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KNOWING UP & BIHAR
Uttar Pradesh
pronunciation
(help·info)
(Hindi:
उत्तर प्रदेश,
Urdu: اتر پردیش), also popularly known by
its abbreviation UP, is the most populous
and fifth largest
state in the
Union of India. It is the most populous
subnational entity (statoid)
in the world, with a population of 166,052,859.
Uttar
Pradesh covers a large part of the densely
populated
Gangetic plain.
It shares an international border with
Nepal
and is bounded by the Indian states of
Uttaranchal,
Himachal Pradesh,
Haryana,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand
and
Bihar.
The administrative and legislative capital of
Uttar Pradesh is
Lucknow;
its high court is based at
Allahabad.
Other notable cities in Uttar Pradesh include
NOIDA,
Agra,
Mathura,
Aligarh,
Varanasi
(Banaras),
Gorakhpur,
Kanpur
and
Meerut.
Creation
In the second half of the
18th century, a series of battles gave the
British East India Company (HEIC) mastery
over the area that is now
Uttaranchal and western UP. The HEIC
established an administration controlled by its
senior officer in the region, the “Resident”
of Delhi, to administer a political entity whose
sovereignty was as ill-defined as its borders.
For several reasons, the seat of administration
was moved to
Agra in
1834 and a “president” was appointed to
govern the area. In
1836, the “North-western Provinces” was
created, the name indicative of the fact that
the area comprised the north-western frontier of
British India at that time. While that
circumstance changed almost immediately
afterwards, the name persisted until
1877. Meanwhile, in
1856, the HEIC annexed
Avadh (Oudh), a large principality which
covered much of what is now eastern UP; this
area was merged with the existing
British province to create a behemoth that
was given a name commensurate with its size: the
“United Provinces of the north-west and Oudh”.
In
1871, the district of Ajmer-Merwara, a
British Indian enclave surrounded by native
princely states of the
Rajputana agency, was detached from this
province and constituted a separate
commissionership. In
1877, the province was renamed the “United
Provinces of Agra and Oudh”, dropping the now
glaringly misplaced reference to the
“northwest”. However, it was generally referred
to merely as “The United Provinces”; in
1902, the province was formally given that
name.
After
India attained independence in
1947, the province was renamed "Uttar
Pradesh",
Hindi for "North Province". "Uttar" means
"north" and "Pradesh" means "region" or "state".
This name was proposed by
Govind Ballabh Pant, noted freedom fighter
and first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh; one
reason for its adoption was certainly the fact
that the abbreviation “U.P.” by which the
province had been referred to for a century, was
retained. In
2000, the north-western hill districts of
Uttar Pradesh were constituted into a separate
state named
Uttaranchal.
Population
With nearly 176 million inhabitants, Uttar
Pradesh is not only the most populous state in
India but also the
most populous subnational entity in the
world. Only five countries (the
People's Republic of China,
India itself, the
USA,
Indonesia and
Brazil) have higher populations (see
List of countries by population). It is also
one of the most economically and socially
backward states in
India. On virtually every index of social
development, whether literacy, infant mortality
or unemployment, Uttar Pradesh ranks among the
lowest in India; the situation is compounded by
the fact that figures for females are invaribly
much lower than for males on every parameter.
History
United Provinces, 1909
Uttar Pradesh plays an extremely important role
in the history and growth of
Hinduism, and in the history of ancient
India. Indeed, the region has been vital to the
power and stability of all of India's empires
and kingdoms, of Hindus, Muslims and Europeans.
It was here that the most ancient portions of
Rig Veda were composed on the banks of the
Jahnavi and
Yamuna. The other three holy
Vedas were also said to have been composed
on the banks of the rivers
Ganga,
Yamuna and others. The region came to be
known as
Aryavarta (Land of the
Aryans), the earliest Aryan state in India.[1]
Lord
Rama, the seventh
Avatara of
Vishnu, is the most popular Hindu God-King,
and the legend of the
Ramayana, the world's oldest and largest
epic emanates from His life, and his reign as
King of
Bharat from
Kosala, from the city of
Ayodhya.
The ancient
Hindu kingdom of
Kosala in
Ayodhya, where Lord
Rama of the
Ramayana reigned was located in the modern
day state. The holiest Hindu cities of
Varanasi,
Ayodhya,
Mathura,
Haridwar and
Allahabad, by the holiest rivers -
Ganga and
Yamuna are all located in the state. The
state hosts a
Kumbha Mela every 12 years, where over 10
million
Hindus congregate - the largest gathering of
human beings in the world.
