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As part of the 
During excavations at the time of the building of the city, some Indus valley artefacts were discovered, suggesting that the area that is today Chandigarh was home to some settlements of the 
Present-day Chandigarh was also the site of a short-lived late 18th-century principality, with a small fort at Mani Majra. As of 2016, many villages that predate the city are still inhabited within the modern blocks of some sectors, including ''Burail'' and ''Ottawa'', while several other such villages lie on the margins of the city.
Chandigarh has a
File:Junglefowl, Sukhna wildlife sanctuary, Chandigarh, India.JPG, Junglefowl, Sukhna wildlife sanctuary, Chandigarh
File:Sambar deer in City Forest Park,Chandigarh.jpg, Sambar deer in City Forest Park, Chandigarh
Two parrots at parrot bird sanctuary, Chandigarh, India.jpg, Parakeets at the Parrot Bird Sanctuary
File:Nilgai, Dhanas Lake, Chandigarh 03.jpg, Nilgai, Dhanas lake, Chandigarh
Many trees in Chandigarh are given the status of the natural heritage of the city. The Chandigarh government has identified a list of 31 trees as Heritage Trees. The Department of Forest & Wildlife Chandigarh Administration is the nodal department for this purpose, and has published a detailed booklet about it. The trees in the city which are 100 years or more old have been given ''heritage status''.
India census, Chandigarh had a population of 1,055,450, giving it a density of about 9,252 (7,900 in 2001) persons per square kilometre.
Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. The sex ratio is 818 females for every 1,000 males. The child sex ratio is 880 females per thousand males. Chandigarh has an effective literacy rate of 86.77% (based on population 7 years and above), higher than the national average; with male literacy of 90.81% and female literacy of 81.88%. 10.8% of the population is under 6 years of age. The population of Chandigarh forms 0.09 per cent of India in 2011.
There has been a substantial decline in the population growth rate in Chandigarh, with just 17.10% growth between 2001 and 2011. Since the 1951–1961 period, the growth rate has decreased from 394.13% to 17.10%, a likely cause being the rapid urbanisation and development in neighbouring cities. The urban population constitutes 97.25% of the total and the rural population makes up 2.75%, as there are only a few villages within Chandigarh, situated on its Western and South-Eastern border, and the majority of people live in the heart of Chandigarh.
Chandigarh has been rated as one of the "Wealthiest Towns" of India.Chandigarh has been rated as the "Wealthiest Town" of India.http://chandigarh.gov.in/knowchd_redfinechd.htm The
NH 152 to 
NH 5 to
Chandigarh Junction railway station lies in the
There are numerous educational institutions in Chandigarh. These range from privately and publicly operated schools to colleges. These include
The
File:Nek Chand Garden (6175284222).jpg, Rock Garden
File:Pedalos - Sukhna Lake - Chandigarh 2016-08-07 9003.JPG, Sukhna Lake
File:Rose Garden Chandigarh.jpg, Rose Garden
File:Palace of Assembly Chandigarh.jpg, Palace of Assembly, Capitol Complex
File:Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh..jpg, Government Museum and Art Gallery
The Official Website of Chandigarh Administration
; General information * * {{Authority control * Planned capitals 1948 establishments in India Districts of Chandigarh Indian union territory capitals Le Corbusier buildings in India Modernist architecture in India Planned cities in India Populated places established in 1948 States and union territories of India Union territories of India T C
Chandigarh () is a
named Chandigarh one of the few master-planned cities in the world to have succeeded in terms of combining monumental architecture, cultural growth, and modernisation.
planned city
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region
Chandigarh Capital Region (CCR) or Chandigarh Metropolitan Region (CMR) is an area, which includes the union territory city of Chandigarh, and its neighboring cities of Mohali, Kharar, Zirakpur, New Chandigarh (in Punjab) and Panchkula (in Ha ...
or Greater Chandigarh, which also includes the adjacent satellite cities
Satellite cities or satellite towns are smaller municipalities that are adjacent to a principal city which is the core of a metropolitan area. They differ from mere suburbs, subdivisions and especially bedroom communities in that they have m ...
of Panchkula
Panchkula (PKL) is a planned city and district headquarter in the Panchkula district, part of the Ambala division in Haryana, India. The origin of the name Panchkula came from the place where five irrigation canals meet. Panchkula established ...
and Mohali
Mohali, officially known as Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, is a planned city in the Mohali district in Punjab (India), Punjab, India, which is an administrative and a commercial hub lying south-west of Chandigarh. It is the headquarters of the Moh ...
. It is located 260 km (162 miles) north of New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
and 229 km (143 miles) southeast of Amritsar
Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...
.
Chandigarh is one of the earliest planned cities
A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...
in post-independence India and is internationally known for its architecture and urban design. The master plan of the city was prepared by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
, which built upon earlier plans created by the Polish architect Maciej Nowicki
Maciej Nowicki (born 28 September 1941 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician, manager and scientist. Minister of the Environment of the Republic of Poland in the cabinet of Donald Tusk (from 16 November 2007 to 1 February 2010).
Career
Nowicki gra ...
and the American planner Albert Mayer. Most of the government buildings and housing in the city were designed by a team headed by Le Corbusier, Jane Drew
Dame Jane Drew , (24 March 1911 – 27 July 1996) was an English modernist architect and town planner. She qualified at the Architectural Association School in London, and prior to World War II became one of the leading exponents of the Modern ...
and Maxwell Fry. Chandigarh's Capitol Complex—as part of a global ensemble of Corbusier's buildings—was declared a World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
by UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
at the 40th session of the World Heritage Conference in July 2016.
Chandigarh has grown greatly since its initial construction, and has also driven the development of two satellite cities in its neighbouring states. The metropolitan area of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula collectively forms a " tri-city", with a combined population of over 1,611,770. The city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the country. The union territory has one of the highest Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, whi ...
among Indian states and territories. In 2015, a survey by LG Electronics
LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest '' chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered a ...
ranked it as the happiest city in India on the happiness index. In 2015, an article published by BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Etymology
The name ''Chandigarh'' is acompound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...
of ''Chandi'' and ''Garh''. ''Chandi'' refers to the Hindu goddess Chandi
Chandi ( sa, चण्डी, ) or Chandika () is a Hindu deity. Chandika is another form of Mahadevi, similar to Durga. Chandika is a powerful form of Mahadevi who manifested to destroy evil. She is also known as ''Kaushiki'', '' Katyayan ...
and ''Garh'' means fortress. The name is derived from Chandi Mandir, an ancient temple devoted to the Hindu Goddess Chandi
Chandi ( sa, चण्डी, ) or Chandika () is a Hindu deity. Chandika is another form of Mahadevi, similar to Durga. Chandika is a powerful form of Mahadevi who manifested to destroy evil. She is also known as ''Kaushiki'', '' Katyayan ...
near the city in Panchkula
Panchkula (PKL) is a planned city and district headquarter in the Panchkula district, part of the Ambala division in Haryana, India. The origin of the name Panchkula came from the place where five irrigation canals meet. Panchkula established ...
District.
The motif or sobriquet of "The City of Beauty" was derived from the City Beautiful movement
The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the ...
, which was a popular philosophy in North American urban planning during the 1890s and 1900s. Architect Albert Mayer, the initial planner of Chandigarh, lamented the American rejection of ''City Beautiful'' concepts and declared, "We want to create a beautiful city..." The phrase was used as a logo in official publications in the 1970s and is now how the city describes itself.
