Delhi (Hindi: दिल्ली; Punjabi: ਦਿੱਲੀ; Urdu: دلی; IPA: [d̪ɪlːiː]; sometimes referred to as Dilli) is the second largest metropolis in India, with a population of 17 million [4], and a federally-administered union territory officially known as the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). Located on the banks of the Yamuna River in northern India, it is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world.
Delhi has been the capital of several ancient Indian empires and a major city along the old trade routes between northwest India and the Indo-Gangetic Plains. It is the site of many ancient and medieval monuments, archaeological sites and remains. The Mughal emperor Shahjahan built the city, now known as "Old Delhi", to serve as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857.
After the British Raj took control of India during the 19th century, Calcutta became the capital until George V announced in 1911 that it was to move back to Delhi. A new capital city, New Delhi, was built during the 1920s. When India gained independence from British rule in 1947, New Delhi was declared its capital and seat of government. As such, New Delhi houses important offices of the federal government, including the Parliament of India.
Owing to the immigration of people from across the country, Delhi has grown to be a cosmopolitan city. Its rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the relatively high average income of its population, has transformed the city.[5] Today, Delhi is a major cultural, political, and commercial center of India.
History
Human habitation was probably present in and around Delhi during the second millennium BC and before, as evidenced by archeological relics.[11] The city is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, legendary capital of the Pandavas in the Indian epic Mahabharata.[6] Settlements grew from the time of the Mauryan Empire (c. 300 BC).[11] Remains of seven major cities have been discovered in Delhi. The Tomara dynasty founded the city of Lal Kot in 736 AD. The Chauhan
Rajputs of Ajmer conquered Lal Kot in 1180 AD and renamed it Qila Rai Pithora. The Chauhan king Prithviraj III was defeated in 1192 by the Afghan
Muhammad Ghori.[6] In 1206, Qutb-ud-din Aybak, the first ruler of the Slave Dynasty established the Delhi Sultanate. Qutb-ud-din started the construction the Qutub Minar and Quwwat-al-Islam (might of Islam), the earliest extant mosque in India.[6][12] After the fall of the Slave dynasty, a succession of Turkic and Central Asian dynasties, the Khilji dynasty, the Tughluq dynasty, the Sayyid dynasty and the Lodhi dynasty held power in the late medieval period, and built a sequence of forts and townships that are part of the seven cities of Delhi.[13] In 1398, Timur Lenk invaded India on the pretext that the Muslim sultans of Delhi were too much tolerant to their Hindu subjects. Timur entered Delhi and the city was sacked, destroyed, and left in ruins.[14] Delhi was a major center of Sufism during the Sultanate period.[15] In 1526, Zahiruddin Babur defeated the last Lodhi sultan in the First Battle of Panipat and founded the Mughal Empire that ruled from Delhi, Agra and Lahore.[6]
The Mughal Empire ruled northern India for more than three centuries, with a five-year hiatus during Sher Shah Suri's reign in the mid-16th century.[16] In the year 1556, a Hindu General Hemu Vikramaditya defeated Mughals and had his coronation at Purana Quila and re-established Vikramaditya dynasty. Mughal emperor Akbar shifted the capital from Agra to Delhi. Shah Jahan built the seventh city of Delhi that bears his name (Shahjahanabad), and is more commonly known as the Old City or Old Delhi. The old city served as the capital of the Mughal Empire since 1638. Nader Shah defeated the Mughal army at the huge Battle of Karnal in February, 1739. After this victory, Nader captured and sacked Delhi, carrying away many treasures, including the Peacock Throne.[17] In 1761, Delhi was raided by Ahmed Shah Abdali after the Third battle of Panipat. At the Battle of Delhi on 11 September 1803, General Lake's British forces defeated the Marathas.