Lord
Krishna, the revered eighth
Avatara of
Vishnu, was born in the city of
Mathura. He leads the Pandava brothers in
the holy war of the
Mahabharata over the ancient kingdom of
Hastinapura, rumored to have existed on the
banks of the
Ganga or
Yamuna. The ancient capital city of
Indraprastha once stood close to the are
where the modern national capital of
Delhi today stands.
The U.P.'s political importance was diminished
with the rise of
Magadha and the
Mauryan Empire and the
Gupta Dynasty, but it soon became an
important region to the
Muslim invaders of India, who subjugated the
region.
Agra and
Fatehpur Sikri were also important as the
capital city of
Akbar, the great Mughal Emperor of India.
The city of
Lucknow was founded in the 18th century by
the Muslim rulers of the province.
The U.P. was especially important in modern
Indian history as a hotbed of the
Indian Independence Movement, and the city
of
Allahabad was home to prominent nationalists
such as
Motilal Nehru,
Purushottam Das Tandon, Professor Rajendra
Singh a.k.a Rajju Bhaiyya (After Kakori Kaand
the freedom fighters came and stayed at his
house in Prayaag) and
Lal Bahadur Shastri. Allahabad was also home
to a record five
Prime Ministers of India:
Jawaharlal Nehru,
Indira Gandhi,
Lal Bahadur Shastri,
Vishwanath Pratap Singh and
Rajiv Gandhi.
Uttar Pradesh covers the area of the former
princely state of
Awadh (Oudh) and the British Province of
Agra. The Province of
Agra was originally the western-most British
possession, after they expanded from
Bengal, and thus was known as the North-West
Province. The North-West Province was renamed
the Province of Agra, and merged in 1858 with
the Province of Oudh to form the
United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, known
after 1902 as the United Provinces. Two
princely states,
Rampur and
Tehri, were under the authority of the
provincial governor. With the advent of Indian
independence, the United Provinces was renamed
"Uttar Pradesh," or "northern province", by
Govind Ballabh Pant, the first chief
minister. This preserved the commonly used
abbreviation U.P. In 2000, the
northwestern districts of Uttar Pradesh became
the new state of
Uttaranchal.
Constituent regions
The state comprises the regions of
Rohilkhand in the northwest, The
Doab, or
Brij (Braj) (Braj-bhoomi) in the southwest,
Awadh (Oudh) (the historic country of
Koshal) in the centre, the northern parts of
Bagelkhand &
Bundelkhand in the south, and the
south-western part of the Bhojpur country,
commonly called
Purvanchal ("Eastern Province"), in the
east.
In 1991, the Uttar Pradesh government set up
development funds, known as nidhis, for
Bundelkhand (7 districts) and Purvanchal (28
districts), to "ensure the twin objectives of
balanced development and reducing inter-regional
disparities and backwardness".
Note: The purvanchal as an administrative unit
is not the same as the ethnic purvanchal region.
Ethnically purvanchal/ bhojpuri speaking areas
are those that are contiguous with North western
Bihar. Many of the 28 districts in the above
Purvanchal list are traditional Awadhi or Baghel
Khandi bastions.
Divisions and districts
See also:
Districts of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh state consists of
70 districts, which are grouped into 17
divisions:
Agra,
Azamgarh,
Allahabad,
Kanpur,
Gorakhpur,
Chitrakoot,
Jhansi,
Devipatan,
Faizabad,
Bahraich,
Bareilly,
Basti,
Mirzapur,
Moradabad,
Meerut,
Lucknow,
Varanasi, and
Saharanpur.
Languages
The languages of the different regions are
distinct, and the language of the western parts,
called (Khadiboli)
is the basis for the official
Hindi language, imposed during the late 19th
century. The most commonly spoken language in
urban areas is
Urdu/Hindi.
Regardless of the script used, the language of
Lucknow is called Lucknowie Urdu. It is a pure
form of literary
Urdu used by most Urdu poets. Urdu is one of
the two official languages of the state. Other
languages are Awadhi, Koshali,
Braj (which is more than two thousand years
old), Koeli,
Bagheli,
Bundeli and
Bhojpuri. The Bhojpuri ethnic homeland is
divided between Nepal in the north, Bihar state
in the east and Uttar Pradesh in the west.