History
As part of the partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
in 1947, the former British province of Punjab was divided into two parts, the mostly Hindu and Sikh East Punjab
East Punjab (known simply as Punjab from 1950) was a province and later a state of India from 1947 until 1966, consisting of the parts of the Punjab Province of British India that went to India following the partition of the province between ...
in India, and the mostly Muslim West Punjab
West Punjab ( pnb, ; ur, ) was a province in the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. The province covered an area of 159,344 km2 (61523 sq mi), including much of the current Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province and the Islamabad Capital Te ...
in Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. The capital of undivided Punjab, Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
, had become part of Pakistan after the partition. Instead of shifting the capital to an already existing and established city, Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
, the first Prime Minister of India, envisioned an altogether new and modern city to be built to serve as the capital of Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
. In 1949, the American planner and architect Albert Mayer was commissioned to design a new city to be called "Chandigarh". The government carved out Chandigarh from about fifty Puadhi-speaking villages in the then-state of East Punjab, India. Shimla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...
was the temporary capital of the state until Chandigarh was completed.
Albert Mayer developed a superblock-based city interspersed with green spaces, with an emphasis on cellular neighbourhoods and traffic segregation. His site plan took advantage of natural land characteristics; the land's gentle grade promoted proper drainage. Mayer stopped his work on the city after his architect-partner Matthew Nowicki
Matthew Nowicki (in Poland known as Maciej Nowicki) (26 June 1910 – 1 September 1950) was a Polish architect. He was chief architect of the new Indian city of Chandigarh.
Career
Nowicki was born in Chita in Siberia. After the Second Worl ...
died in a plane crash in 1950. Government officials recruited Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
to succeed Mayer and Nowicki, who utilized many elements of Mayer's original plan without attributing them to him.
Le Corbusier designed many administration buildings, including the High Court, the Palace of Assembly, and the Secretariat Building. Le Corbusier also designed the general layout of the city, dividing it into sectors. Chandigarh hosts the largest of Le Corbusier's many ''Open Hand'' sculptures, standing 26 metres high. '' The Open Hand (La Main Ouverte)'' is a recurring motif in Le Corbusier's architecture, a sign for him of "peace and reconciliation. It is open to give and open to receive." It represents what Le Corbusier called the "Second Machine Age". Two of the six monuments planned in the Capitol Complex which has the High Court, the Assembly, and the Secretariat, remain incomplete. These include Geometric Hill and Martyrs Memorial. Drawings were made, and they were begun in 1956, but they were never completed.
The capital city was officially shifted from Shimla to Chandigarh on 21 September 1953, though Chandigarh was formally inaugurated by India's first president, 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 ...
on 7 October 1953.
During excavations at the time of the building of the city, some Indus valley artefacts were discovered, suggesting that the area that is today Chandigarh was home to some settlements of the Indus valley civilisation
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900&n ...
.
On 1 November 1966, after a long-drawn movement demanding the formation of a Punjabi state, the former state of Punjab was split in two. The western and northern mostly Punjabi-speaking portion became the present-day state of Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
, while the eastern and southern Hindi- and Haryanvi
Haryanvi ( ' or '), also known as Bangru, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the state of Haryana in India, and to a lesser extent in Delhi. Haryanvi is considered to be part of the dialect group of Western Hindi, which also includes Kharibo ...
-speaking areas became Haryana. Chandigarh ended up being located on the border of the two states, and both of them moved to incorporate the city into their respective territories. However, the city of Chandigarh was controlled directly by the central government and was to serve as the shared capital of the two states until a resolution could be reached.
Present-day Chandigarh was also the site of a short-lived late 18th-century principality, with a small fort at Mani Majra. As of 2016, many villages that predate the city are still inhabited within the modern blocks of some sectors, including ''Burail'' and ''Ottawa'', while several other such villages lie on the margins of the city.
Geography
Location
Chandigarh is located by the foothills of the Shivalik Range of theHimalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
s in northwest India. It covers an area of approximately 114 km2. It borders the states of Punjab and Haryana. The exact geographic coordinates of Chandigarh are . It has an average elevation of 321 metres (1053 ft).
The city, lying in the northern plains, includes a vast area of flat, fertile land. Its northeast covers sections of Bhabar, while the remainder of its terrain is part of the Terai
The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scr ...
. Its surrounding cities are Mohali
Mohali, officially known as Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, is a planned city in the Mohali district in Punjab (India), Punjab, India, which is an administrative and a commercial hub lying south-west of Chandigarh. It is the headquarters of the Moh ...
, New Chandigarh, Patiala
Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubarak ...
, Zirakpur
Zirakpur is a satellite town, in Mohali District, Punjab, neighboring Mohali, Chandigarh in India. It is set on the foothills of Shivalik hills. It is part of the tehsil Dera Bassi. It is the gateway to Chandigarh from Delhi. It comprises ...
and Rupnagar
Rupnagar (; formerly known as Ropar is a city and a municipal council in Rupnagar district in the Indian state of Punjab. Rupnagar is a newly created fifth Divisional Headquarters of Punjab comprising Rupnagar, Mohali, and its adjoining distr ...
in Punjab, and Panchkula
Panchkula (PKL) is a planned city and district headquarter in the Panchkula district, part of the Ambala division in Haryana, India. The origin of the name Panchkula came from the place where five irrigation canals meet. Panchkula established ...
and Ambala
Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-are ...
in Haryana.
Chandigarh is situated 44 km (28 miles) north of Ambala
Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-are ...
, 229 km (143 miles) southeast of Amritsar
Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...
, and 250 km (156 miles) north of Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
.
Climate
Chandigarh has a humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Cwa'') characterised by a seasonal rhythm: very hot summers, mild winters, unreliable rainfall and great temperature variation (). The average annual rainfall is . The city also receives occasional winter rains from the Western Disturbance
A western disturbance is an extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, which extends as east as up to northern parts of Bangladesh and South easte ...
originating over the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
. The western disturbances bring rain predominantly from mid-December until the end of April, which can be heavier sometimes with strong wind and hail if the weather turns colder (during March–April months), which usually proves disastrous to local crops. Cold winds usually tend to come from the Himalayas that lie to the north, which receive snowfall during wintertime.
The city experiences the following seasons and the respective average temperatures:
* Spring: During spring (from February-end to early April), temperatures vary between a maximum of and a minimum of .
* Autumn: In autumn (from September-end to mid-November), the temperature may rise to a maximum of . Temperatures usually remain between in autumn. The minimum temperature is around .
* Summer: The temperature in summer (from mid-April to June-end) usually peaks at around in mid-June, and generally varies between .
* Monsoon: During the monsoon season (from early July to mid-September), Chandigarh receives moderate to heavy rainfall and sometimes heavy to very heavy rainfall (generally during August or September). Usually, the rain-bearing monsoon winds blow from the southwest/southeast. The city mostly receives heavy rain from the south (which is mainly persistent rain), but it generally receives most of its rain during the monsoon season either from the northwest or the northeast. The maximum amount of rain received by the city of Chandigarh during the monsoon season is in a single day.
* Winter: Winters (November-end to February-end) are mild but can get chilly during peak winter weeks. Average temperatures in the winter generally fluctuate between a maximum of and a minimum of . Rain usually comes from the west
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
during winter as a persistent rain for 2–3 days, sometimes with hailstorms.
Wildlife and biodiversity
Most of Chandigarh is covered by densebanyan
A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...
and eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...
plantations. Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...
, cassia, mulberry
''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...
and other trees flourish in the forested ecosystem. The city has forests surrounding itself that sustain many animal and plant species. Deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
, sambars, barking deer
Barking may refer to:
Places
* Barking, London, a town in East London, England
** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking
** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...
, parrots, woodpecker
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...
s, and peacock
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...
s inhabit the protected forests. Sukhna Lake hosts a variety of ducks and geese and attracts migratory birds from parts of Siberia and Japan in the winter season.