Delhi came under direct British control after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[6] Shortly after the Rebellion, Calcutta was declared the capital of British India and Delhi was made a district province of the Punjab. In 1911, Delhi was again declared as the capital of British India. Parts of the old city were pulled down to create New Delhi; a monumental new quarter of the city designed by the British architect Edwin Lutyens to house the government buildings. New Delhi, also known as Lutyens' Delhi, was officially declared as the seat of the Government of India and the capital of the republic after independence on 15 August
1947. During the partition of India thousands of Hindu and Sikh refugees from West Punjab and Sindh migrated to Delhi. 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.[18]
The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 declared the Union Territory of Delhi to be formally known as National Capital Territory of Delhi.[19] The Act gave Delhi its own legislative assembly, though with limited powers.[19]
The National Capital Territory of Delhi is spread over an area of 1,483 km² (573 sq mi), of which 783 km² (302 sq mi) is designated rural, and 700 km² (270 sq mi) urban. Delhi has a maximum length of 51.9 km (32 mi) and the maximum width of 48.48 km (30 mi). There are three local bodies (statutory towns) namely, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (area is 1,397.3 km² (540 sq mi)), New Delhi Municipal Committee (42.7 km² (16 sq mi)) and Delhi Cantonment Board (43 km² (17 sq mi)).[20]
Delhi is located at 28°61′N, 77°23′E, and lies in northern India. It borders the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh on East and Haryana on West, North and South. Delhi lies almost entirely in the Gangetic plains. Two prominent features of the geography of Delhi are the Yamuna flood plain and the Delhi ridge. The low-lying Yamuna flood plains provide fertile alluvial soil suitable for agriculture. However, these plains are prone to recurrent floods. Reaching up to a height of 318 m (1043 ft),[21] the ridge forms the most dominating feature in this region. It originates from the Aravalli Range in the south and encircles the west, northeast and northwest parts of the city. Yamuna, a sacred river in Hinduism, is the only major river flowing through Delhi. Most of the city, including New Delhi, lies west of the river. East of the river is the urban area of Shahdara. Delhi falls under seismic zone-IV, making it vulnerable to major earthquakes. [22]
Delhi has a semi-arid climate with high variation between summer and winter temperatures. Summers are long, from early April to October, with the monsoon season in between. Winter starts in October and peaks in January and is notorious for its heavy fog.[23] Extreme temperatures range from −0.6 °C (30.9 °F) to 47 °C (117 °F).[24] The annual mean temperature is 25 °C (77 °F); monthly mean temperatures range from 14 °C to 33 °C (58 °F to 92 °F).[25] The average annual rainfall is approximately 714 mm (28.1 inches), most of which is during the monsoons in July and August.[6] The average date of the advent of monsoon winds in Delhi is 29 June.[26].
As of July 2007, the National Capital Territory of Delhi comprises nine districts, 27 tehsils, 59 census towns, 165 villages and three statutory towns – the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD); the New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC); and the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB).[27]
The Delhi metropolitan area lies within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). The NCT has three local municipal corporations: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment Board. MCD is one of the largest municipal corporations in the world providing civic amenities to an estimated 13.78 million people.[28] The capital of India, New Delhi, falls under the administration of NDMC. The chairperson of the NDMC is appointed by the Government of India in consultation with the Chief Minister of Delhi.
Delhi has four major satellite cities which lie outside the National Capital Territory of Delhi. These are Gurgaon and Faridabad (in Haryana), and NOIDA and Ghaziabad (in Uttar Pradesh). Delhi is divided into nine districts. Each district (division) is headed by a Deputy Commissioner and has three subdivisions. A Subdivision Magistrate heads each subdivision. All Deputy Commissioners report to the Divisional Commissioner. The District Administration of Delhi is the enforcing department for all kinds of State and Central Government policies and exercises supervisory powers over numerous other functionaries of the Government.
