Gurgaon

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Gurgaon गुड़गांव ਗੁੜਗਾਂਵ
Millenium City
DLF City, Gurgaon
File:Delhi area locator map.svg Gurgaon Location of Gurgaon in Delhi and India
Country	India
State	Haryana
District(s)	Gurgaon
Parliamentary constituency	Gurgaon Parliamentary Constituency
Assembly constituency	Gurgaon / Badshahpur
Planning Agency	Haryana Urban Development Authority
Civic agency	Gurgon Nagar Nigam (Gurgaon Municipal Corporation)
Population	228,820 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 220 m (722 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 122001 to 122017 • Telephone • +91 -(0)124 • Vehicle • HR 26 (Personal), HR 55 (Commercial)
Website	www.Gurgaon.co.in

Coordinates: 28°28′N 77°02′E / 28.47°N 77.03°E / 28.47; 77.03 Gurgaon pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: गुड़गांव, Punjabi: ਗੁੜਗਾਂਵ) is the sixth largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. Gurgaon is a megacity, as well as the industrial and financial center of Haryana. An important town in ancient Hindu mythology, Gurgaon is one of Delhi's four major satellite cities and is part of the National Capital Region of India. Over the past 20 years the city has grown tremendously as an manufacturing, outsourcing and shopping destination due to its world-class infrastructure at competitive prices and its strategic location (connected to Delhi Airport via a private Expressway, Mundra Port via railway, and New Delhi via Delhi Metro). A plethora of BPOs, KPOs and shopping malls dot the cityscape.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 3 Geography and Climate 4 Demographics 5 Ethnicity 6 Government and politics 7 Economy 8 Urbanism 9 Transportation 9.1 Air 9.2 Road 9.3 Train 10 Local Transportation 10.1 Cabs 10.2 Buses 10.3 Metro 10.4 Rickshaw / auto rickshaw 11 Education 12 Life in Gurgaon 12.1 Shopping 12.2 Recreation 12.3 Cafés and restaurants 13 District Administration 14 Media 15 Sports 16 Real Estate 17 See also 18 References 19 External links

[edit] Etymology

The origin of the city's name is steeped in Hindu mythology. Legend has it that Gurgaon is the ancestral village of Guru Dronacharya, the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata. In Sanskrit, Guru means teacher, which in this case refers to Dronacharya and Gram means village. According to Hindu mythology, the village was gifted by the Pandavas and Kauravas to Dronacharya, and was therefore known as guru-gram. Over time the colloquial term gaon (which also means village in Prakrit) was substituted for gram and the name Gurgaon emerged.

[edit] History

Gurgaon has been under the control of a succession of rulers of Delhi and their appointees, including Yaduvanshi Rajputs, Tughlaks, Khanzade Muslims and Mughals.^[1] A major portion of the current population consists of Yadavs. During the British rule in India, Gurgaon was integrated into the Punjab Province where it served as district and tehsil headquarters. Following India's independence, Gurgaon remained a part of the state of Punjab until the reorganization of Punjab in 1966, when it became a part of the newly created state of Haryana.

Gurgaon remained a small farming village while neighbouring Delhi emerged as India's political capital. Delhi's economic rise attracted a large influx of laborers from neighboring regions like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab rapidly increasing Delhi's population. By early 1990s, Delhi was one of the most populated and crowded cities in the world and the need for a satellite city became more apparent. Gurgaon seemed like an ideal choice given its vast undeveloped farming lands and proximity to Delhi. Haryana Urban Development Authority bought large areas of land from farmers in Gurgaon and developed residential and commercial sectors. Tax incentives by the state government of Haryana and improvement in infrastructure attracted Indian companies and foreign investment and Gurgaon emerged as one of the major manufacturing and service industry hubs in northern India.

