PUNJAB

KNOW YOUR STATE

Location of Map of India

Image Source: Wikipedia

Basic Facts about Punjab

● Capital: Chandigarh

● Number of District : 22

● Chief Minister: Captain Amarinder Singh

● Governor: V P Singh Badnore

● High court: Punjab and Haryana High Court (Chandigarh)

● Chief Justice: Ravi Shankar Jha

● Members of the Legislative Assembly: 117

● Lok Sabha Seats : 13

● Rajya Sabha Seats : 7

Boundaries

● It is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir to the north,

Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast,

Rajasthan to the southwest, and the Pakistani province of Punjab to the

west.

Image Source: Maps of India

State Symbols

● State Animal: Blackbuck

● State Bird: Baaz

● State Flower: Gladiolus

● State Tree: Sheesham

History of Punjab

● The five tributary rivers of the Indus River from which the region took its name

are Sutlej, Ravi, Beas, Chenab and Jhelum Rivers; Sutlej, Ravi and Beas are

part of the Indian Punjab.

● In 1947, the Punjab Province of British India was divided along religious lines

into West Punjab and East Punjab. The western part was assimilated into

Pakistan while the east became part of India.

● Sikhism originated in the Punjab Region during the 15th century.

● Approximately 75% of the total Sikh population of the world lives in Punjab.

Geography

● Most of the Punjab lies in a fertile, alluvial plain with many rivers and an

extensive irrigation canal system.

● It is the 20th-largest Indian state by area.

● With 27,704,236 inhabitants at the 2011 census, Punjab is the 16th-largest

state by population

The current government was elected in the 2017 Assembly elections as Congress

won 77 out of 117 Assembly seats and Amarinder Singh is the current Chief

Minister.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Major Dams and Reservoirs

● Ranjit Sagar Dam: It is also known as the Thein Dam, and is part of a

hydroelectric project constructed by the Government of Punjab Punjab

Irrigation Department on the Ravi River on the Border of two states of India

Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

General Facts

● The region was originally called Sapta Sindhu, the Vedic land of the seven

rivers flowing into the sea.

● The region is ideal for wheat-growing. Rice, sugar cane, fruits and vegetables

are also grown.

● Indian Punjab is called the "Granary of India" or "India's bread-basket".

● Punjab has six civil airports including two international airports: Amritsar

International Airport and Chandigarh International Airport.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The Architectural Work Of Le Corbusier (Chandigarh)

GI Tags of Punjab

Phulkari (Also of Haryana and

Haryana)

Festivals & Fairs of Punjab

Lohri Vaisakhi

Festivals & Fairs of Punjab

Teeyan festival Jor Mela: Annual three-day

Shaheedi Jor Mela is held at

Fatehgarh Sahib Gurdwara

Dances of Punjab

Sammi Bhangra Dhamal

Famous personalities of Punjab

● Har Gobind Khorana, Medicine Nobel prize laureate. He

shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

with Marshall W. Nirenberg and Robert W. Holley for

research that showed the order of nucleotides in nucleic

acids.

● Kiran Bedi, first woman IPS officer

● Rakesh Sharma, first Indian in space

10 Sikh Gurus

1. Guru Nanak (1469-1539) - Guru Nanak was born at Talwandi (now called Nankana Sahib) in

Punjab. He founded the Sikh religion.

2. Guru Angad (1539-1552) - He invented the Gurumukhi script.

3. Guru Amar Das (1552-1574) - He strengthened the tradition of the free kitchen, Guru Ka

Langar (started by Guru Nanak. He completely abolished the custom of Sati amongst the

Sikhs.

4. Guru Ram Das (1574-1581) - Guru Ram Das was the fourth of the ten Sikh Gurus. Emperor

Akbar donated a plot of land to Guru Ram Das on which Golden Temple was later

constructed. He founded the city of Amritsar.

5. Guru Arjun Dev (1581-1606) - He composed Adigranth (Guru Granth Sahib). Guru Arjun

Dev was tortured to death by Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1606.

6. Guru Hargovind (1606-1645) - He built the Akal Takht.

7. Guru Har Rai (1645-1661) - Dara Shikoh (the eldest son of emperor Shah Jahan) came to Guru

Har Rai asking for help in the war of succession launched by his half-brother Aurangzeb.

8. Guru Har Kishan (1661-1664) - Har Kishan was only five years old when he succeeded his

father, Guru Har Rai, as Guru. Thus, he was the youngest guru in Sikh history.

9. Guru Teg Bahadur (1664-1675) - Aurangzeb executed Guru Teg Bahadur when he refused

to convert into Islam.

10. Guru Gobind Singh (1675-1708) - Guru Goving Singh was the last of the ten Sikh Gurus. He

was born in Patna, Bihar. He founded the Khalsa Pantha.

Kartarpur Corridor

The Kartarpur Corridor is an under-construction border corridor between the

neighbouring nations of India and Pakistan, connecting the Sikh shrines of Dera

Baba Nanak Sahib (located in Punjab, India) and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib

Kartarpur (in Punjab, Pakistan).