The Parrot Bird Sanctuary Chandigarh
City Bird Sanctuary Chandigarh or Parrot Bird Sanctuary Chandigarh is a bird sanctuary situated in sector 21 of the city of Chandigarh, India. It is primarily habitat of parrots. Hundreds of parrots live here. They fly in flocks in the mornin ...
provides a home to a large number of parrots. Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary
Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Sivalik Hills of Chandigarh city, near Sukhna Lake. It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1998. Closed during rainy season. Pass is required to visit which is issued by Forest Department Office, Sec-19 ...
was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1998.
Heritage Trees of Chandigarh
Many trees in Chandigarh are given the status of the natural heritage of the city. The Chandigarh government has identified a list of 31 trees as Heritage Trees. The Department of Forest & Wildlife Chandigarh Administration is the nodal department for this purpose, and has published a detailed booklet about it. The trees in the city which are 100 years or more old have been given ''heritage status''.
Landscape
Sukhna Lake, a 3 km2 artificial rain-fed lake in Sector 1, was created in 1958 by damming the Sukhna Choe, a seasonal stream coming down from theShivalik Hills
The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the Indi ...
.
Chandigarh has a belt of parks running from sectors. It is known for its green belts and other special tourist parks. Sukhna Lake itself hosts the Garden of Silence
The Garden of Silence is a meditative space at the end of Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh, India. It features a seated Buddha. The garden is financed by the Ministry of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that sp ...
. The Rock Garden, is located near the Sukhna Lake and has numerous sculptures made by using a variety of different discarded waste materials. The Zakir Hussain Rose Garden
Zakir Hussain Rose Garden, is a botanical garden in Chandigarh, India and spread over of land, with 50,000 rose-bushes of 1600 different species. Named after India's former president, Zakir Hussain and created in 1967 under the guidance of ...
(which is also Asia's largest rose garden) contains nearly 825 varieties of roses in it and more than 32,500 varieties of other medicinal plants and trees. Other gardens include the Garden of Fragrance in Sector 36, Garden of Palms
Garden of Palms or Palmgardens (Dutch: ''Palmentuin'') is a palm tree landscape garden in Paramaribo, Suriname. In addition to tall royal palms, the grounds are home to tropical birds and a "troop" of capuchin monkeys.Japanese Garden
are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...
in Sector 31, the Terraced Garden in Sector 33, Shanti Kunj Garden, the Botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
and the Bougainvillea Garden. There is also a Government museum and art gallery in Sector 10, Chandigarh.
Demographics
Population
India census, Chandigarh had a population of 1,055,450, giving it a density of about 9,252 (7,900 in 2001) persons per square kilometre.
Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. The sex ratio is 818 females for every 1,000 males. The child sex ratio is 880 females per thousand males. Chandigarh has an effective literacy rate of 86.77% (based on population 7 years and above), higher than the national average; with male literacy of 90.81% and female literacy of 81.88%. 10.8% of the population is under 6 years of age. The population of Chandigarh forms 0.09 per cent of India in 2011.
There has been a substantial decline in the population growth rate in Chandigarh, with just 17.10% growth between 2001 and 2011. Since the 1951–1961 period, the growth rate has decreased from 394.13% to 17.10%, a likely cause being the rapid urbanisation and development in neighbouring cities. The urban population constitutes 97.25% of the total and the rural population makes up 2.75%, as there are only a few villages within Chandigarh, situated on its Western and South-Eastern border, and the majority of people live in the heart of Chandigarh.
Languages
English is the sole official language of Chandigarh. The majority of the population speaksHindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
(76.8%) while Punjabi is spoken by 22.03%. Government schools use English, Hindi, and Punjabi textbooks. The percentage of Punjabi speakers has fallen from 36% in 1981 to 22% in 2011, while that of Hindi speakers has increased from 51% to 78%.
Religion
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
is the predominant religion of Chandigarh followed by 80.71% of the population. Sikhism
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
is the second most popular religion in the city, followed by 13.11% of the people, followed by Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
at 4.87%. Minorities are Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
at 0.83%, Jains
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
at 0.19%, Buddhists
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
at 0.11%, those that didn't state a religion at 0.10%, and others are 0.02%.
There are several places of worship located all over the city, with many in each sector. One such historic temple located in the heart of the city is Mata Basanti Devi Mandir
Mata may refer to:
Places
* Mata, Iran, a village in Kerman Province, Iran
* Mata, Israel, a Moshav in the Judaean Mountains, south-west of Jerusalem, not far from Beit Shemesh
* Mata, Rio Grande do Sul, town in Brazil
* Mata Island, in the Hudso ...
at Sector 24 of the city. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Shitala and specially visited by devotees during first Tuesday of Chaitra month after Holi
Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...
. Chandi Mandir, Mata Mansa Devi Mandir
Mata Mansa Devi is a Hindu temple dedicated to goddess Mansa Devi, a form of Shakti, in the Panchkula district of the Indian state of Haryana. The temple complex is spread of of the Shivalik foothills in the village of Bilaspur, near Sect ...
and Mata Jayanti Devi Mandir are important Hindu temples located near Chandigarh.Nada Sahib
Nada Sahib is a Sikh gurudwara in the Panchkula district of the Indian state of Haryana. Situated on the banks of the Ghaggar-Hakra River in the Sivalik Hills of Panchkula, it is the site where Guru Gobind Singh Ji halted while travelling fro ...
Gurudwara, a famous place for Sikh worship lies in its vicinity. Apart from this, there are a couple of historical mosques in Manimajra and Burail. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Simla and Chandigarh
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Simla and Chandigarh ( la, Simlen(sis) et Chandigarhen(sis)) is a diocese located in the cities of Simla and Chandigarh in the Ecclesiastical province of Delhi in India.
History
* 4 June 1959: Established as Dioc ...
serves the Catholics of the city, with a co-cathedral in the city. Most of the convent schools of Chandigarh are governed by this institution.
Government and politics
Administrator of the Union Territory
Article 239 of theConstitution of India
The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...
provides for the administration of the Union Territories by the President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
through an administrator. Since 1984 the Governor of Punjab has served concurrently as the administrator of Chandigarh. Banwarilal Purohit
Banwarilal Purohit (born 16 April 1940) is an Indian politician who is the current and 29th Governor of Punjab, India and Administrator of Chandigarh as of 29 August 2021. He was the former Governor of Tamil Nadu from 2017 to 2021, and form ...
is the administrator of the union territory since September 2021.
Politics
Chandigarh, as a union territory, is not entitled to a state-level election: thus State Assembly elections are not held and it is directly controlled by thecentral government
A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...
. One seat for Chandigarh is allocated in the Lok Sabha elections
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
held every five years.
Kirron Kher
Kirron Anupam Kher (also Kiran ''Indian Express'', 12 May 2002. or, Kiron born 14 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian politician; theatre, film and television actress; television personality; singer; entertainment producer; and a member of t ...
(BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
) is the Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
elected in 2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
from the Chandigarh Lok Sabha constituency.
Civic administration
The city is governed by a civic administration or local government headed by Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra andMayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
Sarbjit Kaur. The city comprises 35 wards represented by 35 elected councillor
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
s, and also nominates 9 councillors.
On 27 March 2022, Union Home Minister Amit Shah
Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...
announced that the Chandigarh employees who were working under the Punjab service rules until 2022, would be working under the central civil services rules from 1 April 2022. The move was criticised by political parties such as the AAP, the INC
Inc. or inc may refer to:
* Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation
* ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine
* Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band
* Indian National Congress, a political party in India
* I ...
and the Akali Dal.
Composition of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation after 2021 Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election as of December 2021:
Civic utilities
The prime responsibilities of the civic bodyMunicipal Corporation Chandigarh
The Municipal Corporation Chandigarh (MCC), also known as Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, is the civic body that governs the city of Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and Haryana.