Politics
See also:
List of political parties in the state
The current chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is
Mulayam Singh Yadav, the leader of the
Samajwadi Party (Socialist Party). The
former
Prime Minister of India,
Atal Behari Vajpayee, represents the
constituency of
Lucknow. Unfortunately, the state has been
marred by a lot of
caste based politics, which has been
hindering a sound economic development of the
state.
The major political parties in the state are:
Samajwadi Party, a Socialist party which is
supported by backward classes and Muslims;
Bharatiya Janata Party, a conservative Hindu
nationalist party which is supported by the
forward castes; and the
Bahujan Samaj Party, a party which was
formed to uplift India's untouchable castes, the
dalits. It also banks on other backward
castes and Muslims. No party has received a
majority in the state's Assembly since 1991, and
the current administration (since 2003) has been
held up by smaller parties and independents.
[2]
The state has a large number of village councils
known as
Panchayats just like the other states of
India. One of the most developed Panchayats is
Shahabad in Maharajganj District of Uttar
Pradesh.
Education
The State of U.P. has made investments over the
years in all sectors of education and has
achieved some success.
The female literacy situation in Uttar Pradesh
is dismal. Only one out of four in the 7+ age
group was able to read and write in 1991. This
figure goes down to 19 % for rural areas, 11 %
for the scheduled castes, 8 % for scheduled
castes in rural areas, and 8 % for the entire
rural population in the most educationally
backward districts. Possibly
Bihar is the only state in India which fares
worse than U.P. in education.
In terms of more demanding criteria of
educational attainment on the completion of
primary or secondary education, in Uttar
Pradesh, in 1992-1993 only 50 % of literate
males and 40 % of literate females could
complete the cycle of eight years of schooling
involved in the primary and middle stages. One
other notable feature of the Uttar Pradesh
education system is the persistence of high
level of illiteracy in the younger age group.
Within that age group, the illiteracy was
endemic in the rural areas. In the late 1980s,
the incidence of illiteracy in the 10-14 age
group was as high as 32 % for rural males and 61
% for rural females, and more than two-thirds of
all rural girls in the 12-14 age group never
went to school.
The problems of education system is exacting.
Due to public apathy the schools are in
disarray, privately run school (including those
run by Christian missionaries) are functional,
but beyond the reach of ordinary people. The
State government has taken programmes to make
the population totally literate. There are
special programmes like
World Bank aided DPEP. Steps are being taken
with the help of NGOs and other organizations to
raise popular participation.
As a result, some progress in adult education
has been made and the
census of 2001 indicates a male literacy
rate of 70.23 % and a female literacy rate of
42.98 %.
At the level of higher education and technical
education Uttar Pradesh has 16 general
universities, famous among those are
Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU),
Allahabad University,
Madan Mohan Malaviya Engineering College,
Agra University,
[1]
Banaras Hindu University and
Aligarh Muslim University, one prestigious
Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), one
Indian Institute of Management (Lucknow), one
Indian Institute of Information Technology
(Allahabad), one National Institute of
Technology (Allahabad)
[2] and large number polytechnics,
engineering institutes and industrial training
institutes.
Economy
Macro-economic trend
This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic
product of Uttar Pradesh at market prices
estimated by Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation with figures in
millions of Indian Rupees.
Note 1:
includes Uttaranchal
Uttar Pradesh's gross state domestic product for
2004 is estimated at $75 billion in current
prices. After partition, the new Uttar Pradesh
state produces about 92% of the output of the
old Uttar Pradesh state. At the current laggard
rate of growth, Uttar Pradesh is expected to be
overtaken by the dynamic economies of Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu by 2010.
Uttar Pradesh is sometimes credited as a
mini-India in honour of its vast diversity. It
is home to 78% of national
livestock population. The state produces:
Tourism
A view of the Magh Mela that takes place at
Allahabad every year
The Taj Mahal.
Uttar Pradesh attracts a large number of both
national and international visitors. There are
two regions in the state where a majority of the
tourists go. These are the city of
Agra and the holy cities on the banks of the
Ganges River that include
Kanpur,
Allahabad and
Varanasi.
A vast number of tourists visit the
Taj Mahal in Agra. Other important tourist
attractions in Agra are the
Agra Fort. Also famous is a 16th century
capital city built by the Mughal emperor Akbar
known as
Fatehpur Sikri near Agra.
Millions of tourists and piligrims visit the
cities of Allahabad and Varanasi, as they are
considered to be two of the holiest cities in
India. Every year thousands gather at Allahabad
to take part in the festival on the banks of the
Ganges, the Magh Mela. The same festival is
organised in a larger scale every 12th year and
attracts millions of people and is called the
Kumbha Mela.
