Qila Didar Singh ( ur, ), is a town of

Gujranwala District Gujranwala District (Punjabi language, Punjabi and ur, ), is a Districts of Pakistan, district that is a part of the Majha region in Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab, Pakistan. Gujranwala District is bordered by the districts of Gujrat District, Gujr ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It is located at 32°8' N 74°1' E, west of

Gujranwala Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisala ...

city - the district capital. Its population was estimated to be 142,364 in 2017. in which 71,405 are males and 70,941 are females.The literacy rate is 69.99%. Qila Didar Singh lies on the Gujranwala-Hafizabad Road, 17 km west of Gujranwala. The town's

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

market is one of the largest in the Punjab. In 2007, Qila Didar Singh was administratively upgraded to City Town, one of four in the Gujranwala District. Affiliated with the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

, there are two Govt colleges in town, one each for boys and girls, which offer BA and

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degrees, Govt High School No.1 & 2 among others. Qila Didar Singh is center of education and shopping for nearby villages. There are also many other educational institutions in the town. Most notably RILLS School which is offering

O level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

education. It is the only one of its kind in the area.

History

The origin of the town is related to a

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

land owner called Didar Singh. When Didar Singh was married, his father gave him the lands surrounding the part of Qila Didar Singh that is currently known as "Old/Inside part of Qila". The name

Qila {{other uses Qila ( ar, قلعة), alternatively transliterated as Kilaa, is an Arabic word meaning a fort or castle. The term is also used in various Indo-Iranian languages. Qila often occurs in place-names. India ;Forts * Aligarh Qila * Rohtas Q ...

implies a fort; this name originates in the fact that Didar Singh's family had a very large and tall mansion, which was surrounded by smaller houses. Because there was a wall surrounding the whole town with several gates, the town had the appearance of a fort. During 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 ...

, British troops during chase of the rebels, arrived at the Qila and surrounded it, believing it to be a fort. Representatives of the townspeople however managed to convince the troops that the town was not in fact a fortification. In 1947, the year of Pakistan's independence from the

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

, Qila Didar Singh was a very small town with mainly

and

Hindu 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 ...

population. Most of the Sikhs and Hindus living in the town moved to 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 ...

n part of the Punjab and many Muslim immigrants moved to the area from the

East Punjab East Punjab (known simply as Punjab from 1950) was a province and later a state of India from 1947 until 1966, consisting of the parts of the Punjab Province of British India that went to India following the partition of the province between ...

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 ...

Source of income

Due to fertile soil of the surrounding area, the economic backbone of Qila Didar Singh is agriculture; the main

cash crops A cash crop or profit crop is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from staple crop (or "subsistence crop") in subsist ...

being

in the summer and

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

in winter. Most people from Qila Didar Singh are self employed, have their own business because of very big rice market and lot of customer for other commodities also come from the surrounding villages. There are government employees, private employees and factory workers. There has been considerable migration from the area to other countries. Even in the British Colonial days, many local tailors became contractors of the army to supply uniforms and shoes. Many of them settled in Cyprus and Singapore. They brought prosperity to the town. Residents of Qila Didar Singh are not farmers but people living in villages around Qila Didar Singh earn their living from rice and wheat fields. A couple of hundred people from Qila Didar Singh commute to Gujranwala daily for labour or to do technical jobs in various small industries in the city. Leaving their families at home, many others work in different parts of

for their living.

References

{{Reflist Cities and towns in Gujranwala District Populated places in Wazirabad Tehsil Union councils of Wazirabad Tehsil

History

Source of income

See also

References