Uttar Pradesh

Image:IndiaUttarPradesh.png Uttar Pradesh (उत्तर प्रदेश ﺶﯦﺩﺮﭘ ﺮﺗﺍ) is the fifth largest and the most populous state in India. The administrative and legislative capital is Lucknow and the judicial capital is Allahabad. Other notable cities include Agra, Aligarh, Ayodhya, Varanasi (Benares) , Gorakhpur, and Kanpur. Neighbouring states are Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. Uttar Pradesh shares a border with Nepal. In 2000, the Parliament of India carved out the northern part of Uttar Pradesh to form the state of Uttaranchal. Uttar Pradesh covers a large part of the densely populated plains around the Ganges and Yamuna rivers. With 166 million inhabitants, it is not only the most populous state in India but also the most populous subnational entity in the world. Only five countries (the People's Republic of China, India itself, the United States, Indonesia and Brazil) have a higher population than Uttar Pradesh (see List of countries by population). It is also one of the most economically backward states of India and the literacy rate, as is the case with the rest of India, is higher for males than females.

History

United Provinces, 1909 Uttar Pradesh covers the area of the former princely state of Awadh (Oudh) and the British Province of Agra. The Province of Agra was originally the western-most British possession, after they expanded from Bengal, and thus was known as the North-West Province. The North-West Province was renamed the Province of Agra, and merged in 1858 with the Province of Oudh to form the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, known after 1902 as the United Provinces. Two princely states, Rampur and Tehri, were under the authority of the provincial governor. With the advent of Indian independence, the United Provinces was renamed "Uttar Pradesh," ("northern province"). This preserved the commonly used abbreviation U.P. In 2000, the northwestern districts of Uttar Pradesh became the new state of Uttaranchal.

Constituent Regions

The state comprises the regions of Rohilkhand in the northwest, The Doab, or Brij (Braj) (Braj-bhoomi) in the southwest, Awadh (Oudh) (the historic country of Koshal) in the centre, the northern parts of Bagelkhand & Bundelkhand in the south, and the south-western part of the Bhojpur country, commonly called Purvanchal ("Eastern Province"), in the east.

Languages

The languages of the different regions are distinct, and the language of the western parts, called (Khadiboli) is the basis for the official Hindi language, created during the late 19th century. The most commonly spoken language in urban areas is Urdu/Hindi. Regardless of the script used, the language of Lucknow is called Lucknowie Urdu. It is a pure form of literary Urdu used by most Urdu poets. Urdu is one of the two official languages of the state. Other languages are Koshali, Braj (which is more than two thousand years old), Koeli, Bagheli, Bundeli and Bhojpuri. The Bhojpuri ethnic homeland is divided between Nepal in the north, Bihar state in the east and Uttar Pradesh in the west.

Politics

List of political parties in the state The current chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is Mulayam Singh Yadav, one of the leaders of the Samajwadi Party (Socialist Party). The former Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee, represents the constituency of Lucknow.

Divisions and Districts

Uttar Pradesh state consists of 70 districts, which are grouped into 17 divisions: Agra, Azamgarh, Allahabad, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Devipatan, Faizabad, Bahraich, Bareilly, Basti, Mirzapur, Moradabad, Meerut, Lucknow, Varanasi, and Saharanpur. See Districts of Uttar Pradesh.

External link

• railway map

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