is located in the city of
Amritsar which is considered to be the holiest city in
Sikhism. Amritsar is also a place of religious significance for
Jains. The state possesses an impressive number of splendid examples of Sikh Architecture involving exquisite marble work; many of which are quickly becoming a tourist attractions from visitors from all over the world. Punjab is one of the six states in India that does not have a Hindu majority.
The language of the people of Punjab, on both sides of the international border, is
Punjabi; however, the alphabet used is different (
Gurmukhi on the Indian side and
Shahmukhi on Pakistani side).
Punjab is served by 9 leading institutes of excellence in higher education (listed below). All the major arts, humanities, science, engineering, law, medicine, veterinary science, and business courses are offered, leading to first degrees as well as postgraduate awards. Advanced research is conducted in all major areas of excellence. Punjab Agriculture University is one of world's leading authorities in agriculture.
1.
Guru Nanak Dev University,
Amritsar.
2.
Punjabi University,
Patiala.
3.
Panjab University,
Chandigarh.
4.
Punjab Agriculture University,
Ludhiana.
5.
Punjab Technical University,
Jalandhar.
6.
Punjab Medical University,
Faridkot.
7.
Punjab Veternary Sciences University,
Talwandi Sabo.
8.
National Institute of Technology,
Jalandhar.
9.
Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology,
PatialaThe current
Prime Minister of India, Dr
Manmohan Singh was educated at Panjab University,
Chandigarh.
Punjab has the best infrastructure in all of
India and as result it is becoming enormously attractive to foreign companies looking for bases and manufacturing zones for their Indian operations. The Indian National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has ranked Punjab's infrastructure as the best in India. Its road, rail, air and transport system is rated best in the country with ranking of 210 points compared to the national average of 100 in NCAER's infrastructure index. It has highest per capita generation of electricity in
India, which is 2.5 times the national average. All major Punjabi cities hugely benefit from this and having one of lowest tariff's in India, including all of Punjab's villages, which have been electrified and connected to the Punjabi electrical power grid since 1974.
*Total Road network 47,605 km
*All cities connected by National Highways.
*All major towns of adjoining states connected by National Highways.
*Percentage of villages connected by metalled roads 97%
*National Highways: 1000 km
*State Highways: 2166 km
*Major Distt. Roads: 1799 km
*Other District Roads: 3340 km
*Link Roads: 31657 km
Source: NCAER & Punjab GovernmentTourism is a swiftly expanding area and many analysts predict huge potential. Tourism of Punjab is principally suited for the tourist interested in culture, civilization, spirituality and epic history. More specifically tourism is particularly suited for the person who is interested in epic history, the celebrated Punjabi culture, royal Punjabi palaces, historic battles and of course the world-renowned examples of Sikh Architecture, shrines and temples.
Excluding agriculture other major industries include the manufacture of scientific instruments, electrical goods, machine tools, textiles, tourism, sewing machines, sports goods, starch, fertilizers, bicycles, and the processing of pine oil and sugar.
Macro-economic trend
This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Punjab at market prices
estimated by
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. The traditional long-term financial policy of the
central government is to reward well-performing States.
| Year ¦¦ Gross State Domestic Product |
|---|
| 1980 | 50,250 |
| 1985 | 95,060 |
| 1990 | 188,830 |
| 1995 | 386,150 |
| 2000 | 660,100 |
Punjab's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $27 billion in current prices.
About 1% of the
S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Punjab. This is a
list of NSE-indexed conglomerates with corporate offices in Punjab. Figures are given in millions of Indian Rupees for 2005.
| Gross Income |
|---|
| 1 | Mahavir Spinning Mills | 19,376 |
| 2 | Punjab Tractors | 10,245 |
| 3 | Abishek Industries | 7,537 |
| 4 | Nahar Spinning Mills | 4,687 |
| 5 | Nahar Exports | 4,293 |
| 6 | Vardhman Polytex | 2,955 |
Historically, Punjab (the five rivers region) has been one of the most fertile regions on
earth. The region is ideal for wheat-growing.Rice, sugar cane, fruits and
vegetables are also grown. Indian Punjab and is called the "Granary of India" or "India's bread-basket." It produces 60% of India's wheat, and 40% of India's rice. In worldwide terms, this represents 1/30th or 3% of the world's production of these crops, so Indian Punjab produces 2% of the world's cotton, 2% of its wheat and 1% of the world's rice. The largest grown crop is
wheat other important crops are
rice,
cotton,
sugarcane,
millet,
maize,
barley and fruit.
Punjab is considered to have the best infrastructure in
India. The
Punjabi people are statistically on average the wealthiest in
India.
