Delhi's main historical sites
The Times of India

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Delhi

The source of this section

INDIA 2012

A REFERENCE ANNUAL

Compiled by

RESEARCH, REFERENCE AND TRAINING DIVISION

PUBLICATIONS DIVISION

MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Area : 1,483 sq km

Population : 13.80 million (Census 2001) 16,753,235 (as per Prov. Census 2011)

Capital : Delhi

Principal Languages : Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu & English

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

Delhi finds prominent reference right from the times of the epic Mahabharata. Its control passed from one ruler/dynasty to another, beginning with the Mauryas, Pallavas, Guptas of Central India and then going on to the Turks of Afghan during the 13th to 15th centuries, and finally to the Mughals in the 16th century. In the latter half of the 18th century and early 19th century, British rule was established in Delhi. In 1911, Delhi became the centre of all activities after the capital was shifted from Kolkata (Calcutta). It was made a Union Territory in 1956. Lying in the northern part of the country, Delhi is surrounded by Haryana on all sides except the east where it borders with Uttar Pradesh. The 69th Constitutional amendment is a milestone in Delhi’s history as it got a Legislative Assembly with the enactment of the National Capital Territory Act, 1991.

AGRICULTURE

The principal food crops are wheat, bajra, jowar, gram and maize. However, emphasis has now shifted from food crops to vegetables and fruit crops, dairy and poultry farming, floriculture, etc., as these are more remunerative than food crops in the territory.

INDUSTRY

Delhi is not only the largest commercial centre in northern India, but also the largest centre of small industries. These units manufacture a wide variety of items like television, tape recorders, light engineering machines and automobile parts, sports goods, bicycles and PVC goods including footwear, textiles, fertilizers, medicines, hosiery, leather goods, software, etc.

Delhi’s new millennium industrial policy emphasizes setting up of high-tech and sophisticated industries in electronics, telecommunications, software industries, IT enabling services, etc. The industries, which are non-polluting and encourage high value addition and depend largely on skilled manpower are being promoted. DSIDC is setting up a Training Institute for Gems and Jewellery and Assaying and Hallmarking Centre at Okhla in the building of Hitech Vocational Centre.

For the purpose of relocating industrial units functioning in residential nonconforming areas, the Government of NCT of Delhi took possession of 1900 acres of land at village Bawana, Holambi Kalan and Holambi Khurd for developing new industrial estates. Bawana Industrial area developed by DSIDC is the largest in Asia and is spread over 1900 acres of land. At Narela 900 plots have been developed and allotted and another 600 plots are being developed. Work of construction of 378 flatted factories at Jhilmil Industrial Area for relocation of smaller units has been completed. 450 acres of land have been taken for development at the Bhorgaarh industrial estates. In addition to the above, 652 hectare of land is being acquired for development into a huge industrial area in Kanjhawala/Kerala.

Education

Dropouts

Opting out after primary school/ 2016

Ambika Pandit, 33k skip corpn schools after primary level, Feb 22, 2017: The Times of India

As many as 33,744 children enrolled in municipal schools in the capital have dropped out after the primary level in the past two years, said Justice Mukta Gupta of the Delhi high court.

Justice Gupta, who is on the Juvenile Justice Committee of the HC, said the data was provided by the chief secretary of Delhi.

She was speaking at the release of the “Standard Operating Procedures for Care and Protection of Children in Street Situations“, an initiative of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. NGO Save the Children is a partner organisation. Justice Gupta stressed the need to bridge the information gap and create interlinkages to reach out to the most vulnerable children. She also highlighted the need to focus on rehabilitation as mentioned in the SOP manual.NCPCR chairperson Stuti Kaicker said, “The SOP aims at streamlining the interven tions within the current legal and policy framework. The purpose of the SOP is to identify processes that should be set in motion once a child on the street has been identified as a child in need.“

The commission also sees the SOP as an attempt to em power both the common man and the practitioners with a step-by-step procedure, which may be adopted to ensure safety, rescue, rehabilitation and social reintegration of a child on the street.

A chapter in the SOP titled, “Children in street situa tions in India“, states that two in every third street children are out of school and the proportion of children working but not studying is high. The SOP also emphasises the need to make an objective assessment of the child's family conditions before reintegration so that heshe does not return to the street again. The document also talks of counselling and linking the family to social welfare schemes to ensure a better life for the child.