History
The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, India was ...
, are to ensure cleanliness and sanitation in the city, illumination of street lights, maintenance of parks, and sewerage disposal. The city has both brick and pipe sewers laid in four phases. In September 2020, the civic body announced that it would upgrade and renew the 50-year-old sewerage system. The pilot project for the 24x7 water supply is expected to begin in Chandigarh in May 2021, which was initially to start in September 2020 and end in March 2022. On 8 April 2021, the Chandigarh Smart City Ltd (CSCL) board is yet to take the final decision.
In 2021, the BJP ruled corporation had increased the water tariff A water tariff (often called ''water rate'' in the United States and Canada) is a price assigned to water supplied by a public utility through a piped network to its customers. The term is also often applied to wastewater tariffs. Water and wastewat ...
by 1.5 to 2.5 times. This created a widespread discontent among the residents.
In 2021, there was an acute shortage of parking spaces. The problem was aggravated by an increase of 17% in parking rates by the Municipal Corporation. The increase in the waste collection charges, water tariff and property tax rates during the last five years 2016 to 2021 were unpopular among the public.
Cleanliness
In 2016, Chandigarh was the second cleanest city of India. In the years that followed, garbage from the city was not disposed of properly. The lack of a proper process or mechanism led to the garbage piled up at the Dadu Majra garbage dump site. In 2021, Chandigarh fell 66 positions in the list of cleanest cities in India, once a point of pride for the city. The fall in cleanliness became an important poll issue. The residents were upset with the downfall in the cleanliness. The government's handling of theCOVID-19 pandemic in India
The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...
damaged the BJP's image as the voters felt that they were not given desired help in getting the hospital beds and medical oxygen from their elected representatives. The sitting Councillors were accused of not being found to be approachable when the public needed support. Complaints that No major relief measure was taken by the local government were raised.
Economy
Chandigarh has been rated as one of the "Wealthiest Towns" of India.Chandigarh has been rated as the "Wealthiest Town" of India.http://chandigarh.gov.in/knowchd_redfinechd.htm The Reserve Bank of India
The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...
ranked Chandigarh as the third-largest deposit centre and seventh largest credit centre nationwide as of June 2012. With an average household yearly income of , Chandigarh is one of the richest towns in India. Chandigarh's gross state domestic product for 2014–15 is estimated at $0.29 trillion (short scale
The long and short scales are two of several naming systems for integer power of 10, powers of ten which use some of the same terms for different magnitudes.
For whole numbers smaller than 1,000,000,000 (109), such as one thousand or one m ...
) (US$4.3 billion) at current prices. According to a 2014 survey, Chandigarh is ranked 4th in the top 50 cities identified globally as "emerging outsourcing and IT services destinations" ahead of cities like Beldon (Amritsar).
Employment
The government is a major employer in Chandigarh, with three governments having their base here, those being the Chandigarh Administration, the Punjab government and the Haryana government. A significant percentage of Chandigarh's population, therefore, consists of people who are either working for one of these governments or have retired from government service, mainly armed forces. For this reason, Chandigarh is often called a "Pensioner's Paradise". Ordnance Cable Factory of theOrdnance Factories Board
Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), consisting of the Indian Ordnance Factories, now known as Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination & Services) was an organisation, under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of Ministry of Defence (MoD), Gove ...
has been set up by the government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
. There is about 15 medium-to-large industries, including two in the public sector. In addition, Chandigarh has over 2,500 units registered under the small-scale sector. The city's important industries are paper manufacturing, basic metals and alloys, and machinery. Other industries in the city are food products, sanitary ware, auto parts, machine tools, pharmaceuticals, and electrical appliances.
The main occupation here is trade and business. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court
Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 85 consisting of 64 ...
, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), the availability of an IT Park, and more than a hundred government schools provide other job opportunities to people.
Four major trade promotion organisations have their offices in Chandigarh. These are The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry, ASSOCHAM India in Sector 8, Chandigarh, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, (FICCI) the PhD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) which has its regional headquarters at Sector 31, Chandigarh.
Chandigarh IT Park (also known as Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park) is the city's attempt to break into the information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
world. Chandigarh's infrastructure, proximity to Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
, and the IT talent pool attracts IT businesses looking for office space in the area. Major Indian firms and multinational corporations like Quark
A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...
, Infosys
Infosys Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Ba ...
, EVRY
EVRY A/S was a Norwegian information technology company that supplies services relating to computing, including operation, outsourcing, and online banking. The company is headquartered in Oslo. It was established through a merger between EDB Bu ...
, TechMahindra, Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...
, Amadeus IT Group
Amadeus IT Group, S.A. () is a major Spanish IT provider for the global travel and tourism industry.
Company profile
The company is structured around two areas: its global distribution system and its Information Technology business. Amadeus pro ...
, DLF have set up base in the city and its suburbs.
The work of the Chandigarh Metro was slated to start by 2019. It was opposed by the Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
from Chandigarh, Kirron Kher
Kirron Anupam Kher (also Kiran ''Indian Express'', 12 May 2002. or, Kiron born 14 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian politician; theatre, film and television actress; television personality; singer; entertainment producer; and a member of t ...
. With an estimated cost of around $109 billion including 50% funds from the governments of Punjab and Haryana and 25% from Chandigarh and government of India, funds from the Japanese government
The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...
were proposed to include approximately 56% of the cost. However, the project was turned down owing to its non-feasibility. Kher promised a film city for Chandigarh. After winning the seat, she said that she had difficulty in acquiring land in Chandigarh. Her proposal was accepted by the Chandigarh Administration and the film city Film City may refer to
* Film City, Mumbai
* Noida Film City
* Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad
* Prayag Film City
The Prayag Film City, also known as the Midnapore Film City or Chandrakona Film City or Bengal film city is an i ...
is proposed to be set up in Sarangpur, Chandigarh. This has been considered as a source of employment in the future.
Culture
Festivals
Every year, in September or October during the festival ofNavratri
Navaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga. It spans over nine nights (and ten days), first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and again in the month of Sharada. It is ob ...
, many associations and organisations hold a ''Ramlila
Ramlila (Rāmlīlā) (literally 'Rama's lila or play') is any dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Rama according to the ancient Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' or secondary literature based on it such as the ''Ramcharitmanas''. It particularly ...
'' event, which has been conducted here for over 50 years.
The Rose Festival in Zakir Hussain Rose Garden
Zakir Hussain Rose Garden, is a botanical garden in Chandigarh, India and spread over of land, with 50,000 rose-bushes of 1600 different species. Named after India's former president, Zakir Hussain and created in 1967 under the guidance of ...
every February shows thousands of subspecies of roses.
The Mango Festival is held during the monsoons
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
, and other festivals are held at Sukhna Lake.
Transport
Road
Chandigarh has the largest number of vehicles per capita in India. Wide, well-maintained roads and parking spaces all over the city ease local transport. The Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) operates public transport buses from its Inter State Bus Terminals (ISBT) in Sectors 17 and 43 of the city. CTU also operates frequent bus services to the neighbouring states ofPunjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
, Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
, Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
, and to Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
.
Chandigarh is well-connected by road to the following nearby cities, by the following highway routes:
* NH 7
National Highway 7 (NH 7) is a highway connecting Fazilka (Punjab) to Mana (Uttarakhand) in India. It passes through the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The NH-7 (old NH-58) connects Hindu pilgrim centres ...
to Patiala
Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubarak ...
in the southwest.
