This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

Ludhiana
Ludhiana Location of Ludhiana in Punjab and India
Coordinates	30°55′N 75°51′E / 30.91°N 75.85°E / 30.91; 75.85
Country	India
State	Punjab
District(s)	Ludhiana
Population	4595053 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 262 m (860 ft)
Codes • Pincode • Multiple • Telephone • +91-161 • Vehicle • PB 10

Ludhiana (also Ludhyana) (Punjabi: ਲੁਧਿਆਣਾ | Hindi: लुधियाना) is a city and a municipal corporation in Ludhiana district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is the largest city in Punjab, with an estimated population of 45 lacs. The population increases substantially during the crop harvesting season due to immigration of laborers from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi. It has an area of about 310 km². The city stands on the Sutlej River's old bank, 13 km south of its present course. It is a major industrial center of northern India.

Ludhiana is centrally located on the National Highway 1 from Delhi to Amritsar, and is connected to the Indian capital city of New Delhi by road and frequent train service.

Ludhiana is the richest district in the state of Punjab, and includes the most expensive fertile land of all of India. Ludhiana district is considered to be one of the NRI hubs of Punjab.

[edit] History

This translation from Urdu of a passage of Gulām Sarvar Lāhaurī's (alias Bute Shah) Tarīḵẖ-i maḵẖzan-i Panjāb (History of the Punjab), written in the mid-19th century, is given in the Gazetteer for the Ludhiana District 1888-89:

"In the reign of Sikandar, son of Bahlol Lodi, the people about Ludhiana were oppressed by the plundering Baluchis, and applied to the Emperor for assistance. Sikandar, in answer to their prayer, sent two of his Lodi chiefs, by name Yusaf Khan and Nihang Khan, with an army. These chiefs fixed on the present site of the Ludhiana city, which was then a village called Mir Hota. Nihang Khan remained at Mir Hota as the Emperor's Lieutenant; and called the place Ludhiana. He was succeeded by his son a grandson. The latter, Jalal Khan, built the fort of Ludhiana out of the bricks found at Sunet.He saved the town from invaders and treated all its citizen equally. His two sons partitioned the country round about Ludhiana, which was then lying in waste, amongst the people of the town, and distributed them in villages. In the time of Jalal Khan's grandsons, Alu Khan and Khizr Khan, the Lodi dynasty was overthrown by Babar; and the Lodis of Ludhiana sunk to the position of ordinary subjects of the Mughal empire. They are said to have lived close to the fort for many generations, but all traces of them have now disappeared, and even the tombs of Nihang and his immediate descendants have been lost sight of, although they are said to have been standing some years ago."

The Lodi dynasty lost control of the throne of Delhi in 1526. The Mughals established a strong government at Sirhind, which itself was a sarkar (division) of the Delhi subah (province), and attached Ludhiana as a mahal or parganah.

The century and a half following the death of Akhbar (a Mughal emperor) in 1605 was dominated by the rise of Sikhism as a power, and the decline of the Mughal empire. By this time the Mughal empire was tottering to its fall, and various local powers began to assert their independence. The Rais of Raikot who until then had held a considerable tract of land around Ludhiana in lease from the emperors were some of the first to assert their independence. Raja Ala Singh of Patiala, the representative of the crumbling Delhi Sultanate and Rai Kalha II were the principal actors contenders for power in the region. "Rai Kalha III,who appears to have been a ruler of very great ability, extended his power up to Ludhiana. He established independent power over the whole of the Jagraon(the place of the Rais)and the greater part of Ludhiana Tahsils, and a large portion of the Ferozepur District."Khan Bahadur Rai Inayat Khan of Raikot was the Chief of Rai family at the time of partition of India 1947. Hatur, Chakar, Talwandi Rai in 1478 AD, Raikot in 1648 AD and Jagraon in 1688 were founded by the Rai family of Raikot-Ref:Ludhiana Dist Gazetteer 1888-89,1904,1935. Chiefs of Punjab 1890,1909,1940., Mahan Kosh p.311 by Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha, Encyclopaedia of Sikhism by Prof Harbans Singh-Vol 2, p 416, THe Sikh Ref Book by Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer p 464, 196

In 1741, Ala Singh defeated Rai Kalha III and chased him out of the country, but he soon recovered the territory.

