Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of

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 country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

containing

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 Ho ...

, the capital of India. Straddling the

Yamuna The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...

river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders with the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

in the east and with the state of

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 a ...

in the remaining directions. The NCT covers an area of . According to the 2011 census, Delhi's city proper population was over 11 million, while the NCT's population was about 16.8 million. Delhi's urban agglomeration, which includes the satellite cities of

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziabad Mun ...

Faridabad Faridabad is the most populous city in the Indian state of Haryana and a part of Delhi National Capital Region. It is one of the major satellite cities around Delhi and is located 284 kilometres south of the state capital Chandigarh. The ri ...

, Gurgaon and

Noida Noida, short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Noida is a satellite city of Delhi and is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) o ...

in an area known as the

National Capital Region A capital region, also called a capital district or capital territory, is a region or district surrounding a capital city. It is not always the official term for the region, but may sometimes be used as an informal synonym. Capital regions can exis ...

(NCR), has an estimated population of over 28 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in India and the second-largest in the world (after

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

). The topography of the medieval fort

Purana Qila Purana Qila () is one of the oldest forts in Delhi, India. Built by the second Mughal Emperor Humayun and Surid Sultan Sher Shah Suri, it is thought by many to be located on the site of the ancient city of Indraprastha. The fort formed the in ...

on the banks of the river Yamuna matches the literary description of the citadel

Indraprastha Indraprastha (lit. "Plain of Indra" or "City of Indra") is mentioned in ancient Indian literature as a city of the Kuru Kingdom. It was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas mentioned in ''Mahabharata'' . Under the Pali form of its nam ...

in the Sanskrit epic ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

''; however, excavations in the area have revealed no signs of an ancient built environment. From the early 13th century until the mid-19th century, Delhi was the capital of two major empires, the Delhi sultanate and the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, which covered large parts of

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

. All three

UNESCO 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 ...

s in the city, the

Qutub Minar The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It is a UNESCO W ...

Humayun's Tomb Humayun's tomb ( Persian: ''Maqbara-i Humayun'') is the tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife and chief consort, Empress Bega Begum under her patronage in 1558, and designed by Mir ...

, and the

Red Fort The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift ...

, belong to this period. Delhi was the early centre of Sufism and

Qawwali Qawwali (Punjabi language, Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nastaʿlīq, Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali language, Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali alphabet, Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Isl ...

music. The names of

Nizamuddin Auliya Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya (sometimes spelled Awliya; 1238 – 3 April 1325), also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Mahbub-e-Ilahi () was an Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, and is one of the most famous Sufis from the India ...

and

Amir Khusrau Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253–1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar who lived under the Delhi Sultanate. He is an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian sub ...

are prominently associated with it. The

Khariboli Kauravi ( hi, कौरवी, ur, ), also known as Khaṛībolī is a set of Western Hindi varieties of Shauraseni Prakrit mainly spoken in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh. Standard Hindi and Urdu are based on Khariboli, specifically on its De ...

dialect of Delhi was part of a linguistic development that gave rise to the literature of the

Urdu language Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Modern Standard Hindi. Major Urdu poets from Delhi include Mir Taqi Mir and

Mirza Ghalib ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Kala Mahal, Agra, Maratha Confederacy , death_date = , death_place = Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, British India , occupation = Poet , language ...

. Delhi was a major centre of the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

. In 1911,

, a southern region within Delhi, became the capital of the

British Indian Empire The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himse ...

. During the Partition of India in 1947, Delhi was transformed from a Mughal city to a Punjabi one, losing two-thirds of its Muslim residents, in part due to the pressure brought to bear by arriving Hindu refugees from western Punjab. After independence in 1947, New Delhi continued as the capital of the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...

, and after 1950 of the Republic of India. Delhi ranks fifth among the Indian states and union territories in

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, wh ...

. Delhi has the second-highest GDP per capita in India (after

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

). Although a union territory, the political administration of the NCT of Delhi today more closely resembles that of a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

of India, with its own legislature, high court and an executive council of ministers headed by a

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

. New Delhi is jointly administered by the federal

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, ...

and the local

government of Delhi The Government of Delhi, officially the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) is the governing body of the Union Territory of Delhi, whose urban area is the seat of the Government of India. It also governs the city or l ...

, and serves as the capital of the nation as well as the NCT of Delhi. Delhi is also the centre of the National Capital Region, which is an "interstate regional planning" area created in 1985. Delhi hosted the inaugural 1951 Asian Games, the 1982 Asian Games, the 1983

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...

summit, the

2010 Men's Hockey World Cup The 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup was the 12th edition of Men's Hockey World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national field hockey teams organized by the International Hockey Federation. It was held from 28 February to 13 March ...

, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 BRICS summit and was one of the major host cities of the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Toponym

There are a number of myths and legends associated with the origin of the name ''Delhi''. One of them is derived from ''Dhillu'' or ''Dilu'', a king who built a city at this location in 50 BCE and named it after himself. Another legend holds that the name of the city is based on the

Hindi 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 ...

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

word (''loose'') and that it was used by the

Tomaras The Tomara dynasty (also called Tomar in modern vernaculars because of Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages, schwa deletion) dynasty ruled parts of present-day Delhi and Haryana in India during 8th-12th century. Their rule over this region ...

to refer to the city because the

iron pillar of Delhi The iron pillar of Delhi is a structure high with a diameter that was constructed by Chandragupta II (reigned c. 375–415 AD), and now stands in the Qutb complex at Mehrauli in Delhi, India.Finbarr Barry Flood, 2003"Pillar, palimpsets, and pr ...

had a weak foundation and had to be moved. According to Panjab Notes and Queries, the name of the city at the time of King Prithviraj was , and that and are probably derived from the old Hindi word meaning "eminence". The former director of the Archaeological Survey of India, Alexander Cunningham, mentioned that later became . Some suggest the coins in circulation in the region under the Tomaras were called ''dehliwal''. According to the

Bhavishya Purana The 'Bhavishya Purana' (') is one of the eighteen major works in the Purana genre of Hinduism, written in Sanskrit. The title ''Bhavishya'' means "future" and implies it is a work that contains prophecies regarding the future. The ''Bhavishya ...

, King Prithiviraja of

built a new fort in the modern-day

area for the convenience of all four castes in his kingdom. He ordered the construction of a gateway to the fort and later named the fort ''dehali''.Delhi City

The Imperial Gazetteer of India ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' was a gazetteer of the British Indian Empire, and is now a historical reference work. It was first published in 1881. Sir William Wilson Hunter made the original plans of the book, starting in 1869.< ...

, 1909, v. 11, p. 236. Some historians believe that ''Dhilli'' or ''Dhillika'' is the original name for the city while others believe the name could be a corruption of the Hindustani words ''dehleez'' or ''dehali''—both terms meaning "threshold" or "gateway"—and symbolic of the city as a gateway to the

Gangetic Plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...

. The people of Delhi are referred to as ''Delhiites'' or ''Dilliwalas''. The city is referenced in various idioms of the Northern

Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...

. Examples include: * ''Abhī Dillī dūr hai'' (अभी दिल्ली दूर है / ابھی دلی دور ہے) or its

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

version, ''Hanuz Dehli dur ast'' (), literally meaning "Delhi is still far away", which is generically said about a task or journey still far from completion. * (आस-पास बरसे, दिल्ली पानी तरसे \ آس پاس برسے، دلی پانی ترسے), literally meaning "It pours all around, while Delhi lies parched". An allusion to the sometimes semi-arid climate of Delhi, it idiomatically refers to situations of deprivation when one is surrounded by plenty. The form ''Delhi'', used in

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...

and strangely with an ''h'' following an ''l'', originated under colonial rule and is a corrupt spelling based on the Urdu name of the city (, ''Dehli'').

History

Ancient and Early Medieval Periods

Traditionally seven cities have been associated with the region of Delhi. The earliest,

, is part of a literary description in the Sanskrit epic ''

'' (composed c. 400 BCE to 200 CE but describing an earlier time) which situates a city on a knoll on the banks of the river Yamuna. According to art historian Catherine B. Asher, the topographical description of the ''Mahabharata'' matches the area of

, a 14th-century CE fort of the Delhi sultanate, but the analogy does not go much further. Whereas the ''Mahabharata'' speaks of a beautifully decorated city with surrounding fortification, the excavations have yielded "uneven findings of painted grey pottery characteristic of the eleventh century BCE; no signs of a built environment, much fewer fortifications, have been revealed." The earliest architectural relics date back to the

Maurya The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...

period (c. 300 BCE); in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor

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, s ...

(273–235 BCE) was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of several major cities can be found in Delhi. The first of these was in the southern part of present-day Delhi. King Anang Pal of the

Tomara dynasty The Tomara dynasty (also called Tomar in modern vernaculars because of schwa deletion) dynasty ruled parts of present-day Delhi and Haryana in India during 8th-12th century. Their rule over this region is attested to by multiple inscriptions ...

built

Lal Kot Lal ( fa, لعل, hi, लाल, bn, লাল, ur, لال, ps, Lāl) is an Indo-Iranian surname and given name, which means "darling", "precious", or "beloved", from the Sanskrit ''lala'' ("cajoling").''Dictionary of American Family Names''F ...

and several temples in 1052 CE. Vigraharaj Chauhan conquered Lal Kot in the mid-12th century and renamed it

Qila Rai Pithora Lal Kot ( lit. "Red Fort") or Qila Rai Pithora ( lit. "Rai Pithora's Fort") is a fortified complex in present-day Delhi, which includes the Qutb Minar complex. It was constructed in the reign of Tomar king Anangpal Tomar between c. 1052 - c.1060 ...

Late Medieval Period

Prithviraj Chauhan Prithviraja III ( IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. – 1192 CE), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in presen ...

was defeated in 1192 by

Muhammad Ghori Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad ibn Sam ( fa, معز الدین محمد بن سام), also Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori, also Ghūri ( fa, معز الدین محمد غوری) (1144 – March 15, 1206), commonly known as Muhammad of Ghor, also Gh ...

in the

second battle of Tarain The Second Battle of Tarain was fought in 1192 between the Ghurid forces of Muhammad Ghuri and the Rajput Confederacy of Prithviraj Chauhan. It took place near Tarain (modern Taraori), which is , north of Delhi. The battle ended in a decis ...

