Haryana (Hindi: हरियाणा) is a state in north India. Neighbouring states are Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, Rajasthan to the west and south. The river Yamuna acts as the eastern boundary between Haryana and the states of Uttaranchal & Uttar Pradesh.
Seasonal rivers like Ghaggar River, Markanda, Tangri, Sahibi etc pass through the state.
Geography
Haryana is situated in the north between 27 deg 37' to 30 deg 35' latitude and between 74 deg 28' to 77 deg 36' longitude. The altitude of Haryana varies between 700 to 3600 ft (200 metres to 2 kilometres) above sea level. The state is divided into four divisions for administrative purpose - Ambala, Rohtak, Gurgaon and Hissar. There are 20 districts, 47 sub-divisions, 67 tehsils, 45 sub-tehsils and 116 blocks. Haryana has a total of 81 cities and towns. It has 6,759 villages. An area of 1,553 km² is covered by forest. Haryana has four main geographical features.
- Shivalik Hills
- Yamuna - Ghaggar (Saraswati) plain
- Semi-desert sandy plain
- Aravalli Range
History
Haryana is located at the north of india, the mostly Hindi-speaking eastern portion of Punjab became Haryana, while mostly Punjabi-speaking western portion remained as Punjab. Today, Haryana has the vast majority of the ethnic Hindu population. Chandigarh, on the linguistic border, was made a union territory, that serves as capital of both these states. Chandigarh was due to transfer to Punjab alone in 1986, but the transfer was delayed by the Congress party due to pressure from Hindu population.
Haryana, with more than 5000 year old history, is the cradle of Vedic and Hindu civilization. It was here thousand years ago that Lord Krishna preached the Bhagavad Gita at the start of the battle of Mahabharata. Before the Mahabharata war, a battle of ten kings took place in the Kurukshetra region in the Saraswati valley. Mahabharata (3102 BC) mentions Haryana as Bahudhhanyaka, 'land of plentiful grains' and Bahudhana, 'land of immense riches'. The word 'Hariana' occurs in a Sanskrit inscription dated 1328 AD kept in Delhi Museum which refers to this region as "The heaven on earth". It was here that the Hindu culture took birth and matured.
Excavations in places like Naurangabad, and Mittathal in Bhiwani, Kunal in Fatehbad, Agroha near Hissar, Rakhigarhi in Jind, Rukhi in Rohtak and Banawali in Sirsa have unearthed evidence of pre-Harappan and Harappan culture. Findings of pottery, sculpture and jewellery in sites at Kurukshetra, Pehowa, Tilpat and Panipat have proved the historicity of the Mahabharat war. These places are mentioned in the Mahabharat as Prithudaka (Pehowa), Tilprastha (Tilput), Panprastha (Panipat) & Sonprastha (Sonipat).
Haryana state came into existence on 1st November, 1966.
Demographics
The population of Haryana, according to the 2001 census, is 2,10,83,000, with 1,13,28,000 males and 97,55,000 females. The population density is 477 people/sq km.
Hindus are about 80% of the population, Sikhs 16%, Muslims 4% and Christians 0.10%.
Economy
Macro-economic trend
This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Haryana at market prices estimated by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees.
| Year | Gross State Domestic Product |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 33,860 |
| 1985 | 65,520 |
| 1990 | 136,360 |
| 1995 | 297,890 |
| 2000 | 550,050 |
Haryana's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $25 billion in current prices.
Districts
External links
- Haryana Online
- Haryana Government Website
- [1]
- Haryana Technology Park (HTP) - Special Economic Zone in Haryana