[Ian Williams]

Bhubaneswar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Bhubanēswar
Temple City of India (City Of Temples)
— capital —
Lingaraj Temple
Bhubanēswar Location of Bhubanēswar in Orissa (officially spelled Odisha)
Coordinates	20°16′N 85°50′ECoordinates: 20°16′N 85°50′E
Country	India
State	Orissa (officially spelled Odisha)
District(s)	Khurdha
Mayor	Anant Narayan Jena
Population • Density • Metro	837,737[1] (19) (2012) • 4,900 /km2 (12,691 /sq mi) • 39,20,450 (2,012)[2]
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	419 square kilometres (162 sq mi) • 45 metres (148 ft)
Codes[show]
Website	www.bmc.gov.in/

Bhubaneswar, also spelled as Bhubaneshwar (Oriya: ଭୁବନେଶ୍ଵର Bhubanēsbara pronunciation (help·info)), is the capital of the Indian state of Orissa, officially spelled Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chhedi dynasty (around 2^nd century BCE) who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital. Historically Bhubaneswar has been known by different names such as Toshali, Kalinga Nagari, Nagar Kalinga, Ekamra Kanan, Ekamra Kshetra and Mandira Malini Nagari (City of Temples) otherwise known as the Temple City of India. It is the largest city of Orissa, and a center of economic & religious importance in the region today.

Bhubaneswar's proud possession of magnificent sculptures and architectural heritage, coupled with the sanctity as Ekamrakshetra make this one of the great religious centres of Orissa since early medieval days.^[3] With its large number of Hindu temples (over 600 in number), which span the entire spectrum of Kalinga architecture, Bhubaneswar is often referred to as a Temple City of India and together with Puri and Konark it forms the Swarna Tribhuja (Golden Triangle); one of the most visited destinations in East India.

The modern city of Bhubaneswar was designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1946. Like Jamshedpur, Chandigarh, it is one of the first planned cities of modern India.^[4][5] With the Chandaka reserve forest on the fringes, the city with an abundance of in-city greenery and an efficient civic body (the BMC- Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation), is one of the cleanest and greenest cities of India.

Bhubaneswar replaced Cuttack as the political capital of the state of Orissa in 1948, a year after India gained its independence from Britain. Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are often commonly together known as the twin-cities of Orissa. The metropolitan area formed by the twin cities has a 2011 population of 1.4 million.^[6][7] Bhubaneswar is categorized as a Tier-2 city. An emerging Information Technology (IT) hub, the boom in the metals and metal processing industries have made Bhubaneswar one of the fastest developing cities of India in recent years.

Contents [show]

[edit] History
The history of Bhubaneswar may be viewed as two phases: ancient Bhubaneswar and modern Bhubaneswar. While the ancient city has a history that goes back more than 2000 years, the modern city came into existence in 1948.^[8]

Entrance of State museum Entrance of Tribal arts museum The first mention of Bhubaneswar in Indian history is in the infamous Kalinga War which was held near Dhauli (presently located in south Bhubaneswar) in the 3^rd Century BCE. The later Emperor Kharavela established his capital in Sisupalgarh which is on the outskirts of the city. The Hathigumpha inscriptions at the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves by Kharavela give a good account of that period which is estimated as 1^st-2^nd century BCE. Later, innumerable temples built throughout ancient and medieval history in tune with its status as Temple City give a chronicle of the city's history until Indian independence in 1947. It was the ancient capital of the Kalinga Empire and the architectural legacy of the period is its greatest attraction. There are many sites in the city that testify the importance of the region during the 7^th to 11^th century CE when the Kalinga kings ruled Orissa and the regions beyond it. The Ananta Vasudeva Temple and Bindusagar Tank in the only temple of Vishnu in the city of Shiva. The temples in Bhubaneswar are thus regarded as having been built from the 8^th to 12^th century of Shaiva influence.^[9]

The Jain and Buddhist shrines give a clear picture about the settlements around Bhubaneswar in the first two centuries BCE, and one of the most complete edicts of the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka, dating between 272-236 BCE, remains carved in rock just 5 miles to the southwest of the modern city.^[10]

In 1936, Orissa became a separate province in British India with Cuttack as its capital. Notably, Cuttack was Orissa's capital since 12^th century. When India got independence in 1947, Orissa became one of the states of the Indian union. But for some reasons, most visibly Cuttack's vulnerability to floods and space constraints, the capital was changed to Bhubaneswar which was built into a modern city. The city planning of Bhubaneswar was given by German Architect Otto Königsberger. Bhubaneswar was formally inaugurated on April 13, 1948, as the capital of the Indian state of Orissa.

