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Historically, Bhopal was also the name of a Muslim princely state in central India. The city attracted international attention as a consequence of the Bhopal Disaster , when the Union Carbide plant (now a part of Dow Chemical Company ) leaked deadly Methyl Isocyanate gas during the night of December 3 1984 . The poisonous gas killed thousands of people in the city and its neighbouring areas, and thousands of others still suffer from its effects even two decades later. Since then, Bhopal has been a center of protests and campaigns which have been joined by many people across the globe. HISTORY See Also: Bhopal (state) Bhopal disaster Bhopal is said to have been founded by the Parmara King Bhoj (1000–1055), who had his capital at Dhar . The city was originally known as Bhojpal named after Bhoj and the dam ('pal') that he is said to have constructed to form the lakes surrounding Bhopal. The fortunes of Bhopal rose and fell with that of its reigning dynasty. As the Parmaras declined in power, the city was ransacked several times and finally faded away into obscurity. It was one of the last Princely State s to sign the ' Instrument Of Accession ' 1947. Though India achieved Independence in August 1947, the ruler of Bhopal acceded to the Indian government only on 1 May 1949 . Sindhi refugees from Pakistan were accommodated in Bairagarh, a western suburb of Bhopal. According to the States Reorganization Act Of 1956 , Bhopal state was integrated into the state of Madhya Pradesh , and Bhopal was declared as its Capital . The population of the city rose rapidly henceforth. On . Bhopal - The world's worst industrial disaster ABC 20th anniversary of world's worst industrial disaster . Simi Chakrabarti GEOGRAPHY of Bhopal]] Bhopal is located at . It has an average elevation of 499 metres (1637 feet). Bhopal is located in the central part of India, and is just north of the upper limit of the Vindhya mountain ranges. Bhopal is a hilly and moderate weather area, with hot summers and cold damp winters. Located on the Malwa plateau, it is higher than the north Indian plains and the land rises towards the Vindhya Range to the south. The city has uneven elevation and has small hills within its boundaries. The major hills in Bhopal comprise of Idgah hills and Shyamala hills in the northern region and Arera hills in the central region. The summers are hot and dry and the temperatures soar as high as 40° to 42°C and a minimum of 24°C to 27°C. Winters are quite cold with temperature to about 8°C with heavy fog. The weather usually remains very damp and misty. It rains moderately during the rainy season. Isolated rains are observed all throughout the year. The South-West monsoon reaches the city during mid-June and provides frequent showers till September-end/October-start. Light rainfalls are also recorded during December-January. It does hail generally during winter rains or sometimes even during June-July, the summer season. The municipality covers 286 square kilometres. It has two very beautiful lakes, collectively known as the Bhoj Wetland . These lakes are the Upper Lake (built by King Bhoj) and the Lower Lake. Locally these are known as the Bada Talab and Chota Talab respectively. The catchment area of the Upper Lake is 361 km&2 while that of the Lower Lake is 9.6 km&2. The Upper Lake drains into the Kolans River. The Van Vihar National Park is a national park situated beside the Upper Lake. The national park also has a museum in its premises. Kheoni Wild Life Sanctuary is situated 125 km from Bhopal. ECONOMY Being a state capital, the new city has a majority of residents working for the State and Central Government Departments. There are two major office complexes on Arera Hills named Satpura and Vindhyachal, which house a number of State Government offices and projects. Adjacent to them is the State Secretariat, Vallabh Bhavan. In their vicinity are other State and Central Government offices which include major national banks and insurance companies. Bhopal's major commercial area is Maharana Pratap Nagar, which accommodates many business houses. There are a number of hardware as well as software vendors in this part of the city. Other businesses include daily newsletter offices and press, hotels and restaurants, coaching and tuition centers and entertainment. Bhopal has a cantonment in the old city as well as military presence near Bairagarh and the airport. The cantonment houses one of the Services Selection board centers that recruits troops and officers for the armed forces. , L&T , HEG and VA Tech Hydro . An North Western suburb of Bhopal, Bairagarh, which was earlier a camp for Sindhi refugees from Pakistan, has developed into market for textiles. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TRANSPORT Within Bhopal, city buses — known as 'mini bus', due to their size — are the most common means of transport. Most of these are in a dilapidated condition, but their reach is comprehensive and fare, reasonable. Recently 'Starbuses' have been plying on the roads. These are bigger and more comfortable buses and charge nominally more than their smaller counterparts. Autorickshaw s are another major means of transport. They are particularly known for their ornate make-up and blaring sound systems. In some routes in the older city, bigger diesel-rickshaws - known as 'bhat', the shortened name for 'bhat-suar' - are used as shared means of transport. DEMOGRAPHICS The chief languages are Hindi , Urdu and English , but there are a substantial number of Marathi speakers as well. In the Princely State Of Bhopal , Persian was the court language until nineteenth century. The common street Hindi spoken in Bhopal is termed as Bhopali and is the subject of comedy in Bollywood movies. An example of the language is used by actor Jagdeep in the film Sholay . Bhopal is known to its residents and visitors as a calm and peaceful city. Except for the 1992 riots as an aftermath of felling of Babri Masjid, the city has remained comparatively unperturbed by the recent spate in communalist activities. The city, specially the new city, is quite clean and green. It has always been a favourite among the retirees who want to settle down, which has resulted in a sudden interest in the development of new areas outside the city outskirts.
CULTURE Bhopalis celebrate all festivals with equal fervor. Diwali is celebrated with equal pomp and glory as Eid. People still visit each others houses and greet each other on various occasions. Gifts and sweets are exchanged and donations made to the poor. Diwali is celebrated by performing puja of the wealth goddess ''Lakshmi''. Later in the night, fire-crackers are burst in the open by young and old with equal enthusiasm. Eid is special to the city as all the Hindus take time out to visit their Muslim friends and greet them and get treated with delicacies, the specialty of the day being sweet ''sewai''. Bhopali culture is such that both Hindus and Muslims visit each other on their respective festivals to greet and exchange sweets. During Ganesh puja and Durga Puja (Navratras), idols of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Durga are established in ''jhankis'' throughout the city. People throng to offer prayers to their deities. At the end of Navratras, on the day of Vijayadashmi, or Dusshehra, huge effigies of Ravan are burnt in different parts of the city. Some of them are organized by the local administration and stand as tall as 60 feet. Bharat Bhavan is the main cultural centre of the city and of the most important cultural centers of India. It has an art gallery, an open-air amphitheatre facing the Upper Lake, two other theatres and a tribal museum. Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (National Museum of Humans) showcases the various hutments that tribals of across India use for shelter. The popular holiday spots near Bhopal include Bhojpur (famous for a Shiva temple and Jain shrines), Sanchi (notable for ancient Buddhist Stupas built by Ashoka ), and the Rock Shelters Of Bhimbetka (a World Heritage Site of archaeological interest). SPORTS Another popular sport of Bhopalis is body building. In the old city, there are a number of gyms where youngsters workout everyday to make their body muscular. Slowly, this trend has caught up even in the new city where more modern equipments are being employed to help their members get into better shape. Body builders from the local gyms participate at national level and have tasted success at the state level. Apart from this, at school and college level, Table-tennis , Volleyball , Basketball , Football and Swimming are also popular sports. Every summer, Sports Authority Of India holds camps which provide coaching to students of various ages games and sports of their choices. EDUCATION Bhopal has a number of schools run by the state government which provide education at nominal fees. These are affiliated to the Madhya Pradesh Board. There are a number of Convent schools which are run by the missionaries and 4 Central Schools in the city which are affiliated to the Central Board Of Secondary Education . Indian Institute Of Forest Management is a management institute located on the outskirts of the city which specialises in research and training in the forest and allied sectors. It is an CAT allied, autonomous institute set-up with the help of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Another specialist management institute in Bhopal is Institute for Hotel Management, which is one of the premier institutes providing such courses. FURTHER READING REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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