Qutb-ud-din Aibak Qutb ud-Din Aibak ( fa, قطب‌الدین ایبک), (1150 – 14 November 1210) was a Turkic general of the Ghurid king Muhammad Ghori. He was in charge of the Ghurid territories in northern India, and after Muhammad Ghori's assassination i ...

, was given the responsibility of governing the conquered territories of India until Ghori returned to his capital,

Ghor Ghōr (Dari: ), also spelled Ghowr or Ghur, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is located in the western Hindu Kush in central Afghanistan, towards the northwest. The province contains eleven districts, encompassing hundreds ...

. When Ghori died without an heir in 1206 CE, Qutb-ud-din assumed control of Ghori's Indian possessions, and laid the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mamluk dynasty. He began construction of the

Qutb Minar The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It is a UNESCO Worl ...

and Quwwat-al-Islam (Might of Islam) mosque, the earliest extant mosque in India. It was his successor,

Iltutmish Shams ud-Din Iltutmish ( fa, شمس الدین ایلتتمش; died 30 April 1236, ) was the third of the Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid Empire, Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sove ...

(1211–1236), who consolidated the Turkic conquest of northern India. At , the

, a

in Delhi, was completed during the reign of Sultan

Illtutmish Shams ud-Din Iltutmish ( fa, شمس الدین ایلتتمش; died 30 April 1236, ) was the third of the Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sovereign to rule from Delhi, and is thus ...

in the 13th century. Although its style has some similarities with the

Jarkurgan minaret The minaret of Jarkurgan ( uz, Jarqoʻrgʻon minorasi / Жарқўрғон минораси) is a minaret and architectural monument in the village Minor, Jarqoʻrgʻon District, southern Uzbekistan. It was built by Muhammad bin Ali Al-Sarkhasi i ...

, it is more closely related to the

Ghaznavid The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...

and

Ghurid The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from th ...

minarets of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

Razia, daughter of Iltutmish, became the Sultana of Delhi upon the former's death. For the next three hundred years, Delhi was ruled by a succession of Turkic and an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

Lodi dynasty The Lodi dynasty ( ps, لودي سلسله; fa, سلسله لودی) was an Afghan dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1451 to 1526. It was the fifth and final dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, and was founded by Bahlul Khan Lodi when he ...

. They built several forts and townships that are part of the

seven cities of Delhi Delhi has a long history, and has been an important political centre of India as the capital of several empires. Earliest coverage of Delhi's history is in the onset of the Tomar's kingdom in the 8th century. It is considered to be a city bui ...

. Delhi was a major centre of Sufism during this period. The

Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi) The Mamluk dynasty ( fa, سلطنت مملوک, Salṭanat Mamlūk) was founded in Northern India by Qutb ud-Din Aibak, a Turkic Mamluk slave-general of the Ghurid Empire from Central Asia. The Mamluk dynasty ruled from 1206 to 1290; it was th ...

was overthrown in 1290 by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji (1290–1320). Under the second Khalji ruler,

Ala-ud-din Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrativ ...

, the Delhi sultanate extended its control south of the Narmada River in the Deccan. The Delhi sultanate reached its greatest extent during the reign of

Muhammad bin Tughluq Muhammad bin Tughluq (1290 – 20 March 1351) was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from February 1325 until his death in 1351. The sultan was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. In 1321, the youn ...

(1325–1351). In an attempt to bring the whole of the Deccan under control, he moved his capital to

Daulatabad, Maharashtra Daulatabad Fort, also known as Devagiri Fort or Deogiri Fort, is a historic fortified citadel located in Daulatabad village near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was the capital of the Yadava dynasty (9th century–14th century CE), for a b ...

in central India. However, by moving away from Delhi he lost control of the north and was forced to return to Delhi to restore order. The southern provinces then broke away. In the years following the reign of

Firoz Shah Tughlaq Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1309 – 20 September 1388) was a Muslim ruler from the Tughlaq dynasty, who reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi from 1351 to 1388.

(1351–1388), the Delhi Sultanate rapidly began to lose its hold over its northern provinces. Delhi was captured and sacked by

Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kü ...

in 1398, who massacred 100,000 captive civilian. Delhi's decline continued under the

Sayyid dynasty The Sayyid dynasty was the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, with four rulers ruling from 1414 to 1451. Founded by Khizr Khan, a former governor of Multan, they succeeded the Tughlaq dynasty and ruled the sultanate as a vassal of the Ti ...

(1414–1451), until the sultanate was reduced to Delhi and its hinterland. Under the Afghan

(1451–1526), the Delhi sultanate recovered control of Punjab and the Gangetic plain to once again achieve domination over Northern India. However, the recovery was short-lived and the sultanate was destroyed in 1526 by Babur, founder of the

Mughal dynasty The Mughal dynasty ( fa, ; ''Dudmân-e Mughal'') comprised the members of the imperial House of Babur ( fa, ; ''Khāndān-e-Āl-e-Bābur''), also known as the Gurkanis ( fa, ; ''Gūrkāniyān''), who ruled the Mughal Empire from to 1857. Th ...

Early Modern Period

In 1526, Babur a descendant of Genghis Khan and

, from the Fergana Valley in modern-day

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

invaded India, defeated the last Lodhi sultan in the First Battle of Panipat and founded the

that ruled from Delhi and

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

. The Mughal dynasty ruled Delhi for more than three centuries, with a sixteen-year hiatus during the reigns of

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری) (1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان) , was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...

and

Hemu Hemu (; also known as Hemu Vikramaditya and Hemchandra Vikramaditya; died 5 November 1556) was an Indian emperor who previously served as a general and Wazir of Adil Shah Suri of Sur Empire during a period in Indian history when Mughals and A ...

from 1540 to 1556. Shah Jahan built the seventh city of Delhi that bears his name ''

Shahjahanabad Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. T ...

'', which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1638 and is today known as the ''Old City'' or ''Old Delhi''. After the death of

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

in 1707, the Mughal Empire's influence declined rapidly as the Hindu

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Sh ...

from

Deccan Plateau The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by th ...

rose to prominence. In 1737, Maratha forces led by Baji Rao I sacked Delhi following their victory against the Mughals in the

First Battle of Delhi The battle took place on 28 March 1737 between the Marathas and the Mughal Empire at Talkatora near Delhi. It was part of the Later Mughal-Maratha Wars (1728–1763). Background On 12 November 1736, the Maratha general Bajirao advanced on ...

. In 1739, the Mughal Empire lost the huge

Battle of Karnal The Battle of Karnal (24 February 1739), was a decisive victory for Nader Shah, the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran, during his invasion of India. Nader's forces defeated the army of Muhammad Shah within three hours, paving the way fo ...

in less than three hours against the numerically outnumbered but militarily superior Persian army led by Nader Shah of Persia. After his

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

, he completely sacked and looted Delhi, carrying away immense wealth including the

Peacock Throne The Peacock Throne ( Hindustani: ''Mayūrāsana'', Sanskrit: मयूरासन, Urdu: تخت طاؤس, fa, تخت طاووس, ''Takht-i Tāvūs'') was a famous jewelled throne that was the seat of the emperors of the Mughal Empire in India ...

, the

Daria-i-Noor The Daria-i-Noor ( fa, , lit=Sea of light), also spelled ''Darya-ye Noor'', is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing an estimated 182 carats (36 g). Its colour, pale pink, is one of the rarest to be found in diamonds. The diamond ...

, and

Koh-i-Noor The Koh-i-Noor ( ; from ), also spelled Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing . It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. The diamond is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The ...

. The Mughals, severely further weakened, could never overcome this crushing defeat and humiliation which also left the way open for more invaders to come, including eventually the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Nader Nader is a masculine given name and surname of Arabic origin ( ''Nādir'', meaning "rare", "unique") and may refer to: Persons Given name * Nader Shah, former Shah of Iran (Persia) * Nader Ahmadi (born 1986), Iranian football player * Nader ...

eventually agreed to leave the city and India after forcing the Mughal emperor

Muhammad Shah Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah (born Roshan Akhtar; 7 August 1702 – 26 April 1748) was the 13th Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1719 to 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. After being chosen by the ...

I to beg him for mercy and granting him the keys of the city and the royal treasury. A treaty signed in 1752 made Marathas the protectors of the Mughal throne in Delhi. The city was sacked again in 1757 by the forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani, although it was not annexed by the Afghan Empire and being its vassal state under the Mughal emperor. Then the Marathas battled and won control of Delhi from the Mughals. By the end of the century, Delhi had also come under control of the

Bharatpur State Bharatpur State, which is also known as the Jat State of Bharatpur historically known as the Kingdom of Bharatpur, was a Hindu Kingdom in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. It was ruled by the Sinsinwar clan of the Hindu Jat ...

and the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...

Colonial Period

NewDelhiInaugurationSecondDayCancellation27Feb1931

In 1803, during the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War ...

, the forces of

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

defeated the Maratha forces in the Battle of Delhi. During the

, Delhi fell to the forces of East India Company after a bloody fight known as the

Siege of Delhi The siege of Delhi was one of the decisive conflicts of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebellion against the authority of the East India Company was widespread through much of Northern India, but essentially it was sparked by the mass up ...

. The city came under the direct control of the British Government in 1858. It was made a district province of the

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 a ...

. In 1911, it was announced that the capital of British-held territories in India was to be transferred from

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

to Delhi. The name "New Delhi" was given in 1927, and the new capital was inaugurated on 13 February 1931.

was officially declared as the capital of the Union of India after the country gained

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

on 15 August 1947. It has expanded since; the small part of it that was constructed during the British period has come to be informally known as ''Lutyens' Delhi''.

Partition and post-independence

During the partition of India, around five lakh Hindu and Sikh refugees, mainly from

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 province and the Islamabad Capital Territory, but exclu ...

fled to Delhi, while around three lakh Muslim residents of the city migrated to Pakistan. Ethnic Punjabis are believed to account for at least 40% of Delhi's total population and are predominantly

-speaking

Punjabi Hindus Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis. While Punjabi Hindus are mostly found in the Indian state of Punjab today, many have ancestry from the greater Punjab regi ...