Thinking to take advantage of this power struggle, Nadir Shah invaded, and crossed the Sutlej at Ludhiana, which was then on its banks, and marched through the district along what is now the Grand Trunk Road. Nadir Shah is said to have ordered a general massacre of the inhabitants of Ludhiana on the account of some petty fault, but it seems doubtful that he did.

His successor, Ahmed Shah Durrani, invaded in 1747. On reaching the Sutlej at Ludhiana, he found his passage opposed by the son of the emperor, Kamardin, with a huge army that had advanced from Sirhind. Durrani avoided the conflict but ended up in direct confrontation with him very near Khanna. While Ahmad Shah Bahadur was defeated, the losses were very heavy on both sides. The subsequent invasions of Ahmad Shah were not resisted by the Mughal troops from Sirhind, but they were constantly harassed by the Phulkian chiefs and the Rais. It was some time about 1760 that the Rais were permitted by Ahmed Shah to take possession of the town of Ludhiana and to extend their power over the country about.

Although Zain Khan was appointed by Ahmad Shah as Governor of Sirhind in 1761, he was defeated and slain in 1763 by huger armies of Sikhs. They took possession of Sirhind, which they leveled with the ground.

The fall of Sirhind marked the last vestige of Mughal control over the area, and Ludhiana was left in possession of the Rais. The Malaudh Sirdars belonging to the Phulkian stock had already established themselves in the south of Ludhiana in the Jangal villages and the country about Malaudh ^[1] ; and Sudha Singh Gill, an adventurer from Loharu in the Ferozepur district, secured a few villages around Sahnewal. In 1767 Ahmed Shah reached Ludhiana on his last expedition but got no further.

Around 1785, the Sutlej changed in course so that Ludhiana was no longer situated on its banks.

The condition of the country during the latter part of the 18th century was one of considerable prosperity. The rule of the Rais is still spoken of as being very mild; and it is said that they fixed only one-fourth of the produce as their due.

In 1798, Ludhiana was attacked by the Sikhs under Bedi Sahib Singh of Una. At the time, the ruler of the Rais, Rai Alias was a child. His agents Roshan and Gujar made a good stand against the Sikhs at Jodh, ten miles (16 km) southwest of Ludhiana. Roshan was the killed in the fight, and Rai's army was dispersed. However, the Phulkian chiefs, who were on good terms with the Rais, had no intention of allowing the Bedi to establish himself in their midst and came to their aid, driving the invaders out of the villages. Upon the Bedi's siege of Ludhiana, the Rais called in British mercenary George Thomas to help with the defense of the city. On Thomas's approach, Bedi retreated to the other side of the river.

Having recently consolidated the new Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh crossed the Sutlej in 1806 in his first expedition against the Cis-Sutlej states and stripped the Rais of all their possessions, including Ludhiana. The city was occupied but not immediately annexed to the Lahore state.

By 1809 Ranjit Singh was completing his third expedition and was again on the west bank of the Sutlej ready to attack Ludhiana. Fearing further expansion that was coming closer to their headquarters in Delhi, British imperialist forces occupied the Cis-Sutlej states east of the Sutlej. The British sent Colonel David Ochterlony with a force to occupy Ludhiana.

By the end of 1809, The Treaty with the Rajah of Lahore was signed in which the Rajah agreed to remain north and west of the Sutlej. British troops were permanently stationed in Ludhiana, and they established a cantonment to further consolidate their occupation. Compensation was paid by the British to the Raja of Jind.

In 1835, the Jind family, who technically still ruled Ludhiana, were left without any heirs. By the British doctrine of lapse, Ludhiana came under official control of the imperialists.

Following the First Afghan War, Ludhiana became the residence of the exiled family of Shah Shuja.

