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| About Nagpur |
INTRODUCTION
Nagpur, also known as "Orange City" is the second capital of the state of Maharashtra and the largest city in the central India. It is also the 13th largest urban conglomeration in India. Nagpur is also a major commercial and political center of the region of Maharashtra apart from being the seat of annual winter session of Maharashtra state assembly. Being the headquarters for the Hindu nationalist organization RSS and an important location for the Dalit Buddhist movement, Nagpur has a great political importance also.
With the Zero Mile Marker indicating the geographical center of India, Nagpur lies precisely at the center of the country. The city was founded by the Gonds but later became part of the Maratha Empire under the Bhonsles. In the 19th century, it was made the capital of the Central Provinces and Berar under the rule of British East India Company.Later on, after the reorganization of states, it was made the second capital of Maharashtra.
The Nag River, a tributary of the Kanhan River, flows in a serpentine path and is therefore named "Nag", the Marathi word for Cobra, where the city has supposed to be gotten its name from. The seal of Nagpur Municipal Corporation depicts a cobra in the water of a river. |
HISTORY
Human existence around present day Nagpur city can be traced back 3000 years. The first reference to the name Nagpur is found in a 10th century copper-plate inscription discovered at Devali in the neighboring Wardha district.
The Non-cooperation movement was launched in the Nagpur session of 1920. The city witnessed a Hindu-Muslim riot in 1923 which had profound impact on K. B. Hedgewar, who in 1925 founded the RSS, and after the 1927 Nagpur riots RSS gained further popularity in Nagpur and the organization grew nationwide.
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 Maharshtra and Gujarat.
At a formal public ceremony on October 14, 1956 in Nagpur B.R.Ambedkar along with his supporters converted to Buddhism starting Dalit Buddhist movement which is still active In 1994, the city witnessed its most violent day in modern times in form of Gowari stampede deaths. Nagpur completed 300 years of establishment in the year 2002. A big celebration was organized to mark the event.
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GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Nagpur lies on the Deccan plateau of the Indian Peninsula and has a mean altitude of 310 meters above sea level Nagpur city is dotted with natural and man-made lakes with Ambazari lake being the largest. Other natural lakes include Gorewada Lake and Telangkhedi lake. Sonegaon lake along with Gandhisagar lake are man-made lakes created by cities historical rulers. Nag river, Pilli nadi along with nallas form the natural drainage pattern for the city.
As it is located at centre of Indian peninsula far from Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea, Nagpur has a tropical wet and dry climate with dry conditions prevailing for most of the year. Nagpur city receives an annual rainfall of 1,205 mm (47.44 in) from monsoon rains during June to September.Summers are extremely hot lasting from March to June. Winter lasts from November to January, during which temperatures can drop below 10°C (50°F).
The highest recorded temperature in the city was 48.6 °C (119.5 °F) on 26 May 1954 |
CIVIC ADMINISTRATION
Nagpur is administered by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) which is democratically elected civic governing body. Nagpur Improvement Trust(NIT) works with NMC and carries out works like development of the civic infrastructure and new urban areas on behalf of NMC.
Nagpur is headquarters of national level scientific and governmental establishments like the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute NEERI, the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), the National Research Centre for Citrus, the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Aluminium Research and Development Centre, and the Petroleum And Explosives Safety Organisation(PESO)(formerly known as Department of Explosives). |
MILITARY
Nagpur is an important city for the Indian armed forces. The city is the headquarters of Maintenance Command of Indian Air Force.The Indian Army's Ordinance factory and staf college are located in the western part of the city. Nagpur's suburb Kamptee has cantonment of Regimental center of Indian Army's Brigade made up of National Cadet Corps' Officers' Training School, Institute of Military Law and other establishments. Nagpur's National Civil Defense College provides civil defense and disaster management training to pupils from all over India and abroad. Indian Air Force's giant IL-76 transport planes nicknamed "Gajraj" are also based in Nagpur |
DEMOGRAPHICS
Marathi, the official language of Maharashtra, is the local language in Nagpur. Due to its central location Nagpur has become cosmopolitan with a large number of residents from neighborin states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.Nagpur is also the second most slum-populated city in Maharashtra after Mumbai. |
ECONOMY
Nagpur has been the main center of commerce in the Vidarbha region since early days and is an important trading location. However, Nagpur's economic importance had gradually declined relative to Mumbai and Pune after the merging of Vidarbha into the Maharashtra because of a period of neglect by the state government.