In this backdrop, Union minister Maneka Gandhi has asked NCPCR to make Delhi a pilot stage for implementation for the SOP . A key component of the SOP is to give every child an identity by way of an Aadhaar card and make the area postman and post office the nodal link at the local level for a child on the street.The idea of an “agent of change“ is introduced wherein like the postman, a certified insurance agent will identify and link children to health insurance.

The NCPCR will need to discuss the SOP with the Delhi government and Delhi Police before executing the plan in the districts in pilot mode.

Children rescued from streets were also consulted at a programme organised by NCPCR. An earlier study by the NGO had found around 50,000 children on the streets of Delhi alone.

IRRIGATION AND POWER

Due to fast urbanisation of the rural areas of Delhi, cultivable command area under irrigation is getting reduced day by day. Two schemes, namely, ‘‘Keshopur Effluent Irrigation Scheme Phase-III’’ and ‘‘Improvement and Extension of Effluent Irrigation System from Coronation Treatment Plant’’ are under execution. Irrigation of about 350 hectare with state tube-wells and 1,376 hectare from effluent water is being provided in the rural area of NCT of Delhi. In addition about 4,900 hectare of land is being irrigated from western Yamuna Canal network.

The firm availability of power for Delhi from its own generating units at Rajghat Power Houses, IP Station and Gas Turbines including Badarpur Thermal Station is of the order of 850-900 MW. The remaining power is drawn from Northern Regional Grid. Delhi has also envisaged a number of generating projects to be taken up.

Pragati Combined Cycle Power Project has been established at Indraprastha Estate. A 330 MW Pragati Power Project under construction is scheduled to be commissioned soon. The test run for its first phase of 100 MW has already started. The work of newly planned 330 MW gas based power plant under Pragati-II and 1000 MW power plant planned at Bawana is going on. Existing coal-based Indraprastha plant is being replaced by 1000 MW gas based plant.

To streamline the distribution of power, DVB has been privatised and Delhi is now served by two of the best electric utilities in India, BSES and Tata Power (NDPL).

TRANSPORT

Delhi is well connected by roads, rail and air with all parts of India. It has three airports—Indira Gandhi International Airport for the international flights, Palam Airport for domestic air services and Safdarjung Airport for training purposes. It has three important railway stations — Delhi Junction, New Delhi Railway Station and Nizamuddin Railway Station. Delhi has three inter-state bus terminals at Kashmere Gate, Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar.

Keeping in view the rising vehicular pollution and chaotic traffic condition in the city of Delhi, it has been decided to start Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Delhi. The Project is under implementation and it uses the state-of-the-art modern technology. The metro rail project runs in Delhi. Now Delhi Metro comprises six lines with a total length of around 190 Km.

FESTIVALS

Being a cosmopolitan city, all major festivals of India are celebrated here. Moreover, some tourism festivals have become regular annual events of Delhi. Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation organises Roshnara Festival, Shalimar Festival, Qutab Festival, Winter Carnival, Garden Tourism Festival, Jahan-e-Khusrao Festival and Mango Festival every year.

TOURIST PLACES

Important tourist places are Lal Quila (Red Fort), Jama Masjid, Qutab Minar, India Gate, Laxmi Narain Mandir (Birla Mandir), Humayun’s tomb, Lotus Temple, Akshardham, etc. Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited conducts city sight-seeing and excursion tours. The Corporation has also introduced adventure tourism activities such as para-sailing, rock-climbing and boating in Delhi. The Corporation has also developed two Delhi Haats where beverages and food items of different States are available at one place. More such Haats are planned in different parts of Delhi. The Corporation is also running Coffee Homes in different parts of Delhi. The ‘‘Garden of five Senses’’ has also been opened in the South District of Delhi, which attracts a lot of tourists visiting Delhi.

GOVERNMENT

Lt. Governor : Shri Tejindra Khanna (till 2013); Najeeb H. Jung (2013-16); Anil Baijal (31 Dec 2016-)

Chief Secretary : Shri P.K. Tripathi (2012)/ Sh Deepak Spolia (201?)

Chief Minister : Smt. Sheila Dikshit (till 2013); Arvind Kejriwal (28 Dec 2013-14 Feb 2014); President's Rule; Arvind Kejriwal (14 Feb 2015-)

Jurisdiction of High Court : Delhi

Delhi is Capital of India.