The British cantonment was abandoned in 1854. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Deputy-Commissioner Ricketts crushed a rebellion in Ludhiana with the assistance of the chiefs of Nabha and Maler Kotla.

Maulana Habibur Rehman, a leader of the Indian Independence Movement, was born in Ludhiana.

[edit] Geography

Ludhiana is located at 30°54′N 75°51′E / 30.9°N 75.85°E / 30.9; 75.85^[2]. It has an average elevation of 244 metres (798 ft). Ludhiana City, to its residents, consists of the Old City and the New City (or the residential and official quarters of the Colonial British encampment, traditionally known as Civil Lines; this is as opposed to the Army Lines, which are no longer extant as the British Cantonment was abandoned in 1845).

The land dips steeply to the North and the West, where prior to 1785 the river Sutlej used to run: this whole area is now mostly unplanned residential communities, with many polluting industries set up in houses due to lack of enforcement of zoning laws.

The Old Fort was situated at the banks of the Sutlej (and now houses The College of Textile Engineering) and legend has it that an underground tunnel connects it to the Fort in Phillaur - although why this should be is debatable, as the Sutlej was the traditional dividing line between the two principalities, often occupied by enemy forces (see History section)

The ground is of yellow sandstone and granite, forming small hillocks, plateaus and dips.

The tree of largest natural extraction was the kikar, or Acacia indica but has been supplanted by the Eucalyptus, transplanted from rural Australia in the late 1960s by the government of Chief Minister Pratap Singh Kairon.

Gulmohars and Jacarandas were planted by the British along the avenues of Civil Lines, as were other flowering trees, while the Old City contains almost no vegetation or parks, except for a few isolated pipal trees, holy to the Hindus. As this tree is supposed to be the abode of Lord Shiva, almost no Hindu gardener or laborer will agree to uproot or chop one of these down - an example of the degree to which traditional superstitions shape the landscape and horticulture of Modern India even today.

[edit] Climate

According to weather.com ,Ludhiana has an average temperature and precipitation as below:

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census,^[4] Ludhiana City had a population of 1,395,053. Males constitute 57% of the population and females 43%. Ludhiana has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 72%, and female literacy is 68%. In Ludhiana, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. Hindi is also widely spoken, among both Hindus and Sikhs. Hindi is commonly spoken in Ludhiana because there are a lot of labor workers from other states, but Punjabi is the first language of about 78% of Ludhiana residents.

[edit] Commerce

Ludhiana suffers from the same haphazard, disorderly growth of its boundaries, as most industrial moffusil towns of this burgeoning country of 1 billion. Recently there has been a proposal to extend the Octroi Posts (check points officially under the Deptt. of Commerce but actually manned privately by goons of local politicoes, who dish out annual leases) about 8 km.s in each direction. Although the Government designated an Industrial Area in the 1970s, it is common for many ancillary, and even primary, industries to be located in residential neighborhoods. Ludhiana is also home to the Ludhiana Stock Exchange Association.

[edit] Industry

Ludhiana is known as the "Manchester of India" because it is the industrial hub of Punjab. There are 8 large integrated knitwear factories, roughly 6,000 small to medium sized knitwear factories , 10 big hosiery yarn mills and 150 small- to medium-sized worsted and woolen yarns. There are also firms manufacturing bicycles like Hero Cycles, Avon Cycles, machine tools, sewing machines, generators, diesel engines, tyres & tubes, and other consumer goods. The export market in Ludhiana is worth $40 million USD.

Its most populous area is Old City area like Wakefield Gunj (known as Field Gunj), Khud Mohalla in which majority of middle income population resides. Sarabha Nagar, BRS Nagar, Agar Nagar, Kitchlu Nagar, Rajguru Nagar are newer areas which are planned in a more systemic way. Haibowal Kalan is developing area of Ludhiana city. The Main Market in Sarabha Nagar and Ghumar Mandi are the most posh areas of the city. Ludhiana has topped in the list of 17 Indian cities in a survey conducted by world bank (doing business in India 2009 report).

