Gurgaon - WikiHQ

thumb|Sikanderpur, Gurgaon, India, April 2018

Gurgaon (), officially named Gurugram (), is a satellite city of Delhi and administrative headquarters of Gurgaon district, located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the national capital New Delhi and south of Chandigarh, the state capital. It is one of the major satellite cities of Delhi and is part of the National Capital Region of India. , Gurgaon had a population of 876,969. New Gurgaon, Manesar and Sohna serve as adjoining manufacturing and upcoming real estate hubs for Gurgaon. Despite rapid economic and population growth, Gurgaon continues to battle issues like high air pollution. It also has a flood problem due to the limited drainage capacity and geographic location as with other South Asian as well as South East Asian cities. Gurgaon is infamous for prostitution, erotic spas, sex tourism and high-end escorts in areas like MG Road and Sector 29.

Gurgaon is India's second-largest information technology (IT) hub, largest civil aviation hub, largest hospitality hub and second largest management consulting hub. Gurgaon is famous in India for nightlife as it houses multiple high number of high-quality pubs, nightclubs, bars, liquor shops hence called The Cocktail Capital of India. Gurgaon is also home to one of India's largest medical tourism and luxury tourism industries. Despite being India's 56th largest city in terms of population, Gurgaon is the 8th largest city in the country in terms of total wealth. It serves as the headquarters of many of India's largest companies, is home to thousands of startup companies and has local offices for more than 250 Fortune 500 companies. It accounts for almost 70% of the total annual economic investments in Haryana state, which has helped it become a leading hub for high-tech industry in northern India. Gurgaon is categorised as very high on the Human Development Index, with an HDI of 0.889 (2017).

History

The region of Gurgaon originally fell under the Kuru kingdom. Early people to inhabit the region were Hindus Ahirs. In the late 4th century BCE, the city was absorbed by the Maurya Empire as part of Chandragupta Maurya's earliest expansions of his kingdom.

Gurgaon may be same as the Gudapura town mentioned in the 12th century text Prithviraja Vijaya. According to the text, Nagarjuna, a cousin of the Chahamana king Prithviraj Chauhan, rebelled against the king and captured the town. Prithviraj crushed the rebellion and recaptured the town.

During the Mughal and initially during the British colonial era, Gurgaon was just a small village in Jharsa paragana of Delhi subah. Report of a Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882–83 (published in 1885) by Alexander Cunningham, the then Director-General of Archaeological Survey of India, he mentions a stone pillar at Gurgaon of a local feudal lord "Durgga Naga" with a 3-line inscription "Samvat 729 or 928, Vaisakh badi 4, Durgga Naga lokatari bhuta" dating back to 672 CE or 871 CE. Jharsa paragana passed to Begum Samru in 1776–77 and came under direct British rule in 1836 after her death when her territory was taken over by the British who established a civil lines at Jharsa and a cavalry cantonment at nearby Hiyadatpur. An 1882 land revenue settlement report records that the idol of Sitla Mata was brought to Gurgaon 400 years earlier (15th century). Begum Samru claimed the offering to Sitla Mata temple during the Chaitra month and the revenue from the offerings given to the deity for rest of the month was distributed among the local Jat families of the area.

thumb|The Aliwardi mosque in Gurgaon dates back to the 18th century.

In 1818, Bharawas district was disbanded and Gurgaon was made a new district. In 1821, the Bharaswas cantonment was also moved to Hidayatpur in Gurgaon. "Aliwardi mosque" in Gurgaon, "Badshahpur baoli" (1905). and "Bhondsi" (16th to 17th century) were built during mughal and British era.

Other British colonial era historic buildings The Gurgaon Club, a 3-room building surrounded by the lawn and currently run by the Zila Parishad, the erstwhile Coronation School—now renamed to the Government Boys' Senior Secondary School, one of the 13 school established in India in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of King George V. During 1980s, the airstrip and hangar, air conditioned yoga ashram and TV studio were built on outskirts of the city by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's yoga mentor Dhirendra Brahmachari. The former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar established his own ashram near this airstrip in 1983 on 600 acre of panchayat land, where another godman Chandraswami and notorious Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi used to visit him.

On 12 April 2016, Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar announced a proposal to officially rename the city Gurugram (Sanskrit: गुरुग्राम, lit. village of the Guru), subject to the approval of the Haryana cabinet and the Union Government. He argued that the new name would help to preserve the "rich heritage" of the city by emphasising its history and mythological association with Drona. On 27 September 2016, he officially announced that the Union Government had approved the name change, and thus the city and district would henceforth be known as Gurugram, though the old name "Gurgaon" still lingers in the colloquial usage.