. Migration to Delhi from the rest of India continues (), contributing more to the rise of Delhi's population than the birth rate, which is declining. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 created the Union Territory of Delhi from its predecessor, the ''

Chief Commissioner's Province Chief Commissioner's Province refers to middle-level and minor type of provinces of India and in the post-colonial successor states, not headed by a ( lieutenant-)governor but by a Chief commissioner, notably : * in present India : ** Chief Commi ...

of Delhi''. The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 declared the Union Territory of Delhi to be formally known as the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Act gave Delhi its legislative assembly along Civil lines, though with limited powers. Delhi was the primary site in the nationwide anti-Sikh pogroms of 1984, which resulted in the death of around 2,800 people in the city according to government figures, though independent estimates of the number of people killed tend to be higher. The riots were set off by the

assassination of Indira Gandhi Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 a.m. on 31 October 1984 at her residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. She was killed by her bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, ...

—the Prime Minister of India at the time—by her Sikh bodyguards. In 2001, the Parliament of India building in New Delhi was attacked by armed Islamic militants, killing six security personnel. India suspected Pakistan-based Jihadist militant groups were behind the attack, which caused a major

diplomatic crisis {{Refimprove, date=December 2011 An international incident (or diplomatic incident) is a seemingly relatively small or limited action, incident or clash that results in a wider dispute between two or more nation-states. International incidents can ...

between the two countries. There were further terrorist attacks in Delhi in 2005 and 2008, resulting in a total of 92 deaths. The 2020 Delhi riots, Delhi's worst communal violence in decades, was caused mainly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims. Of the 53 people killed, two-thirds were Muslims, and the rest

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Geography

Delhi is located in

Northern India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

, at . The city is bordered on its northern, western, and southern sides by the

and to the east by that of

(UP). Two prominent features of the geography of Delhi are the Yamuna flood plains and the Delhi ridge. The

Yamuna River The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Ba ...

was the historical boundary between

and UP, and its flood plains provide fertile alluvial soil suitable for agriculture but are prone to recurrent floods. The Yamuna, a sacred river in

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 only major river flowing through Delhi. The

Hindon River Hindon River, a tributary of Yamuna river, is a river in India that originates in the Saharanpur district, from the Shakumbhari devi range Upper Sivaliks in Uttar Pradesh. The river is entirely rainfed and has an approximate catchment area of . ...

separates Ghaziabad from the eastern part of Delhi. The Delhi ridge originates from the

Aravalli Range The Aravalli Range (also spelled ''Aravali'') is a mountain range in Northern- Western India, running approximately in a south-west direction, starting near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana, Rajasthan, and ending in Ahmedabad Gujarat. ...

in the south and encircles the west, northeast, and northwest parts of the city. It reaches a height of and is a dominant feature of the region. In addition to the wetlands formed by the Yamuna river, Delhi continues to retain over 500 ponds (wetlands < 5 ha), that in turn support considerable number of bird species. Delhi's ponds, despite experiencing ecological deterioration due to garbage dumping and concretization, supports the largest number of bird species known to be using ponds anywhere in the world. Existing policy in Delhi prevents the conversion of wetlands and, quite inadvertently, has led to the city's ponds becoming invaluable refugia for birds. The National Capital Territory of Delhi covers an area of , of which is designated rural, and urban therefore making it the largest city in terms of area in the country. It has a length of and a width of . Delhi is included in India's seismic zone-IV, indicating its vulnerability to major earthquakes.

Climate

Delhi features a dry-winter humid subtropical climate (

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'') bordering a hot semi-arid climate (

''BSh''). The warm season lasts from 21 March to 15 June with an average daily high temperature above . The hottest day of the year is 22 May, with an average high of and low of . The cold season lasts from 26 November to 9 February with an average daily high temperature below . The coldest day of the year is 4 January, with an average low of and high of . In early March, the wind direction changes from north-westerly to south-westerly. From April to October the weather is hot. The monsoon arrives at the end of June, along with an increase in humidity. The brief, mild winter starts in late November, peaks in January and heavy fog often occurs. Temperatures in Delhi usually range from , with the lowest and highest temperatures ever recorded being , respectively. However, was recorded at Mungeshpur on 15 May 2022 whereas one of the main weathering station, that is, Airport station recorded all time high of on 26 May 1998. The lowest ever temperature ever recorded is at airport on 11 January 1967. The highest temperature ever recorded in Safdarjung is on 29 May 1944 & lowest recorded is on 16 January 1935. On January 8 2006 Delhi recorded minimum temperature of , the coldest in 70 years. On December 30 2019 Delhi recorded lowest maximum temp ever at at Safdarjung & at Mungeshpur. On January 1 2021 Delhi recorded temperature of , the coldest in 15 years. The annual mean temperature is ; monthly mean temperatures range from . The highest temperature recorded in July in Safdarjung & Palam were in 1 July 1931 & in 5 July 1987 respectively. The average annual rainfall is approximately , most of which falls during the monsoon in July and August. The average date of the advent of monsoon winds in Delhi is 27 June.

Air pollution

According to the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

(WHO), Delhi was the most polluted city in the world in 2014. In 2016 WHO downgraded Delhi to eleventh-worst in the urban air quality database. According to one estimate, air pollution causes the death of about 10,500 people in Delhi every year. Air quality index of Delhi is generally moderate (101–200) level between January to September, and then it drastically deteriorates to Very Poor (301–400), Severe (401–500) or Hazardous (500+) levels in three months between October to December, due to various factors including stubble burning, fire crackers burning during Diwali and cold weather. During 2013–14, peak levels of fine particulate matter (PM) in Delhi increased by about 44%, primarily due to high vehicular and industrial emissions, construction work and crop burning in adjoining states. It has the highest level of the airborne particulate matter,

PM2.5 Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...

considered most harmful to health, with 153 micrograms. Rising air pollution level has significantly increased lung-related ailments (especially asthma and lung cancer) among Delhi's children and women. The dense smog and haze in Delhi during winter results in major air and rail traffic disruptions every year. According to Indian meteorologists, the average maximum temperature in Delhi during winters has declined notably since 1998 due to rising air pollution. India's

Ministry of Earth Sciences The Ministry of Earth Sciences was formed on 29 January 2006 from a merger of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune ...

published a research paper in October 2018 attributing almost 41% of PM2.5 air pollution in Delhi to vehicular emissions, 21.5% to dust/fire and 18% to industries. The director of

Centre for Science and Environment Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is a not-for-profit public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, India. Established in 1980, CSE works as a think tank on environment-development issues in India, poor planning, ...

(CSE) alleged that the

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers The automotive industry in India is the fourth-largest in the world as per 2021 statistics. In 2022, India became fourth largest country in the world by valuation of automotive industry. As of 2020, India is the 5th largest automobile market in ...

(SIAM) is lobbying "against the report" because it is "inconvenient" to the automobile industry. Environmentalists have also criticised the Delhi government for not doing enough to curb air pollution and to inform people about air quality issues. In 2014, an environmental panel appealed to India's Supreme Court to impose a 30%

cess Cess is a tax that is generally levied for promoting services like health and education. Governments often charge cess for the purpose of development in social sectors. The word is a shortened form of "assess". The spelling is due to a mistaken ...

on diesel cars, but till date no action has been taken to penalise the automobile industry. Most of Delhi's residents are unaware of alarming levels of air pollution in the city and the health risks associated with it. In 2020, annual average

in the Delhi, stood at 107.6 µg/m³, which is almost 21.5 times the

PM2.5 Guideline (5 µg/m³: set in September, 2021). These pollution levels are estimated to reduce the

Life Expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

of an average person living in Delhi by almost 10.1 years. However, , awareness, particularly among the foreign diplomatic community and high-income Indians, was noticeably increasing. Since the mid-1990s, Delhi has undertaken some measures to curb air pollution—Delhi has the third-highest quantity of trees among Indian cities and the

Delhi Transport Corporation Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is the main public transport operator of Delhi. It is the largest CNG-powered bus service operator in the world. History The Delhi Transport Corporation was incorporated in May 1948 by the Indian governme ...

operates the world's largest fleet of environmentally friendly

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...

(CNG) buses. In 1996, the CSE started a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court of India that ordered the conversion of Delhi's fleet of buses and taxis to run on CNG and banned the use of

leaded petrol Tetraethyllead (commonly styled tetraethyl lead), abbreviated TEL, is an organolead compound with the formula Pb( C2H5)4. It is a fuel additive, first being mixed with gasoline beginning in the 1920s as a patented octane rating booster that al ...

in 1998. In 2003, Delhi won the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

's first 'Clean Cities International Partner of the Year' award for its "bold efforts to curb air pollution and support alternative fuel initiatives". The

Delhi Metro The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Bahadurgarh and Ballabhgarh, in the National Capital Region of India. The network consists of 10 colou ...

has also been credited for significantly reducing air pollutants in the city. However, according to several authors, most of these gains have been lost, especially due to

stubble burning Stubble burning is the practice of intentionally setting fire to the straw stubble that remains after grains, such as rice and wheat, have been harvested. The technique is still widespread today. Effects The burning of stubble has both positi ...

, a rise in the market share of diesel cars and a considerable decline in bus ridership. According to CSE and System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), burning of agricultural waste in nearby Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh regions results in severe intensification of smog over Delhi.

Civic administration

Currently, the National Capital Territory of Delhi is made up of one division, 11 districts, 33 subdivisions, 59 census towns, and 300 villages. The National Capital Territory of Delhi is divided into three municipalities, Delhi Municipality, New Delhi and Delhi Cantonment, each with their own governance apparatus. The Municipality of Delhi is administered by

Municipal Corporation of Delhi Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is the municipal corporation that governs most of Delhi, India. The MCD is among the largest municipal bodies in the world providing civic services to an estimated population of more than 11 million citiz ...

