Punjab (India)

Punjab (, , ) is a state in northwest India. Punjab borders the West Punjab to the west, Jammu and Kashmir to the north, Himachal Pradesh to the northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, Chandigarh to the southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest. The total area of the state is 50,362 square kilometers (19,445 square miles). The population is 24,289,296 (2000). Punjab's capital is Chandigarh, which is administered separately as a Union Territory since it is also the capital of neighbouring Haryana. Other major cities of Punjab include Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala and Jalandhar. The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the world's first and oldest civilizations. It centered around the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro located in the Pakistani province of Punjab and the Pakistani province of Sind, respectively.^[1]

Agriculture is the largest industry in Punjab. Others major industries include the manufacture of scientific instruments, electrical goods, financial services, machine tools, textiles, sewing machines, sports goods, starch, tourism, fertilizers, bicycles, garments, and the processing of pine oil and sugar. Punjab is considered to have the best infrastructure in India ^[2], this includes road, rail, air and river transport links that are extensive throughout the region. Punjab also has the lowest poverty rate in India at 6.16% (1999-2000 figures), and has won the best state performance award^[3], based on statistical data compiled by the Indian Government.

In the 1980s, Punjab was rocked by political and religious turmoil, to form a Sikh state called Khalistan. During the turmoil, thousands of Hindus fled the state. The violence was eventually suppressed by the government of India.

The River Sutlej, one of the five rivers that give Punjab its name from Rampur ca. 1857

The word "Punjab" is a combination of the Persian words panj (???) Five, and ?b (??) Water, giving the literal meaning of the "Land of Five Rivers". The five rivers after which Punjab is named are the Beas, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej.

Geography

Most of the Punjab is an alluvial plain, bounded by mountains to the North. Despite its dry conditions, it is a rich agricultural area due to the extensive irrigation made possible by the great river system traversing it. Punjab region temperature range from -2° to 40°C (MIN/MAX), but can reach 47°C (117°F) in summer and can touch down to -5°C in winter. The Punjabi are the people that live in the state of Punjab. They are a tribe who are now a very influential people in India. They are discriminated profusely by many of the neighboring Indian tribes.

Demographics

Sikhism is the most practiced faith in Punjab, roughly 59% of the population belongs to the Sikh faith. ^[4] 39.357% of the population practices Hinduism. Recently a small number of Rastafarians have moved into Punjab, most of them are found in Khanna. Other faiths include Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and Jainism. The holiest of Sikh shrines, the Golden Temple (or Harimandir Sahib), is in the city of Amritsar. The Sri Akal Takht Sahib which resides within the Golden temple complex is the temporal seat of Sikhs. Of the five Takhts[Temporal Seat] of Sikhism, three are in Punjab. Anandpur Sahib is where Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa on Vaisakhi. During major holidays on the Sikh calendar (such as Vaisakhi,Hola Mohalla,a Gurpurb or Diwali), many Sikhs gather and march through virtually every city, town and village in Punjab. Sikhism is so common in fact, that at least one Sikh Gurdwara can be found in every village, town and city (in various styles and sizes). There will be number Sikh shrines found in each and every district made in the commemoration of a Sikh Guru or Martyr. Generations ago, turbans were fairly commonplace of most Punjabis whether Muslim, Hindu or Sikh. Muslims and Hindus have given up their turbans, but it became an article of faith for Sikh men whose religion forbids them to cut their hair.

The Punjabi language, written in the Gurmukhi script is the official language in the state.The other language which is spoken in punjab is Hindi,the national language is commonly used within the Hindu's in punjab,with punjabi being the first language of most sikh's and with Hindi being second language to most sikh's.

Religion	Adherents	% of total
All	24,358,999	100%
Sikhs ^[5]	18,000,000	59%
Hindus ^[6]	6,000,000	39.357%
Christians ^[7]	292,800	1.20 %
Muslims ^[8]	10,045	0.40 %
Buddhists ^[9]	41,487	0.17 %
Jains ^[10]	39,276	0.16 %
Others ^[11]	8,594	0.035 %
Not stated ^[12]	4,468	0.018 %

Education

Business and infrastructure

Punjab has the best infrastructure in all of India^[15]^[16] and as result it is becoming attractive to foreign companies looking for bases and manufacturing zones for their Indian operations. The Indian National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has ranked Punjab's infrastructure as the best in India. Its road, rail, air and transport system is rated best in the country with ranking of 210 points^[17] compared to the national average of 100 in NCAER?s infrastructure index. It has highest per capita generation of electricity in India, which is 2.5 times the national average. All major Punjabi cities benefit from this and having one of lowest tariff's in India, including all of Punjab's villages, which have been electrified and connected to the Punjabi electrical power grid since 1974.

