Haryana GK: Formation, Geography, History and Facts

Haryana is the land between the Yamuna and the Ghaggar, a small state by area but one of the richest in agriculture and industry, and a state whose soil carries some of the most decisive battlefields of Indian history. For Haryana state examinations this chapter is the core paper, and for SSC and Railway candidates it supplies a steady stream of questions on the year of formation, the battles of Panipat and the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi.

Formation and government

Haryana came into being on 1 November 1966 as the seventeenth state of India, carved out of the Hindi speaking districts of the erstwhile Punjab on the recommendation of the commission headed by Justice J. C. Shah. Chandigarh, itself a union territory, serves as the capital of both Haryana and Punjab, and the two states share the Punjab and Haryana High Court sitting there. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma was the first Chief Minister and Dharma Vira the first Governor. The Legislative Assembly has ninety seats, the state sends ten members to the Lok Sabha and five to the Rajya Sabha, and 1 November is observed as Haryana Day. Charkhi Dadri, created in 2016, is the youngest district of the state.

Geography

The state is landlocked and has no coast. Most of it lies in the Indo-Gangetic plain, with the Shivalik hills in the north around Panchkula, outliers of the Aravalli range in the south in Gurugram and Mewat, and sandy country in the south west towards Sirsa. Karoh Peak in the Morni hills of Panchkula district is the highest point of Haryana. The Yamuna forms its eastern boundary with Uttar Pradesh; the Ghaggar, Markanda, Tangri and the seasonal Saraswati flow through the north, and the Western Yamuna Canal and the Bhakra canal system carry irrigation across the plains.

History on Haryana soil

• Rakhigarhi in Hisar district is the largest Harappan site in India; Banawali in Fatehabad district and Mitathal near Bhiwani are other sites of the same civilisation.
• Kurukshetra is held to be the field of the Mahabharata war, and Jyotisar there is remembered as the place where the Bhagavad Gita was spoken; the Brahma Sarovar and the Gita Jayanti festival draw pilgrims to the town.
• The two battles of Tarain, near Thanesar, were fought in 1191 and 1192 between Prithviraj Chauhan and Muhammad Ghori, the first won by the Rajput king and the second by the invader.
• The three battles of Panipat changed the course of Indian history: in 1526 Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi and founded the Mughal empire; in 1556 the forces of Akbar under Bairam Khan defeated Hemu; and in 1761 Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas.
• Surajkund near Faridabad, a stepped reservoir ascribed to the Tomar ruler Surajpal, gives its name to the Surajkund International Crafts Mela held every February.
• The Yadavindra or Pinjore Gardens in Panchkula district are a Mughal garden laid out in the time of Aurangzeb by Nawab Fidai Khan.

Economy and institutions

Haryana was one of the states transformed by the Green Revolution and grows wheat, rice, bajra, mustard and sugarcane; its Murrah buffalo is famous across the country for milk. Karnal holds the National Dairy Research Institute and Hisar the Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes as well as the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University. Industry is concentrated in the National Capital Region: Gurugram, called the Millennium City, is a centre of information technology and automobiles, Manesar and Faridabad are manufacturing hubs, and Panipat is known both as the city of weavers for its handloom furnishings and for a large oil refinery. Rewari works in brass, Yamunanagar in plywood and sugar, and Ambala in scientific instruments.

Culture and people

Haryanvi is the language of the state, with Bangru, Deshwali, Ahirwati, Mewati and Bagri among its dialects. Its folk dances include the Dhamal, Khoria, Loor, Ghoomar and Phag, and Saang is its folk theatre, whose greatest name is Pandit Lakhmi Chand, called the Surya Kavi of Haryana. The state is known for its wrestlers, boxers and athletes: Bhiwani is nicknamed the little Cuba of India for its boxers, the cricketer Kapil Dev was called the Haryana Hurricane, and Neeraj Chopra of Panipat won the Olympic gold medal in the javelin throw at the Tokyo Games. The nationwide Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign was launched from Panipat on 22 January 2015, a choice explained by the state's low sex ratio.