(MCD) which occupies an area of 1397.3 km² and is sub-divided into 12 zones, that is, Centre, South, West, Najafgarh, Rohini, Civil Lines, Karol Bagh, SP-City, Keshavpuram, Narela, Shahdara North and Shahdara South. Municipal services in

, which occupies an area of 42.7 km², are provided by the

New Delhi Municipal Council New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the municipal council of the city of New Delhi, Delhi, India. It covers an area of 42.7 km2 under its administration, which is commonly referred as Lutyens' Delhi. The only owner is Government of In ...

and Delhi Cantonment is administered by a Cantonment board. Between 2011 and 22 May 2022 Delhi Municipality was divided into three municipal corporations: #

South Delhi South Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India with its headquarters in Saket. Administratively, the district is divided into three subdivisions, Saket, Hauz Khas, and Mehrauli. It is bounded by t ...

had jurisdiction over South and West Delhi areas including Mahipalpur, Rajouri Garden, Badarpur, Jaitpur, Janakpuri, Hari Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Dwarka, Jungpura, Greater Kailash, R K Puram, Malviya Nagar, Kalkaji, Ambedkar Nagar and Pul pehladpur. #

North Delhi North Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in 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 po ...

had jurisdiction over areas such as Badli, Rithala, Bawana, Kirari, Mangolpuri, Tri Nagar, Model Town, Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal, Karol Bagh, Moti Nagar #

East Delhi East Delhi is an administrative district of Delhi in India. It is bounded by the Yamuna River on the west, North East Delhi to the north, Ghaziabad District of Uttar Pradesh state to the east, and Gautam Buddha Nagar District of Uttar Prades ...

had jurisdiction over areas such as Patparganj, Kondli, Laxmi Nagar, Seemapuri, Gonda, Karawal Nagar, Babarpur and Shahadra. Delhi is home to the

High Court of Delhi The High Court of Delhi (IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. K ...

. The High Court of Delhi is the highest in the Delhi before Supreme Court. The High Court of Delhi just like the apex court and other High Courts in India is the Court of record. Delhi is also home to various District Court according to jurisdictions. Delhi have Currently seven District Courts namely Tis Hazari Court Complex, Karkardooma Court Complex, Patiala House Court Complex, Rohini Court Complex, Dwarka Courts Complex, Saket Court Complex, and Rouse Avenue Court Apart from the District Courts Delhi also have Consumer Courts, CBI Courts, Labour Courts, Revenue Courts, Army tribunals, electricity tribunals, Railway Tribunals, and other various tribunals situated according to appropriate jurisdictions. For policing purposes Delhi is divided into fifteen police districts which are further subdivided into 95 local police station zones. Delhi currently has 180 police stations.

Government and politics

As a first-level administrative division, the National Capital Territory of Delhi has its own Legislative Assembly, Lieutenant Governor, the council of ministers, and

. Members of the legislative assembly are directly elected from territorial constituencies in the NCT. The legislative assembly was abolished in 1956, after which direct federal control was implemented until it was re-established in 1993. The Municipal corporation handles civic administration for the city as part of the Panchayati Raj Act. 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, ...

and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi jointly administer New Delhi, where both bodies are located. The

Parliament of India The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

, the

Rashtrapati Bhavan The Rashtrapati Bhavan (, rāsh-truh-puh-ti bha-vun; ; originally Viceroy's House and later Government House) is the official residence of the President of India at the western end of Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India. Rashtrapati Bh ...

(Presidential Palace), Cabinet Secretariat, and the Supreme Court of India are located in the municipal district of New Delhi. There are 70 assembly constituencies and seven

Lok Sabha 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-p ...

(Indian parliament's lower house) constituencies in Delhi. The

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

(Congress) formed all the governments in Delhi until the 1990s, when the

Bharatiya Janata Party 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 Mod ...

(BJP), led by

Madan Lal Khurana Madan Lal Khurana (15 October 1936 – 27 October 2018) was an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Delhi from 1993 to 1996. He also served as Governor of Rajasthan in 2004. He was the Union Minister of Parliamentary affairs and Tou ...

, came to power. In 1998, the Congress returned to power under the leadership of

Sheila Dikshit Sheila Dikshit () (née Kapoor; 31 March 1938 – 20 July 2019) was an Indian politician. The longest-serving Chief Minister of Delhi, as well as the longest-serving female chief minister of any Indian state, she served for a period of 15 ye ...

, who was subsequently re-elected for 3 consecutive terms. But in 2013, the Congress was ousted from power by the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by

Arvind Kejriwal Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi: �ɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, former bureaucrat, and activist who is the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. Currently, he is the national co ...

forming the government with outside support from the Congress. However, that government was short-lived, collapsing only after 49 days. Delhi was then under President's rule until February 2015. On 10 February 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party returned to power after a landslide victory, winning 67 out of the 70 seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.

Economy

Delhi is the largest commercial center in northern India. recent estimates of the economy of the Delhi urban area have been around $370 billion ( PPP metro GDP) ranking it either the most or second-most productive metro area of India. * * * The nominal GSDP of the NCT of Delhi for 2016–17 was estimated at , 13% higher than in 2015–16. As per the Economic survey of Delhi (2005–2006), the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

contributes 70.95% of Delhi's gross SDP followed by secondary and primary sectors with 25.20% and 3.85% contributions, respectively. Delhi's workforce constitutes 32.82% of the population, and increased by 52.52% between 1991 and 2001. Delhi's unemployment rate decreased from 12.57% in 1999–2000 to 4.63% in 2003. In December 2004, 636,000 people were registered with various employment exchange programmes in Delhi. In 2001 the total workforce in national and state governments and the quasi-government sector was 620,000, and the private sector employed 219,000. Key service industries are information technology, telecommunications, hotels, banking, media and tourism. Construction, power, health and community services and real estate are also important to the city's economy. Delhi has one of India's largest and fastest growing retail industries. Manufacturing also grew considerably as consumer goods companies established manufacturing units and headquarters in the city. Delhi's large consumer market and the availability of skilled labour has also attracted foreign investment. In 2001, the manufacturing sector employed 1,440,000 workers and the city had 129,000 industrial units.

Utility services

Delhi's municipal water supply is managed by the

Delhi Jal Board Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is the government agency responsible for supply of potable water to the most of the National Capital Territory region of Delhi, India. Delhi Jal Board was constituted on 6 April 1998 through an Act of the Delhi Legislative ...

(DJB). , it supplied 650 million gallons per day (MGD), whereas the estimated consumption requirement is 963 MGD. The shortfall is met by private and public

tube well A tube well is a type of water well in which a long, -wide, stainless steel tube or pipe is bored underground. The lower end is fitted with a strainer, and a pump lifts water for irrigation. The required depth of the well depends on the dep ...

s and

hand pump Hand pumps are manually operated pumps; they use human power and mechanical advantage to move fluids or air from one place to another. They are widely used in every country in the world for a variety of industrial, marine, irrigation and leisu ...

s. At 240 MGD, the Bhakra storage is DJB's largest water source, followed by the Yamuna and

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

rivers. Delhi's

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

level is falling and its population density is increasing, so residents often encounter acute water shortage. Research on Delhi suggests that up to half of the city's water use is unofficial groundwater.
In Delhi, daily domestic solid waste production is 8000

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s which is dumped at three landfill locations by MCD. The daily domestic waste water production is 470 MGD and industrial waste water is 70 MGD. A large portion of the sewage flows untreated into the Yamuna river. The city's electricity consumption is about 1,265 kWh per capita but the actual demand is higher. In Delhi power distribution is managed by TPDDL and BSES Yamuna & BSES Rajdhani since 2002. The

Delhi Fire Service Delhi Fire Service (DFS) is the state-owned service that attends fire/rescue calls in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. The service consists of 61 fire stations and 3616 personnel (3280 firefighters, 289 mechanics), and attends ...

runs 43 fire stations that attend about 15,000 fire and rescue calls per year. The state-owned BSNL and private enterprises such as

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 ...

, Vi,

Jio Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, doing business as Jio, is an Indian telecommunications company and a subsidiary of Jio Platforms, headquartered in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It operates a national LTE network with coverage across all 2 ...

, and provide telephone and cell phone services to the city. Cellular coverage is available in

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

, 3G, 4G and 4G+.

Transport

Air

Indira Gandhi International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New ...

, situated to the south-west of Delhi, is the main gateway for the city's domestic and international civilian air traffic. In 2015–16, the airport handled more than 48 million passengers, making it the busiest airport in India and South Asia. Terminal 3, which cost to construct between 2007 and 2010, handles an additional 37 million passengers annually. In 2010, IGIA was conferred the 4th best airport award in the world in the 15–25 million category, by

Airports Council International Airports Council International (ACI) is an organization of airport authorities aimed at unifying industry practices for airport standards. Established in 1991, its headquarters (ACI World) are based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its members ...

. The airport was rated as the ''Best airport in the world'' in the 25–40 million passengers category in 2015, by Airports Council International. Delhi Airport was awarded ''The Best Airport in Central Asia'' and ''Best Airport Staff in Central Asia'' at the

Skytrax Skytrax (originally known as Inflight Research Services) is a United Kingdom–based consultancy which runs an airline and airport review and ranking site. Services Skytrax conducts research for commercial airlines, as well as taking surveys ...

World Airport Awards 2015. Hindon Domestic Airport in Ghaziabad was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the second airport for the Delhi-NCR Region on 8 March 2019. A second international airport open for commercial flights has been suggested either by expansion of

Meerut Airport Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Airstrip is an airstrip-aerodrome, situated at Partapur, 9 km south of Village Gagol of Meerut, in Uttar Pradesh, India. The airstrip, spread across 47 acres, has only non scheduled chartered flights. The government of ...

or construction of a new airport in

Greater Noida Greater Noida is a planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city was created as an extension to Noida area under the ''UP Industrial Area Development Act, 1976''. Situated south-east of t ...

. The

Taj International Airport Noida International Airport is an international airport being constructed near Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar District, Uttar Pradesh in India. Once completed, it is planned to be India's largest airport. The Noida International Airport Limit ...

project in

Jewar Jewar is a town and a nagar panchayat in Gautam Buddha Nagar District in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Location Jewar is located in the suburbs of Greater Noida about from Noida, from Greater Noida, from Gautam Buddha University and ...

has been approved by the

government. The ''Delhi Flying Club'', established in 1928 with two

de Havilland Moth The de Havilland Moths were a series of light aircraft, sports planes, and military trainers designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. In the late 1920s and 1930s, they were the most common civilian aircraft flying in Britain, and during that time ever ...

aircraft named ''Delhi'' and ''Roshanara'', was based at

Safdarjung Airport Safdarjung Airport is an airport in New Delhi, India, in the Safdarjung (Delhi), neighbourhood of the same name. Established during the British Raj as Willingdon Airfield, it started operations as an aerodrome in 1929, when it was India's secon ...

which started operations in 1929, when it was the Delhi's only airport and the second in India. The airport functioned until 2001; however, in January 2002 the government closed the airport for flying activities because of security concerns following the New York attacks in September 2001. Since then, the club only carries out aircraft maintenance courses and is used for helicopter rides to Indira Gandhi International Airport for VIP including the president and the prime minister.