The Lieutenant Governors of Delhi

1 Aditya Nath Jha, ICS 7 November 1966 19 January 1972

2 M.C. Pimputkar, ICS 19 January 1972 23 April 1972

3 Baleshwar Prasad, IAS 24 April 1972 3 October 1974

4 Krishan Chand, ICS 3 October 1974 30 March 1978

5 Dalip Rai Kohli, ICS 30 March 1978 17 February 1980

6 Jagmohan, IAS 17 February 1980 30 March 1981

7 Sundar Lal Khurana, IAS 30 March 1981 2 September 1982

8 Jagmohan, IAS 2 September 1982 25 April 1984

9 P. G. Gavai, IAS 25 April 1984 Nov 1984

10 Mohan M.K. Wali, IAS Nov 1984 Nov 1985

11 Harkishan Lal Kapoor, PVSM, AVSM Nov 1985 Aug 1988

12 Romesh Bhandari, IAS Aug 1988 Dec 1989

13 Arjan Singh, DFC Dec 1989 Dec 1990

14 Markandey Singh, IPS Dec 1990 4 May 1992

15 Prasannabhai Karunashankar Dave, IAS 4 May 1992 4 January 1997

16 Tejendra Khanna,IAS 4 January 1997 20 April 1998

17 Vijai Kapoor, IAS 20 April 1998 9 June 2004

18 Banwari Lal Joshi, IPS 9 June 2004 9 April 2007

19 Tejendra Khanna, IAS 9 April 2007 9 July 2013

20 Najeeb H. Jung, IAS 9 July 2013 22 December 2016

21 Anil Baijal, IAS 31 December 2016 -

Population

2020 estimate

TNN, January 7, 2020: The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s population is now higher than the population of countries like New Zealand, Greece, Sweden, Zimbabwe and the Netherlands. It has officially crossed two crore, according to the data released by the Election Commission of India, with the announcement of the upcoming assembly elections.

The officially estimated population of 2.01 crore in 2020 is more than the population of 140 countries/territories for which both population and area data is available, though Delhi’s area is tiny in comparison to many of them.

The largest country by area with fewer people than India’s capital is Kazakhstan. The country that is spread over 27 lakh square km has an estimated population of 1.88 crore. This means its population is 93.4% of Delhi’s, while its area is 1,819 times as large. Similarly Zimbabwe has 73.9% of Delhi’s population and is 261 times the area.

There are over 50 countries with higher populations than Delhi. Even among these, many have a slightly higher population but are over thousand times bigger in area. Canada for example has a population which is 1.9 times of Delhi and an area that is 6,128 times the size of India’s capital. Similarly, Australia is 5,183 times the size of Delhi with just 1.3 times its population. Argentina and Saudi Arabia are also over a thousand times Delhi’s size with only slightly higher population.

All of this is just the National Capital Territory. The population of the Delhi Urban Agglomeration (UA) — the continuous urban spread that includes Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon and Faridabad — is by far the largest in the country. The UN estimates for Delhi UA’s population at three crore for 2020, a crore more than the Mumbai UA. Other UAs with population over a crore are Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad.

Delhi UA was the second fastest growing among these six. Between 2010 and 2020, Delhi UA saw a decadal population growth of 38% less only than Bangalore’s 49% in this period.

Delhi UA is also, after Tokyo, the world’s second largest continuous urban spread. Tokyo has an estimated 3.7 crore people living in the city and adjoining overgrowths. Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Dhaka, Cairo and Beijing are next on the list of the world’s biggest UAs. Among the 10 largest, Dhaka saw the fastest growth between 2010 and 2020 while Delhi came second on this count.

The main historical sites

Richi Verma, Heritage circuits: A Rs 100cr idea to bump up tourism Sep 11 2016 : The Times of India

The heritage circuit consists of the monumental edifices left behind by various dynasties, from the Ghors, Khiljis and Tughlaqs to the Sayyids, Lodis and Mughals and finally the British.

These dynasties thrived in seven circuits centring on, Mehrauli; Tughlaqabad and Surajkund; Hauz Khas and Safdarjung's Tomb; Nizamuddin; Purana Qila and Lodi Gardens; Shahjahanabad and New Delhi.

Mehrauli goes beyond the World Heritage Site of Qutub Minar and see other monuments and tombs in the area as also the iconic stepwells, Rajon ki Baoli and Gandhak ki Baoli. “The street character of Mehrauli village is also interesting and gives a glimpse of what life may have been like centuries ago,“ said an official.

The Tughlaqabad circuit includes the Surajkund lake from the fort,

The Hauz Khas circuit encompasses Hauz Khas fort, the lake, Be gumpuri masjid and Safdarjung's Tomb.

The Shahjahanabad circuit engages the landmarks in Old Delhi such as Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk and Red Fort.

