Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh - हिमाचल प्रदेश

status	State
Capital	Shimla
founding	January 25, 1971
surface	55,673 km²
Residents	6,864,602 (2011)
Population density	123 inhabitants per km²
languages	Hindi
governor	Bandaru Dattatreya
Chief Minister	Jai Ram Thakur ( BJP )
Website	himachal.nic.in
ISO code	IN-HP

Himachal Pradesh ( Hindi : हिमाचल प्रदेश Himācal Pradeś [ hɪˈmɑːʧʌl prʌˈdeːʃ ]) is an Indian state with an area of ​​55,673 square kilometers and a population of about 6.9 million people (2011 census). The capital is Shimla .

geography

Sanglatal (Kinnaur District)

Himachal Pradesh borders on the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (north) as well as the states of Punjab (west), Haryana (south) and Uttarakhand (southeast), and to the east on Tibet ( People's Republic of China ).

Himachal Pradesh consists of 67.7 percent large forest areas (this corresponds to 37,691 km² of state area), around 90 percent of which are expressly designated as protected (see nature conservation ). There are also 32 sanctuaries for flora and fauna and two national parks ( Great Himalayan National Park , Pin Valley National Park ).

Geographically, Himachal Pradesh stretches from the edge of the north Indian lowlands over the hills of the Front Himalayas and the still monsoon-coated green valleys between the first high mountain ranges over the main Himalayan ridge to arid regions that geographically belong to Tibet (Spiti, Upper Lahaul and Upper Kinnaur).

Biggest cities

(Status: 2011 census)

city	Residents
Shimla	169,578
Solan	39,256
Close to	28,899
Mandi	26,422
Baddi	25,639
Paonta Sahib	25.183
Sundarnagar	24,344
Chamba	19,933

population

Demographics

Street scene in Kasauli

According to the 2011 Indian census, Himachal Pradesh has 6,864,602 inhabitants. This makes Himachal Pradesh one of the smaller Indian states. In terms of population, it ranks 21st among the 28 states of India. Between 2001 and 2011, the population grew by 13 percent and thus more slowly than the national mean (18 percent). Because of the mountainous terrain, Himachal Pradesh is very sparsely populated: With 123 inhabitants per square kilometer, the population density is less than a third of the Indian average (382 inhabitants per square kilometer). The population is unevenly distributed: While the districts in the foothills of the Himalayas are still quite densely populated ( the Hamirpur district is the frontrunner with 407 inhabitants per square kilometer), only two people per square kilometer live in Lahaul and Spiti on the border with Tibet. Himachal Pradesh is very rural: only 10 percent of the state's population live in cities. The degree of urbanization is thus the lowest in India. The gender ratio is somewhat less unbalanced than the national average: for every 1,000 men in Himachal Pradesh there are 972 women, while the corresponding value for India as a whole is 943. Among the up to 6-year-olds, the gender ratio is 909 but below the Indian average of 919.

83 percent of the population of Himachal Pradesh can read and write (men: 90 percent, women: 76 percent). The literacy rate is thus well above the Indian average of 73 percent.

Population development

Himachal Pradesh census population (within today's boundaries) since the first census in 1951.

Census year	population
1951	2,386,940
1961	2,812,300
1971	3,460,434
1981	4,280,818
1991	5,170,877
2001	6,077,453
2011	6,856,509

Languages ​​in Himachal Pradesh
language			percent
Hindi			89.3%
Punjabi			6.0%
Nepali			1.2%
Kinnauri			1.1%
Other			2.4%
Distribution of languages ​​(2001 census)

languages

The main language of Himachal Pradesh is Hindi , the largest language in India. According to the 2001 census, it is the mother tongue of 89 percent of the state's population. Most people in Himachal Pradesh speak one of the dialects that are grouped under the umbrella term Pahari . Linguistically, the Pahari dialects differ sufficiently from standard Hindi to be classified as separate languages. Nevertheless, the standard Hindi in Himachal Pradesh serves as the official and educational language and serves as the umbrella language for the Pahari dialects. In official statistics, the Pahari is counted as a Hindi.

Six percent of the residents of Himachal Pradesh speak Punjabi , the main language of the neighboring state of Punjab, as their mother tongue, another 1.2 percent speak Nepali . While these languages are all the Indo-Aryan include language group are in the high mountains on the border with Tibet Tibeto-Burman languages used: In Kinnaur is Kinnauri spoken in Lahaul and Spiti Lahauli . Because of the low population density of these regions, the speakers of these languages ​​with 1.1 and 0.3 percent of the total population of Himachal Pradesh are hardly significant. The Tibetan speakers among the exile Tibetan community also account for 0.3 percent .

The only official language of Himachal Pradesh is Hindi. As in all of India, English is present as a communication and educational language.

Religions in Himachal Pradesh
religion			percent
Hinduism			95.2%
Islam			2.2%
Sikhism			1.2%
Buddhism			1.1%
Other			0.3%
Distribution of religions (2011 census)

Religions

Himachal Pradesh is strongly Hindu : According to the 2001 census, Hindus make up 95 percent of the state's population. Of all Indian states, Himachal Pradesh has the highest percentage of Hindus population. Muslims are only a small minority at 2 percent. Just over 1 percent of the population of Himachal Pradesh are Sikhs and Buddhists . The Buddhists mainly concentrate on the border region with Tibet. In the districts of Lahaul and Spiti they make up the majority of the population.

history

Development of the Union Territory and later the State of Himachal Pradesh (PEPSU = Patiala and East Punjab States Union )

Himachal Pradesh (1948-56)

Himachal Pradesh was created on April 15, 1948 through the amalgamation of 31 partly very small princely states of the Punjab ( Punjab Hill States ) in British India . On January 26, 1950, this union became a C-state with a governor of the Indian Union appointed by the central government (see History of India ). On July 1, 1954, Bilaspur was affiliated, on November 1, 1956, the state union became a "union territory" through the dissolution of the Princely States in the States Reorganization Act . On November 1, 1966, the mountainous region in the north of the state of Punjab was annexed to Himachal Pradesh and on January 25, 1971, the Union Territory was given the status of its own state .