The Delhi High Court has jurisdiction over Delhi. Delhi also has lower courts; the Small Causes Court for civil cases, and the Sessions Court for criminal cases. The Delhi Police, headed by the Police Commissioner, is one of the largest metropolitan police forces in the world.[29] Delhi is administratively divided into nine police-zones, which are further subdivided into 95 local police stations.[30]
As a special union territory, in the same manner as that of Pondicherry, the National Capital Territory of Delhi has its own Legislative Assembly, Lieutenant Governor, Council of Ministers and Chief Minister. The legislative assembly seats are filled by direct election from territorial constituencies in the NCT. However, the Union Government of India and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi jointly administer New Delhi. While services like transport and others are taken care of by the Delhi Govt. more important services like police are directly under the control of the Central Government. The legislative assembly was re-established in 1993 for the first time since 1956, with direct federal rule in the span. In addition, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) handles civic administration for the city as part of the Panchayati Raj act. New Delhi, an urban area in Delhi, is the seat of both the State Government of Delhi and the Government of India. The Parliament of India, the Rashtrapati Bhavan (Presidential Palace) and the Supreme Court of India are located in New Delhi. There are 70 assembly constituencies and seven Lok Sabha (Indian parliament's lower house) constituencies in Delhi.[31][32]
Delhi was a traditional stronghold of the Indian National Congress, also known as the Congress Party. In the 1990s the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Madan Lal Khurana came into power. However in 1998, Congress regained power. Sheila Dixit of Congress is the incumbent Chief Minister. The Congress retained power in the Legislative Assembly in the 2003 election as well by a large margin. However, in 2007, the BJP scored a crushing victory over the ruling Congress in the MCD election, signalling a near certain return to power in the elections of Dec, 2008. Both parties have advocated full-fledged statehood for Delhi, but the process to establish this has been slow. The next election are slated to take place soon and this has heated up the politics of the city.
The water supply in Delhi is managed by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). As of 2006, it supplied 650 MGD (million gallons per day) of water, while the water demand for 2005–06 was estimated to be 963 MGD.[33] The rest of the demand is met by private and public tube wells and hand pumps. At 240 MGD, the Bhakra storage is the largest water source for DJB, followed by river Yamuna and Ganges.[33] With falling groundwater level and rising population density, Delhi faces severely acute water shortage. Delhi daily produces 8000 tonnes of solid wastes which is dumped at three landfill sites by MCD.[34] The daily domestic waste water production is 470 MGD and industrial waste water is 70 MGD.[35] A large portion of the sewerage flows untreated into the river Yamuna.[35]
The city's per capita electricity consumption is about 1,265 kWh but actual demand is much more.[36] In 1997, Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) replaced Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking which was managed by the MCD. The DVB itself cannot generate adequate power to meet the city's demand and borrows power from India's Northern Region Grid. As a result, Delhi faces a power shortage resulting in frequent blackouts and brownouts, especially during the summer season when energy demand is at its peak. Several industrial units in Delhi rely on their own electrical generators to meet their electric demand and for back up during Delhi's frequent and disruptive power cuts. A few years ago, the power sector in Delhi was handed over to private companies. The distribution of electricity is carried out by companies run by Tata Power and Reliance Energy. The Delhi Fire Service runs 43 fire stations that attend about 15,000 fire and rescue calls per year.[37]
State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and private enterprises like Vodafone Essar, Airtel, Idea cellular, Reliance Infocomm and Tata Indicom provide telephone and cell phone service to the city. Cellular coverage is extensive, and both GSM and CDMA (from Reliance and Tata Indicom) services are available. Affordable broadband internet penetration is increasing in the city.[38]
With an estimated net State Domestic Product (SDP) of INR 830.85 billion (FY 2005),[39] Delhi is the second largest commercial center in South Asia after Mumbai. Delhi has a per capita income of 53,976 INR which is around 2.5 times of the national average.[39] The tertiary sector contributes 70.95% of Delhi's gross SDP followed by secondary and primary sectors with 25.2% and 3.85% contribution respectively.[39] Delhi's workforce constitutes 32.82% of the population showing an increase of 52.52% between 1991 and 2001.[40] Delhi's unemployment rate decreased from 12.57% in 1999–2000 to 4.63% in 2003.[40] In December 2004, 636,000 people were registered with various employment exchange programmes in Delhi.[40]
In 2001, the total workforce in all government (union and state) and quasi government sector was 620,000. In comparison, organised private sector employed 219,000.[40] Delhi's service sector has expanded due in part to the large skilled English-speaking workforce that has attracted many multinational companies. Key service industries include information technology, telecommunications, hotels, banking, media and tourism. Delhi's manufacturing industry has also grown considerably as many consumer goods industries have established manufacturing units and headquarters in and around Delhi. Delhi's large consumer market, coupled with the easy availability of skilled labour, has attracted foreign investment in Delhi. In 2001, the manufacturing sector employed 1,440,000 workers while the number of industrial units was 129,000.[41] Construction, power, telecommunications, health and community services, and real estate form integral parts of Delhi's economy. Delhi's retail industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India.[42] However, as in the rest of India, the fast growth of retail is expected to affect the traditional unorganized retail trading system.[43]
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