[edit] Geography and Climate

Gurgaon is located at 28°28′N 77°02′E / 28.47°N 77.03°E / 28.47; 77.03.^[2] It has an average elevation of 220 metres (721 ft). Gurgaon district, comprising four blocks Pataudi, Sohna, Gurgaon and Farrukhnagar, was created on 15 August, 1979. It is the southern-most district of Haryana. On its north, it is bounded by the district of Rohtak and the Union Territory of Delhi. Faridabad district lies to its east. On its south, the district shares boundaries with the states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. To its west lies the district of Rewari and the State of Rajasthan. Gurgaon is situated between the Himalayas and Aravalis mountain ranges. It is surrounded on 3 sides by Haryana and to the east, across the river Yamuna by Uttar Pradesh. Its greatest length is around 13 miles and the greatest breadth is 17 miles. Delhi's altitude ranges between 213 to 305 meters above sea level.|^[3].

The Sultanpur National Park, located about 15 km from the centre of the city, is a protected migratory bird sanctuary for the Sarus Crane, Indian Peafowl, Eurasian Wigeon and other birds.

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census^[4], Gurgaon had a population of 228,820. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Gurgaon has an average literacy rate of 77%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 73%. In Gurgaon, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. The 2001 census figures of Gurgaon`s population are quite obsolete. Due to ever growing new house and apartment construction since census, an actual (2008) population of 350-400.000 may be realistic.

[edit] Ethnicity

The original Gurgaon residents were people from different communities, but around 49% of the resident were Yadavs as biggest community and remaining 40% are Gujjars, Jats, Saini and Rajputs and every village small or big have Dalits community. However their profession was agriculture. Later on thousands of Punjabis (Hindu Immigrants from Pakistan's Punjab) who came here after partition of the country in 1947 made their home here, but today it is swamped by people from all across the globe and any thinkable profession you can think of in the modern India. Now Gurgaon has a majority of people who were not born here. The prosperity and booming business has attracted all sorts of legal and illegal immigrants from across the globe,. ^[5][6]

[edit] Government and politics

Haryana has five seats in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's national parliament, and ten in the Lok Sabha, the lower house. The largest political parties in Haryana are the Indian National Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Haryana Janhit Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party and Indian National Lok Dal. The present political scenario of the state is clear and it has a stable government under Bhupinder Singh Hooda who is presently the Chief Minister of the state and Rao Inderjit Singh as newly elected Member of Parliament from Gurgaon.

[edit] Economy

Favorable tax policy by the Haryana government, the construction of world-class buildings by private companies after pressure was placed on the Haryana government by Rajiv Gandhi, improvement in the city's infrastructure by Haryana Urban Development Authority after pressure from the media, and its proximity to Indira Gandhi International Airport saw the emergence of Gurgaon as one of the most prominent outsourcing and offshoring hubs in the world. Real estate, automobiles, retail and banking are other major industries. Gurgaon contributes over 50% of Haryana's income tax revenues along with Faridabad. ^[7]

The distribution of outsourcing companies is skewed towards non-IT services^{[citation needed]}. India's outsourcing industry was born in Gurgaon in 1997 when GE Capital International Services (GECIS) was set up as the India-based business process services operations of GE Capital^{[citation needed]}. In 2005, GECIS became an independent company - Genpact, which is now headquartered in Gurgaon. This trend continued after several other firms established themselves in the city. Gurgaon also has a major manufacturing industry. Several auto-manufacturing facilities exist including India's largest passenger car company, Maruti Suzuki, and BMW, largest motorcycle company, Hero Honda, are based in Gurgaon.

The outsourcing boom has led to a rapid growth in employment prospects and local wages, leading to a mushrooming of shopping malls, restaurants and entertainment facilities. Demand for such lifestyle options is driven by the demographic shift to a younger, more cosmopolitan, more affluent and better educated population. This also led to boom in the city's retail industry. Gurgaon has also benefited from the aviation boom in India, though it lost the bid for the new international airport in the Delhi area to Greater Noida. India currently has 16 airlines, out of which IndiGo Airlines, Spice Jet and MDLR Airlines have their headquarters in Gurgaon.

