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Haryana

Particulars	Description
Area	44,212 sq. km
Population	2,11,44,564
Capital	Chandigarh
Principal Languages	Hindi

History and Geography

Haryana has a proud history going back to the Vedic Age. The State was the home of the legendary Bharata dynasty, which has given the name Bharat to India. Haryana finds mention in the great epic of Mahabharata. Kurukshetra, the place of the epic battle between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, is situated in Haryana. The State continued to play a leading part in the history of India till the advent of the Muslims and the rise of Delhi as the imperial capital of India. Thereafter, Haryana functioned as an adjunct to Delhi and practically remained anonymous till the First War of India's Independence in 1857. When the rebellion was crushed and the British administration was re-established, the Nawabs of Jhajjar and Bahadurgarh, Raja of Ballabgarh and Rao Tula Ram of Rewari of the Haryana region were deprived of their territories. Their territories were either merged with the British territories or handed over to the rulers of Patiala, Nabha and Jind. Haryana thus became a part of the Punjab province. With the reorganisation of Punjab on 1 November 1966, Haryana was made into a full-fledged State.

The State is bound by Uttar Pradesh in the east, Punjab in the west, Himachal Pradesh in the north and Rajasthan in the south. The National Capital Territory of Delhi juts into Haryana.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the mainstay of more than 65 per cent population in Haryana with contribution of 26.4 per cent in GDP of the State. The quantum of food grain production, which was nearly 25.92 lakh tonnes at the time of inception of the State, was likely to touch 155.08 lakh tonnes in 2008-09 due to crop intensification and increase in production of principal crops. Rice, wheat, jowar, bajra, maize, barley and pulses, sugarcane, cotton, oilseeds and potato are the major crops of the State. Under the diversification of crops, more and more area is being brought under cash crops like sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds, vegetable and fruits. Sustainable agriculture is being promoted through the propagation of resource conserving technologies and organic farming. Dhaincha and Moong have also been encouraged to maintain soil fertility.

Information Technology

In view of the importance of Information Technology in the globalisation process throughout the world, the State Government has formulated an IT Policy which provides several incentives for IT and ITES/BPO Industry. The Government has also recently announced a policy for Technology Parks, which gives considerable flexibility for setting up Technology Parks and IT Corridors. The objective of this policy is also to promote convergence of Information Technology with frontier technologies like Nano Technology, Bio Technology, Mobile Computing and Robotics, etc.

IT Park and Nano city are being set up in Panchkula district to create an environment and an eco system that fosters intellectual creativity in areas of frontier technologies, which in turn would create jobs and bring economic prosperity to the regions. The State Government is issuing licenses for setting up of Technology Parks, Cyber cities and IT corridors. From February 2006 to April 2008, 72 such projects have been approved in principle, which would provide employment opportunities for nearly 30000 professionals.

Further, Gurgaon has been developed as a preferred investment destination for both IT and ITES/BPO companies. Now, Gurgaon has become the home of the corporate world in India. The State Government is planning to set up Hi-Tech Habitat Centre in the Electronic City in Gurgaon for IT/ITES/BPO companies, which would provide world-class facilities. Besides Gurgaon, the State also intends to develop other areas in NCR region, especially those alongside the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Express Highway and Faridabad, as satellites of Gurgaon-Manesar Mega IT Hub. The software exports from Haryana during 2007-08 were Rs.17,500 (approximately) crore.

Haryana is the first State to have implemented its State Wide Area Network (ADHAAR) for voice, data and video transmission. The SWAN vertical connectivity at State Network Management Centre, District Network Management Centre (DNMC) Block Network Management Centre (BNMC) has been completed and made operational. Horizontal connectivity at phase-I offices has been established and at phase-II offices, it is being established.

The State has formulated its e-governance road map and capacity building road-map. The Government is in the process of setting up 1159 Rural and 104 Urban ICT based Common Service Centres under the State brand name e-Disha Ekal Sewa Kendra in the State and work of CSC implementation has already been started. The rollout in rural areas has been achieved 100%, while in urban/showcase CSCs it is 67%. At present Business to Citizens (B2C) services like computer training, e-ticketing, mobile recharges and insurance (general, motor and health), job placement services, internet services, financial services etc. are being provided through these centres and pilot projects are being run in all districts to start Government to Citizens (G2C) services like bus passes, electricity bill collection, issuing of nakal (land record), issuing of certificates like SC/BC/Income/Domicile, birth/death and issuing of new Ration Cards, Passports, Laadli scheme, Indira Gandhi Vivah Shagun Yojna etc. through these centres.

The State has established District e-Disha centres, IT Training Labs at District Headquarters. A suit of office automation software packages for district & revenue administration has been developed and being implemented on district LANs. The State now wants to computerize all activities of district level offices for which a pilot project proposal costing Rs.331.65 lakh for e-District project at Rohtak has been approved by the Government of India and work has been started on this project.

The State Government is implementing an IT Literacy Plan for Government employees to achieve 100% IT literacy in the State. Under IT Literacy Programme, IT Training Labs at Headquarter and District Headquarters have been set up. More than 24000 Government employees have been trained so far in the State. Besides this, to strengthen this program, IT Department, Government of India has approved a proposal worth Rs.44.36 lakh for imparting ICT training for women and SC/STs in the rural/urban area of the State. 800 girls/women have been trained in 10 districts under this programme.

Industry

Haryana has a large industrial base having more than 1,347 large and medium and 80,000 small scale units in the State. Haryana is the largest producer of passenger cars, tractors, motorcycles, bicycles, refrigerators, scientific instruments, etc. Haryana is the largest exporter of Basmati rice to the overseas market. Panipat handlooms and carpets are known all over the world besides, the famous Pachranga Achaar.