* NH 152 to Ambala
Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-are ...
and Kaithal
Kaithal () is a city and municipal council in the Kaithal district of the Indian state of Haryana. Kaithal was previously a part of Karnal district and later, Kurukshetra district until 1 November 1989, when it became the headquarters of the K ...
in the south (NH 44
National Highway 44 (NH 44) is a major north–south National Highway in India and is the longest in the country.
It passes through the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to the states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, ...
catches up from Ambala to Panipat
Panipat () is a historic city in Haryana, India. It is 95 km north of Delhi and 169 km south of Chandigarh on List of National Highways in India, NH-1. The three major battles fought in First Battle of Panipat, 1526, Second Battle of ...
-Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
).
* NH 5 to Shimla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...
in the northeast, and to Ludhiana
Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 Indian census, 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the ...
in the west.
Air
Chandigarh Airport
Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport is a civil enclave customs airport serving the city of Chandigarh. The airport is located in the village of Jhiurheri, Mohali, Punjab. The airport caters to six domestic airlines and connects Chandig ...
has scheduled commercial flights to the major cities of India. An international terminal was completed in 2015, and international flight routes to Dubai and Sharjah were started. The runway is located in Chandigarh, while the terminal is in Mohali. The governments of Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
and Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
each have a 24.5% stake in the international terminal building, while the Airports Authority of India
The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...
holds a 51% stake.
Rail
Chandigarh Junction railway station lies in the Northern Railway zone
The Northern Railway (NR) is one of the 19 Railway zones of India and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Baroda House in New Delhi.
History
Officially notified as a new railway zone on 14 April 1952, ...
of the Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...
network and provides connectivity to most of the regions of India. The railway station also serves the neighbouring town of Panchkula. There were long-standing proposals to develop a metro rail system in the city, which were formally scrapped in 2017.
Education
There are numerous educational institutions in Chandigarh. These range from privately and publicly operated schools to colleges. These include Panjab University
Panjab University (PU) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both Punjab, India, State and Government of India, Union governments, it is considered a state university (Indi ...
, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) is a public medical university in Chandigarh, India. It is an ' Institute of National Importance'. It has educational, medical research, and training facilities for its stude ...
(PGIMER), Punjab Engineering College
Punjab Engineering College (abbreviated PEC or PEC Chandigarh) is a public research & technical institution in Chandigarh. It was founded in 1921 in Lahore, established in Chandigarh in 1953, and focuses on the field of applied sciences, particu ...
, National Institute of Technical Teacher Training
and Research (NITTTR), Post Graduate Government College, and DAV College
The D.B.V. College Managing Committee, familiarly known as DAVDholakpurMC, is a non-governmental educational organisation in Antarctica and overseas with over 900 schools. 75 colleges and a university. It is based on the ideals of Maharishi Da ...
.
According to the Chandigarh administration's department of education, there are a total of 115 government schools in Chandigarh, including Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) is a system of central schools for talented students predominantly from rural areas in India. They are run by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, Noida, an autonomous organization under the Department of School Educati ...
, Bhavan Vidyalaya, convent schools like St. Anne's Convent School, St. John's High School, Chandigarh
St. John's High School is an Edmund Rice Educational Institute, founded by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in 1959. The school building was designed by prominent French architect Pierre Jeanneret. It is located in Sector 26, Chandigarh. ...
, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School and Carmel Convent School
Carmel Convent School is a group of Catholic schools in India. It has branches in Delhi, Giridih, Gorakhpur, Bhopal, Bangalore, Rourkela, Khopoli, Faridabad, Jorhat, Chandigarh, Gwalior, Kolkata, Durgapur, Madhupur, Dhanbad, Mancherial, Luckn ...
, and other private schools like Delhi Public School
Delhi Public School (also known as DPS) is the largest public school institution in India. The classes are from KG I to Class XII (Science, Arts and Commerce). It is affiliated to CBSE. Delhi Public School may refer to:
* Delhi Public School Socie ...
and D.A.V. Public School
The D.B.V. College Managing Committee, familiarly known as DAVDholakpurMC, is a non-governmental educational organisation in Antarctica and overseas with over 900 schools. 75 colleges and a university. It is based on the ideals of Maharishi Da ...
.
Sports
The Sector 16 Stadium
The Sector 16 Stadium is a cricket stadium in Chandigarh, India.
It hosted its first One Day International match in January 1985 and its only Test match in 1990.
It has hosted only four matches. The likes of Kapil Dev, Chetan Sharma and Yogra ...
has been a venue of several international cricket matches, but it has lost prominence after the PCA Stadium
The Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium is a cricket ground located in Mohali, Punjab. It is popularly referred to as the Mohali Stadium. The stadium was built by Geetanshu Kalra is home to the Punjab team. The construction of the stadium took aroun ...
was constructed in Mohali. It still provides a platform for cricketers in this region to practice and play inter-state matches.
The Chandigarh Golf Club
Chandigarh Golf Club is a Non Profit Charitable Registered golf club in Chandigarh, India. It has a 7,202 yard, 18 hole course known for its challenging narrow fairways, a long 613 yard long, dogleg 7th hole, and floodlighting on the first nin ...
has a 7,202-yard, 18-hole course known for its challenging narrow fairways, dogleg 7th hole, and floodlighting on the first nine holes.
Tourist attractions
The maintourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural b ...
s in Chandigarh are:
Natural landscape
*Rock Garden of Chandigarh
The Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a sculpture garden for rock enthusiasts in Chandigarh, India. It is also known as Nek Chand Saini's Rock Garden of Nathupur after its founder Nek Chand Saini, a government official who started building the ga ...
*Garden of Springs, Chandigarh
Garden of Springs, Chandigarh, is a park situated in Sector 53 of Chandigarh, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous co ...
*Zakir Hussain Rose Garden
Zakir Hussain Rose Garden, is a botanical garden in Chandigarh, India and spread over of land, with 50,000 rose-bushes of 1600 different species. Named after India's former president, Zakir Hussain and created in 1967 under the guidance of ...
*Japanese Garden, Chandigarh
The Japanese Garden is a park located in Sector 31 in union territory of Chandigarh. Built in 2014 on 13 acres of Land, by Indian Government, it was inaugurated by Shivraj Patil on 7 November 2
014. It consists of water bodies, pagoda towers, ...
*Parrot Bird Sanctuary, Chandigarh
City Bird Sanctuary Chandigarh or Parrot Bird Sanctuary Chandigarh is a bird sanctuary situated in sector 21 of the city of Chandigarh, India. It is primarily habitat of parrots. Hundreds of parrots live here. They fly in flocks in the mornin ...
* Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park
* Sukhna Lake
*Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary
Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Sivalik Hills of Chandigarh city, near Sukhna Lake. It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1998. Closed during rainy season. Pass is required to visit which is issued by Forest Department Office, Sec-19 ...
*Rose Festival (Chandigarh)
The Rose Festival of Chandigarh is a floral festival held every year in February in the Zakir Hussain Rose Garden of sector 16, Chandigarh, India. The 2018 festival was held from 23 February 2018 to 25 February 2018, and featured musical events, ...
*Heritage Trees of Chandigarh
Many trees in the Union Territory of Chandigarh are given a privileged part of the natural heritage of the city which serves as an important green landmark, so the Chandigarh government came up with a list of 31 trees which are called Herit ...
* Sukhna Interpretation Centre
Museums
*Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh
Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, is a premier museum of North India having collections of Gandharan sculptures, sculptures from ancient and medieval India, Pahari and Rajasthani miniature paintings. It owes its existence to the ...
*Gandhi Bhawan, Chandigarh
The Gandhi Bhawan is a major landmark of the city of Chandigarh, India, and a center dedicated to the study of the words and works of Mohandas K. Gandhi. It was designed by the architect Pierre Jeanneret, a cousin of Le Corbusier.
Design
It i ...
