Chandigarh
Template:Infobox State IN Chandigarh (Template:Lang-pa, Template:Lang-hi, pronunciation: /tʃəɳɖiːgəɽʰ/) also called The City Beautiful, is a city in India that serves as the capital of two states: Punjab and Haryana. However, administratively, the city is not under the jurisdiction of either state, it is administered by the Centre government and hence classified as a union territory. The Governor of the Punjab is the Administrator of Chandigarh.
The city derives its name from a temple of goddess Chandi (the Chandi Mandir) located in nearby Panchkula District of Haryana. The word Chandigarh literally means "the fort of Chandi".
Chandigarh is known for its high standard of living and tops the list of Indian States (Provinces) and Union Territories with a Human Development Index of 0.674.
Chandigarh has two satellite cities (both of which share a border with it): Panchkula and Mohali. Sometimes, the triangle of these three cities is collectively called as the Chandigarh Tricity.
Brief history
After the partition of British India into the two nations of India and Pakistan in 1947, the region of Punjab was also split between India and Pakistan. The Indian state of Punjab required a new capital city to replace Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during the partition. After several plans to make additions to existing cities were found to be infeasible for various reasons, the decision to construct a new and planned city was undertaken.
Of all the new town schemes in independent India, the Chandigarh project quickly assumed prime significance, because of the city's strategic location as well as Jawaharlal Nehru's (the first Prime Minister of independent India) personal interest in it. Commissioned by Nehru to reflect the new nation's modern, progressive outlook, Nehru famously proclaimed Chandigarh to be "unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation's faith in the future." Several buildings and layouts in Chandigarh were designed by the Swiss-born French architect and planner, Le Corbusier in the 1950s. Le Corbusier was in fact the second architect of the city, after the initial master plan was prepared by the American architect-planner Albert Mayer who was working with the Polish-born architect Matthew Nowicki. It was only after Nowicki's untimely death in 1950 that Le Corbusier was pulled into the project.
On 1 November, 1966, the newly formed Indian state of Haryana was carved out of eastern portion of the Punjab, in order to create Haryana as a majority Hindi speaking state, while the western portion of Punjab retained a mostly Punjabi-speaking majority and remained as the current day Punjab. However, the city of Chandigarh was on the border, and was thus created into a union territory to serve as capital of both these states. Chandigarh was due to be transferred to Punjab in 1986, in accordance with an agreement signed in August 1985 by Rajiv Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India at that time, with Sant Harchand Singh Longowal of the Akali Dal. This was to be accompanied by the creation of a new capital for Haryana, but the transfer has been delayed pending an agreement on the districts of Punjab that should be transferred to Haryana in exchange.
The other planned cities in India Lutyens's New Delhi, Bhubaneshwar in Orissa, Gandhinagar in Gujrat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, were built close to existing old cities (Delhi, Cuttack,Ahmedabad and Mumbai respectively).
Geography
Chandigarh is located in the fringes of the Shivalik range of the Himalayas in Northwest India. It covers an area of approximately 114 km². and shares its borders with the States of Haryana in the south and Punjab in the north. The exact cartographic co-ordinates of Chandigarh are 30°44′N 76°47′E / 30.74°N 76.79°E.[1] It has an average elevation of 321 metres (1053 feet). The surrounding districts are of Mohali and Ropar in Punjab and Panchkula in Haryana. The boundary of the state of Himachal Pradesh are not too far from its north.
Climate
Chandigarh has a sub-tropical continental monsoon climate characterized by a seasonal rhythm, hot summers, slightly cold winters, unreliable rainfall and great variation in temperature (0 °C to 44 °C). In winter, frost sometimes occurs during December and January. The average annual rainfall is recorded at 617 mm. The city also receives occasional winter rains from the western disturbance.
Average temperature
- Summer: The temperature in summer may rise to a maximum of 44°C. Temperatures generally remain between 35° C to 42° C.
- Autumn: In autumn, the temperature may rise to a maximum of 36° C. Temperatures usually remain between 16° to 27° in autumn. The minimum temperature is around 13° C.
- Winter: Winters are quite cool. However, it can sometimes get quite chilly in Chandigarh. Average temperatures in winter (November to February) remain at (max) 7° C to 15 ° C and (min) 0° C to 5° C.