Road

Delhi has the highest road density of 2103 km/100 km² in

. It is connected to other parts of India by five

National Highways National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards used by all f ...

: NH 1, NH 2, NH 8, NH 10 and

NH 24 National Highway 24 (NH 24) is a primary national highway in India, running in a north-south direction. This highway runs entirely in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This highway was created by renumbering former NH29 and NH97 as per new numberin ...

. The Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Kolkata prongs of the

Golden Quadrilateral The Golden Quadrilateral ( hi, स्वर्णिम चतुर्भुज, Svarnim Chaturbhuj; abbreviated GQ) is a national highway network connecting several major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India. It forms a ...

start from the city. The city's road network is maintained by MCD, NDMC, Delhi Cantonment Board, Public Works Department (PWD) and

Delhi Development Authority The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is a planning authority created in 1957 under the provisions of the Delhi Development Act "to promote and secure the development of Delhi". It is responsible for planning, development and construction of h ...

. Buses are the most popular means of road transport catering to about 60% of Delhi's total demand. Delhi has one of India's largest bus transport systems. In 1998, the Supreme Court of India ruled that all public transport vehicles in Delhi must be fuelled by

(CNG) to tackle increasing vehicular pollution. The state-owned

(DTC) is a major bus service provider which operates the world's largest fleet of CNG-fuelled buses. In addition, cluster scheme buses are operated by

Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) Limited is transport consultancy and infrastructure development company. It is a joint venture company with equal equity of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) an ...

(DIMTS) with the participation of private concessionaires and DTC. In December 2017, the DTC and cluster buses carried over 4.19 million passengers per day. Kashmiri Gate ISBT,

Anand Vihar ISBT Swami Vivekanand Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) popularly known as Anand Vihar ISBT, located in East Delhi is one of the three Inter State Bus Terminals in Delhi. Anand Vihar ISBT was built in 1993, but it became fully functional with effect ...

and

Sarai Kale Khan ISBT Sarai Kale Khan Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) is a major bus terminus complex in Delhi, India catering to bus services to Haryana and Rajasthan states. Built to decongest the over-crowded Kashmere Gate ISBT, which was unable to bear the inc ...

are the main bus terminals for outstation buses plying to neighbouring states. Delhi's rapid rate of economic development and population growth has resulted in an increasing demand for transport, creating excessive pressure on the city's transport infrastructure. To meet the transport demand, the State and Union government constructed a mass rapid transit system, including the Delhi Metro.

Delhi Bus Rapid Transit System The Delhi BRTS was a bus rapid transit system in Delhi. The first route opened in 2008 ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which were held in the city. The project was well used but has been criticised for the difficulty of access to the bus ...

runs between Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate. Personal vehicles especially cars also form a major chunk of vehicles plying on Delhi roads. , private vehicles account for 30% of the total demand for transport. Delhi has the highest number of registered cars compared to any other metropolitan city in India. Taxis, auto rickshaws, and cycle rickshaws also ply on Delhi roads in large numbers. , the number of vehicles in the metropolitan region, Delhi NCR, was 11.2 million (11.2 million). In 2008, there were 85 cars in Delhi for every 1,000 of its residents. In 2017, the number of vehicles in Delhi city alone crossed the ten million mark with the transport department of

Delhi Government The Government of Delhi, officially the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) is the governing body of the Union Territory of Delhi, whose urban area is the seat of the Government of India. It also governs the city or l ...

putting the total number of registered vehicles at 10,567,712 until 25 May of the year.

Railway

Delhi is a major junction in the Indian railway network and is the headquarters of the Northern Railway. The main railway stations are

Old Delhi Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. T ...

, Hazrat Nizamuddin,

Anand Vihar Anand Vihar Terminal (station code: ANVT) is a railway station in the Anand Vihar locality of Delhi, India. It is under the administrative control of the Delhi Division of the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. This station was offi ...

Delhi Sarai Rohilla Delhi Sarai Rohilla railway station (station code: DEE) is situated about from old Delhi railway junction in India. It is managed by Delhi Division of Northern Railway zone. Many trains from Delhi to Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat st ...

and Delhi Cantt. The

, a mass rapid transit system built and operated by

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) is a centre-state joint venture that operates the Delhi Metro. The DMRC is also involved in the planning and implementation of metro rail, monorail, and high-speed rail projects in India and abroad. T ...

(DMRC), serves many parts of Delhi and the neighbouring cities

, Gurgaon and

. , the metro consists of ten operational lines with a total length of and 254 stations, and several other lines are under construction. The Phase-I was built at a cost of US$2.3 billion and the Phase-II was expected to cost an additional . Phase-II has a total length of 128 km and was completed by 2010.

completed 10 years of operation on 25 December 2012. It carries millions of passengers every day. In addition to the Delhi Metro, a suburban railway, the

Delhi Suburban Railway Delhi Suburban Railway is a suburban rail service operated by Northern Railway for the National Capital Region (NCR). This railway service covers Delhi, along with the adjoining districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Sonipat and other a ...

exists.

Metro

The

is a rapid transit system serving Delhi,

, Gurgaon and

in the National Capital Region of India. Delhi Metro is the world's tenth-largest metro system in terms of length. Delhi Metro was India's second modern public transportation system. The network consists of 10 colour-coded lines serving 255 stations with a total length of . The system has a mix of underground, at-grade, and elevated stations using both

broad-gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

and

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

. All stations have escalators, lifts, and tactile tiles to guide the visually impaired from station entrances to trains. There are 18 designated parking sites at Metro stations to further encourage the use of the system. In March 2010, DMRC partnered with Google India (through Google Transit) to provide train schedule and route information to mobile devices with Google Maps. It has a combination of elevated, at-grade, and underground lines, and uses both broad gauge and standard gauge rolling stock. Four types of rolling stock are used: Mitsubishi–ROTEM Broad gauge, Bombardier MOVIA, Mitsubishi–ROTEM Standard gauge, and CAF Beasain Standard gauge. The Phase-I of Delhi Metro was built for US$2.3 billion and the Phase-II was expected to cost an additional . Phase-II has a total length of 128 km and was completed by 2010.

completed 10 years of operation on 25 December 2012. It carries millions of passengers every day. Delhi Metro is being built and operated by the

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) is a centre-state joint venture that operates the Delhi Metro. The DMRC is also involved in the planning and implementation of metro rail, monorail, and high-speed rail projects in India and abroad. T ...

(DMRC), a state-owned company with equal equity participation from the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. However, the organization is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. Besides the construction and operation of the Delhi Metro, DMRC is also involved in the planning and implementation of metro rail, monorail, and high-speed rail projects in India and providing consultancy services to other metro projects in the country as well as abroad. The Delhi Metro project was spearheaded by

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without ...

E. Sreedharan Elattuvalapil Sreedharan (born 12 June 1930) is an Indian engineer and politician from the Indian state of Kerala. He is credited with changing the face of public transport in India with his leadership in building the Konkan Railway and the De ...

, the managing director of DMRC and popularly known as the "Metro Man" of India. He famously resigned from DMRC taking moral responsibility for a metro bridge collapse, which took five lives. Sreedharan was awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

by the French Government for his contribution to Delhi Metro.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census of India, the population of the NCT of Delhi is 16,753,235. The corresponding population density was 11,297 persons per km² with a sex ratio of 866 women per 1000 men, and a literacy rate of 86.34%. In 2004, the birth rate, death rate and infant mortality rate per 1000 population were 20.03, 5.59 and 13.08, respectively. In 2001, the population of Delhi increased by 285,000 as a result of migration and by 215,000 as a result of natural population growth, which made Delhi one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.

Dwarka Sub City Dwarka is a neighbourhood located in South West Delhi district of Delhi. The district court that functions under the Delhi High Court for South West Delhi is located in Dwarka. The sub-city is located near to Indira Gandhi International Airp ...

, Asia's largest planned residential area, is located within the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Urban expansion Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

has resulted in Delhi's urban area now being considered as extending beyond the NCT boundaries to incorporate the towns and cities of neighbouring states including

and Gurgaon in

, and

and

, the total population of which is estimated by the United Nations to be over 28 million. According to the UN this makes Delhi urban area the world's second-largest urban area after Tokyo, although

Demographia Wendell Cox is an American urban policy analyst and proponent of the use of the private car over rail projects. He is the principal and sole owner of Wendell Cox Consultancy/Demographia, based in the St. Louis metropolitan region and editor of thr ...

declares the Jakarta urban area to be the second-largest. The 2011 census provided two figures for urban area population: 16,314,838 within the NCT boundary, and 21,753,486 for the ''Extended Urban Area''. The 2021 regional plan released by the

renamed the ''Extended Urban Area'' from ''Delhi Metropolitan Area (DMA)'' as defined by the 2001 plan, to '' Central National Capital Region (CNCR)''. Around 49% of the population of Delhi lives in slums and unauthorized colonies without any civic amenities. The majority of these slums have inadequate provisions to the basic facilities and according to a DUSIB report, almost 22% of the people do open defecation. Major social groups of Delhi include

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...

Gujjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradi ...

s, Jats,

Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of caste hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly of agriculture, taking care ...

Khatris Khatri is a caste of the Indian subcontinent that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantilistic professions such as banking and trade, they were the d ...

