pop (2001e) 166 052 900; area 294 413 km²/113 643 sq mi. State in NC India, bounded N by Nepal and China; known as the Bengal Presidency until 1833, then divided into provinces of Agra and Oudh; under one administration, 1877; called United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, 1902; renamed as United Provinces, 1935; adopted present name in 1950; capital, Lucknow; governed by a 108-member Legislative Council and a 426-member Legislative Assembly; official language, Hindi; crossed by several rivers and canals; largest producer of foodgrains in India; sugar, edible oils, textiles, leather, paper, chemicals, handloom weaving; coal, copper, limestone, bauxite, silica, phosphorite, pyrophyllite.
| Uttar Pradesh | |
|
Capital - Coordinates |
Lucknow - 26.85° N 80.91° E |
| Largest city | Kanpur |
|
Population (2001) - Density |
166,052,859 (1st) - 721/km² |
|
Area - Districts |
238,566 km² (5th) - 70† |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
|
Establishment - Governor - Chief Minister - Legislature (seats) |
1950-02-02 - T.V. Rajeswar - Mulayam Singh Yadav - Bicameral (404 + 108) |
| Official language(s) | Hindi, Urdu |
| Abbreviation (ISO) | IN-UP |
| Website: www.upgov.nic.in | |
|
Seal of Uttar Pradesh |
|
| † The decision to possibly create an additional six districts is pending. | |
Uttar Pradesh (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश, Urdu: اتر پردیش, translation: Northern Province, IPA: [ʊt̪t̪ər prəd̪eːʃ], pronunciation (help·info)), also popularly known by its abbreviation U.P. It is the most populous and fifth largest state in the Union of India.
Uttar Pradesh covers a large part of the highly fertile and densely populated upper Gangetic plain.
History
Ancient
Uttar Pradesh has an important place in the history of Hinduism, as well as the history of ancient India.
The known history of Uttar Pradesh goes back to 4000 years ago, when the Aryans first made it their home in 2000 BC.
The Mahabharat war and the aftermath took part in the area between Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
After that, this area was sometimes divided between petty kingdoms or formed important parts of larger empires from the east or the west, including the Mauryan, Gupta and Kushan empires.
Even today many communities in various parts of India --- from Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Bihar and Bengal boast of being descendants of migrants from Kannauj --- reflecting its glory in the past.
Medieval
Causing the fall of the Rajput came the Muslims invaders and what we call UP today once again became the catalyst for things to come.
Agra and Fatehpur Sikri were important as the capital city of Akbar, the great Mughal Emperor of India.
The Mughals ruled almost the entire Indian subcontinent (including Pakistan and Afghanistan from Delhi, Agra and Allahabad (at different times).
Starting from the latter half of the 18th century, a series of battles finally gave British accession to the last Mughal territory --- the Doab, as also Bundelkhand, Kumaon and Banaras divisions.
After the mutiny of 1857, when things settled, the British made a major revamp and truncated the Delhi region and gave it to Punjab, and the Ajmer-Merwar region to Rajputana
Modern
At the same time it included Oudh into the state.
The high court continued to be at Allahabad but a bench was established at Lucknow.
Uttar Pradesh continued to be central to Indian culture and politics and was especially important in modern Indian history as a hotbed of both the Indian Independence Movement, and the Pakistan Movement.
After independence the state was renamed Uttar Pradesh (northern province) by its first chief minister Govind Ballabh Pant.
Pant, who was well known to Jawaharlal Nehru, was popular in the local party and left his mark in Lucknow before December 27, 1954, when Nehru called him to Delhi to make him Home Minister. A Sanskrit scholar, he was in office till 1957 before becoming governor of Rajasthan
Sucheta Kripalani was sworn in in October 1963, and became India's first woman chief minister, until a two-month long strike by state employees in March 1967 caused her to step down.
Fellow socialist Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna of the Bharatiya Lok Dal was Chief Minister for part of the 1970s, and was dismissed, along with several other non-Congress chied ministers, shortly after the imposition of the Emergency, when Narain Dutt Tewari - later chief minister of Uttaranchal - became chief minister.
In 2000 the Himalyan portion of the state --- the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions --- were formed into a new state called Uttaranchal (meaning the northern part of the state).
Geography
Uttar Pradesh can be divided into three distinct hypsographical regions:
The Himalayan region in the north — highly rugged and varied terrain;Constituent regions
The state comprises the Doab region (inluding the upper Doab and the lower doab with the Brij bhumi in its centre), which runs along its western border from north to south, the Rohilkhand in the north, Awadh (Oudh) (the historic country of Koshal) in the centre, the northern parts of Bagelkhand and Bundelkhand in the south, and the south-western part of the Bhojpur country, commonly called Purvanchal ("Eastern Province"), in the east.
Divisions and districts
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, Farrukhabad and Saharanpur.
Population
With over 175 million inhabitants, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India and is also the most populous subnational entity in the world.
Languages
The state language is Hindi, while Urdu has the status of second language.
Politics
The current chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is Mulayam Singh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party (Socialist Party).
The major political parties in the state are: Samajwadi Party, a Socialist party which is supported by backward classes and Muslims;
The state has a large number of village councils known as Panchayats just like the other states of India.
Education
The State of U.P.
The female literacy situation in Uttar Pradesh is dismal.
In terms of more demanding educational attainment (the completion of primary or secondary education), 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.
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 Lucknow University, Allahabad University, Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University, Agra University , Ch Charan Singh University (Meerut), Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU), Madan Mohan Malaviya Engineering College, prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Indian Institute of Information Technology (Allahabad), National Institute of Technology (Allahabad),world famous Asian Academy Of Film &
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.
| Year | Gross State Domestic Product |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 155,540 |
| 1985 | 277,480 |
| 1990 | 555,060 |
| 1995 | 1,062,490 |
| 2000 | 1,730,680 |
↑ includes Uttaranchal
Uttar Pradesh's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $75 billion in current prices.
Agriculture
Uttar Pradesh is a very fertile region and a major contributor to the national foodgrain stock.
| Commodity | National Share |
|---|---|
| Potato | 47% |
| Sugarcane | 45% |
| Wheat | 38% |
| Groundnut | 34% |
| Molasses | 34% |
| Sugar | 30% |
| Tobacco | 20% |
Industry
Over 3% of the S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Uttar Pradesh.
See also: List of conglomerates in Uttar PradeshTourism
Uttar Pradesh attracts a large number of both national and international visitors.
Millions of tourists and piligrims visit the cities of Allahabad, Varanasi and Haridwar, as those are considered to be the holiest cities in India.
Varanasi is widely considered to be the second oldest city in the world after Jerusalem.
Arts and crafts
Uttar Pradesh is famous for its arts and crafts.
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