*Open Hand Monument
The ''Open Hand Monument'' is a symbolic structure designed by the architect Le Corbusier and located in the Capitol Complex of the Indian city and union territory of Chandigarh. It is the emblem and symbol of the Government of Chandigarh and s ...
Architecture
*Open Hand Monument
The ''Open Hand Monument'' is a symbolic structure designed by the architect Le Corbusier and located in the Capitol Complex of the Indian city and union territory of Chandigarh. It is the emblem and symbol of the Government of Chandigarh and s ...
*Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh
The Palace of Assembly is a legislative assembly building in Chandigarh, India. It was designed by modernist architect Le Corbusier. It is part of the Chandigarh Capital Complex, Capitol Complex, which includes the Legislative Assembly, Secreta ...
*Chandigarh Capitol Complex
Chandigarh Capitol Complex, located in the sector-1 of Chandigarh city in India, is a government compound designed by the architect Le Corbusier and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is spread over an area of around 100 acres and is a prime ma ...
* Secretariat Building, Chandigarh
Others
*Sector-17, Chandigarh
Sector-17 or Sector-17 Plaza is a retail and entertainment hub in Chandigarh. It is a tree-lined pedestrian plaza with fountains and stores.
History
Sector-17 was constructed at the same time when the city of Chandigarh was built. It was turne ...
* Burail Fort
*Manimajra Fort
Manimajra Fort, is a fort situated in Mani Majra, Chandigarh (city of Indian Union).
It is over 360 years old and has become more popular with the shooting of the Oscar-winning movie Zero Dark Thirty
''Zero Dark Thirty'' is a 2012 American ...
* Chandi Mandir
*Elante Mall
Elante mall ( Nexus Malls ) is a shopping mall in the city of Chandigarh in India. With the gross leasable area of , it is the 7th largest shopping mall in Northern India and the 10th largest in India.This mall is partially owned by Ahad famil ...
* Paras Downtown Square
* Tagore Theatre
Postcolonial significance
Background
Nehru said of Chandigarh when he first visited the site of the new city in 1952: "Let this be a new town, symbolic of the freedom of India, unfettered by the traditions of the past, an expression of the nation's faith in the future". For Nehru, Chandigarh represented a vision of how a new planned city could be a canvas for the regeneration of the nation itself after centuries of oppression under British colonial rule and the dilution of Indian character from the nation's towns. Guided by the architectural optics ofLe Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
, the development of Chandigarh was part of a state-driven exercise to break from the traditions of imperialism in city making and begin the process of healing from the injustices suffered.
To the extent that Chandigarh epitomises the destructive influence of the British, in the impetus of its creation as a solution to the otherwise violent partitioning of territory between India and Pakistan, it represents an early ideological symbol for the birth of India's future. The selection of the physical site involved an extensive vetting process. Many existing towns in Punjab were surveyed as options for the new capital and dismissed for poor performance concerning factors such as military defensibility and capacity for accommodating potential refugee influxes. The construction of a new town in Chandigarh was determined to be the best option due to its relative strength in these factors as well as its proximity to the national capital, New Delhi, its central location within the state of Punjab, its abundance of fecund land and its beautiful natural landscape.
Modernism in new town design
Off the back of this conflation of assets Chandigarh then was well poised to serve a function as a city-building project in national identity. From a federal policy perspective, the development of the new town became a tool in India for modernisation and an intended driver of economic activity, legal reform, and regional growth as well as a significant agent for thedecolonisation
Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence m ...
project. As Britain's grip on their empire began to weaken their accelerated withdrawal between the beginning of the second world war and 1947 left their former colony in states of disarray and disorganisation, and policymakers for the new Indian government were required to contend with issues such as rapid rural depopulation, urban congestion, and poverty. As well as in Chandigarh this policy tool was implemented in the creation of new capital cities in Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...
and Gandhinagar
Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mu ...
, and more broadly throughout India in the 112 planned cities created between independence and 1971, purposed to absorb migration from those regions in demise after being abandoned by the British and provide hubs for growing industries such as in steel and energy.
These examples from a genealogy of utopian urban forms developed in post-independence India as a panacea for issues related to underdevelopment
Underdevelopment, in the context of international development, reflects a broad condition or phenomena defined and critiqued by theorists in fields such as economics, development studies, and postcolonial studies. Used primarily to distinguish sta ...
as well as post-independence complications to do with separatist religious conflict and the resulting diplomatic tensions. Chandigarh is the first example of a state-funded master-planned modernisation scheme. These "urban utopias" attempt to enforce nation-building policies through a federalised rule of law at a regional level, and diffuse postcolonial urbanism which codes justice in its design. The intent is that the economic success and progressivism of cities such as Chandigarh as a lightning rod for social change would gradually be emulated at the scale of the nation. Chandigarh was for Nehru and Le Corbusier an embodiment of the egalitarian potential offered by modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
, where the machine age would complete the liberation of the nation's citizens through the productive capacity of industrial technology and the relative ease of constructing civic facilities such as dams, hospitals, and schools; the very antithesis of the conservative and traditional legacy of colonialism. Though built as a state capital Chandigarh came to be focused on industry and higher education. The specialisation of these new towns in particular functions represents a crucial aspect of the modernisation process as a decolonising enterprise, in completing a national portfolio where each town forms a part of the utopian model for contemporary India.
The post-colonialism of Chandigarh is rooted in the transformation of the political ideas of those such as Nehru who generated a new Indian nationalism through the design of newly built forms. Scholars such as Edward Said
Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''White ...
have emphasised the sinister nature of nostalgia and the romanticisation of colonial architecture in newly independent colonies as artefacts that perpetuate the ideological legacy of the hegemony and replicate the hierarchy of power even after decolonisation. Insofar as modernism in architecture (which defined town planning under the Nehru era of rule) represents an active radical break from tradition and a colonial past even the very presence of Le Corbusier has been recognised as an indelible resistance to the British construction legacy, as he provided the first non-British influence on design thinking in India, enabling a generational shift in the contemporary cohort of architects and planners to be hired by the state throughout the rest of the century who were initiated under Modernist conditioning.
As early as the 1950s the presence of the International Style could be detected in the design of houses in India, "whether mistri
Mistri, or Mistry, is a term for a master-craftsman, foreman or supervisor of manual workers in India. Mistri is being replaced with "supervisor" and other terms, as for example by the Indian Railway who replaced it with supervisor in 2005.
The w ...
or architect-designed". The development of low-cost housing was a priority for Chandigarh, and the modern forms designed by Corbusier are characterised by a dispensing with colonial forms focused on classic aesthetics and a refocusing on strategies such as using narrow frontages and orientation for minimising direct exposure to the sun and maximising natural ventilation and efficient cost while providing modern amenities in the International Style aesthetic. These developments are credited as the beginning of a "Chandigarh architecture", inspiring gradual experimentation with form and an "Indianising" of the International Style which precipitated the formation of the country's new cultural identity in town design.
Criticisms
Criticisms are well established regarding the implementation of the postcolonial vision of Nehru and Le Corbusier, and the critical emphasis on its influence. Claims have been made that the focus on Corbusier's architect-centred discourse erases the plural authorship of the narrative of Chandigarh's development, arguing that it was, in fact, hybridity of values and of "contested modernities" of Western and indigenous Indian origin and cultural exchanges rather than an uncontested administrative enterprise. Such criticism is consistent with claims that decolonisation in India has marked a shift from segregation based on race to segregation based on class, and that planned cities are truly "designed" ones which represent the values and interests of a westernised middle-class Indian elite which ignore the complexities of India's diverse ethnic and cultural landscape and enabled neocolonial hierarchies such as the imposition of the Hindi language on non-conforming castes. Brent C. Brolin argues that Le Corbusier ignored Indian preferences in designing the housing and communities and that the residents have done what they can to recreate their accustomed lifestyle. Furthermore, the early over-saturation of the minimalist International Style in building design in Chandigarh has attracted criticisms of effecting a "democratic, self-effacing banality", though this criticism is perhaps negligent of how this was necessary for galvanising higher standards of urban living throughout the country.Notable people
*Sarbjit Bahga
Sarbjit Singh Bahga is an Indian architect, author and photo-artist. He is known for designing Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar, India which was featured in the Guinness World Records for ''Longest covered concrete corridor''.
