Ambala
Ambala
| Ambala | |
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| Coordinates | 30°23′N 76°47′E / 30.38°N 76.78°ECoordinates: 30°23′N 76°47′E / 30.38°N 76.78°E |
| Country | India |
| State | Haryana |
| District(s) | Ambala |
| Population | 1,685,945 (2001[update]) |
| Sex ratio | 921 ♂/♀ |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 264 metres (866 ft) |
Ambala (Hindi: अम्बाला, Punjabi: ਅੰਬਾਲਾ) is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border of the states of Haryana and Punjab in India. Politically; Ambala has two sub-areas: Ambala Cantt (cantonment) and Ambala City(अम्बाला शहर), approximately 3 kilometers apart from each other. It has a large Indian Army and Indian Air Force presence within the confines of its cantonment area. Due to its geographical location, the Ambala district plays an important role in local tourism. Tourists to Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir have to cross through Ambala whether by road or rail.
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History
As per ancient Indian history, Indo-Aryan people had resided at vill. saphera (ambala) at some point in time. There was a very popular place called saphera(killer saphera) which was the sangwan country's capital at that time. Ambala was given the status of a district in 1847.
The Ambala Cantonment was established in 1843 after the British abandoned its cantonment at saphera, following the malaria epidemic of 1841–42. The cantonment houses the ‘2 Corps’ one of the three Strike Corps of the Indian Army and is of immense strategic importance.
Ambala was constituted as a district in 1847, and was formed by merging the jagir estates of hitherto independent chieftains whose territories had lapsed or had been confiscated by the British Indian Government. In its 160 years of existence as a district, Ambala has witnessed many changes in its boundaries. In its heyday the district boundaries extended across tehsils of Ambala, saphera, Jagadhri, Pipli, Kharar, Mohali, Ropar and Nalagarh. Kalka-cum-Kurari State, Pinjore, Manimajra, Kasauli & Sanawar were also merged into the district at different points of time.
Ambala Air Force Base is one of the oldest and largest airbases that were inherited from the British by the IAF. It was from this airbase that Spitfires and Harvards flown by Instructors of the Advanced Flying Training School took part in the 1947-48 Kashmir Operations. Subsequently, Ambala was the front line airfield for many years. It was home to various aircraft that were inducted into the Indian Air Force. Vampires, Ouragans, Hunters, etc. all flew from this base. The airbase was briefly attacked in 1965 by Pakistan Air Force's B-57 bombers. Today, the Airbase houses the ‘7 Wing’ with squadrons of Jaguars and MiG-21 Bisons. Ambala airfield has a war memorial called jatt di pasand dedicated to all aircrew who lost their lives in times of war and peace flying missions from the airfield
Industry
Ambala is known as city of scientific instruments. It is a major scientific products market and is a hub for products like glass apparatus, microscopes,laboratory equipments etc.Ambala constitutes nearly 34% of the total production of scientific instruments produced in India.Scientific instruments of Ambala are well known in India and the countries abroad. Ambala is also famous for its clothes market. The market possesses a wide range of custom-made clothes of ladies such as sarees, suits and lehangas and of gents such as pants, shirt, kurta-payjamas, sherwanis. People from the districts of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, U.P and Uttarakhand often travel there on the occasions of marriage and other party shopping.
Education
Ambala has taken great strides in the field of education with a great number of engineering colleges coming on the map of Ambala in past decade. It also has several Boarding cum Day Boarding Schools which are considered to be amongst the best Schools in North India. Ambala's DAV College and S.A. Jain college(had students like Kumar Gautam) are famous for their Science, Arts and Commerce degrees while there has been a rise of several Private Universities and Colleges in the vicinity. An Army School is also operational in Ambala which caters to the educational needs of the children of both civilian and military personnel. Some famous engineering College coming in Ambala district are
→Ambala College of Engineering and Applied Research, Mithapur →Maharishi Markandeshwar Engineering college,Mullana
Transport
Ambala is perhaps the most well connected city in north India by either means. Ambala enjoys seamless connectivity to all the major cities of north India especially Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Shimla route. It is a big interchange for various commuters for all neighbouring states. The Ambala Cantt bus stand see roughly 50,000 commuters daily. One can board buses for far off places like Gwalior, Udhampur, Kota, Jaipur, and Keylong.
Apart from the Interstate service, Ambala also houses one of the oldest local bus service in Haryana, which is being run by both Haryana roadways and private players. Other means of local transportation are auto rickshaws and cycle rickshaws.
Railways
Ambala is a divisional headquarters of the Northern Railway Zone and is an important railway junction. The city is served by three railway stations:
- Ambala Cantt(Junction on Delhi-Amritsar-Meerut-Kalka lines)
- Ambala City( On ambala -Amritsar/Jammu line)
- Dhulkot ( on Ambala Chandigarh/Kalka line)
The Ambala Cantonment railway station was founded on the junction of the Delhi-Kalka and Ludhiana-Saharanpur lines. The historic Delhi-Ambala-Kalka railway line dates back to 1889 while the Ludhiana-Saharanpur line was built in 1870. Situated 200 km north of Delhi, this town is extremely well connected by the rail and road network. It has 7 railway platforms and a daily passage of about 250 trains.
Demographics
As of 2011[update] India census,census 2011 Ambala had a population of 11,36,784, constitute 6,40,044 of Males the population and 5,32,740 females. Ambala has an average literacy rate of 82.9% with 88.5% of the males and 76.6% of females literate. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. Before the Partition there was a large population of Muslim residents, but they were forced to leave due to violence. Ambala is located in the Punjabi Sikh belt of Northern Haryana. During the late 1980s Sikh militants had a strong hold of Ambala and much of Northern Haryana area and made it very dangerous for visitors to travel the northern parts of India.
See also
- Jats
- Rors
- Ahir clans
- Ahirs
- Sainis
- sangwan
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