Rajputs Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

, Ahirs, Punjabis,

Purvanchal Purvanchal () is a subregion of the Bhojpuri region of India which comprises eastern Uttar Pradesh. Purvanchal region gained independence from the Avadh and Mughal rule under Zamindar Balwant Singh, a Bhumihar zamindar from Benaras State. I ...

is,

Bengalis Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

is,

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s, Sikhs, etc. File:Birla Mandir Delhi.jpg, alt=The Birla temple in Delhi with its towers.,

Birla Mandir, Delhi The Laxminarayan Mandir, also known as the ''Birla Mandir'', is a Hindu temple up to large extent dedicated to Laxminarayan in Delhi, India. Laxminarayan usually refers to Vishnu, Preserver in the Trimurti, also known as Narayana, Narayan, whe ...

, a Hindu temple, was inaugurated by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

in 1933 File:Jama Masjid - In the Noon.jpg, The

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

was built by the

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

Shah Jahan between 1650 and 1656 File:Interior-view-Gurudwara-Sis-Ganj-Sahib-Night-View.jpg, The prayer hall of Sikh

Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib is one of the nine historical Gurdwaras in Delhi. It was first constructed in 1783 as a small shrine by Baghel Singh to commemorate the martyrdom site of the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur and was probably expanded ...

Chandni Chowk The Chandni Chowk, also known as Moonlight Square is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. It is located close to the Old Delhi Railway Station. The Red Fort monument is located at the eastern end of Chandni Chowk. It was b ...

which dates to 1783

is Delhi's predominant religious faith, with 81.68% of Delhi's population, followed by Islam (12.86%),

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 ...

(3.40%),

Jainism 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 bein ...

(0.99%), Christianity (0.87%), and

Buddhism 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 ...

(0.11%). Other minority religions include

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

, Baháʼísm and Judaism. According to the 50th report of the commissioner for linguistic minorities in India, which was submitted in 2014,

is Delhi's most spoken language, with 80.94% speakers, followed by Punjabi (7.14%),

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

(1.50%). 4.11% of Delhites speak other languages. Hindi is also the official language of Delhi while Urdu and Punjabi have been declared as additional official languages. According to the Directorate of Education and GNCTD the following languages are taught in schools in Delhi under the

three-language formula The three-language formula is a language learning policy first formulated in 1968 by the Ministry of Education of the Government of India in consultation with the states. History The first recommendation for a three-language policy was made by the ...

: * First Language #

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

* Second Language #

* Third language #

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Punjabi #

# Sindhi #

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

Culture

Delhi's culture has been influenced by its lengthy history and historic association as the capital of India. Although a strong Punjabi Influence can be seen in

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

Dress A dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a garment traditionally worn by women or girls consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice (or a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment). It consists of a top piece that co ...

and Cuisine brought by the large number of refugees who came following the partition in 1947 the recent migration from other parts of India has made it a melting pot. This is exemplified by many significant monuments in the city. The

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexand ...

recognises 1,200 heritage buildings and 175 monuments as national heritage sites. In the Old City, the Mughals and the Turkic rulers constructed several architecturally significant buildings, such as the

—India's largest mosque built in 1656 and the

. Three

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 ...

s—the Red Fort,

and

—are located in Delhi. Other monuments include the

India Gate The India Gate (formerly known as the All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located near the Rajpath on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of New Delhi, formerly called duty path. It stands as a memorial to 84,000 soldiers of the B ...

, the

Jantar Mantar A Jantar Mantar ( Hindustani pronunciation: ͡ʒən̪t̪ər mən̪t̪ər is an assembly of stone-built astronomical instruments, designed to be used with the naked eye. There were five Jantar Mantars in India, all of them built at the com ...

—an 18th-century astronomical observatory—and the

—a 16th-century fortress. The

Laxminarayan Temple The Laxminarayan Mandir, also known as the '' Birla Mandir'', is a Hindu temple up to large extent dedicated to Laxminarayan in Delhi, India. Laxminarayan usually refers to Vishnu, Preserver in the Trimurti, also known as Narayan, when he i ...

, Akshardham temple,

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib Gurudwara Bangla Sahib () is one of the most prominent Sikh gurdwaras, or Sikh house of worship, in Delhi, India, and known for its association with the eighth Sikh Guru, Guru Har Krishan, as well as the holy pond inside its complex, known as t ...

, the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...

Lotus Temple The Lotus Temple, located in Delhi, India, is a Baháʼí House of Worship that was dedicated in December 1986. Notable for its flowerlike shape, it has become a prominent attraction in the city. Like all other Bahá’í Houses of Worship, t ...

and the ISKCON temple are examples of modern architecture.

Raj Ghat and associated memorials Raj Ghat is a memorial dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi, India. Originally it was the name of a historic ghat of Old Delhi (Shahjahanabad). Close to it, and east of Daryaganj was ''Raj Ghat Gate'' of the walled city, opening at ''Raj Gha ...

houses memorials of

and other notable personalities. New Delhi houses several government buildings and official residences reminiscent of British colonial architecture, including the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Secretariat,

Rajpath Rajpath, officially named Kartavya Path, and formerly known as Kingsway, is a ceremonial boulevard in New Delhi, India, that runs from Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill through Vijay Chowk and India Gate, National War Memorial to Nati ...

, the Parliament of India and

Vijay Chowk Vijay may refer to: People *Vijay (name) * Vijay (actor) (born 1974), an Indian Tamil actor * Vijay (director), Kannada film director Fiction * ''Vijay'' (1942 film), a 1942 Indian Hindi film * ''Vijay'' (1988 film), a 1988 Indian Hindi film dir ...

Safdarjung's Tomb Safdarjung's tomb is a sandstone and marble mausoleum in Delhi, India. It was built in 1754 in the late Mughal Empire style for Nawab Safdarjung. The monument has an ambience of spaciousness and an imposing presence with its domed and arched ...

is an example of the

Mughal gardens Mughal gardens are a type of garden built by the Mughals. This style was influenced by the Persian gardens particularly the Charbagh structure, which is intended to create a representation of an earthly utopia in which humans co-exist in perfe ...

style. Some regal ''havelis'' (palatial residences) are in the Old City.

is a Baháʼí House of Worship completed in 1986. Notable for its flowerlike shape, it serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent and has become a prominent attraction in the city. The National Museum and

National Gallery of Modern Art National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

are some of the largest museums in the country. Other museums in Delhi include the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

, National Rail Museum and National Philatelic Museum.

, a 17th-century market, is one of the most popular shopping areas in Delhi for jewellery and ''Zari''

sari A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO * bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO * gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std ...

s. Delhi's arts and crafts include, ''

Zardozi Zardozi or zar-douzi or zarduzi (from Classical Persian زَردوزی ''zardōzī'', literally "gold embroidery"; fa, label= Modern Persian, زَردوزی, translit=zarduzi; hi, ज़रदोज़ी, tg, зардӯзӣ, ur, زردوز ...

''—an embroidery done with gold thread—and '' Meenakari''—the art of enamelling.

Festivals

Delhi's association and geographic proximity to the capital, New Delhi, has amplified the importance of national events and holidays like

Republic Day Republic Day is the name of a holiday in several countries to commemorate the day when they became republics. List January 1 January in Slovak Republic The day of creation of Slovak republic. A national holiday since 1993. Officially cal ...

, Independence Day (15 August) and ''

Gandhi Jayanti Gandhi Jayanti is an event celebrated in India to mark the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. It is celebrated annually on 2 October, and is one of the three national holidays of India. The UN General Assembly announced on 15 June 2007 that it adop ...

''. On Independence Day, the Prime Minister addresses the nation from the Red Fort. The Republic Day Parade is a large cultural and military parade showcasing India's cultural diversity and military strength. Over the centuries, Delhi has become known for its composite culture, and a festival that symbolises this is the ''

Phool Walon Ki Sair Phool Waalon Ki Sair meaning "procession of the florists" is an annual celebration by the flower sellers of Delhi. It is a three-day festival, generally held in the month of September, just after the rainy season in the region of Mehrauli. It ...

'', which takes place in September. Flowers and ''pankhe''—fans embroidered with flowers—are offered to the shrine of the 13th-century Sufi saint

Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki ''Quṭb al-Aqṭāb'' Khwājā Sayyid Muḥammad Bakhtiyār al-Ḥusaynī, Quṭb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī ( ur, ) (born 1173 – died 1235) was a Muslim Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the ...

and the

Yogmaya Temple Yogmaya Temple, also Jogmaya temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to the goddess Yogmaya, also considered to be a sister of Krishna as she took avatar as Vindhyavasini, and situated in Mehrauli, New Delhi, India, close to the Qutb complex. Acco ...

, both situated in

Mehrauli Mehrauli is a neighbourhood in South Delhi, a district of Delhi in India. It represents a constituency in the legislative assembly of Delhi. The area is close to Gurgaon and next to Vasant Kunj. History Mehrauli is one of the seven mediev ...

. Religious festivals include '' Diwali'' (the festival of lights), ''

Mahavir Jayanti Mahavir Janma Kalyanak is one of the most important religious festivals in Jainism. It celebrates the birth of Mahavir, the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara of present Avasarpiṇī. On the Gregorian calendar, the holiday occurs either in M ...

'',

Guru Nanak's Birthday Guru Nanak Dev Ji Gurpurab also known as Guru Nanak's Prakash Utsav, celebrates the birth of the first Sikh gurus, Sikh guru, Guru Nanak. One of the most celebrated and important Sikh gurus and the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev is highly r ...

, ''

Raksha Bandhan Raksha Bandhan Quote: m Hindi ''rakśābandhan'' held on the full moon of the month of Savan, when sisters tie a talisman (rakhi q.v.) on the arm of their brothers and receive small gifts of money from them. is a popular and traditionally Hin ...

'', ''

Durga Puja Durga Puja ( bn, দুর্গা পূজা), also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsava, is an annual Hindu festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga and is also celebrated ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Lohri ''Lohri'' is a popular winter Punjabi folk festival celebrated primarily in Northern India. The significance and legends about the Lohri festival are many and these link the festival to the Punjab region. It is believed by many that the festiva ...

'', ''

Chauth Chauth (from Sanskrit, meaning ''one fourth'') was a regular tax or tribute imposed from the early 18th century by the Maratha Empire in the Indian subcontinent. It was an annual tax nominally levied at 25% on revenue or produce, hence the name, ...

