Bhilai is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Durg district Durg district is a district situated in Chhattisgarh, India. The district headquarters is Durg. The district covers an area of 2,238 km². As of 2011 it is the second most populous district of Chhattisgarh (out of 18), after Raipur. The ...

of the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

, in eastern central India. With population exceeding 1 million, it is the second-largest urban area in Chhattisgarh after

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...

. Bhilai is a major industrial city as well as an education hub of central India. The Bhilai metropolis contains three municipal corporations: Bhilai Municipal Corporation, Bhilai- Charoda Municipal Corporation and Risali Municipal Corporation.Census van 1 maart 2001 (via archive.org)
/ref> The city is home to several industries like

Bhilai Steel Plant The Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), located in Bhilai, in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, is India's first and main producer of steel rails, as well as a major producer of wide steel plates and other steel products. The plant also produces steel and ...

, Jaypee Cement,

Orient Cement The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

NSPCL Bhilai Power Plant The NSPCL Bhilai Power Plant is a coal-fired captive power station at Bhilai in Durg district, Chhattisgarh, India. The power station owned and operated by NSPCL is a 50:50 joint venture company of NTPC Limited and SAIL A sail is a tensile ...

Steel Authority of India Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a central public sector undertaking based in New Delhi, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel, Government of India with an annual turnover of INR 1,03,480 Crore (US$13 billion) for fisc ...

, FSNL and ACC Cement. The city is home to

Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai (IIT Bhilai) is a public technical and research university located in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India. It is one of the six young IITs established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of ...

Jama Masjid A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.* * * * * * * ...

in Bhilai is one of the largest mosques in India. The state's oldest zoo is

Maitri Bagh Maitri Bagh Zoo (also known as Garden of Friendship) is tourist place located in the Bhilai, India which was established as a symbol of friendship between Soviet Union and India. It is the largest and oldest zoo of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Prade ...

in Bhilai.

Etymology

It is believed that the name "Bhilai" is derived from the

Bhil Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. As of 2013, Bhils were the largest tribal group in India. Bhils are listed as tribal people of the s ...

tribe which originally inhabited this region and continues to dwell in the nearby forests until today. The Bhilai word meaning is Bhils came (Bhil= Tribe, Ai= Came).

History

Bhilai was a small village and a part of the

Haihaiyavansi Kingdom The Haihaiyavansi Kingdom was a kingdom in the upper Mahanadi River basin in eastern India, comprising the central portion of present-day Chhattisgarh state and west-central Orissa. The kingdom was ruled by the Haihaiyavansi from the 12th to the ...

until 1740 when it was conquered by the

Marathas The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

. The foundation of the modern city of Bhilai was laid in 1955 when the Indian government signed a historic agreement with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Magnitogorsk Magnitogorsk ( rus, Магнитого́рск, p=məɡnʲɪtɐˈɡorsk, ) is an industrial city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern side of the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains by the Ural River. Its population ...

to establish a steel plant near the village. The first blast furnace of the plant was commissioned in 1959 by the first president of India,

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, Indian independence activist, journalist & scholar who served as the first president of Republic of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian Nationa ...

Demographics

Population

In the 2011 census, Bhilai Nagar Urban Agglomeration had a population of 1,064,222, of which 545,916 are males and 518,306 are females. Bhilai has an average literacy rate of 86.63%, male literacy is 92.22% and, female literacy is 80.71%.

Geography

Bhilai lies at 21.21°N 81.38°E in

Central India Central India is a loosely defined geographical region of India. There is no clear official definition and various ones may be used. One common definition consists of the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are included in alm ...

at an elevation of 297m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

on the banks of the

Shivnath river Shivnath River (or Seonath River) is the longest tributary of Mahanadi River, which it joins in Changori in Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh, India. It has a total course of . The name comes for the god Shiva in Hinduism. Sources Shivnath ...

, a tributary of the river

Mahanadi The Mahanadi is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and finally merged with Bay o ...

. It covers an area of 341 km² (132 sq mi). According to the

Bureau of Indian Standards The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standar ...

, the town falls under seismic zone 2, in a scale of 2 to 5 (in order of increasing value of vulnerability to earthquakes).

Climate

Owing to its proximity to the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward ...

, Bhilai has a tropical climate. There are three main seasons: summer, monsoon, and winter. The average annual temperature in Bhilai is 26.6 °C and the city receives an average rainfall of 1188 mm in a year. Summers usually last from May to June, followed by monsoons in July and August. The town receives the bulk of rainfall in July, with an average rainfall of 352mm. There is little rainfall during the winters, with November being the driest month of the year.