...
, architect, author, photo-artist
* Binny Bansal
Binny Bansal (born 1982/1983) is an Indian billionaire Internet entrepreneur. In 2007 he co-founded the e-commerce platform Flipkart with Sachin Bansal (no relation) and served as the chief operating officer until 11 January 2016 and was then ...
, founder of Flipkart
Flipkart Private Limited is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bengaluru, and incorporated in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before expanding into other product categories ...
, billionaire
* Sachin Bansal
Sachin Bansal (born August 5, 1981) is an Indian entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder of Flipkart During his over 11 year career at Flipkart, Bansal was CEO and chairman. In 2018, Bansal exited Flipkart following the Walmart deal.
In ...
, founder of Flipkart
Flipkart Private Limited is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bengaluru, and incorporated in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before expanding into other product categories ...
, billionaire
* Neerja Bhanot, youngest Ashoka Chakra Award
The Ashoka Chakra (alternative spelling: Ashok Chakra) is India's highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action, or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra ( ...
ee, flight attendant and model
* Sabeer Bhatia
Sabeer Bhatia (born 30 December 1968) is an Indian businessman who co-founded the webmail company Hotmail.com.
Career
Bhatia briefly worked for Apple Computer, as a hardware engineer and Firepower Systems Inc. He, along with his colleague Ja ...
, Indian-American entrepreneur who founded Hotmail
Outlook.com is a webmail service that is part of the Microsoft 365 product family. It offers mail, Calendaring software, calendaring, Address book, contacts, and Task management, tasks services.
Founded in 1996 by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smit ...
* Jaspal Bhatti
Jaspal Singh Bhatti (3 March 1955 – 25 October 2012) was an Indian television personality known for his satirical take on the problems of the common man. He is most well known for his television series '' Flop Show, Full Tension'' and mi ...
, Padma Bhushan awardee, film and TV actor and renowned satirist
* Abhinav Bindra, Olympic gold medalist
* Nek Chand
Nek Chand Saini (15 December 1924 – 12 June 2015) was a self-taught Indian artist, known for building the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, an eighteen-acre sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh.
Early life and background
Nek Chand hailed fro ...
, Indian artist and creator of the Rock Garden of Chandigarh
* Surveen Chawla
Surveen Chawla (born 1 August 1984) is an Indian actress and dancer who appears in Hindi films and television. She started her career with television shows like Kahin to Hoga and Kajjal. She is known for her roles in movies and shows like ''Hat ...
, Punjabi film actress
* Gurleen Chopra
Gurleen Chopra, also known as Gurlen Kaur Chopraa, is an Indian actress and model. She has appeared in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada and Punjabi films.
Early life
Gurleen Chopra was selected as "Miss Chandigarh" in her early age. Sh ...
, Punjabi actress
* Vivek Dahiya
Vivek Dahiya (born 8 November 1984) is an Indian television actor. He is known for portraying the role of Abhishek Singh (a police officer) in ''Yeh Hai Mohabbatein'', Rajbeer Bundela in '' Kavach – Kaali Shaktiyon Se'' and Rajvardhan Suryava ...
, actor
* Harita Kaur Deol
Flight Lt. Harita Kaur Deol (10 November 1971 – 24 December 1996) was a pilot with the Indian Air Force. She was the first woman pilot to fly solo in the Indian Air Force. The flight was on 2 September 1994 in an Avro HS-748, when she was 22 ...
, pilot
* Kapil Dev
Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by ''Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Centu ...
, former Indian international cricketer
* Harmeet Dhillon
Harmeet Kaur Dhillon (born 1969) is an American lawyer and Republican Party official. She is the former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party, and a National Committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California. She is ...
, American lawyer
* Mukesh Gautam
Mukesh Gautam is an Indian film director and works predominantly in Punjabi-language films. He is known for his movies ''Ek Noor'' (2011) and '' Akhiyaan Udeekdian'' (2009). He is also the father of Bollywood actress Yami Gautam and Surilie ...
, Punjabi film director
* Yami Gautam
Yami Gautam Dhar (born 28 November 1988) is an Indian actress known predominantly for her work in Hindi films. She sprang into prominence after doing some commercials for Glow & Lovely and began her acting career in television shows, followed ...
, Indian film actress
* Mahie Gill
Rimpy Kaur "Mahie" Gill (born 19 December 1975) is an Indian actress, working in the Hindi and Punjabi film industries. She is best known for her role of Paro in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed Hindi film '' Dev.D'', a modern take on Sara ...
, Indian actress
* Sandesh Jhingan
Sandesh Jhingan (born 21 July 1993) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the Indian national team.
He won the AIFF emerging player of the year award in 2014 and made ...
, Indian international professional footballer
* Mamta Joshi
Mamta Joshi is an Indian Sufi singer from Chandigarh. She was awarded 'Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar' of Sangeet Natak Akademi (an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India) for the year 2015, for her notable tal ...
, Sufi singer
* Gurbani Judge
Gurbani Judge, better known as VJ Bani and also Bani J, is an Indian fitness model, actress and a former MTV India presenter. She is known for participating in '' MTV Roadies 4'', '' Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 4'' and ''Bigg Boss 10''.
Car ...
, MTV India
MTV India is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of MTV and is owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture operation between MTV International owne ...
VJ and actress
* AJ Kanwar, award-winning dermatologist, former professor and head, PGI, Chandigarh
* Kirron Kher
Kirron Anupam Kher (also Kiran ''Indian Express'', 12 May 2002. or, Kiron born 14 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian politician; theatre, film and television actress; television personality; singer; entertainment producer; and a member of t ...
, Indian actress and theatre artist (also BJP M.P. from the city)
* Aparshakti Khurana
Aparshakti Khurana (born 18 November 1987) is an Indian actor, radio jockey, comedian, singer, music director, television host and a former Indian cricketer who was the captain of Haryana U-19 Cricket Team. He is the younger brother of actor A ...
, Indian film actor
* Ayushmann Khurrana, Indian film actor
* Rochak Kohli
Rochak Kohli is an Indian music director for Bollywood films. He made his music debut in Shoojit Sircar's romantic comedy ''Vicky Donor'' with ''Pani Da Rang''. The song was made in collaboration with Ayushmann Khurrana, the lead of the film. ...
, music composer, singer, lyricist
* Sargun Mehta
Sargun Mehta Dubey (; born 6 September 1988) is an Indian actress, model and television host. She has received three PTC Punjabi Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards Punjabi for her work in Punjabi Cinema.
Mehta began acting in theatre product ...
, Punjabi film actress
* Anjum Moudgil
Anjum Moudgil (born 5 January 1994) is an Indian sport shooter. She is from Chandigarh and represents Punjab. She is supported by GoSports Foundation through the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme.
Early life
Anjum took up shooting whil ...
, Indian rifle Shooter
* Prince Narula
Prince Narula (born 24 November 1990) is an Indian model and actor. Predominantly known for his performance in reality shows, he has also acted in fiction serials.
Narula has won the reality TV shows '' MTV Roadies 12'' (2015), '' MTV Splitsvil ...