Modern Bhubaneswar was originally planned by Königsberger to be a well planned city with wide roads and many gardens and parks.^[11] Though part of the city has stayed faithful to the plan,^[12] it has grown rapidly over the last few decades and has made the planning process unwieldy.

The State Museum of Bhubaneswar offers an extensive selection of archaeological artefacts, weapons, local arts and crafts as well as insights into Orissa's natural and tribal history. The Tribal Research Institute Museum with its authentic tribal dwellings, created by the tribal craftsmen offers a bird's eye view of the State's tribal heritage.


[edit] Geography and climate

Bhubaneswar
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D 12 28 16 24 32 19 24 35 22 22 37 25 56 38 27 196 35 26 325 32 25 330 31 25 288 32 25 208 31 23 37 30 19 28 28 15 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: IMD
[show]Imperial conversion

[edit] Weather
Bhubaneswar is situated between 21° 15' North Latitude 85° 15' Longitude and at an altitude of 45 meters above sea level. Geographically, Bhubaneswar is situated in the eastern coastal plains of Orissa and south-west of the Mahanadi River. The city is subdivided into a number of townships and housings.

The city has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical savanna climate. The average temperatures range between a minimum of around 12 °C (54 °F) in the winter to a maximum of 45 °C (113 °F) in summer. Sudden afternoon thunderstorms are common in April and May. The south-west monsoons appear in June. The average annual rainfall is 154 cm, most of which is recorded between June and October.


[edit] Economy
Jaydev Vihar Interchange Bhubaneswar was meant to house the state's machinery and hence was designed to be a largely residential city with outlying industrial areas. The city's economy had few major players till the 1990s and was dominated by Public Sector Units (PSU), retail and small scale manufacturing.

With the economic liberalisation policy adopted by the Government of India in the 90's, Bhubaneswar received large investments in the fields of Telecommunications, Information Technology(IT) and higher education, particularly engineering. The city is home to around 105 engineering colleges (as of 2011)^[13] and the number is growing every year. The city is also home to many tutorials and coaching institutes who prepare students for various entrance exams.

Retail and Real Estate have also emerged as big players. Recent times have seen large scale retail chains such as Reliance, Vishal Megamart, Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, Pal Heights, etc. having outlets in Bhubaneswar. Large corporates like DLF Universal and Reliance Industries have also entered the real estate market in the city. The city currently has about 8 malls.^{[citation needed]}

The rich minerals resources of Orissa have been the backbone of the economy dominated by Government. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and private Organizations like Essar Group, Indian Oil Corporation, Bhushan Steel, NALCO, Sterlite, Jindal, Vedanta and TATA Group. Despite this rapid growth, an ample number of the populace live in slums. Migration from rural areas, especially from the northern districts of Andhra Pradesh, has led to the growth of slums which are a major challenge to the city's growth. The main problem of the city is transport, as the quality and length of roads have not increased with respect to the rise in number of vehicles. Purchasing power of people of this city is quite high and has led to a boom of shopping establishments in recent times.

Rajpath at night The Government has fostered growth in this sphere by the development of IT Parks such as Infocity-1, the new Infocity-2, STPI-Bhubaneswar and JSS STP. The Infocity was conceived as a five-star park, under the Export Promotion Industrial Parks (EPIP) Scheme to create high quality infrastructure facilities for setting up Information Technology related industries. Infosys and Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (currently known as Mahindra Satyam) have been present in Bhubaneswar since 1996. Other software companies includes, TCS, Mindfire Solutions, Wipro, IBM, Genpact, Firstsource, Mindtree, etc. Apart from the big multinational Information Technology (IT)/ Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) companies, there are about 300 small and mid-sized IT companies and business start ups which have set up their offices in Bhubaneswar. The abundant availability of local talent, the quality of life in the city and the pro-active local administration are the primary forces towards IT investments into the city. The The Ind-US Entrepreneurs (TiE) and Invest Bhubaneswar help in creating a platform to connect the businesses in Orissa and entrepreneurs worldwide.




uploads/monthly_03_2012/post-30656-0-28187400-1331137876_thumb.gifuploads/monthly_03_2012/post-30656-0-25438500-1331137961_thumb.gif

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
• 

This post has been edited by Ian Williams: 07 March 2012 - 16:32