The leading dailies in the state are Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Punjab Kesri, The Tribune, Jag Bani, and Ajit Samachar.

Tourism

Famous tourist visiting site Mohindra College, Patiala at night.

Tourism is a swiftly expanding area and many analysts predict huge potential. Tourism of Punjab is principally suited for the tourist interested in culture, civilization, spirituality and epic history. More specifically tourism is particularly suited for the person who is interested in epic history, the celebrated Punjabi culture, royal Punjabi palaces, historic battles and of course the world-renowned examples of Sikh Architecture, shrines and temples.

Famous Punjabis

The Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is a Punjabi. Two former Indian Prime Ministers include I K Gujral and Gulzarilal Nanda both of whom were also Punjabis. Another Punjabi to occupy the topmost post in India was the former President of India Giani Zail Singh. A former Chief of Army Staff of India, General General Joginder Jaswant Singh is a Punjabi, so is famous Nobel laureate Professor Har Gobind Khorana. The first Indian in Outer space is a Punjabi - Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma. The highest ranking office in the history of the Indian Air force was a Punjabi, Marshal of the Air Force of India - Arjan Singh (the highest rank ever given in the history of the Indian Air force). The first Indian-American Governor and new Governor Elect of Louisiana., USA Bobby Jindal (Rep) is also a Punjabi from his fathers parental lineage. In the entertainment sector, the giant Dalip Singh helps promote Punjab in the sphere of Professional wrestling. Indian cricket star Harbhajan Singh is from the Punjab from a village called Lamhbra on the outskirts of Jalandhar. Gurdas Mann and Hans Raj Hans are two of the most famous singers to come from the punjab. The first ever Asian Member of the US Senate, Dr. Dalip Singh Saund, was a Punjabi as was Kalpana Chawla, the famous US astronaut. Rajan Zed, Hindu leader, who recited the first Hindu prayer in United States Senate in Washington DC. Jeremy Varghese a famous sound technichian/musician who lives in Australia For more on Famous Punjabi People please see lists above.

Economy

Excluding agriculture other major industries include the manufacture of scientific instruments, electrical goods, machine tools, textiles, tourism, sewing machines, sports goods, starch, fertilizers, bicycles, and the processing of pine oil and sugar.Also, a big source of Pakistani rice

Macro-economic trend

This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Punjab at market prices estimated by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. The traditional long-term financial policy of the Union Government is to reward well-performing States.

Year	Gross State Domestic Product
1980	50,250
1985	95,060
1990	188,830
1995	386,150
2000	660,100

Punjab's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $180 billion in current prices.

About 1% of the S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Punjab. This is a list of NSE-indexed conglomerates with corporate offices in Punjab. Figures are given in millions of Indian Rupees for 2005.

Rank	Conglomerate	Gross Income
1	Mahavir Spinning Mills	19,376
2	Punjab Tractors	10,245
3	Abhishek Industries	7,537
4	Nahar Spinning Mills	4,687
5	Nahar Exports	4,293
6	Vardhman Polytex	2,955

Agriculture

Punjab (the five rivers region) is one of the most fertile regions on earth. The region is ideal for wheat-growing. Rice, sugar cane, fruits and vegetables are also grown. Indian Punjab is called the "Granary of India" or "India's bread-basket." ^[18] It produces 14% of India's cotton, 20% of India's wheat, and 9% of India's rice. In worldwide terms, Indian Punjab produces 2% of the world's cotton, 2% of its wheat and 1% of the world's rice.^[19] The largest grown crop is wheat. Other important crops are rice, cotton, sugarcane, pearl millet, maize, barley and fruit.In Punjab per hectare consumption of fertilizer is 177 kg as compared to 90 kg at national level. Also Punjab State has been awarded National Productivity Award for agriculture extension services for consecutively ten years from 1991-92 to 1998-99 and 2001 to 2003-04.