- Spring: The climate remains quite pleasant during the spring season. Temperatures vary between (max) 16° C to 25° C and (min) 9° C to 18° C.
Plan and architecture
Taking over from Albert Mayer, Le Corbusier produced a plan for Chandigarh that conformed to the modernist city planning principles of CIAM, in terms of division of urban functions, an anthropomorphic plan form, and a hierarchy of road and pedestrian networks.
This vision of Chandigarh, contained in the innumerable conceptual maps on the drawing board together with notes and sketches had to be translated into brick and mortar. Le Corbusier retained many of the seminal ideas of Mayer and Nowicki, like the basic framework of the master plan and its components: the Capitol, City Centre, besides the University, Industrial area, and linear parkland. Even the neighbourhood unit was retained as the basic module of planning. However, the curving outline of Mayer and Nowicki was reorganised into a mesh of rectangles, and the buildings were characterised by an 'honesty of materials'. Exposed brick and boulder stone masonry in its rough form produced unfinished concrete surfaces, in geometrical structures. This became the architecture form characteristic of Chandigarh, set amidst landscaped gardens and parks.
The initial plan had two phases: the first for a population of 150,000 and the second taking the total population to 500,000. Le Corbusier divided the city into units called 'sectors', each representing a theoretically self-sufficient entity with space for living, working and leisure. The sectors were linked to each other by a road and path network developed along the line of the 7 Vs, or a hierarchy of seven types of circulation patterns. At the highest point in this network was the V1, the highways connecting the city to others, and at the lowest were the V7s, the streets leading to individual houses. Later a V8 was added: cycle and pedestrian paths.
The city plan is laid down in a grid pattern. Divided into identical looking sectors, each sector measures 800 m x 1200 m. The sectors were to act as self-sufficient neighborhoods, each with its own market, places of worship, schools and colleges - all within 10 minutes walking distance from within the sector. The original two phases of the plan delineated sectors from 1 to 47, with the exception of 13.
The city was to be surrounded by a 16 kilometer wide greenbelt that was to ensure that no development could take place in the immediate vicinity of the town, thus checking suburbs and urban sprawl.
While leaving the bulk of the city's architecture to other members of his team, Le Corbusier took responsibility for the overall master plan of the city, and the design of some of the major public buildings including the High Court, Assembly, Secretariat, the Museum and Art Gallery, School of Art and the Lake Club. Le Corbusier's most prominent building, the Court House, consists of the High court, which is literally higher than the other, eight lower courts. Most of the other housing was done by Le Corbusier's cousin Pierre Jeanneret, the English husband and wife team of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, along with a team of nine Indian architects -- M. N. Sharma, A. Ar. Prabhawalkar, B. P. Mathur, Piloo Moody, U. E. Chowdhury, N. S. Lamba, J. L. Malhotra, J. S. Dethe and Aditya Prakash.
The city in its final form, while not resembling his previous city projects like the Ville Contemporaine or the Ville Radieuse, was an important and iconic landmark in the history of town planning. It continues to be an object of interest for architects, planners, historians and social scientists.
Demographics
As of 2001 India census,Template:GR Chandigarh had a population of 808,796, making for a density of about 7900 persons per square kilometre. Males constitute 56% of the population and females 44%. The sex ratio is 777 females for every 1,000 males – which is the lowest in the country. Chandigarh has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 76% and female literacy of 68%. About 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. The main religions in Chandigarh are Hinduism (75.5%), Sikhism (21.0%), Islam (2.72%), and Christianity (0.78). Punjabi and Hindi are the main languages spoken in Chandigarh, but English is also quite prevalent. A small number of people also speak Urdu. However, the most common language for informal communication, especially among the youth of the city is a combination of Hindi and English, commonly referred to as Hinglish.
A significant percentage of the population of Chandigarh consists of people who had moved here from the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to fill up the large number of vacancies in various government departments that were established in Chandigarh.
Economy
Government
Government is a major employer in Chandigarh with three governments having their base here. A significant percentage of Chandigarh’s population therefore consists of people who are either serving for one of these Governments or have retired from government service. For this reason, Chandigarh is often called a “Pensioners Paradise”.