Nagpur's economy is currently recovering from past slowdowns and city has attracted Rupees 5,000 crore in investment in 2004. The city is important for the banking sector as it hosts the regional office of Reserve Bank of India, which was opened on September 10, 1956.The Reserve Bank of India has two branches in Nagpur in which one of it houses India's entire gold assets. Sitabuldi market in central Nagpur, known as the Heart of the city, is the major commercial market area of city.
The Butibori industrial area is the largest in all of Asia in terms of area. Koradi Thermal Power Station and Khaparkheda Thermal Power Station are the two major thermal power stations located near Nagpur and operated by MSPGCL.
Nagpur is home to ice-cream manufacturer Dinshaws, Indian dry food manufacturer Haldiram's and Ayurvedic product company Vicco and Baidnath. |
EDUCATION
Nagpur is a major education centre in Central India. Founded in 1923, Nagpur University is one of the oldest in the country. Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur, one of the top b-schools in India is located on a sprawling campus on way to Katol. Nagpur has one Veterinary College, and three Medical colleges namely Government Medical College and Hospital(GMCH), Indira Gandhi Medical College(IGMC) and Lata Mangeshkar Medical College(LMC) and 1 Dental college. Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology(VNIT) is one of the reputed technical institutes in the country.
Nagpur is also home to India's only National Fire Service College that provides a graduation course in Fire Engineering. Nagpur has an I.G.N.O.U regional centre located at Amravati Road where a large pool of students from all over the Vidarbha region pursue education from certificate courses to Masters degree programs. |
CULTURE AND PLACES OF INTEREST
The city contains people from other Indian states as well as people belonging to the world's< major faiths, and yet is known for staying calm during communal conflicts in India.The South Central Cultural Centre also sponsors cultural events in Nagpur city, such as the Orange City Craft Mela and Folk Dance Festival, Newspapers are published from Nagpur in Marathi, English and Hindi. In addition, the Government of Maharashtra organizes a week long Kalidas Festival, a series of music and dance performances, by national level artists.
The Hitavada is one of the oldest English daily newspaper published in central India. The Nagpur Central Museum (estb. 1863) maintains collections mainly for Vidarbha region.The Raman Science Centre promotes scientific knowledge and has a 133 seat planetarium. The present day Maharajbagh zoo was originally a garden developed by the Bhonsle rulers.The state government has approved a new safari park of international standards besides Gorewada Lake.
Deekshabhoomi, the largest hollow stupa or the largest dome shape monument and an important place of dalit buddhist movement, is located in Nagpur. The most famous Temple in Nagpur is Tekdi Ganesh Mandir, and is said to be one of the Swayambhu (means Self-Manifested) temple in city.Sri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir and Shri Mahalaxmi Devi temple of Koradi are important Hindu temples. Religious events are observed in the city throughout the year. Like the rest of India, Nagpurkars celebrate major Hindu festivals like Diwali, Holi and Dussera with enthusiasm. The city also contains a sizable Muslim population, and famous places of worship for Muslims include the Jama Masjid-Mominpura and Bohri Jamatkhana-Itwari.
The Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground (VCA) in Nagpur is one of the nine test venues in the country. A new stadium of VCA in JAmtha on Wardha Road has also been on Wardha road. The city has in all 4 multiplexes including INOX Wardhaman Nagar, the first multiplex in the city, INOX Jaswant Tuli Mall, Cinemax Sitabuldi, Sangam Adlabs Sakkardara. |
HANGOUTS
The hangouts in Nagpur are Telangkhedi Lake, Telangkhedi Chuapati, Futala Lake, Ambazari Lake, famous malls of the city.The other places to visit being orange market, Bombay high court Nagpur Bench, one of the oldest university in India and that is Nagpur University, VCA ground, the new International Airport, Sitabuldi Market, Nagpur Improvement Trust, and the flyover.
Currently, it is the most cleanest and well planned city in India.
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