Since July 1991, 3914 Industrial Entrepreneur Memorandum (IEMs) were filed and up to May 2008, of these 2274 IEMs were implemented with Capital Investment of Rs.24,034 crore and generating employment for 4,02,129 persons. As a result of the new Industrial Policy, the State has received about 100 proposals for setting up of SEZs in the State which is envisaging an investment of Rs.2.00 lakh crore in the industrial infrastructure. These projects on implementation would create several thousand crore investment in the industrial sector besides, generating huge employment. The State is developing industrial model townships at Kharkhoda, Faridabad, Rohtak and Jagadhari besides expansion of IMT Manesar in Gurgaon. Petrochemical Hub is coming up with investment of Rs.33,000 crore at Panipat. Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway is being developed with an investment of Rs.2000 crore. This will create a large number of economic hubs all along the expressway generating new investment opportunities in the industrial and service sector.

There is a great demand from industries for allotment of industrial land in the industrial estates developed by the HSIDC and HUDA. During this period of the present Government, 98 new industrial units in the large and medium sectors and 7683 new small-scale industrial units with investment of Rs.2744 crore have been set up generating direct employment for more than 1,25,747 persons. Besides, a large number of industrial units have undergone expansion and as a result of it, fresh investment of more than Rs.35,000 crore has been created. Recently, Indian Oil Corporation has set up Paraxylene/PTA project at Panipat with an investment of about Rs.5000 crore. Maruti Udyog Hero Honda and many other automobile ancillaries are undergoing expansion programme with investment of about Rs.10,000 crore. At present, investment proposals of about Rs.70,000 crore are under implementation in the Industrial Sector.

Irrigation

THaryana is a beneficiary of the multi-purpose project in Sutlej and Beas sharing benefits with Punjab and Rajasthan. Major irrigation projects are western Yamuna Canal System, Bhakra Canal System and Gurgaon Canal System. Haryana has raised water from lower levels to higher and drier slopes through JLN canal project. It is a new endeavour that gave practical shape to lift irrigation for the first time in India.

The Jui, Siwani, Loharu and Jawahar Lal Nehru lift irrigation schemes have helped to carry irrigation water against gravity flow to arid areas. Sprinkler and drip irrigation have been introduced in the highly undulating and sandy tracks of Haryana.

Construction work of Hathni Kund barrage at a cost of Rs.192 crore has been completed. Haryana and Uttar Pradesh would get additional water for irrigation purposes from the barrage and Delhi is also getting additional water for drinking.

To ensure equitable distribution of water for irrigation and drinking purpose through out the State, the Government has been constructing a canal namely Bhakra Main Line-Hansi Branch-Buttana Branch Multipurpose link Channel of 109 kilometer length to the tune of Rs.354 crore.

To utilise surplus water of river Yamuna during monsoon season the construction work of Dadupur-Shahbad Nalvi Canal project has been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs.267 crore. 590 cusecs surplus flood water will be used for irrigation and ground water recharging facilities to an area of 92,532 hectares falling in districts Yamuna Nagar, Ambala and Kurukshetra.

The Government has sanctioned four projects of low height dams namely Kaushalaya dam, Dangrana dam, Dewanwala dam and Chhamla dam at an estimated cost of Rs.180 crore, Rs.63.69 crore, Rs.132.70 crore and Rs.20.41 crore respectively on river Ghaggar and its tributaries to prevent wasteful flow of water and loss to property by flood during the Monsoon season. The work on Kaushalya dam has been started with effect from March 18, 2008 and is likely to be completed by March 2010.

Power

Haryana became the first State in the country to achieve 100 per cent rural electrification in 1970. Starting with 20,000 tubewells in 1966 there were 4.51 lakh tubewells in March 2008. The average power availability during 2008-09 was 743.45 lakh units a day. The number of consumers in 2007-08 was 42.70 lakh. The installed generation capacity as on 31 March 2009 was 4636.23 MW.

Transport

Roads: In Haryana all villages stand connected with metalled roads. The length of roads in the State is more than 34,772 kms.

Railways: : Kalka, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Jind, Hissar,Ambala, Panipat and Jakhal are important railway stations. There is a railway workshop at Jagadhari.

Aviation:There are civil aerodromes at Pinjore, Karnal, Hisar, Bhiwani and Narnaul.

Tourist Centres

Haryana-Surajkund-Fair

The Government of Haryana has set up a network of 44 Tourist Complexes in all over the State. The availability of accommodation with Haryana tourism is now 832 rooms and 62.00 lakh tourists visit these tourist complexes every year. Haryana has adopted a multi-pronged strategy for tourism promotion. Tourist complexes have been set at strategic points along the highway passing through the State. Further, tourist complexes have been developed around Delhi through promotion of leisure tourism and conference tourism. Tourist facilities at the district headquarter and important towns have been promoted to cater to the needs of the tourists and local people.

Some of the important tourist complexes are: Surajkund and Damdama in Gurgaon and fascinating pocket of pines at Morni Hills are other attractions of tourist interest. The other important resorts are Ethnic India Rai, Blue Jay (Samalkha), Skylark (Panipat), Karna Lake and Oasis (Uchana), Parakeet (Pipli), Kingfisher (Ambala), Magpie (Faridabad), Dabchick (Hodal), Shama (Gurgaon), Jungle Babbler (Dharuhera), Gauriyya (Bahadurgarh). Myna (Rohtak), Blue Bird (Hisar), Red Bishop (Panchkula) and Pinjore Gardens, (Pinjore).

To promote the art and culture the famous Surajkund Crafts Mela is held every year in the month of February. Similarly, to promote the ancient heritage of Pinjore, the Pinjore Heritage Festival is celebrated every year.