, actor
* Ramesh Kumar Nibhoria, winner of Ashden Awards-UK
* Gul Panag
Gul Panag (born Gulkirat Kaur Panag, 3 January 1979; Chandigarh, India) is an Indian actress, voice actress, model, and former beauty queen who competed in the Miss Universe pageant. Panag began her career in Bollywood with the 2003 film '' Dho ...
, Indian film actress and social activist
* Neel Kamal Puri
Neelkamal Puri (born 14 February 1956) is an Indian author, columnist and a college teacher. Born in Ludhiana, Punjab, she grew up in the princely state of Patiala, where she did her schooling from the Yadavindra Public School. She was one of th ...
novelist, columnist
* Gajendra Pal Singh Raghava
Gajendra Pal Singh Raghava is an Indian bio-informatician and head of computational biology at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology.
Personal
Early years and education
Raghava was born in village Nagla Karan, Bulandshahr dist ...
, bioinformatics scientist
* Kulraj Randhawa
Kulraj Kaur Randhawa (born 16 May 1983) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt regi ...
, Punjabi film actress
* Mohinder Singh Randhawa, a civil servant who had a major role in establishing Chandigarh
* Harnaaz Sandhu
Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu (born 3 March 2000) is an Indian model, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe 2021. Sandhu had been previously crowned Miss Diva Universe 2021, and is the third entrant from India to win Miss ...
, winner of Miss Universe 2021
Miss Universe 2021 was the 70th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Universe Dome in Eilat, Israel on December 13, 2021.
At the end of the event, Andrea Meza of Mexico crowned Harnaaz Sandhu of India as Miss Universe 2021. It is India's firs ...
* Mohit Sehgal
Mohit Sehgal (born 3 December 1985) is an Indian television actor. He is known for his roles of Samrat in ''Miley Jab Hum Tum'', Somendra in '' Sarojini - Ek Nayi Pehal'' and Jay in '' Naagin 5''.
Career
After an unnoticed role in the 2007 f ...
, TV actor
* Piare Lal Sharma
Piare Lal Sharma (1902–2006) was a writer from India, author of several books including ''India Betrayed''. From the mid 1960s to his death, Piare Lal Sharma lived in Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordere ...
, writer
* Jeev Milkha Singh
Jeev Milkha Singh (born 15 December 1971) is an Indian professional golfer who became the first player from India to join the European Tour in 1998. He has won four events on the European Tour, becoming the most successful Indian on tour. He ...
, professional golfer
* Milkha Singh
Milkha Singh (20 November 1929 18 June 2021), also known as The Flying Sikh, was an Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. He is the only athlete to win gold at 400 metres at the A ...
Commonwealth gold medalist.
* Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox . He has won 7 Player of ...
, Indian international cricketer
* Pammi Somal, Bollywood journalist and filmmaker
* Sri Srinivasan
Padmanabhan Srikanth "Sri" Srinivasan (; born February 23, 1967) is an Indian-born American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before he was a circuit judge, Srinivas ...
, United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
* Manan Vohra
Manan Vohra (born 18 July 1993) is an Indian cricketer. He has played for the India Under-19 cricket team.
Early life
Manan is the son of Sanjeev Vohra and the grandson of former Indian hockey player Y.P Singh who is now the general secretar ...
, cricketer
See also
* Ambala Chandigarh Expressway *Chandigarh capital region
Chandigarh Capital Region (CCR) or Chandigarh Metropolitan Region (CMR) is an area, which includes the union territory city of Chandigarh, and its neighboring cities of Mohali, Kharar, Zirakpur, New Chandigarh (in Punjab) and Panchkula (in Ha ...
* List of tourist attractions in Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...
* Mohali
Mohali, officially known as Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, is a planned city in the Mohali district in Punjab (India), Punjab, India, which is an administrative and a commercial hub lying south-west of Chandigarh. It is the headquarters of the Moh ...
* New Chandigarh, Punjab
* Panchkula
Panchkula (PKL) is a planned city and district headquarter in the Panchkula district, part of the Ambala division in Haryana, India. The origin of the name Panchkula came from the place where five irrigation canals meet. Panchkula established ...
* Pinjore
Pinjore is a town in Panchkula district in the Indian state of Haryana. This residential 'township', located close to Panchkula, Chandigarh, is set over 1,800 feet above the sea level in a valley, overlooking the Sivalik Hills. Pinjore is kno ...
* Kaimbwala
Kaimbwala is a Non Sectoral Village in Northern Periphery (now under local civic body Municipal Corporation Chandigarh) situated near foothills of the Shivaliks and Punjab & Haryana High Court in Chandigarh district in Chandigarh, India.
Hist ...
* Navyug Ramlila and Dussehra Committee
Navyug Ramlila and Dussehra Committee is one of the oldest Ramlila in Chandigarh, committees of Chandigarh; established in 1979 cater to the interests of new generation, has been organising Ramlila at Sector 7, Chandigarh. The Committee is being ...
* Emblem of Chandigarh
The Emblem of Chandigarh is the official seal of the government of the Indian union territory of Chandigarh.
Design
The emblem consists of a circular shield depicting a representation of Le Corbusier's Open Hand Monument sculpture which is wide ...
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
* Fynn, Shaun. ''Chandigarh Revealed: Le Corbusier's City Today''. Princeton Architectural Press, 2017. * Evenson, Norma. ''Chandigarh''. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1966. *Sarbjit Bahga
Sarbjit Singh Bahga is an Indian architect, author and photo-artist. He is known for designing Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar, India which was featured in the Guinness World Records for ''Longest covered concrete corridor''.
...
, Surinder Bahga (2014) ''Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret: The Indian Architecture'', CreateSpace,
* Joshi, Kiran. ''Documenting Chandigarh: The Indian Architecture of Pierre Jeanneret
Pierre Jeanneret (22 March 1896 – 4 December 1967) was a Swiss architect who collaborated with his cousin, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (who assumed the pseudonym Le Corbusier), for about twenty years.
Early life
Arnold-André-Pierre Jea ...
, Edwin Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew
Dame Jane Drew , (24 March 1911 – 27 July 1996) was an English modernist architect and town planner. She qualified at the Architectural Association School in London, and prior to World War II became one of the leading exponents of the Modern ...
''. Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing in association with Chandigarh College of Architecture, 1999.
* Kalia, Ravi. ''Chandigarh: The Making of an Indian City''. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999.
* Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew
Dame Jane Drew , (24 March 1911 – 27 July 1996) was an English modernist architect and town planner. She qualified at the Architectural Association School in London, and prior to World War II became one of the leading exponents of the Modern ...
. ''Chandigarh and Planning Development in India'', London: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, No.4948, 1 April 1955, Vol. CIII pages 315–333. I. ''The Plan'', by E. Maxwell Fry, II. ''Housing'', by Jane B. Drew.
* Nangia, Ashish. ''Re-locating Modernism: Chandigarh, Le Corbusier and the Global Postcolonial''. PhD. Dissertation, University of Washington, 2008.
* Perera, Nihal. "Contesting Visions: Hybridity, Liminality, and Authorship of the Chandigarh Plan" ''Planning Perspectives'' 19 (2004): 175–199
* Prakash, Vikramaditya. ''Chandigarh's Le Corbusier: The Struggle for Modernity in Postcolonial India''. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002.
* Sarin, Madhu. ''Urban Planning in the Third World: The Chandigarh Experience''. London: Mansell Publishing, 1982.
External links
; GovernmentThe Official Website of Chandigarh Administration
; General information * * {{Authority control * Planned capitals 1948 establishments in India Districts of Chandigarh Indian union territory capitals Le Corbusier buildings in India Modernist architecture in India Planned cities in India Populated places established in 1948 States and union territories of India Union territories of India T C