Malout is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

, just outside of Muktsar Sahib city in the

Muktsar district Sri Muktsar Sahib district, colloquially known by the city's former name Muktsar; is one of the 23 districts in the Indian state of Punjab. The city was renamed from Muktsar to Sri Muktsar Sahib. The district itself was historically referred as ...

of the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

state of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. It is in the southern Punjab "cotton belt", where production per kilometer is one of the highest 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 populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Malout is on NH-354 and NH-9 and NH-7, which connects

Fazilka Fazilka, also known as Bangla, is a city and a municipal council in Fazilka district of Punjab, India. In 2011, it was made the headquarter of the newly created Fazilka district. The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI) project originating in Tu ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. The boundaries 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 ar ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

are and , respectively, from the town. Malout is from the border with

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, and has been affected by military incidents.

History

Royals of Bajaj caste founded a fort here, Kacha Kot, leading to popular name Bajaj Fort. With the passage of time people started calling the city Bajaj Mahal and later Malout. The Britishers set up a base there to import and export glucose which Indians call normally mal to Karachi. At that time this city was very famous as Mal out centre. Malout was founded 400–500 years ago, and the origin of its name is uncertain. In 1917, the British government established the

Bathinda Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...

–

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

railway line; the Malout railway station was built the following year. The town was incorporated on 19 March 1920. A seven-member committee purchased land, which was divided into shopping and residential areas. On 17 November 1921,

Firozpur district Firozpur district, also known as Ferozepur district, is one of the twenty-three districts in the state of Punjab, India. Firozpur district comprises an area of . Firozpur (Ferozepur) is the capital city of the district. It is situated inside t ...

commissioner J. C. Koldsitrimiu established a water-storage and -purification tank system in Malout.

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, visited the region that day and the system was named in his honour. Malout began growing, and the town had a post office,

telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...

, guest house and cemetery by the end of 1940. With cotton producers and the

agricultural machinery industry The agricultural machinery industry or agricultural engineering industry is the part of the industry, that produces and maintain tractors, agricultural machinery and agricultural implements used in farming or other agriculture. This branch is cons ...

, Malout and its nearby villages were known as the cotton capital of Punjab.

Climate

The region's temperature varies widely by season. Summer temperatures reach , and winter temperatures fall to . The western

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

in the north and the

Thar Desert The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's Li ...

in the south and southwest primarily determine the climate. The south-western monsoon brings nearly 70 percent of the annual rainfall from July to September. Most of the district has an arid (tropic) moisture regime, according to soil-classification criteria. Soil-moisture computations using the Newhall mathematical model indicate that the region has a "weak aridic" moisture regime (Van Wambeke, 1985).

Political representation

Baljit Kaur, MLA of

Malout Assembly Constituency Malout Assembly constituency is one of the 117 Legislative Assembly constituencies of Punjab state in India. It is part of Sri Muktsar Sahib district and is reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes. Members of the Legislative ...

, was elected in 2022.

Commerce and industry

Muncipal committee does not own any land or any place but despite than committee asks for annual rent of the shops near by area shops of Muncipal committee. Legally committee has no right to ask any rent against any shop.

Notable residents

Rohit Bansal Rohit Bansal is an Indian entrepreneur, co-founder and COO of e-commerce company Snapdeal. Early life Bansal was born in Malout, Punjab India. He completed his school education at Delhi Public School (DPS) New Delhi and got his bachelor's d ...

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and co-founder of

Snapdeal Snapdeal is an Indian e-commerce company, based in New Delhi, India. It was founded in February 2010 by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. Snapdeal was one of the largest online marketplaces in India. Snapdeal targets the value e-commerce segment, ...

* Kamalpreet Kaur, Indian Athlete

References

{{Muktsar district Cities and towns in Sri Muktsar Sahib district