Himachal Pradesh had an area of ​​approx. 27,500 km² and a population of 989,400 in 1951. The capital was Shimla . The largest states were Bussahir , Chamba , Sirmoor , Mandi , Bilaspur , Suket , Jubbal and Keonthal . Tehri Garhwal only belonged to Himachal Pradesh from May to August 1949. Today the state has almost 7 million inhabitants with an area of ​​approx. 55,673 km².

politics

Political system

The Himachal Pradesh legislative branch consists of a unicameral parliament , the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly or Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha . The 68 members of parliament are elected by direct election every five years . The parliament has its seat in the capital Shimla .

The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh is elected by Parliament. But is appointed by the President of India Governor (at the head of the State Governor ). Its main tasks are to appoint the Chief Minister and to entrust him with the formation of the government. The highest court in Himachal Pradesh is the Himachal Pradesh High Court , located in Shimla.

Himachal Pradesh has four members in the Lok Sabha , the lower house of the Indian parliament, and three in the Rajya Sabha , the Indian upper house.

See also : List of Governors of Himachal Pradesh

See also : List of Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh

Parties

Distribution of seats after the 2017 parliamentary elections
BJP	44
INC	21st
CPI (M)	1
Independent	2
total	68

The party politics of Himachal Pradesh is dominated by two supraregional parties, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Since the late 1990s, these two parties have regularly alternated in power. The 2012 parliamentary elections were won by the Congress party: They won 36 constituencies and thus just got an absolute majority in parliament. The previously ruling BJP followed behind with 26 seats. As a result of the election, Congress politician Virbhadra Singh was elected Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. He previously held the office from 1983–90, 1993–98 and 2003–07. In the 2014 all-India parliamentary election in Himachal Pradesh, however, the nationwide victorious BJP was successful. The party won all four of the state's constituencies. The BJP was also able to win the subsequent election to the parliament of Himachal Pradesh on November 9, 2017. On December 27, 2017, Jai Ram Thakur was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of a BJP-led government.

Administrative division

Districts of Himachal Pradesh

The state of Himachal Pradesh is divided into the following twelve districts (data from the 2011 census):

District	administrative seat	Area in km²	Pop. (2011)	Ew./km²
Bilaspur	Bilaspur	1,167	381,956	327
Chamba	Chamba	6,522	519.080	80
Hamirpur	Hamirpur	1,118	454,768	407
Kangra	Dharamsala	5,739	1,510,075	263
Kinnaur	Rekong Peo	6,401	84.121	13
Kullu	Kullu	5,503	437.903	80
Lahaul and Spiti	Keylong	13,841	31,564	2
Mandi	Mandi	3,950	999,777	253
Shimla	Shimla	5.131	814.010	159
Sirmaur	Close to	2,825	529.855	188
Solan	Solan	1.936	580.320	300
Una	Una	1,540	521.173	338

Others

With 99.99 percent, Himachal Pradesh has one of the highest electrification rates of any Indian state. At the moment, Himachal Pradesh is being expanded to become the "No. 1 in hydro power" in India. Himachal Pradesh has an extensive education system and therefore the third highest literacy rate among the Indian states.

The 14th Dalai Lama has his exile residence above the city of Dharmshala , in the west of Himachal Pradesh in front of the first high mountain range of the Himalayas . Also living here (and in Manali ) are very many Tibetans in exile who fled in 1959 and thereafter.

With a value of 0.706, Himachal Pradesh reached third place among the 29 states of India in the human development index in 2015 .

literature

• Andreas Birken : Philatelic Atlas of British India. CD-ROM. Hamburg 2004, DNB 971030472 .
• CL Datta: The Raj and the Simla Hill States. Jalandhar 1997, ISBN 81-7072-072-9 .
• Himachal Pradesh. In: The Great Brockhaus. 16th edition. Wiesbaden 1954.
• Joseph E. Schwartzberg (Ed.): A historical atlas of South Asia. 2nd Edition. New York / Oxford 1992, ISBN 0-19-506869-6 .
• V. Verma: The Emergence of Himachal Pradesh: A Survey of Constitutional Development. Indus Publishing, 1995, ISBN 81-7387-035-7 .
• Mian Goverdhan Singh: Festivals, Fairs and Customs of Himachal Pradesh. Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi 1992, ISBN 81-85182-64-7 .

Web links

Commons : Himachal Pradesh  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the government of Himachal Pradesh

Individual evidence

1. ^ Census of India 2011: Primary Census Data Highlights - India. Chapter 1 (Population, Size and Decadal Change) (PDF; 9.2 MB).
2. ^ Census of India 2011: Primary Census Data Highlights - India. Chapter 3 (Literates and Literacy Rate) (PDF; 2.7 MB).
3. ↑ India: States and Greater Agglomerations - Population Statistics, Maps, Graphics, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved May 5, 2018 . 
4. ^ Census of India 2001: Statement - 3 Distribution of 10,000 Persons by Language - India, States and Union Territories - 2001 and Distribution of the 100 Non-Scheduled Languages-India / States / Union Territories .
5. ↑ Census of India 2011: Population by religious community.
6. ^ Himachal Pradesh Result Status. Election Commission of India, accessed February 17, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Census of India 2011: Primary Census Abstract - Himachal Pradesh. (PDF; 452 kB)
8. ^ Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab. Retrieved August 12, 2018 . 

Coordinates: 31 ° 6 '  N , 77 ° 12'  E