Source: Punjab GovernmentPunjab state is divided into 19 administrative districts:
Amritsar,
Bathinda,
Firozpur,
Fatehgarh Sahib,
Faridkot,
Gurudaspur,
Hoshiarpur,
Jalandhar,
Kapurthala,
Ludhiana,
Mansa,
Moga,
Mohali,
Muktsar,
Nawanshahr,
Patiala,
Rupnagar,
Sangrur, and
Tarn Taran.
List of political parties in the stateMain article: History of Punjab
The Indian state of Punjab was created in 1947, when the
Partition of India split the former
Raj province of
Punjab between
India and
Pakistan. The mostly Muslim western part of the province became Pakistan's Punjab Province; the mostly Sikh and Hindu eastern part became India's Punjab state. Many Hindus and Sikhs lived in the west, and many Muslims lived in the east, and so the partition saw many people displaced and much intercommunal violence. Several small Punjabi
princely states, including
Patiala, also became part of India. In 1950, two separate states were created; Punjab included of the former Raj province of Punjab, while the princely states were combined into a new state, the
Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). PEPSU consisted of the princely states of Patiala,
Nabha,
Jind,
Kapurthala,
Malerkotla,
Faridkot and
Kalsia.Himachal Pradesh was created as a
union territory from several princely states and
Kangra District. In 1956, PEPSU was merged into Punjab state, and several northern districts of Punjab in the
Himalayas were added to
Himachal Pradesh.
The capital of undivided Punjab province,
Lahore, ended up in Pakistan after partition, so a new capital for Indian Punjab state was built at Chandigarh. On November 1, 1966, the mostly Hindu southeastern half of Punjab became a separate state, Haryana. Chandigarh was on the border between the two states, and became a separate
union territory which serves as the capital of both Punjab and Haryana. Chandigarh was due to transfer to Punjab alone in 1986, but the transfer has been delayed.
During the
1970s, the
Green Revolution brought increased economic prosperity for the Sikh community in Punjab. However, a growing
polarisation between the
Congress led Indian government and the main political part of the Sikhs, the
Shiromani Akali Dal, began to widen during the 1970's. The hostility and bitterness arose from what was widely seen by the Sikhs as increasing alienation, centarlization and discriminatory attitudes towards Punjab by the Government of India. This prompted the Shiromani Akali Dal to unanimously pass the
Anandpur Sahib Resolution which among other things called for granting maximum autonomy for the Punjab and other states and limiting the role and powers of the Central Government. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution was rejected and dubbed as being of a hidden separatist agenda.
The situation in Punjab deteriorated rapidly after the
Indian army's assault on the
Harimandir in June, 1984. The army assault on the Golden Temple sparked off a full-fledged armed struggle against the Indian government by a small section of Punjabi Sikhs who demanded an independent state
Khalistan, after the attack on the holiest temple in
Sikhism (
Harimandir) in
Amritsar. The city of
Amritsar is considered the holiest city in
Sikhism, just like
Mecca is to
Muslims or
Vatican City is to
Catholics, therefore, this action was explosive politically. If a full scale independence movement had be supported by the general Punjabi Sikh population many military analysts have concluded that the Indian Army would have not been able to prevent it.
Jammu & Kashmir's population is 10 million and approximently 40% of the entire
Indian Army is deployed to keep basic control of the state. To control and prevent independence of Punjab would have required massive resources and troop numbers that were completely beyond the capability of the Indian Army.
The Indian government's reaction to the movement for Khalistan was to declare Punjab as a disturbed area and to grant the security forces
draconian powers in the hopes of crushing the militancy and support for an independent state by force (
Operation Blackthunder - I & II and
Operation Woodrose).
By the early 1990s, after many years of violence across Punjab, the militant struggle for Khalistan lost much of the sympathy it had previously had from the Sikh masses and what little armed resistance remained was eliminated and forced underground. There is a strong long-term policy by the central
government of India and the Punjab state government to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone involved in any political violence.
India's morale and cultural life was acutely affected by Punjab's alienation from India in the 80s and early 90s as Punjab is a major hub of the country's cultural life.
In recent times, there has been the begins of a serious attempt to reconcile by central
government of India so to diminish resentment and strong feelings of Punjabis over the appalling events that took place in 1984 and 80-90s in general. Many have seen this as recognition of the fact by both sides that India needs Punjab and it's people and Punjab needs India, for both to fulfil their potential.
*
Official Government of Punjab tourism information site*
A Western journalist's report on his short tourism experience of Punjab*
Punjab Government*
Punjab At A Glance - Introduction*
Punjab - Leading By Example*
Map of Punjab*
Punjab State Human Rights Commission (in Chandigarh), began 1997-03-17*
Faridkot *
Moga District *
The Tribune - Major regional English newspaper *
Indian Express - Major regional English newspaper