Punjab Medals of Honour

The Punjab Medals of Honour are a collection of awards that are given by the Government of Punjab for exceptional excellence and achievement in the service of Punjab, the Punjabi people and internationally. Some awards are given yearly and some are only given rarely and under exceptional circumstances, where the individual has shown remarkable sacrifice or personal service of Punjab. To win one of the rare awards would probably make the individual a household famous name in Punjab. Two of the most prestigious awards are Punjab Rattan Award and the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award (a very prestigious award).

Twin Punjabi Associations

The Punjab historically, since ancient times, has been one cultural and political entity within which the Punjabi people have lived in. However, after the partition of India the Punjab was divided, cutting the Punjabi people in two across the international border between Pakistan and India. Relations after partition were unusually Luke-warm between the twin Punjabs. However, over the last 20 years both Punjab governments, in India and Pakistan, have made concerted effort to maintaining cultural and historical ties of the Punjabi people. This included the international Punjabi Games held in 2004, arranged by both Punjab Governments. Academic institutions have kept their strong contacts such as Universities that were spilt after partition, such as the twin Punjab Universities at Chandigarh and Lahore.

Districts

Cities

Politics

History

The Indian state of Punjab was created in 1947, when the Partition of India split the former Raj province of Punjab between India and Pakistan. The mostly Muslim western part of the province became Pakistan's Punjab Province; the mostly Sikh eastern part became India's Punjab state. Many Sikhs and Hindus lived in the west, and many Muslims lived in the east, and so the partition saw many people displaced and much intercommunal violence.^[20] Several small Punjabi princely states, including Patiala, also became part of India. In 1950, two separate states were created; Punjab included of the former Raj province of Punjab, while the princely states were combined into a new state, the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). PEPSU consisted of the princely states of Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Faridkot and Kalsia. Himachal Pradesh was created as a union territory from several princely states and Kangra District. In 1956, PEPSU was merged into Punjab state, and several northern districts of Punjab in the Himalayas were added to Himachal Pradesh.

The capital of the undivided Punjab province, Lahore, ended up in Pakistan after partition, so a new capital for Indian Punjab state was built at Chandigarh. On November 1, 1966, the mostly Hindu southeastern half of Punjab became a separate state, Haryana. Chandigarh was on the border between the two states, and became a separate union territory which serves as the capital of both Punjab and Haryana. Chandigarh was due to transfer to Punjab alone in 1986, but the transfer has been delayed pending an agreement on which parts of the Hindi speaking areas of Abohar and Fazilka, currently part of Firozpur District of Punjab, should be transferred to Haryana in exchange.

During the 1970s, the Green Revolution brought increased economic prosperity for the Sikh community in Punjab, mainly due to Pratap Singh Kairon, the late Sikh leader. However, a growing polarisation between the Indian National Congress led Indian government and the main political party of the Sikhs, the Shiromani Akali Dal, began to widen during the 1970s. The hostility and bitterness arose from what was widely seen by the Sikhs as increasing alienation, centralization and discriminatory attitudes towards Punjab by the Government of India. This prompted the Shiromani Akali Dal to unanimously pass the Anandpur Sahib Resolution which among other things called for granting maximum autonomy for the Punjab and other states and limiting the role and powers of the Central Government. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution was rejected and erroneously dubbed as being of a hidden separatist agenda by India's Congress Party, specifically to discredit the resolution.

Discord had been developing after the rejection of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. A small section of Sikhs demanded an independent state of Khalistan. A number of militants took to targeting officials and people opposed to their point of view which included a number of Sikhs. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale along with his supporters sought shelter inside the Akal Takht. Fearing an attack on the Harimandir Sahib, Bhindranwale, with help from Shabeg Singh heavily fortified the temple. The Indian army finally assaulted the Golden Temple to take out armed militants in June, 1984. However, the operation, Operation Bluestar was poorly planned and coordinated, leading to heavy military and civilian casualties.

As a result, the situation in Punjab deteriorated into anarchy with a rise in radicalised militancy. By the early 1990s, after many years of violence across Punjab, the militants' struggle for Khalistan had lost much of the sympathy given after the assault on the sacred Golden Temple, it had previously had from some Punjabi Sikhs and what little armed resistance remained was eliminated and forced underground. In the following years there was concern over alleged human rights abuses conducted by the central and state government against radical Sikhs, and many human rights organisations were not allowed in the Punjab at the time.^[21]

The Indian BJP former leader stated that the Congress Party governments have been involved in creating terrorism in the Punjab. Recently, BJP national president Lal Krishna Advani, stated that it was his party which pressured Sikh Extremists to take a stand against the government. ^[22] The policy to help the Congress Party by creating militants and moderates backfired resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent people ^[23].