[edit] Urbanism

Initially a small farming village located southwest of Delhi, Gurgaon saw a massive increase in its population and economy after the real estate developer, DLF Group, bought farms owned by local people^{[citation needed]} and started developing housing societies for upper-middle class residents of Delhi. Such housing societies became a real estate phenomenon in northern India with many Delhites preferring the newly planned Gurgaon over the congested and heavily polluted metropolis, Delhi.

The urban landscape has been constantly changing in the fast growing city of Gurgaon in the past few years. In the Hindu and Mughal times the city was largely made up of the temples and forts which were used as a barrier to secure Delhi. The present City of Gurgaon can be considered the metropolitan area encompassing every single settlement around the original city, and expanding even further with the establishment of new neighbourhoods and districts since the changes in the 21st century. Numerous tall structures were built around the city to accommodate the rapid growth in population.

Thousands of professionals have recently made their home in Gurgaon, living in apartments or in newly constructed colonies and condominiums. The mushrooming shopping malls of Gurgaon, like the Ambience Mall,Gurgaon Central, Gold Souk, are also indicative of the recognition by retailers of the far-reaching aspirations, and deep pockets, of the residents of the city. By 2010, the state government hopes to complete a world class Golden Triangle City Centre (GTCC) in Sector 29 with as many as four skyscrapers higher than Taipei 101. The fast growing population, with increasing purchasing power, has created a huge demand for housing, resulting in escalating property prices in recent years.

[edit] Transportation

Gurgaon is connected to all major cities by Air, Rail or Road.

[edit] Air

Indira Gandhi International Airport Approx 10 Kms from city center caters to Gurgaon. It has flights to all major cities across 5 continents as well as domestic flights to all parts of India.

[edit] Road

An 8 lane expressway between Delhi and Gurgaon, which forms a section of the wider Golden Quadrilateral project. The expressway provides non-stop connectivity to the Indira Gandhi International Airport and the Domestic Airport and to Dhaula Kuan in Delhi over a distance of 28 kilometers (18 miles), and includes 7 flyovers and 5 underpasses along the stretch.

[edit] Train

Due to the little importance of the Gurgaon railway station it has gone into much disrepair and is a contrast to the modern building made of steel and glass in the rest of the cities. The rails connect to both Rewari / Jaipur on one side and Delhi Cantt on the other. Gurgaon has its railway station located at the extreme corner of the city with little parking facilities, and thus Gurgaon-ites mostly depend on railway stations in Delhi or Indira Gandhi International Airport for long-distance travel.

[edit] Local Transportation

An inexplicable fact is that modes of public transport within the city practically do not exist.There are a handful of local buses plying on a few routes. In the past the government has not taken much of an initiative to introduce buses or other forms of public transport as the average per capita income in Gurgaon is double the country's average per capita income. Another reason that public transport doesnt exist in the city is because most Gurgaonites own cars as the cream of the Delhi-ites have moved to Gurgaon.

[edit] Cabs

The only other form of transport other than small fleet of buses is taxi. Gurgaon has 4 types of Taxis as to make them cater to all classes of the population from the rich to the poor.

[edit] Buses

The main Bus Depot of the city connects to all neighboring towns including Delhi, Jaipur, Alwar and Chandigarh. There are also buses to to Rohtak, Jammu, Faridabad , Dharuera and others. Recently, the Gurgaon administration and Haryana Roadways have bought a number of Ashok Leyland low floor bus and started some new city bus service routes in New Gurgaon that connect MG Road to the many business parks like DLF City and Unitech Internatiional Business Park. ^[8]. The Delhi Transport Corporation also plies buses on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway ^[9].

