Nāgpur (Marathi: नागपूर) is a city in the state of Maharashtra, and is the largest city in central India and also the third largest city by population in the state of Maharashtra. With a population of around 2,420,000; Nagpur UA is the 13^th largest urban conglomeration in India the 114^th largest city in world, and the 143^rd largest urban area in world in terms of population The city is also the seat of annual winter session of Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha. Nagpur is also the major commercial and political center of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, and is also famous throughout the country as "Orange City" for being a major trade center of oranges.The city assumes political importance from being the headquarters for the Hindu nationalist organisation RSS and an important location for the Dalit Buddhist movement.

Nagpur lies precisely at the center of the country with the Zero mile marker (indicating the geographical center of India) located here.^[6] The city was founded by Gond people but later became part of Maratha Empire under theBhonsles. The British East India Company took over Nagpur in 19th century and made it the capital of Central Provinces and Berar. After first states' reorganisation, the city lost the capital status but as per informal "Nagpur Pact" between political leaders; was made the second capital of Maharashtra

The Nag River, a tributary of the Kanhan River, flows in a serpentine path and so is named, "Nag", the Marathi word forCobra. The river flows through the old city of Nagpur and hence the city is named after this river. "Pur" is common suffix given to cities, villages and towns across India, and is often simply translated "city". The seal of Nagpur Municipal Corporation depicts a cobra in the water of a river.

Geography and climate

Nagpur
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D 10 29 12 12 32 15 18 36 19 13 40 24 16 43 28 172 38 26 304 32 24 292 30 24 194 32 23 51 33 20 12 30 15 17 28 12 average max. and min. temperatures in °C precipitation totals in mm source: World Weather Information Service
[show]Imperial conversion

[edit]Geography

Nagpur lies on the Deccan plateau of the Indian Peninsula and has a mean altitude of 310 meters above sea level.The underlying rock strata is covered with alluvial deposits resulting from the flood plain of the Kanhan River. In some places these give rise to granular sandy soil. However, in low lying areas which are poorly drained, the soil is alluvial clay with poor permeability characteristics. In eastern part of city crystalline metamorphic rocks such as gneiss, schist and granites are found, while in the Northern part yellowish sand stones and clays of the lower Gondwana formations are found.

Nagpur city is dotted with many natural and man made lakes with Ambazari lake being the largest of all. Other natural lakes include Futala lake, Gorewada Lake and Telangkhedi lake. Sonegaon lake along with Gandhisagar lake are man-made lakes created by cities historical rulers. Nag river, Pilli nadi along with various nallas form the natural drainage pattern for city. Nagpur is known for its greenery, and was judged as the cleanest and second greenest in India after Bangalore.

[edit]Climate

As it is located at centre of Indian peninsula far from Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea, Nagpur has a tropical wet and dry climate with dry conditions prevailing for most of the year . Nagpur city receives an annual rainfall of 1,205 mm (47.44 in) from monsoon rains during June to September. The highest recorded rainfall was 304 mm on July 14, 1994.Summers are extremely hot lasting from March to June, with maximum temperatures occurring in May. Winter lasts from November to January, during which temperatures can drop below 10°C (50°F). The highest recorded temperature in the city was 48.6 °C (119.5 °F) on 26 May 1954, while the lowest was 3 °C.

Demographics

[show]Nagpur population

Marathi, official language of Maharashtra is the local language in Nagpur. Varhadi dialect of Marathi is spoken in and around Nagpur city. Hindi is spoken extensively in Nagpur. Due to its central location Nagpur has become a cosmopolitan in nature with large number of residents from neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. In 2001, the urban population was 2,129,500, and there were around 410,000 households in the city. 7,26,664 people lived in slums making Nagpur second most slum populated city in Maharashtra after Mumbai^[26]. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for around 25% of the population. The sex ratio was 936 females per 1000 males. Around 99.4% of the population was engaged in non-agricultural activities, attesting to the overwhelmingly urban character of Nagpur city.^[27]. According to 2006 survey ofNational Crime Record Bureau Nagpur has the highest crime rate of 470.6 in Maharashtra as compared to other mega-cities of the state.^[28] The number of migrants to Nagpur from outside Maharashtra during the 1991-2001 decade was 2.1 lakh making Nagpur 4^th most favored destination in state.^[29]

Education

Nagpur is a major education centre in Central India. The city has both "municipal schools" (run by the NMC) as well as private schools (run by trusts or individuals), which in some cases receive financial aid from the government. The city's school system follows a 10+2+3/4 plan, after which students have the option to enroll in Junior college and later degree courses. Founded in 1923, Nagpur University is one of the oldest in the country and has geographical jurisdiction over the five districts of Nagpur division in addition to giving affiliation to hundreds of colleges. Nagpur has three Medical colleges namely Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and Lata Mangeshkar Medical College (LMC). Nagpur has several engineering colleges which provide education in various specialty courses. Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) is one of the reputed technical institutes in the country and also an Institute of National Importance. Nagpur also has some good Management Colleges such as DBM Nagpur University and G.H Raisoni college. Nagpur is also known for some well known private engineering colleges namely Ramdeobaba Kamla Nehru College of Engineering (RKNEC) which is frequently ranked among top engineering colleges in India in reputed magzines, Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering(YCCE), and G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering. Finally, Nagpur has India's only National Fire Service College that provides graduation course in Fire Engineering. In addition to well known education institutions, the Raman Science Centre promotes scientific attitude and has 133 seat planetarium. So please pray for Nagpur as this is the central point of our country we have to pray that God should work in this city though our ICPF ministry