Industry
There are about 15 medium to large industrial including two in the Public sector. In addition Chandigarh has over 2500 units are registered under small scale sector. The important industries are paper manufacturing, basic metals and alloys and machinery. Other industries are relating to food products, sanitary ware, auto parts, machine tools, pharmaceuticals and electrical appliances. Yet, with a Per Capita Income of Rs. 67,370, Chandigarh is the richest city in India. Chandigarh's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $2.2 billion in current prices.
Banking
Chandigarh has a well developed market and banking infrastructure. Nearly all the major banks in the country have registered their presence in Chandigarh. Most banks with a pan India presence have their zonal/regional offices present in Chandigarh. In fact Bank square in Sector 17 in chandigarh has a large presence of such offices all in one section of the commercial sector.
Chambers of commerce
Three major trade promotion organizations have their offices in Chandigarh. These are: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, (FICCI) the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( PHDCCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) which has its regional headquarters at Sector 31, Chandigarh.
This is a list of NSE-indexed conglomerates with corporate offices in Chandigarh. Figures are given in millions of Indian Rupees for 2005.
| Rank | Conglomerate | Gross Income |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swaraj Mazda | 6,126 |
| 2 | Ind-Swift Laboratories | 3,270 |
| 3 | Nectar Lifesciences | 2,890 |
| 4 | Swaraj Engines | 1,282 |
Service Industry
Chandigarh IT Park (also Chandigarh Technology Park) is the city's attempt to break into the IT world. Chandigarh's infrastructure, proximity to Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, and the IT talent pool attracts IT businesses looking for office space in the area. Major Indian firms and multinational corporations including .Quark, Infosys, Dell, Ranbaxy have offices in the city and it's suburbs.
Education - schools
Chandigarh is known for its quality school education. The schools are affiliated to different types of school curricula.
International curriculum (IGCSE / IB)
The British School (TBS) (Panchkula)
National curriculum (CBSE / IB)
St. John's High School (Sector-26, The New Public School, Sector 18 B (www.npschd.com), Carmel Convent School (Sector-9), Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School (Sector-26), Andale Public School (Sector-9, Panchkula), Bhawan Vidyalaya (Sector-27), Chitkara International School (Sector - 25), Delhi Public School (Sector-40), Gurukul (Panchkula), St. Xaviers High School (Sector-44), Guru Nanak Public School (Sector-36), Ryan International School (Sector-49), Sanjay Public School (Sector-44), Shishu Niketan Model Sr. Sec. School (Sector-22), Shivalik Public School (Sector-41), St. Anne's Convent School (Sector-32), St. Peters School (Sector -38), Vivek High School (Sector-38), G.M.S.S.School (Sector-16), and G.M.S.S. School (Sector-37).
National curriculum (ICSE / IB)
Little Flower Convent School (Panchkula), Saupins School (Sector-32), St. Kabir High School (Sector-26), Strawberry Fields World School (Sector-26), St. Stephen's School (Sector-45), St. Xavier's School (Sector-44), Tender Heart School (Sector-33), and Yadavindra Public School (Mohali).
Higher education - colleges and institutions
The colleges in Chandigarh include MCM DAV College for Women, DAV College, Government College for Girls, Government College for Men, Home Science College for Girls, Guru Gobind Singh College, SD College, Government Teacher Training College (Chandigarh, India) and Government Teacher Training College. There are model schools set up by the government in various sectors, originally aimed to cater the needs of each sector. It is a major study hub for students all over Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Uttaranchal, and also for the students from South-East Asia. Chandigarh also houses many institutes of higher learning, such as:
- Panjab University in sector 14,
- Punjab Engineering College
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology (Panjab University)
- University Business School (UBS),
- University Institute of Engineering and Technology (Panjab University)
- Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET)
- Chandigarh College of Architecture,
- Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTech),
- National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR)
- GMCH Chandigarh
- Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research Government College of Polytechnic.