[edit] Metro

To minimise traffic on the expressway, a metro line link is being constructed. This would connect the city of Gurgaon to the International Airport and Delhi. A Monorail or suburban railway is also being discussed by the Haryana government to link Gurgaon with Faridabad, which is the other financial hub for the state of Haryana. Plans to extend the Delhi Metro to Gurgaon have now been formally approved by both Delhi and Haryana governments, both having reached a cost sharing arrangement. Delhi Metro to Gurgaon is expected to be completed by the year 2010^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Rickshaw / auto rickshaw

They are lifeline of transportation for the poor and sometimes not so poor's of gurgaon.People from Maharastra and Bangladesh are rickshaw pullers in gurgaon.

[edit] Education

The city is home to a number of reputed educational institutions; Management Development Institute; ITM (Institute Of Technology and Management);Gitm; Indian Institute of Law; IILM Institute for Higher Education,Dronacharya college of Engineering, JK Business School . However, Gurgoanites normally do their higher studies in Delhi. Schools and higher educational institutions in Delhi are administered either by the Directorate of Education, the NCT government, or private organizations.

[edit] Life in Gurgaon

[edit] Shopping

Gurgaon is considered as the unofficial "Mall Capital of India" as it is home to over three dozen malls^{[citation needed]}Gurgaon is known for its large number of malls and shopping facilities, attributed to be one of the major factors in its recent growth. ^[10] Though Gurgaon lacks in historic history, the new shopping centers have opened up all around the city.

The first shopping malls were established on MG Road- DLF City Center Mall and MGF Metropolitan Mall. Since then many new ones have sprung up around the city like the Ambi Mall, the largest mall in India and South Asia and 7th largest in Asia. MGF Megacity Mall, Wedding Malland Gold Souk are one of many speciality malls in town. Mall of India, which is being constructed (expected to be completed in 2010) is to be one of the largest malls in the world so as to put Gurgaon also on the global shopping list. Most new malls are targeting high-end consumers and are almost exclusively dedicated to world-famous fashion brands like Chanel and Versace. In March 2008, a new law went into effect in the state requiring all malls and shopping centers to be closed one day per week in order to conserve electricity and help traffic flow. All malls and shopping centers are closed on Tuesday. However, some major retail chains like LifeStyle stores have managed to open on all seven days.

[edit] Recreation

There are numerous sports club around the city. Most real estate companies have established recreational facilities in their own residential complexes.^[11]

Neemrana and Pataudi Palace are Historic Hotel resorts and favorite weekend getaways for Gurgaon-ites. The Shekhawati Region near Gurgaon hosts one of the best havelis in India with beautiful frescoes. The towns of Shekhawati are eminent for their amazing painted havelis. Such is the appeal of the havelis that this region is dubbed as "open art gallery of Rajasthan". The plethora of painted Havelis in rich artistic tradition makes it commendable and fascinating. Most of the buildings are dated from 18th century to early 20th century. The Shekhawati landscape is dotted with so many havelis that tracking them is something like a treasure hunt.

[edit] Cafés and restaurants

And many other offer the most authentic Indian and the best in world cuisine. Along with the traditional Indian restaurants, many European and Far Eastern restaurants and numerous other cuisines are also thriving in the city. ^[11]

Most of the city's pubs and cafés are situated on the MG Road, the fashion district on Gurgaon. Other restaurants and most expensive ones are on the Mehrauli Gurgaon area. Many European restaurants have come up including reputed restaurants like the Fox, Coriander Leaf, Tonino and Clemont Ferrand in that area. Small streets here have been nick named french and Italian names due to many European restaurants in this part of town. A famous street which has become known as La Rue Française has rows of pubs, cafés and restaurants playing live French and Spanish music. Gymkhana Club is known for its seafood restaurant and superb snack eateries and great sport facilities. Many Portuguese and Spanish restaurants have been established by the local South Indian migrants.

[edit] District Administration

• The Deputy Commissioner, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service, is the overall in-charge of the General Administration in the district. He is assisted by a number of officers belonging to Haryana Civil Service and other Haryana state services.