Renaming Delhi

The Times of India

Manash Gohain & Shreya Roy Chowdhury, December 18, 2014

Delhi forever, don't rename it

Historians differ with Venkaiah Naidu on what is a good name for city

“When Shah Jahan couldn't do it, how can these present politicians change the name of Delhi?” said writer and historian William Dalrymple, when asked about Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu's statement that Delhi should have been named Indraprastha or Hastinapur. Another historian, Ramachandra Guha, said the urban development minister should devote his time to improving conditions in cities rather then changing their names. He, however, added that changing the name to Dilli will be more appropriate, as has been done with Kolkata, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

During the discussion on the National Capital of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill that was passed by Lok Sabha in December, 2014, Naidu said the name used for the Delhi region in Mahabharata is more suitable, but clarified: “I am not proposing anything“.

Dalrymple said, “Hastinapur is nowhere near Delhi. Indraprastha is the right name, a name full of images and heroic memories. However, politicians may try but Delhi will resist any such attempt”.He added, “Delhi had resisted many such attempts to rename it for centuries. The Tughlaqs wanted it to be named Firozabad and Shah Jahan tried to change it to Shahjahanabad”.

Guha said `Indraprastha' would be inappropriate” as it is mythical. But it would be appropriate to call it Dilli as has been pronounced by the locals for centuries“.

Historian Upinder Singh has traced the history of the name `Delhi' in her book ` Ancient Delhi' (1999). The earliest reference to a `Dhilli' or `Dhillika' as a location is a 12th-century inscription from Bijolia, Rajasthan. “It refers to a Chauhan king called Vigraharaj as conqueror of Dhillika.“

`Killi Dhilli Katha' in Prithviraj Raso (also 12th-century) links `Dhilli' with Rajput king Anangpal and the iron pillar in Mehrauli. “In that legend, a Brahmin told Anangpal that the pillar's root goes very deep and rests on the hood of Vasuki Naag, and it can't be moved.Anangpal decided to dig it out and when it came up, it had the serpent's blood on it. He tried to put it back in but it remained dhilli (loose),” said Singh. This legend suggests the city was named after the loose base of the reinstalled pillar. Later mentions of “Dhilli” appear in an inscription in Palam Baoli at Palam Village; it records the construction of a step-well by Uddhara, a `householder of Dhilli'. “References to Dhilli or Dhillika are found in inscriptions from the 12th to the 14th centuries. There are also references to a king named Dhilli in Persian accounts and there's a legend that the place was founded by King Dileep,“ says Singh. But which part of Delhi or the region around it is referred to in these references is “very difficult to say“.

Quite often the purpose of changing a name is to modify a place's history , “but that is not going to change. I am personally against it. Delhi by any other name will have the same legacy,“ said A G K Menon, Delhi convener of Intach.

Symbols

State bird, state animal , state tree

Kushagra Dixit, May 3, 2023: The Times of India

New Delhi: The Nilgai could lose its state animal status in popular perception soon as the Delhi forest department has clarified that it has no document to support the claim that the large antelope was ever accorded this status.

 The Delhi forest department made this clear in reply to an RTI query. “Delhi has a state bird, which is House Sparrow… Document is attached herewith for declaring House Sparrow as the State bird of Delhi…. No document is available on declaring the state animal and tree as per office records,” the RTI reply said.  

The RTI reply has come when the Union environment ministry’s website has listed the Nilgai as the state animal of Delhi under the section of state symbols of India.

 The forest department stated that a Delhi Gazette order dated October 5, 2012, has declared the house sparrow (Passer domesticas) the state bird on the recommendation of the National Board of Wildlife. The reply demolished another popular perception: that the Gulmohar is Delhi’s state tree. A government website even says so, but the forest department differs.  

How the Nilgai, found in the city’s forests, came to be regarded as the state animal is unclear.

 “A state animal is declared based on the uniqueness of the animal to that region, or its rarity. For example, the Sangai is unique to Manipur… For Delhi, the deciding factor should be the presence of any native species that still roams the wild. Generally, the state board and wildlife department decide such things,” said Dr Bivash Pandav, a scientist at Wildlife Institute of India (WII)

According to forest officials, there is no rule of thumb on deciding a state symbol and it could be declared by a state board, either on recommendation of the state or central government.

However, conservation plays some part in the selection. “Usually, a state animal is chosen keeping in mind that how protecting it would help in conserving biodiversity. We don’t know how this perception developed, most of it coming from open sources. We don’t have any document that shows there is a state animal and that too the Nilgai,” a senior forest official said.

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