Also located in neighboring Mohali, Chandigarh College of Education for Women (CCEW), Chandigarh College of Pharmacy (CCP) and Chandigarh College of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (CCHM). The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) located in nearby Mohali is the first national level institute in pharmaceutical sciences with a proclaimed objective of becoming a centre of excellence for advanced studies and research in pharmaceutical sciences. Chandigarh's satellite town of Mohali is home for Centre for Development of Advanced Computing's northmost branch C-DAC Mohali that is engaged in research on state of the art topics including Telemedicine.
Chandigarh UT Administration
The Advisor to the Administrator, a very senior officer belonging to one of the All India Services, is the overall head of the Administration in the Union Territory of Chandigah. He generally belongs to the Indian Administrative Service.
- The Deputy Commissioner, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service, is the in-charge of the General Administration in the Chandigarh UT.
- The Senior Superintendent of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service, is responsible for maintaining Law & Order and related issues in the Chandigarh UT.
- The Deputy Conservator of Forests, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service, is responsible for the management of the Forests, Environment and Wild-Life in the Chandigarh UT.
The above three officers are from AGMU cadre or Punjab cadre or Haryana cadre of the All India Services.
Transport
While Chandigarh has a well-developed public transport network, most of Chandigarh's inhabitants prefer to use their own vehicles to commute within the city. This includes a large number two wheelers such as motorcycles and scooters. Chandigarh also has the largest number of vehicles per capita. Wide, well maintained roads and ample parking space all over the city, make it convenient to use private vehicles for local transport.
Public buses run by the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU), an undertaking of the Chandigarh Adminitration, provide local transport as well as inter-state transport services.
The Chandigarh Traffic Police oversees the implementation of the traffic rules, and is widely credited for a fairly orderly traffic system. The Traffic Park in Sector 23 introduces children, rickshaw-pullers and new drivers to traffic safety.
Rickshaws are common for travelling short distances, especially by school-going children, housewives and the elderly. Autorickshaws are limited, and most often ply to and from the ISBT. Most heavy traffic roads now have rickshaw lanes, which the rickshaw-pullers must adhere to compulsorily.
Chandigarh is well connected by road. The two main National Highways (NH) connecting Chandigarh with the rest of the country are: NH 22 (Ambala - Kalka - Shimla - Kinnaur) and NH 21 (Chandigarh - Leh). Chandigarh has an Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT), located in Sector 17, which has regular bus services to most major cites in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, as well as the national capital Delhi, which is about 240 km away.
Chandigarh has a small railway station located about 10 km. away from the ISBT. Regular train connections are available to the national capital and to some other junctions like Kalka, Ambala, Amritsar, Bhiwani, Howrah, and Sri Ganganagar. Chandigarh also has a domestic airport located nearly 12 kilometers from the ISBT. Jet Airways, Air Deccan and Indian (airline) operate regular flights from Chandigarh to New Delhi and Mumbai.
Newspapers (daily) published from Chandigarh
English
- The Tribune - English - Punjab's oldest newspaper.
- The Indian Express - English - National daily published from Chandigarh.
- Hindustan Times - English - National daily published from Chandigarh.
- The Times of India - English - National daily published from Chandigarh.
- The Pioneer- English - National daily published from Chandigarh.
Hindi
- Dainik Bhaskar - Hindi - National Hindi daily published from Chandigarh.
- Amar Ujala - Hindi - National Hindi daily publisedh from Chandigarh.
- Dainik Tribune - Hindi - Hindi edition of The Tribune.
Punjabi
- Punjabi Tribune - Punjabi - Punjabi edition of The Tribune.
- Desh Sewak - Punjabi - Punjab newspaper associated with political party CPI(M).
- Rozana Spokesman - Punjabi - Punjabi newspaper.New entrant.
Famous Chandigarhians
- Nek Chand - Creator of the world famous Rock Garden.
- Kapil Dev- Cricketer. A resident of sector 16. now stays in Sundernagar, in Delhi.
- Poonam Dhillon- Actress, one time resident of sector 8. now a resident of Mumbai.
- Jaspal Bhatti- Cartoonist, satirist, actor and funnyman
- Harmohan Dhawan - politician and one time central cabinet minister.
- Jeev Milkha Singh-Golfer
- Yuvraj Singh - Cricketer
- Harbhajan Singh - Cricketer. Recently bought a house in Chandigarh.