Ludhiana

For the district of the same name, see Ludhiana District.

Ludhiana Ludhiana
city
Population  (2001)
• Total	1,395,053

Ludhiana (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 15 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 also includes the most expensive fertile land of all of India. Dozens of NRI residents come to the city to invest in condos, hotels, and stand for elections in major Ludhiana cities such as Kila Raipur, Talwandi Rai, Raikot, Jagraon, Samrala, and Khanna. Even though Ludhiana is home to many NRIs it did not boost the city economy because the city was always in high demand before people had gone aboard.

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. 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.

In 1741, Ala Singh defeated Rai Kalha II 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 and for 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  ; 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.

Geography

Ludhiana is located at 30.9°N 75.85°E / 30.9; 75.85. 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 Partap 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.

Climate

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

Climate data for Ludhiana
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Source:

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, 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. According to the most recent census the predominant religions in the city are Sikhism 52% and Hinduism 48%. The decrease in the population of Sikhs are due to the lack of migration in western countries such as Canada,and U.S. Before Partition, there was a large population of Muslim residents, but they had to leave because of high scale violence in the area. In Ludhiana, the native people communicate in the regional language of Punjabi. 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.

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

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 (like Oswals, Nahar. etc. ), 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).

Education

Ludhiana is home to the largest agricultural university in Asia, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) . The College of Veterinary Sciences at PAU has recently been upgraded to the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Science University (GADVASU).

Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College & Ludhiana College of Engineering & technology are two main colleges offering quality education in the fields of Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, IT, Electronics and Production Engineering. This college was one of the first engineering colleges of Punjab,having been established in 1956.

Punjab College of Technical Education(PCTE)Baddowal is one of the top private B-Schools of region.It also provides quality education in Computer,Pharmacy,Hotel Management and Film Technology.

Other Liberal Arts Graduate and Post Graduation colleges in Ludhiana consist of the S.C.D. Government Colleges for Boys, & The Government College for Women ( originally, the college for Women operated out of the premises of the Boys' College - but the genders were segregated almost soon after the British, with their far more liberal world-views, departed India in 1947. All principals of the college prior to Indian Independence in 1947 were White British Males. ) which has the distinction of being the oldest in the 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 alumni include the well-loved poet Sahir Ludhianvi, the economist M S Gill, union HRD minister Kapil Sibbal, the retired police chief KPS Gill, and film-director David Dhawan.

Other well known colleges are the S.D.P.College for Women near Daresi Ground, Khalsa College for Boys & Khalsa College for Girls in Ghumar Mandi, Arya College for Boys, Kamla Lohtia College, and Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management.

Ludhiana also has one law school, The University Institute of Laws. It is a Panjab University Regional Centre, affiliated to the parent institute at Chandigarh, and was established during the Academic Session 2003-04. Admission to LL.B. (Three Year Course) was started during 2003-2004 session and 5 years Integrated B.A.,LL.B (Hons) course was started during 2006-2007 session. The Institute is situated on the campus of Punjab University Extension Library, Ludhiana.

Ludhiana is also home to some of the region's best medical institutions like the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana ( C.M.C. ) - a not-for-profit Missionary institute started by American Protestants in the early years of the last century; the founder was one of the first female graduates of The Harvard Medical School in 1909.

The Dayanand Medical College ( D.M.C. )& Hospital is the other medical college in ludhiana with a dedicated ancillary for cardiology (Hero Heart Institute).

One of the best medical institutions available in the area is now the Apollo Hospital. The Hospital is dedicated to be the best in patient care and customer service - from the pursuit of this aim, stems the passion to excel.

The modern state of the art 350 bedded multi specialty tertiary care hospital, set up in collaboration with Apollo group of Hospitals offers affordable and comprehensive health-care services/facilities to the patients under one roof.

The modern architectural designed hospital spreading over an area of 9 acres, stands out at Sherpur Chowk, GT Road, Ludhiana.

Local private schools are considered some of the best in the State. B.C.M. Arya Model Sr. Sec. School, Shastri Nagar;Sacred Heart School in Sarabha Nagar and BRS Nagar, run by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany; The Kundan Vidya Mandir School, Civil Lines; Guru Nanak Public School in Sharabha Nagar; DAV Public School BRS Nagar being the leading institutions. G.S.S. Model School, P.A.U campus is one of the leading government schools in the state.

Ludhiana also has a good library: Panjab University Extension Library in Civil lines,which has a huge collection of Books,Periodicals,Journals and Newspapers.

School enrollments

S.No.	Type of Institute	No. of Institutes
1.	Art science & Commerce Colleges & Home Science	31
2.	Teacher Training Colleges	6
3.	Technical Art & Craft schools and Industrial Polytechnic Institutions	17
4.	Senior Sec. Schools	206
5.	High Schools	222
6.	Middle Schools	201
7.	Primary & Pre Primary Schools	1027

Transport

Bus, car and train are the main forms of transport used to get in and out of Ludhiana.

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. 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.

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 8 km 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 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.

Ludhiana's status as a large industrial hub is cited as a reason for another international airport in Punjab after Amritsar.

Moving around inside the city is done mostly by mini-buses, auto-rickshaws, and pedal rickshaws, loosely licensed by the Municipal Corporation.

Notable residents

Actors

• Bobby Deol lives in Mumbai now
• Sunny Deol lives in Mumbai now
• Abhay Deol lives in Mumbai now
• Dharmendra Born and raised in village Sahnewal, lives in Mumbai now
• Divya Dutta
• Ishmeet Singh
• Juhi Chawla
• Omkar Mahadar
• Simi Garewal
• Arjun Nagpal

Athletes

• Jagjit Singh Hans (Tiger Jeet Singh)
• Yuvraj Singh
• Simardeep Singh Grewal

Poets

• Raman Mundair
• Sahir Ludhianvi
• Surjit Patar
• Menu

Revolutionaries

• Kartar Singh Sarabha
• Sukhdev Thapar
• Udham Singh

See also

• Malls in Ludhiana, Punjab

External links

• My Ludhiana
• Ludhiana My City
• News from Ludhiana and surroundings