Varanasi is widely considered to be the second
oldest city in the world after
Jerusalem. It is famous for its
ghats (steps along the river) which are
populated year round with people who want to
take a dip in the holy Ganges River.
About 13 km from Varanasi is the historically
important town of
Sarnath.
Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon at
Sarnath after his enlightenment and hence is an
important pilgrimage site for the
Buddhists. Also at Sarnath are the Ashoka
Pillar and the Lion Capital, both important
archeological artifacts which have national
significance.
Arts and crafts
Uttar Pradesh is famous for its arts and crafts.
Specific regions such as Varanasi for its
saris and
silk, Mirzapur for its carpets, Agra and
Kanpur for their leathercraft, Moradabad for its
metalware, Lucknow for its clothwork and
embroidery, and the entire state for its pottery
are not only famous in India but around the
world.
Music of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh is a
state of India. The region's folk heritage
includes songs called
rasiya
(known especially in
Braj), which celebrate the divine love of
Radha and
Shri Krishna. These songs are accompanied by
large
drums known as
bumb, and
are performed at many festivals.
During the eras of
Guptas and
Harsh Vardhans,
Uttar Pradesh was a major center for musical
innovation.
Folk
dances include
raslila,
svanga,
ramlila,
nautanki,
naqal and
khyal.
BIHAR
Ancient
Bihar
has a very rich
history. It was called
Magadha in ancient times. Its capital Patna,
then known as
Pataliputra, was the center of the
Mauryan empire, which dominated the Indian
subcontinent from
325 BC to
185 BC.
Emperor Ashoka was the most famous ruler of
this
dynasty. Bihar remained an important place
of power, culture and education during the next
one thousand years. The
Vikramshila and
Nalanda
Universities, were one of the oldest and
best centres of education in ancient India but
unfortunately got destroyed by the maruading
invaders during the medieval period.
Religions Originating in Bihar
A
stone image of the
Buddha.
Bihar
is the birthplace of many religions, including
Buddhism and
Jainism.
Buddha attained
Enlightenment at
Bodh Gaya, a town located in the modern day
district of
Gaya.
Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, was born
in
Vaishali. The word "Bihar" has its origin in
the
Sanskrit word
Vihara meaning Buddhist
Monasteries. At one time these "viharas"
were strewn all over the landscape of Bihar,
around villages and cities.
Medieval
With
the advent of foreign aggression and the
eventual foreign subjugation of India, the
position of Bihar also was adversely affected.
Muhammad Bin Bakhtiar Khilji, a General of
Muhammad Ghori captured Bihar in
12th century. Bihar saw a brief period of
glory for six years during the rule of
Sher Shah Suri, who was from
Sasaram and built the longest road of the
Indian subcontinent, the
Grand Trunk Road, which starts from
Calcutta and ends at
Peshawar in
Pakistan. During
1557-1576,
Akbar, the
Mughal emperor, annexed Bihar and Bengal to
his empire and made Bihar a part of Bengal. With
the decline of Mughals, Bihar passed under the
control of the
Nawabs of Bengal.
Modern
After
the Battle of Buxar (1765),
the
British East India Company obtained the
diwani rights (rights to administer and collect
revenue, or tax administration / collection) for
Bihar,
Bengal and
Orissa. From this point onwards, Bihar
remained a part the Bengal Presidency of the
British Raj until
1912, when Bihar was carved out as a
separate
province. In
1935, certain portions of Bihar were
reorganised into the separate province of
Orissa. Again, in
2000, 18 administrative districts of Bihar
were separated to form the state of Jharkhand.
Babu Kunwar Singh of
Sasaram and his army, as well as countless
other persons from Bihar, contributed to the
India's First War of Independence (1857),
also called the
Sepoy Mutiny by some historians.
After
his return from
South Africa,
Mahatma Gandhi started the freedom movement
in
India by his
satyagraha in the
Champaran district of Bihar -- against the
British, who were forcing the local
farmers to plant
indigo which was very harmful to the local
soil. This movement by Mahatma Gandhi received
the spontaneous support of a cross section of
people, including Dr.
Rajendra Prasad, who ultimately became the
first
President of India.
Timeline
Geography & climate
Geography
Bihar is mainly a vast stretch of very fertile
flat land. It has several rivers:
Ganga,
Son,
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