Geography

thumb|Gurgaon skyline at dusk

Gurgaon is located in Gurgaon district in the Indian state of Haryana and is situated in the southeastern part of the state, and northern part of the country. The city is located on the border with Delhi with New Delhi to its northeast. The city has a total area of .

Topography

The average land elevation is above sea level.

Ecology

thumb|left|[[Sultanpur National Park is a Ramsar site, which is famous for migratory bird species which migrate to India due to seasonal changes]]

Gurgaon lies on the Sahibi River, a tributary of Yamuna which originates from the Aravalli range in Rajasthan and flows through west and South Haryana into Delhi where it is also known as the Najafgarh drain. The paleochannel and the current course of the Sahibi river have series of biodiversity hotspots and Important Bird Area (IBA) wetlands and forests within Gurugam, including the Outfall Drain Number 6 (canalised portion in Haryana of Sahibi river), Outfall Drain Number 8 (canalised portion in Haryana of Dohan river which is a tributary of Sahibi river), Sarbashirpur wetland, Sultanpur National Park, Basai wetland, Najafgarh lake and Najafgarh drain bird sanctuary, Damdama Lake, Ghata Lake, Sikanderpur Lake and Wazirabad Lake. Contiguous to Mangar Bani are Gwal Pahari and Bandhwari forested area. All of these lie on the Southern Delhi Ridge of Aravalli range.

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, the climate of Gurgaon is a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh) bordering on a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cwa). The city experiences four distinct seasons – spring (15 February–14 April), summer (15 April–14 September), autumn (15 September–30 November) and winter (1 December–14 February) – along with the monsoon season (July–September) setting in towards the latter half of the summer. Summers, from mid April to September, are typically hot and humid, with an average daily June high temperature of . The season experiences heat indices often breaking . Winters are cool and foggy with few sunny days. The Western Disturbance brings some rain in winters that further adds to the chill. Spring and autumn are mild and pleasant seasons with low humidity. The monsoon season usually starts in the last week of June and continues till September. Thunderstorms are not uncommon during the monsoon. The average annual rainfall is .

Time and Date (dewpoints, 1985-2015)

| source =

| source 2 = Weather Atlas

| Jan avg record high C = 25.0

| Feb avg record high C = 29.2

| Mar avg record high C = 35.7

| Apr avg record high C = 42.9

| May avg record high C = 45.0

| Jun avg record high C = 45.0

| Jul avg record high C = 40.6

| Aug avg record high C = 38.1

| Sep avg record high C = 37.2

| Oct avg record high C = 35.2

| Nov avg record high C = 32.8

| Dec avg record high C = 26.6

| year avg record high C = 45.7

| Jan avg record low C = 3.9

| Feb avg record low C = 4.9

| Mar avg record low C = 8.6

| Apr avg record low C = 14.5

| May avg record low C = 19.1

| Jun avg record low C = 21.6

| Jul avg record low C = 23.5

| Aug avg record low C = 23.1

| Sep avg record low C = 21.8

| Oct avg record low C = 13.2

| Nov avg record low C = 7.3

| Dec avg record low C = 3.5

| year avg record low C = 3.0

| year uv = 6.9

| Jan dew point C = 8

| Feb dew point C = 9

| Mar dew point C = 11

| Apr dew point C = 11

| May dew point C = 14

| Jun dew point C = 20

| Jul dew point C = 24

| Aug dew point C = 25

| Sep dew point C = 23

| Oct dew point C = 16

| Nov dew point C = 11

| Dec dew point C = 8

Demographics

The Gurgaon city area has an estimated population of 876,969, according to the 2011 Census of India.

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Hinduism is the most popular religion in Gurgaon, followed by Islam, Sikhism, and small numbers of Christian and Buddhist followers. Gurgaon has adherents of Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity and the Baháʼí Faith, among others. There are several places of worship for major religions, including mandirs, gurdwaras, mosques and churches.

Sheetla Mata Mandir, located at the heart of Gurgaon, is a temple dedicated to the wife of Guru Dronacharya, Kripi. The temple hosts fairs and people come to seek blessings of Sheetla Mata, earlier known as Kripi. Sai Ka Aangan temple, spread over an area of 36,000 square feet, is dedicated to Shirdi Sai Baba and has a life size idol of him.