Chandigarh

Chandigarh
Union Territory and City
Clockwise from top:
Palace of Assembly; Sector 42 Stadium; Rock Garden of Chandigarh; Chandigarh IT Park; Gandhi Bhawan at Panjab University; Open Hand Monument
Official emblem of Chandigarh
Emblem of Chandigarh
Nickname: 
The City of Beauty
The map of India showing Chandigarh
Location of Chandigarh in India
Coordinates: 30°45′N 76°47′E / 30.75°N 76.78°E / 30.75; 76.78
CountryIndia
Formation7 October 1953
CapitalChandigarh
Districts01
Government
 • BodyGovernment of Chandigarh
 • Chief secretaryRajeev Verma, IAS (Adviser to the Administrator)
National ParliamentParliament of India
 • Rajya SabhaN/A
 • Lok Sabha1 seat
Manish Tewari
High CourtPunjab and Haryana High Court
Area
 • Total
114 km2 (44 sq mi)
 • Rank35th
Elevation
321 m (1,053 ft)
Population
 (2011)[2][3]
 • Total
Increase 1,055,450
 • Rank31
 • Density9,262/km2 (23,990/sq mi)
 • Urban
1,025,682 (51st)[1]
DemonymChandigarhian
Language
 • OfficialEnglish[4]
GDP
 • Total (2023–24)Increase₹0.49 trillion (US$6 billion)
 • Rank25th
 • Per capitaIncrease₹349,000 (US$4,200) (4th)
Time zoneUTC+05:30 (IST)
ISO 3166 codeIN-CH
Vehicle registrationCH01, CH02, CH03, CH04, PB01, HR70[5]
HDI (2017–2018)Increase 0.827 Very High[6] (2nd)
Literacy (2023)Neutral increase 86.05 (8th)
Sex ratio (2011)818♀/1000 ♂ (34th)
Websitechandigarh.gov.in
Symbols of Chandigarh
Emblem of Chandigarh
BirdIndian grey hornbill
FlowerDhak
FruitMango
MammalIndian grey mongoose[7][8]
TreeMangifera indica[8]
List of Indian state and union territory symbols

Chandigarh (/ˌtʃʌndɪˈɡɑːr/) is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the remaining directions. Chandigarh constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which also includes the adjacent satellite cities of Panchkula in Haryana and Mohali in Punjab. It is located 260 km (162 miles) north of New Delhi and 229 km (143 miles) southeast of Amritsar.

Chandigarh is one of the earliest planned cities in post independence India and is internationally known for its architecture and urban design.[9] The master plan of the city was prepared by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, which built upon earlier plans created by the Polish architect Maciej Nowicki and the American planner Albert Mayer. Most of the government buildings and housing in the city were designed by a team headed by Le Corbusier, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. Chandigarh's Capitol Complex—as part of a global ensemble of Corbusier's buildings—was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO at the 40th session of the World Heritage Conference in July 2016.[10]

Chandigarh has grown greatly since its initial construction, and has also driven the development of Mohali and Panchkula; the "tri-city" metropolitan area has a combined population of over 1,611,770.[11] The city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the country. The union territory has one of the highest Human Development Index among Indian states and territories.[12] In 2015, a survey by LG Electronics ranked it as the happiest city in India on the happiness index.[13][14][15] In 2015, an article published by BBC named Chandigarh one of the few master-planned cities in the world to have succeeded in terms of combining monumental architecture, cultural growth, and modernisation.[16]

  1. ^ "Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011; Cities having population 1 lakh and above" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  2. ^ "Chandigarh (India): Union Territory & Agglomeration – Population Statistics in Maps and Charts". Archived from the original on 9 April 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference chandigarh.official was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in IndiaA" (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  5. ^ "RTO Codes in Chandigarh". Policybazaar. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "Corbusier's creation". The Tribune. 12 October 2015. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  8. ^ a b "State Animal, Bird, Tree and Flower of Chandigarh" (PDF). Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Business Portal of India : Investment Opportunities and Incentives : State Level Investment : Chandigarh". business.gov.in. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference OpenHand was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Tricity residents to get Emaar MGF's Central Plaza soon". The Financial Express. 6 January 2014. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014.
  12. ^ Meghalaya Human Development Report 2008 Archived 21 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine (p. 23)
  13. ^ "Chandigarh 'happiest' city, claims LG survey". 12 June 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015.
  14. ^ Ajay Deep. "Chandigarh is the Happiest City of India – LG Survey". Archived from the original on 18 December 2015.
  15. ^ "Chandigarh happiest city in India, Guwahati least: LG Survey". The Economic Times. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  16. ^ "Is this the perfect city?". BBC. Archived from the original on 16 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.