Pilkhuwa is a town and a

municipal board A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

Hapur district Hapur district is a recently formed district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with a population of 1,338,211 at the 2011 Census. This district on the Ganges river is from New Delhi. History The new district ''Panchsheel Nagar'', was create ...

in the

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It is located 12 km from

Hapur Hapur is a city in, as well as the headquarters of, Hapur district, in Uttar Pradesh, India. Located about east of New Delhi, the city is part of the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). National Highway 9 passes through the city, connecting i ...

, the district headquarters. It is famous for its textile products and handloom industry. It is located on National Highway-9, which connects the

National Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh.

History

In the 12th century, Delhi was ruled by the Rajput King Raja Anangpal Singh Tomar. The etymology of Pilkhuwa lies in the story of an elephant named "Pil", that disappeared from Delhi state, after which the king sent his son to find it. When the search team made a stop at the village of Pilkhuwa, people gathered around them and began saying "Pil-Khuwa", meaning "Pil is lost". In 1235, Pilkhuwa was established by the Tomar Kings under the

Tomar 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 inscription ...

. However, in the 14th century, when the Tomar Kings were defeated by the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

, the Rajput population of Pilkhuwa was affected and their rule came to an end. Pilkhuwa was part of

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

district until 1976, when on the anniversary of

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

's birth, the then-chief minister

N. D. Tiwari Narayan Datt Tiwari (18 October 1925 – 18 October 2018) was an Indian politician who served as the 9th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and 3rd Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2002 to 2007. He was first Indian Chief Minister who served for ...

declared

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 Muni ...

as a new district. Later on, Ghaziabad was divided into two districts: Ghaziabad and Panchsheel Nagar by

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), alon ...

chief minister

Mayawati Kumari Mayawati (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician. She has served four separate terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social cha ...

on 28 September 2011, and Pilkhuwa became part of Panchsheel Nagar. At the time, Panchsheel Nagar was the newly-given name to the city of

; local people were unhappy about the name change, however. Due to political clashes between the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

and

, the subsequent chief minister

Akhilesh Yadav Akhilesh is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Akhilesh Das (1961–2017), educationist, professor, Indian politician and philanthropist * Akhilesh K. Gaharwar (born 1982), Indian academic and Professor at Texas A&M University * ...

changed the district name to

on 23 July 2012, retaining the original name. Finally, Pilkhuwa became part of

Demographics

As of the

2011 Indian Census The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, Pilkhuwa had a total population of 83,736, of which 44,226 were males and 39,510 were females. The population within the 0-6 age group was 12,468. The total number of literates in Pilkhuwa was 55,936, which constituted 66.8% of the population. Male literacy was 73.3% and female literacy was 59.5%. The effective literacy rate of the 7+ population of Pilkhuwa was 78.5%, of which male literacy rate was 86.5% and female literacy rate was 69.6%. The

Scheduled Castes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

population was 14,370. Pilkhuwa had 13,746 households in 2011.

Economy

Pilkhuwa is notable for its handloom cotton textiles and exotic printing on

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi as ''swadeshi'' (self-sufficiency) for the freedom struggle of the Indian subcontinent, and the term is used throughout India, Pakistan ...

and handloom fabrics. There were 120 medium scale industries, 1400

power looms A power loom is a mechanized loom, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. The first power loom was designed in 1786 by Edmund Cartwright and first built that same year. ...

and 3 ''niwar'' factories in Pilkhuwa in 1991. 7000 persons employed in textile production, 2000 in cloth sheet washing, 500 in pressing machines, 500 in dyeing, 100 in ''kundis'' and 200 in stamping and design. Most of the handloom cloths manufactured in Pilkhuwa is supplied to

apart from centres in other parts of India and abroad.

Educational institutes & Companies

Raj Kumar Goel Engineering College Raj Kumar Goel Engineering College (RKGEC), founded in 2007, was a technical institute in the city of Pilkhuwa, Hapur district, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was recognized by the All India Council for Technical Education. It was managed by an edu ...

Saraswati Medical College Saraswati Medical College is a private medical institute in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, India, under the aegis of Saraswati Group of Educational Institutes which also has a Dental college and a 300 bed Hospital. In February 2021, the Supreme Court ...

* DRDO Skills development training centre * Larson & Tourbo

Notable people

Kumar Vishwas Kumar Vishwas (born Vishwas Kumar Sharma; 10 February 1970) is an Indian Hindi poet, politician, and a lecturer. He was a founding member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a former member of its National Executive. Life and career Vishwas was ...

Manish Sisodia Manish Sisodia (born 5 January 1972) is an Indian politician and Deputy Chief Minister of Government of Delhi. He has been the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. He is also an elected (third consecutive term) MLA from Patpargan ...

References

{{Hapur district Cities and towns in Hapur district