• Till recently, the Superintendent of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service, used to be responsible for maintaining Law & Order and related issues in the district. He was assisted by the officers of the Haryana Police Service and other Haryana Police officials. Since June, 2007 the Police System has been converted into Commissioner system of policing as like Delhi and Pune have. Gurgaon now has a Police Commissioner and three Assistant Commissioner(ACP) of IPS Cader .

• The Deputy Conservator of Forests, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service, is responsible for the management of the Forests, Environment and Wild-Life in the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Haryana Forest Service and other Haryana Forest officials and Haryana Wild-Life officials.

• Sectoral development is looked after by the district head/officer of each development department such as [PWD], Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal husbandry, etc. These officers are from various [Haryana] state services.

• Gurgaon has its own member of parliament (even though city itself make a small portion of the Gurgaon parliamentary Constituency and in state assembly it is represented by Gurgaon and Badshahpur Assembly constituencies). Any Indian citizens leaving in city can vote for electing them but the city's resident are known to be not known as typical Indian urban middle class who does not vote. Most of them are not registered to vote ^[12] and even those who are doesnt prefer to vote as they feel themselves Disassociated with the matters picked up by available candidates.

[edit] Media

Due to its close proximity to Delhi, Gurgaon shares media outlets with the capital city, such as radio stations, television stations, and newspapers. Television programming in the city includes two free terrestrial television channels offered by Doordarshan, and several Hindi, English and regional-languages cable channels offered by Multi system operators. Satellite television, in contrast, is yet to gain large-scale subscribership in the city.^[13]

Print journalism is also shared in Gurgaon and Delhi. During the year 2004–05, 1029 newspapers—in thirteen languages—were published in Delhi. Of these, 492 were Hindi language newspapers, and included Navbharat Times, Dainik Hindustan, Punjab Kesri, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar and fastest growing weekly The Stageman International.^[14] Among the English language newspapers, The Hindustan Times, with over a million copies in circulation, was the single largest daily.^[14] Other major English newspapers include Indian Express, Business Standard, Times of India, The Hindu, The Pioneer and Asian Age. Radio is a less popular mass medium in Delhi, although FM radio has been gaining ground^[15] since the inauguration of several new FM channels in 2006.^[16] A number of state-owned and private radio stations broadcast from Delhi, including All India Radio (AIR), one of the world's largest radio service providers, which offers six radio channels in ten languages. Other city-based radio stations include Big FM (92.7 FM)''Radio Mirchi (98.3 FM), Fever (104.0 FM), Radio One (94.3 FM), Red FM (93.5 FM) and Radio City (91.1 FM).

[edit] Sports

Gurgaon currently has 2, 18 hole golf courses and hosted the Johnnie Walker Classic in 2008 at the DLF Golf and Country Club. The government has promised to build 5 Sports Complexes by 2010.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Real Estate

Real Estate is an important industry in Gurgaon and construction of office complexes and malls have lead to an influx of labour from poor and underdeveloped states like Bihar, Orrisa and Bangladesh. It was the Real Estate boom that lead to the emergence of Gurgaon as a metropolis and world city as malls and major complexes were built. Even in recession, Real Estate remains the third largest employer in the city after IT Services and Retail. The land in and around Gurgaon is fertile but agriculture being not remunerative, farmers have sold land to realty majors such as DLF, and Unitech, which in turn construct IT parks and Office Complexes.However there were many major bloody protests happened in gurgaon as some farmers became millionaire overnight by selling their land to private builders but unrest created when Haryana government (HUDA) and HSIIDC (Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation) acquired land thousand of acres worth millions of rupees in below market rate and sold it in crores to industrialists.

[edit] See also

• 2010 Commonwealth Games
• Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway
• Manesar
• Saini
• Yadav
• Inderjit Singh Rao

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gurgaon administration's web site
• Gurgaon travel guide from Wikitravel
• History of Gurgaon district
• First-hand account of life in Gurgaon
• Gurgaon Sector Map