|
Area : 1,483 sq
km
Population : 13,80 million
Capital : Delhi
Principal Languages : Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu
& English
Delhi finds prominent
reference right from the times of the epic
Mahabharata. Its control passed from
one ruler/dynasty to another, beginning with the
Mauryas, Pallavas, Guptas of Central India, and
then to the Turk and Afghan during the 13th to
15th centuries, and finally to the Mughals in
the 16th century. In the latter half of the 18th
century and early 19th century, the British rule
was established in Delhi. In 1911, Delhi became
the centre of all activities after the capital
was shifted from Kolkata. It was made a Union
Territory in 1956. Lying in the northern part of
the country, Delhi is surrounded by Haryana on
all sides except the east, where it borders with
Uttar Pradesh. The 69th Constitutional amendment
is a milestone in Delhi's history, as it got a
Legislative Assembly with the enactment of the
National Capital Territory Act, 1991.
The principal food crops are wheat,
bajra, jowar, gram and maize. However,
emphasis has now shifted from food crops to
vegetables and fruit crops, dairy,
poultry-farming, floriculture, etc., as these
are more remunerative than food crops in the
territory.
Delhi is not only the largest commercial
centre in northern India, but also the largest
centre of small industries. These are
manufacturing a wide variety of items like
television, tape recorders, light engineering
machines and automobile parts, sports goods,
bicycles and PVC goods including footwear
textiles, fertilizers, medicines, hosiery,
leather goods, software, etc.
Delhi’s new millennium industrial policy,
emphasizes setting up of hightech and
sophisticated industries in electronics,
telecommunications, software industries, IT
enabling services, etc. The industries, which
are non-polluting and encourage high value
addition and depend largely on skilled manpower
are being promoted. DSIDC is setting up a
Training Institute for Gems and Jewellery and
Assaying and Hallmarking Centre at Okhla in the
building of Hitech Vocational Centre.
For the purpose of relocating industrial
units functioning in residential non-conforming
areas, the Government of NCT of Delhi took
possession of 1900 acres of land at village
Bawana, Holambi Kalan and Holambi Khurd for
developing new industrial estates. Bawana
Industrial area developed by DSIDC is the
largest in Asia and is spred over 1900 acres of
land. At Narela 900 plots have been developed
and allotted and another 600 plots are being
developed. Work of construction of 378 flatted
factories at Jhilmil Industrial Area for
relocation of smaller units has been completed.
450 acres of land have been taken for
development at the Bhorgaarh industrial estates.
In addition to the above, 652 hectares of land
is being acquired for development into a huge
industrial area in Kanjhawala/Kerala.
Due to fast urbanisation taking
in the rural areas of Delhi, cultivable command
area under irrigation is getting reduced day by
day. Two schemes, namely, ‘‘Keshopur Effluent
Irrigation Scheme Phase-III’’ and ‘‘Improvement
and Extension of Effluent Irrigation System from
Coronation Treatment Plant’’ are under
execution. Irrigation of about 350 hectares with
state tube-wells and 1,376 hectares from
effluent water is being provided in the rural
area of NCT of Delhi. In addition about 4,900
hectares of land is being irrigated from western
Yamuna Canal network.
The firm availability of power for Delhi from
its own generating units at Rajghat Power
Houses, IP Station and Gas Turbines including
Badarpur Thermal Station is of the order of
850-900 MW. The remaining power is drawn from
Northern Regional Grid. Delhi has also envisaged
a number of generating projects to be taken up.
Pragati Combined Cycle Power Project has been
established at Indraprastha Estate. A 330 MW
Pragati Power Project under construction is
scheduled to be commissioned soon. The test run
for its first phase of 100 MW has already
started. The work of newly planned 330 MW gas
based power plant under Pragati-II and 1000 MW
power plant planned at Bawana are going on.
Existing coal besed Indraprastha plant is being
replaced by 1000 MW gas based plant.
To streamline the distribution of power, DVB
has been privatised and Delhi is now served by
the two of the best electric utilities in India,
BSES and Tata Power (NDPL).
Delhi is well connected by roads,
rail and air with all parts of India. It has
three airports—Indira Gandhi International
Airport for the international flights, Palam
Airport for national air services and Safdarjung
Airport for training purposes. It has three
important railway stations — Delhi Junction, New
Delhi Railway Station and Nizamuddin Railway
Station. Delhi has three inter-state bus
terminals at Kashmeri Gate, Sarai Kalen Khan and
Anand Vihar.
Keeping in view the rising vehicular
pollution and chaotic traffic condition in the
city of Delhi, it has been decided to start Mass
Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Delhi. The
Project is under implementation and is using the
stateof- the-art modern technology. The metro
rail project has come in Delhi. Now three metro
corridors are existing in phase-1 of Delhi Metro
comprising of three corridors of total length of
65.1 Km has been completed and operational in
record time with full commissioning of line from
Shahdara to Rithala and Vishwa Vidyalaya to
Central Secretariat. The third line from
Barakambha road to Dwarka has also been approved
to provide better connectivity to the commuters
from NCR region.
Being a cosmopolitan city, all major
festivals of India are celebrated here.
Moreover, some tourism festivals have become
regular annual events of Delhi. Delhi Tourism
and Transportation Development Corporation
organises Roshnara Festival, Shalimar Festival,
Qutub Festival, Winter Carnival, Garden Tourism
and Mango Festival every year.
Important
tourist places are Lal Quila (Red Fort), Jama
Masjid, Qutub Minar, India Gate, Laxmi Narain
Mandir (Birla Mandir), Humayun's Tomb, Lotus
Temple, etc. Delhi Tourism and Transportation
Development Corporation Limited conducts city
sight-seeing and excursion tours. The
Corporation has also introduced adventure
tourism activities, such as para-sailing,
rock-climbing and boating. The Corporation has
also developed Delhi Haat, where coffee and food
items of different states are available at one
place. More such Haats are coming up in
different parts of the city. The ‘‘Garden of
five Senses'' in the South District of Delhi
attracts a lot of tourists visiting Delhi.
|
