Punjab, India - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Punjab
Location of Punjab in India
Location of Punjab in India
Coordinates (Chandigarh): 30°47′N 75°50′E / 30.79°N 75.84°E / 30.79; 75.84
Country India
CapitalChandigarh
Largest cityLudhiana
Districts22
Government
 • GovernorBanwarilal Purohit
 • Chief MinisterBhagwant Mann (INC)
 • LegislatureUnicameral (117 seats)
 • Parliamentary constituencyLok Sabha (13 seats)
Rajya Sabha (7 seats)
 • High CourtPunjab and Haryana High Court††
Area
 • Total50,362 km2 (19,445 sq mi)
 • Rank20th
Highest elevation
551 m (1,808 ft)
Lowest elevation
150 m (490 ft)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total27,704,236
 • Rank16th
 • Density550/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
DemonymPunjabi
GDP (2018–19)
 • Total5.18 lakh crore (US$68 billion)
 • Per capita153,061 (US$2,000)
Time zoneUTC+05:30 (IST)
ISO 3166 codeIN-PB
HDI (2017)Increase 0.721 (high)[4] · 8th
Literacy (2011)76.68%
Official languagePunjabi[5]
Websitepunjab.gov.in
^† Joint Capital with Haryana.
††Common for Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.
Symbols of Punjab
EmblemLion Capital of Ashoka with Wheat stem (above) and Crossed Swords (below)
LanguagePunjabi
DanceBhangra, Giddha
MammalBlackbuck
BirdBaaz[6] (Accipiter gentilis)

Punjab (/pʌnˈɑːb/ (audio speaker iconlisten), Punjabi: [pənˈdʒaːb]) is a state in the northern Republic of India. About 30 million people live there. Its national capital city is Chandigarh. The state is in the Punjab region. It covers an area of 19,445 mi² or 50,362 km². It is bigger than Slovakia but smaller than Costa Rica. In traditional Indian geography it falls under the North Indian zone. The state of Punjab has 22 districts. It is mainly known as the land of god/gurus, Punjab's culture is very rich and the dwellers of Punjab respect their culture . The half population of Punjab depends on agriculture, that's why its known as food-provider (anna-datta- in Punjabi). In Punjab people of all religions live with integrity and love .

Etymology

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The word Doab is a combination of the Indo-Iranian words Doab (two) and āb (water), and thus the (land of) two rivers.[7] The two rivers are the Beas and Sutlej. Sometimes, in English, there can be a definite article before the name i.e. the Doaba.[8] The name is also sometimes spelled as Duoab or Douaab or Doaab. It originally contained 5 rivers before partition, British influence and the influence of the Indian government, so therefore its name came from the Punjabi word for five (Panj/Punj) and the word for river/water (ab).

All of India and Pakistan was once ruled by the British Empire. The Indians wanted freedom, but the Hindus, Sikhs and the Muslims of India always argued. So it was decided to divide the country into two parts—one part for Muslims and one part for Hindus and Sikhs. In 1947 Punjab (British India), which was a province of India, was divided into West Punjab and East Punjab (which the state is home to the active independence movement of Khalistan by the Sikh nationalists). East Punjab went to the Republic of modern India, and West Punjab went to Islamic Pakistan.

Provincial symbols of East Punjab

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References

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  1. Census of India Archived 14 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine, 2011. Census Data Online, Population.
  2. "MOSPI Gross State Domestic Product". Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  3. "STATE WISE DATA" (PDF). esopb.gov.in. Economic and Statistical Organization, Government of Punjab. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  4. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database". Global Data Lab. Institute for Management Research, Radboud University. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  5. "Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 50th report (July 2012 to June 2013)" (PDF). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  6. "State Bird is BAAZ". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  7. Singh, Pritam (2008). Federalism, Nationalism and Development: India and the Punjab Economy. London; New York: Routledge. p. 3. ISBN 978-0415456661.
  8. "How to obtain a police certificate - India". Cic.gc.ca. 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2010-07-18.