'', ''

Krishna Janmastami Krishna Janmashtami , also known simply as Krishnashtami, Janmashtami, or Gokulashtami, is an annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. According to the Hindu lunisolar calendar, it is observed ...

'', ''

Maha Shivratri Maha Shivaratri (IAST: Mahāśivarātri) is a Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god Shiva. The name also refers to the night when Shiva performs the heavenly dance called Tandava. In every month of the luni-solar Hindu ca ...

'', Eid ul-Fitr, '' Moharram'' and '' Buddha Jayanti''. The

Qutub Festival Qutub Festival is a five-day festival usually held in November–December in the Qutub complex in the Indian metropolis of Delhi organized by Delhi Tourism, Govt. of Delhi. The festival showcases the cultural art forms of the country but also pu ...

is a cultural event during which performances of musicians and dancers from all over India are showcased at night, with the Qutub Minar as a backdrop. Other events such as Kite Flying Festival,

International Mango Festival The International Mango Festival, held annually in Delhi, India during early summer, is a two-day festival showcasing mangoes. It has been held since 1987. It is organised by the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) ...

and ''

Vasant Panchami Vasant Panchami, also called Saraswati Puja in honor of the Hindu goddess Saraswati, is a festival that marks the preparation for the arrival of spring. The festival is celebrated in Indian religions in different ways depending on the region. ...

'' (the Spring Festival) are held every year in Delhi. The Auto Expo, Asia's largest auto show, is held in Delhi biennially. The

New Delhi World Book Fair The New Delhi World Book Fair, hosted at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, is India's second oldest book fair after the Kolkata Book Fair. The first New Delhi World Book Fair was held from March 18 to April 4, 1972 in roughly 6790 m2 area with 20 ...

, held biennially at the

Pragati Maidan Pragati Maidan is a venue for large exhibitions and conventions in the city of New Delhi, India. It has an area of nearly 150 acres (more than 625,000m2) of exhibition space, being among the biggest exhibition centers in India. It is owned, o ...

, is the second-largest exhibition of books in the world. Delhi is often regarded as the "Book Capital" of India because of high readership.

India International Trade Fair The India International Trade Fair, ever since its inception in 1980, has evolved as a major event for the business community. It is a premier event organized by the India Trade Promotion Organization, the nodal trade promotion agency of the ...

(IITF), organised by ITPO is the biggest cultural and shopping fair of Delhi which takes place in November each year and is visited by more than 1.5 million people.

Cuisine

As India's national capital and centuries old Mughal capital, Delhi influenced the food habits of its residents and is where

Mughlai cuisine Mughlai cuisine consists of dishes developed in the medieval Indo-Persian cultural centres of the Mughal Empire. It represents a combination of cuisine of the Indian subcontinent with the cooking styles and recipes of Central Asian and Islami ...

originated. Along with Indian cuisine, a variety of international cuisines are popular among the residents. The dearth of food habits among the city's residents created a unique style of cooking which became popular throughout the world, with dishes such as '' Kebab'', ''

biryani Biryani () is a mixed rice dish originating among the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. It is made with Indian spices, rice, and usually some type of meat ( chicken, beef, goat, lamb, prawn, fish) or in some cases without any meat, ...

'', ''

tandoor A tandoor ( or ) is a large urn-shaped oven, usually made of clay, originating from the Indian Subcontinent. Since antiquity, tandoors have been used to bake unleavened flatbreads, such as roti and naan, as well as to roast meat. The tandoo ...

i''. The city's classic dishes include

butter chicken Butter chicken, traditionally known as murgh makhani (), is an Indian dish originating in New Delhi. It is a type of curry made from chicken with a spiced tomato and butter (''makhan'') sauce. Its sauce is known for its rich texture. It is si ...

, ''

dal makhani In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of pu ...

'', ''

shahi paneer Shahi paneer is a preparation of paneer, native to the Indian subcontinent, consisting of a thick gravy of cream, tomatoes and Indian spices. Originating with the creamy delicacies of Mughlai cuisine (hence the term "''shahi''", in reference ...

'', ''

aloo chaat Alu chat (also spelled as alu chaat, aloo chat, or aloo chaat) is a street food originating from the Indian subcontinent, it is popular in North India, West Bengal in Eastern India, Pakistan, parts of Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and Trinidad ...

'', ''

chaat Chaat, or chāt (IAST: ''cāṭ)'' () is a family of savoury snacks that originated in North India, typically served as an hors d'oeuvre or at roadside tracks from stalls or food carts across South Asia in North India, Pakistan, Nepal and B ...

'', ''

dahi bhalla Dahi vada is a type of ''chaat'' (snack) originating from the Indian state of Karnataka. It is prepared by soaking vadas (fried lentil balls) in thick dahi (yogurt). Names Dahi vada is also known as "dahi vade" () in Marathi, ''dahi barey/dahi ...

'', ''

kachori Kachori () is a sweet and spicy deep-fried snack, originating in India subcontinent, and common in places with Indian diaspora and other South Asian diaspora. Alternative names for the snack include kachauri, kachodi and katchuri. History Ea ...

'', '' gol gappe'', ''

samosa A samosa () or singara is a fried Indian pastry with a savory filling, including ingredients such as spiced potatoes, onions, and peas. It may take different forms, including triangular, cone, or half-moon shapes, depending on the region. Sam ...

'', ''

chole bhature Chole bhature () is a food dish popular in the Northern areas of the Indian subcontinent. It is a combination of chana masala (spicy white chickpeas) and bhatura/puri, a deep-fried bread made from maida. Although it is known as a typical Punjab ...

'', ''chole kulche'', '' gulab jamun'', ''

jalebi ''Jalebi'' (, , , Urdu: جلیبی‎, , , si, පැණි වළලු, ), is a popular sweet snack in south and west Asia, Africa, and Mauritius. It goes by many names, including ''jilapi'', ''zelepi'','' jilebi'', '' jilipi'', ''zulbia'', ...

'' and ''

lassi Lassi () is a regional name for buttermilk, the traditional dahi (yogurt)–based drink, consumed in the South Asian region. Lassi is a blend of yogurt, water, spices, and sometimes fruit. Salty lassi is similar to doogh, while modern sweet l ...

''. The fast living habits of Delhi's people has motivated the growth of

street food Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumpt ...

outlets. A trend of dining at local ''

dhaba A dhaba is a roadside restaurant in the Indian subcontinent, primarily across Pakistan and India. They are on highways, generally serve local cuisine, and also serve as truck stops. They are most commonly found next to petrol stations, and mo ...

s'' is popular among the residents. High-profile restaurants have gained popularity in recent years, among the popular restaurants are the Karim Hotel, the Punjab Grill and Bukhara. The '' Gali Paranthe Wali'' (the street of fried bread) is a street in Chandni Chowk particularly for food eateries since the 1870s. Almost the entire street is occupied by fast food stalls or

street vendors A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether statio ...

. It has nearly become a tradition that almost every prime minister of India has visited the street to eat ''

paratha Paratha () is a flatbread native to South Asia, prevalent throughout the modern-day nations of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad a ...

'' at least once. Other Indian cuisines are also available in this area even though the street specialises in north Indian food.

Education

Private schools in Delhi—which use either English or Hindi as the language of instruction—are affiliated to one of three administering bodies, the

Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) is a privately held national-level board of school education in India that conducts the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) Examination for Class X and the Indi ...

(CISCE), the

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

(CBSE) or the

National Institute of Open Schooling The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), formerly National Open School (name changed in 2002), is the board of education under the Union Government of India. It was established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Gove ...

(NIOS). In 2004–05, approximately 1,529,000 students were enrolled in primary schools, 822,000 in middle schools and 669,000 in secondary schools across Delhi. Female students represented 49% of the total enrolment. The same year, the Delhi government spent between 1.58% and 1.95% of its gross state domestic product on education.

Schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

and higher educational institutions in Delhi are administered either by the

Directorate of Education The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the national central institution of higher learning in Chinese dynasties after the Su ...

, the NCT government or private organisations. In 2006, Delhi had 165 colleges, five medical colleges and eight engineering colleges, seven major universities and nine

deemed universities Deemed university, or deemed-to-be-university, is an accreditation granted to higher educational institutions in India by the Department of Higher Education. , the UGC lists 127 institutes which were granted the deemed to be university status. ...

. The premier management colleges of Delhi such as

Faculty of Management Studies (Delhi) A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

and

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is a leading business school of India. Established in 1963, it works as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. It also functions as a civil services tr ...

rank the best in India.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, also known as AIIMS Delhi, is a public medical research university and hospital in New Delhi, India. The institute is governed by the AIIMS Act, 1956 and operates autonomously under the Minis ...

is a premier medical school for treatment and research. National Law University, Delhi is a prominent law school and is affiliated with the

Bar Council of India The Bar Council of India is a statutory body established under the section 4 of Advocates Act 1961 that regulates the legal practice and legal education in India. Its members are elected from amongst the lawyers in India and as such represents ...

. The

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is a public institute of technology located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technolo ...

situated in Hauz Khas is a premier engineering college of India and ranks as one of the top institutes in South Asia.

Delhi Technological University Delhi Technological University (DTU), formerly known as the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) is a state university in Rohini, Delhi, India. It was established in 1941 as Delhi Polytechnic. In 1952, it started giving degrees after being affil ...

(formerly Delhi College of Engineering),

Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW), is an all women's university located in New Delhi, India on the heritage campus at Kashmere Gate, Delhi. It was founded as the Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology in 1998. In May ...

(formerly Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology),

Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (''Iṃdraprastha Sūcanā Praudyōgikī Saṃsthān Dillī'', IIIT-Delhi or IIIT-D) is an autonomous State University located in Delhi, India. It is a research-oriented institute with a f ...

Netaji Subhas University of Technology Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT), formerly Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT) is a state university located in Dwarka, Delhi, India. In 2018, the institute was granted University status, changing its name to Netaji Subh ...

(formerly Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology),

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, formerly Indraprastha University (IP or IPU), is a state university located in Dwarka, Delhi, India. The campus occupies 78 acres (31.56 hectares), among the largest in Delhi, and enrolls over 8,000 st ...

and

National Law University National Law Universities (NLU) are public law schools in India, founded pursuant to the second-generation reforms for legal education sought to be implemented by the Bar Council of India. The first NLU was the National Law School of India Univ ...