Punjab's economy was acutely affected in the 1980s and early 1990s. However in recent times, there have been serious attempts by the Central Government to diminish resentment and strong feelings of Punjabis over the issue. Punjab's economy is now on the path to recovery. However, corruption and violence continues to hamper the state.

Present problems

Recent immigration

In recent times, there is growing concern in the state about the immigration of labourers from other Indian states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Around 10% of Punjab's population is now made up of migrants from these states. The native Punjabis are concerned that they will soon became a minority in their own state, and allege that the unchecked immigration is encouraged by the government.^[24] The pro-Khalistan organization Dal Khalsa (International) has blamed the problems like rising crime rate and unemployment on immigration. On the other hand the leaders like Tarsem Jodha have stated that immigration is vital to Punjab's economy since the Jatt landlords of Punjab have always relied on immigrants for labour.^[24]

Caste violence

In last few decades, the disputes between the upper caste Jatts and the lower caste Dalits have caused much violence in Punjab.^[24] In the Talhan riots, Dalit Sikhs were brutally suppressed by Jats allegedly with the police help over the management of the local Gurdwara. The daughter of the Dalit activist Bant Singh was raped by a group of Jats, and he was beaten up leading to amputation of his limbs.^[25] Dera Sacha Sauda claims to be a pro-Dalit organization, but Jat Sikhs regard it as a conspiracy aimed at diluting the Sikh identity.^[24] There have been many cases of violence between the two groups. Another example is the breakaway sect of a godman called Baba Piara Singh Bhaniarawala. The followers of Bhaniarwala are mostly Dalits who claim to be Sikhs. However, mainstream Sikhs have accused him of modifying the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred book of the Sikhs. They have accused him of blasphemy, alleging that his 2,400-page "Bhavsagar Samundar Amar Bani" contains blasphemous references to Sikhism.

Other issues

According to the World Drug Report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2007, Punjab is the World?s No 1 transit point for opium. According to the Akali leader Captain Kanwaljeet Singh, Punjab finds itself bypassed as neighbouring states are prospering due to the services book, while industrialisation in Punjab has not happened in a planned manner due to ?a crucial decade lost in militancy.?^[24]

Photo gallery of Punjab State

<gallery> Image:Amritsar-golden-temple-00.JPG|The Golden Temple at night in Amritsar. image:bhakra.jpg|The Bhakra Dam Image:Bathinda_fort_fromtop.jpg|The Punjabi Fort at Bathinda. Image:Bathinda_fort_view.jpg|The Punjabi Fort at Bathinda. Image:Bathinda_fort.jpg|The Punjabi Fort at Bathinda a view from inside the Fort. Image:Qila Mubarak.jpg|The main gate of the Punjabi Qila Mubarak at night. Architect Atit Kumar. Image:Fountain Chowk.jpg|The Punjabi Phuara Chowk (lit. the Fountain Crossing) is the central land mark of Patiala. Image:JallianwalaBaghmemorial1227.JPG|Jallianwala Bagh memorial to commemorate the fallen brave Punjabi protestors at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Image:Massacre memorial in Amritsar.jpg|Wideview of the Punjabi Jallianwala Bagh memorial. Image:Jallianwala Bagh Entrance.JPG|Entrance to the present day Punjabi Jallianwala Bagh. Image:Jallianwala Bagh Bullet Marks.JPG|Bullet marks, visible on a preserved wall, at present day Punjabi Jallianwala Bagh. Image:Mohindra College.jpg|Mohindra College Patiala. Image:Patiala Phulkari.jpg|A Punjabi Phulkari from Patiala. Image:Phul Cinema.jpg|Punjabi Phul Cinema on The Mall facing the Fountain Chowk is built in Art Deco style. Image:July July 034.jpg|Jalandhar Railway Station's reception block. Image:Jalandhar Niku Park gopal1035.jpg|In Jalandhar Punjabi Community gets together at markets, amusement parks etc especially on weekends and annual Punjabi festivals. Image:Sutlej Valley from Rampur ca. 1857.jpg|The Punjabi Sutlej River Valley from Rampur ca. 1857. Image:mohindra college night.jpg|Mohindra College, Patiala at night. Image:Takht_Sri_Keshgarh_Sahib.JPG|Gurudwara Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur Sahib in the Evening </gallery>