[edit] Education

Ludhiana is home to the largest agricultural university in Asia, Punjab Agricultural University^{[citation needed]}. The College of Veterinary Sciences at PAU which, recently had been upgraded to the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Science University (GADVASU).

Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Bhutta College of Engineering And Technology and Ludhiana College of Engineering & Technology are three main colleges offering quality education in engineering.

,PCTEBaddowal, SDP College for Women , Khalsa College, Arya College for Boys, Kamla Lohtia College, Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management and SCD Government Colleges for Boys and Girls are some of the other reputed colleges for higher education in this region. S.C.D Government College for Boys is named after Satish Chander Dhawan - a renowned Space Scientist, who like many of his disillusioned compatriots migrated to the USA, and had a long & illustrious career at MIT, Massachusetts. Other famous people from Ludhiana include the well-loved poet Sahir Ludhianvi, the renowned Punjabi literaturer Dr Vidya Bhaskar Arun, the economist M S Gill, union HRD minister Kapil Sibbal, the retired police chief KPS Gill, and film-director David Dhawan.

Ludhiana also has one law school, The University Institute of Laws. Ludhiana is also home to some of the region's best medical institutions like the CMC Ludhiana, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital. DMCH with a dedicated ancillary for cardiology is counted among the best hospitals in the region along with the more famous Apollo Hospital.

Ludhiana too has two Homeopathic Medical Colleges, Lord Mahavira HMC and H and the other one Sri Guru Nanak Dev HMC and H. Both colleges produce Bachelors in Homeopathic medicine.

Ludhiana also has a very sound primary education system with a couple of notable primary and government schools imparting quality education. Ludhiana also takes pride of having the Panjab University Extension Library which has a huge collection of Books, Periodicals, Journals and Newspapers for the enthusiasts.

[edit] Transport

Ludhiana is well connected by rail as it is on main Delhi-Amritsar route and is an important railway junction with lines going to Jalandhar, Ferozepur, Dhuri and Ambala. The city is very well connected with daily or weekly trains from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jammu Tawi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Lucknow, etc. For administrative reasons the station is under Ferozepur Railway Division. There is also a proposal to construct a railway line between Ludhiana and Chandigarh. The government has even passed a dedicated freight track between Ludhiana and Kolkata.
Moving inside the city is done mostly by mini-buses, auto-rickshaws, and pedal rickshaws, loosely licensed by the Municipal Corporation. The government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Delhi for construction of a metro.
There is an airport at Sahnewal which is a satellite town of Ludhiana City, about 8km to the southeast, and there have been small commercial flights in the past from Delhi. On April 10, 2007 the Airport Authority of India has publicly said^{[citation needed]} that plans for an international airport at Halwara are canceled. The government is looking at purchasing another 500 acres (2.0 km²) of land to construct the new international airport.^{[citation needed]}. Ludhiana's status as a large industrial hub is cited as a reason for another international airport in Punjab after Amritsar.

Kingfisher Airlines will soon start service from Ludhiana airport.^[5]

[edit] Notable residents

• Bobby Deol
• Maninder Singh Thind
• Sunny Deol
• Abhay Deol
• Divya Dutta
• Ishmeet Singh
• Juhi Chawla
• Simi Garewal
• Tiger Jeet Singh
• Yuvraj Singh
• Sunil Mittal
• Raman Mundair
• Sahir Ludhianvi
• Kartar Singh Sarabha
• Sukhdev Thapar
• Udham Singh
• Priyanka Sharma
• Lal Singh Bhathal - Kamala Akali
• Manvinder Singh Kataria
• Arjun Nagpal

[edit] References

Mahan Kosh,Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha,pp 311. Encyclopaedia Of Sikhism, Prof Harbans Singh vol 2 pp 416, The Sikh Ref Book-Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer p464 & p196. Pardeep Singh Grewal Malak Pur Bet Ritesh Aggarwal Himanshu

[edit] External links

• Ludhiana My City