, Delhi are the only state universities.

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

and Jamia Millia Islamia are the central universities, and

Indira Gandhi National Open University Indira Gandhi National Open University, known as IGNOU, is a Central University located at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 20& ...

is for

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

. , about 16% of all Delhi residents possessed at least a college graduate degree.

Media

As the capital of India, Delhi is the focus of political reportage, including regular television broadcasts of Parliament sessions. Many national media agencies, including the state-owned

Press Trust of India The Press Trust of India Ltd., commonly known as PTI, is the largest news agency in India. It is headquartered in New Delhi and is a nonprofit cooperative among more than 500 Indian newspapers. It has over 500 full-time employees , including abo ...

, Media Trust of India and Doordarshan, are based in the city. Television programming includes two free terrestrial television channels offered by Doordarshan, and several Hindi, English, and regional-language

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

channels offered by multi system operators.

Satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

has yet to gain a large number of subscribers in the city. Print journalism remains a popular news medium in Delhi. The city's Hindi newspapers include ''

Navbharat Times ''Navbharat Times'' (NBT) a Hindi newspaper distributed in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Kanpur. It is from the stable of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL), which also publishes other dailies including ''The Times of India'', ''The Economic Ti ...

'', ''

Hindustan Dainik ''Hindustan'' or ''Hindustan Dainik'' is an Indian Hindi-language daily newspaper. According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is ranked 13th in the world by circulation and 6th in India. Madan Mohan Malaviya launched it in 1936. It i ...

'', ''

Punjab Kesari 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 a ...

'', ''Pavitra Bharat'', ''

Dainik Jagran ''Dainik Jagran'' ( Hi:दैनिक जागरन , , ) is an Indian Hindi language daily newspaper. It was ranked 5th in the world and 2nd in India by circulation in 2016. In 2019 Quarter 4, according to Indian Readership Survey, Daini ...

'', ''

Dainik Bhaskar ''Dainik Bhaskar ''is India's largest Hindi-language daily newspaper owned by the Dainik Bhaskar Group. According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is ranked 3rd in the world by circulation and is the largest newspaper in India by circula ...

'', '' Amar Ujala'' and ''Dainik Desbandhu''. Amongst the English language newspapers, the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

'', with a daily circulation of over a million copies, is the single largest daily. Other major English newspapers include ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'', ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'', ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'', ''

Business Standard ''Business Standard'' is an Indian English-language daily edition newspaper published by Business Standard Private Limited, also available in Hindi. Founded in 1975, the newspaper covers the Indian economy, infrastructure, international busin ...

'', '' The Pioneer'', ''

The Statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...

'', and ''

The Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also prod ...

''. Regional language newspapers include the

daily ''

Malayala Manorama ''Malayala Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew; it was first published as a weekly on 22 March 1888, and currently has ...

'' and the

dailies '' Dinamalar'' and ''

Dinakaran Dinakaran is a Tamil daily newspaper distributed in Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded by K. P. Kandasamy in 1977 and is currently owned by media conglomerate Sun Group's- Sun Network.''Dinakaran'' is the second largest circulated Tamil daily ...

''. Radio is a less popular mass medium in Delhi, although FM radio has gained popularity since the inauguration of several new stations in 2006. A number of state-owned and private radio stations broadcast from Delhi.

Sports

Delhi hosted the first Asian Games in 1951 from 4 to 11 March. A total of 489 athletes representing 11 Asian

National Olympic Committees A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Gam ...

participated in 57 events from eight sports and discipline. The Games was the successor of the

Far Eastern Games The Far Eastern Championship Games (also known as the Far Eastern Championships, Far Eastern Games or Far East Games) was an Asian multi-sport event considered to be a precursor to the Asian Games. History In 1913, Elwood Brown, president of ...

and the revival of the

Western Asiatic Games The Western Asiatic Games was a multi-sport event for athletes from Western Asia. The games were established since as a replacement to the Far Eastern Games, which were cancelled due to the political difficulties between China and Japan. The gam ...

. On 13 February 1949, the

Asian Games Federation The Asian Games Federation (AGF) was the governing body of sports in Asia from 1949 to 1982. The federation was disbanded on 16 November 1982 in New Delhi and succeeded by the Olympic Council of Asia. The AGF was responsible for the organisation ...

was formally established in Delhi, with Delhi unanimously announced as the first host city of the Asian Games.

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

was the venue for all events. Over 40,000 spectators watched the opening ceremony of the Games in National Stadium. Delhi hosted the ninth Asian Games for the second time in 1982 from 19 November to 4 December. This was the second time the city has hosted the Asian Games and was also the first Asian Games to be held under the aegis of the

Olympic Council of Asia The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees. The current Acting President is Raja Randhir Singh, substituting Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah. The headquarters ...

. A total of 3,411 athletes from 33 National Olympic Committees participated in these games, competing in 196 events in 21 sports and 23 disciplines. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000 people, was built purposely for the event and hosted its opening ceremony. Delhi hosted the Nineteenth Commonwealth Games in 2010, which ran from 3 to 14 October and was the largest sporting event held in India. The opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event, in New Delhi at 7:00 pm

Indian Standard Time Indian Standard Time (IST), sometimes also called India Standard Time, is the time zone observed throughout India, with a time offset of UTC+05:30. India does not observe daylight saving time or other seasonal adjustments. In military and avi ...

on 3 October 2010. The ceremony featured over 8,000 performers and lasted for two and a half hours. It is estimated that were spent to produce the ceremony. Events took place at 12 competition venues. 20 training venues were used in the Games, including seven venues within

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

. The rugby stadium in Delhi University North Campus hosted rugby games for Commonwealth Games.

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and football are the most popular sports in Delhi. There are several cricket grounds, or '' maidans'', located across the city. The

Arun Jaitley Stadium The Arun Jaitley Stadium is a cricket stadium owned and operated the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) and located on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi. It was established in 1883 as the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, and named after the ne ...

(known commonly as the ''Kotla'') is one of the oldest cricket grounds in India and is a venue for international cricket matches. It is the home ground of the

Delhi cricket team The Delhi cricket team is a first-class cricket team based in Delhi, run by the Delhi District Cricket Association, that plays in India's first class competition, the Ranji Trophy and limited-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Tr ...

, which represents the city in the Ranji Trophy, the premier Indian domestic

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

championship. The Delhi cricket team has produced several world-class international cricketers such as

Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic ...

Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed batter for Royal Challe ...

Gautam Gambhir Gautam Gambhir (; born 14 October 1981) is an Indian politician and former cricketer, who has played all formats of the game. He is a current member of the Lok Sabha since 2019. He received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2019, t ...

Madan Lal Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma (; born 20 March 1951) is a former Indian cricketer (1974–1987) and Indian national cricket coach. He was a member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning India squad. Playing career Madan Lal enjoyed outstanding all ...

Chetan Chauhan Chetan Pratap Singh Chauhan (; 21 July 1947 – 16 August 2020) was a cricketer who played 40 Test cricket, Test matches for Indian cricket team, India. He played Ranji Trophy for Maharashtra and Delhi. He played most of his international crick ...

Shikhar Dhawan Shikhar Dhawan (born 5 December 1985) is an Indian cricketer. Being a left-handed opening batsman and occasional captain of the India national cricket team, he captains Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and plays for Delhi in first-cla ...

Ishant Sharma Ishant Sharma (; born 2 September 1988) is an Indian cricketer who has represented India in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He is a 6 ft 4 in tall right-arm fast-medium bowler. At the age of 18, Sharma was called to join the Indian s ...

Manoj Prabhakar Manoj Prabhakar (born 15 April 1963) is a former Indian cricketer and Coach, who recently coached Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman, and has also opened the innings sometimes for the I ...

and Bishan Singh Bedi to name a few. The

Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and

Services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...

cricket teams in the Ranji Trophy also play their home matches in Delhi, in the

Karnail Singh Stadium Karnail Singh Stadium is a multipurpose sports venue located in Delhi, India and is owned by the Indian Railways. Located next to the New Delhi Railway Station, the ground is used for athletics, football, hockey, cricket, boxing, and badminton. ...

and the

Harbax Singh Stadium Harbaksh Stadium is a sports stadium in Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi Delhi, India,Harb ...

, respectively. The city is also home to the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

team

Delhi Capitals Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) are a franchise cricket team based out of Delhi in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is jointly owned by the GMR Group and the JSW Group. The team's home ground is Arun Jaitley Stadium, ...

, who play their home matches at the Kotla.

Ambedkar Stadium Dr. Ambedkar Stadium is a football stadium in New Delhi, India. The stadium is named in honour of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, famous social reformer and architect of the Indian Constitution. It was earlier known as the Corporation Stadium. It also he ...

, a football stadium in Delhi which holds 21,000 people, was the venue for the Indian football team's World Cup qualifier against UAE on 28 July 2012. Delhi hosted the Nehru Cup in 2007 and 2009, in both of which India defeated Syria 1–0. In the

Elite Football League of India The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) is a professional American football league based in India. It was founded with eight franchises in 2011, and now has 23 franchises throughout South Asia, among whom 20 located in India, two in Sri Lanka ...

, Delhi's first professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

franchise, the

Delhi Defenders The Delhi Defenders are a professional American football team based in Delhi, India. The Defenders are one of the first eight franchises of the Elite Football League of India (EFLI) and compete in its inaugural season in 2012 File:2012 Event ...

played its first season in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

Buddh International Circuit The Buddh International Circuit ( hi, बुद्ध अंतरराष्ट्रीय परिपथ) is an Indian motor racing circuit situated in National Capital Region at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The track shares its name wit ...

in Greater Noida, a suburb of Delhi, formerly hosted the Formula 1

Indian Grand Prix The Indian Grand Prix was a Formula One race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship, which was held at the Buddh International Circuit in Sector 25 along Yamuna Expressway in Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh State ...

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*
Official Tourism Site of Delhi, India

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* * {{Authority control 6th-century BC establishments in India Capital districts and territories Capitals in Asia Cities in India by state or union territory Indian union territory capitals Metropolitan cities in India New Delhi * Populated places established in the 6th century BC Proposed states and union territories of India Union territories of India

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