Economy

Bhilai is home to the

, the first and largest Indian plant to produce steel rails. The inauguration of the first blast furnace of Bhilai Steel Plant was done by then president of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad, which was established with help from the

in 1955. Iron ore from Rajhara, limestone from Nandini, coal from Jharia, manganese from Balaghat, electric power from the Kosa thermal power plant, and water from the Tandula Canal, all nearby, are used in the Bhilai Steel Plant to manufacture rails and structural steel. Pig iron and billets are supplied to foundries and rolling mills located at Kumhari and other sites in central India. The number of steel rails produced by the facility till 2007 can go around the circumference of the earth 7.5 times. This is depicted on the monument at the globe square in the heart of the city. The facility underwent modernization and expansion and is amongst the leading manufacturers of iron and steel in Asia.

Education

The city serves as an educational hub in the region, with a total of 59 universities and colleges, like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhilai,

Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University (CSVTU) is a Public State University located in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India. On 30 April 2005, the foundation stone of the university was laid by the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh. His ...

Bhilai Institute of Technology Bhilai Institute of Technology (BIT) is the first self-financed engineering college in Central India. Established in 1986, it was affiliated to Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University, Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical Univers ...

, Rungta Group Of Institutions, St. Thomas College, Shri Shankaracharya Group of Institutions, Christian College of Engineering & Technology, Kalyan College, Sector 7, Bhilai and CSIT Engineering College. Schools in Bhilai are run either by municipal corporations or privately by entities, trusts, and corporations. The majority of schools are affiliated with the Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education and the

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

Transport

* Railway Stations There are 3 railway stations in Bhilai city,

Bhilai railway station Bhilai railway station (station code:- BIA) is located in Durg district, Chhattisgarh state (India). It serves Durg, Bhilai Nagar & Bhilai Power House and adjoining areas. Bhilai railway station is a part of South East Central Railway Zone. ...

Bhilai Nagar railway station Bhilai Nagar Railway Station is a small railway station of Bhilai city, Chhattisgarh. Its code is BQR. It serves Bhilai city. The station consists of five platforms. Bhilai Nagar one of the five railway station in Bhilai city. The station ...

Bhilai Power House railway station Bhilai Power House railway station is the second main railway station in Durg district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Its code is BPHB. It serves the Bhilai urban areas. The station consists of three platforms. The Bhilai Power House is ...

. * Bus The Durg Bus Stand is a hub where you can find any bus to any place in and around Chhattisgarh as well as other parts of the country. * Airways The nearest major airport is Swami Vivekananda International Airport, Raipur, which is 50km far away from here.

Notable people

Teejan Bai Teejan Bai (born 8 August 1956) is an exponent of Pandavani, a traditional performing art form, from Chhattisgarh, in which she enacts tales from the Mahabharata, with musical accompaniments. She has been awarded the Padma Shri in 1988, Padma ...

, Pandvani singer *

Anurag Basu Anurag Basu (born 8 May 1974) is an Indian director, screenwriter, actor and producer. He began his directing career in television, moving to feature films in 2002. Basu achieved initial success with his films tackling the themes of passion and ...

, Bollywood director *

Anupama Bhagwat Anupama Bhagwat is an Indian sitar maestro. Early life Born in Bhilai, India, Bhagwat was introduced to playing sitar at age 9 by Shri. R. N. Verma. At 13, she started training under Bimalendu Mukherjee, doyen of the Imdadkhani gharana. S ...

, sitar player * Umesh Kumar Sahu, "Kaun Banega Crorepati", Season 9 winner * Rajesh Chauhan, a former cricketer in the Indian cricket team *

Budhaditya Mukherjee Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee is an Indian classical sitar and surbahar maestro of the Imdadkhani gharana (school), recognizable by his intricate vocalic playing complemented by spectacular high speed playing. He holds a unique distinction of be ...

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

player *

Amit Sana Amit Sana (born 1 March 1983) is an Indian pop artist, playback singer, live performer and the finalist of ''Indian Idol 1''. He was also a part of the show Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar. He sings predominantly in Hindi. Apart from this, he has also ...

, runner-up in ''Indian Idol 1'' *

Krishnamurthy Subramanian Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian (born May 5, 1971) is an Indian economist who served as the 17th chief economic adviser to the Government of India. Subramanian is a leading expert on economic policy, banking and corporate governance, who was ...

, 17th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India

References

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