Question

What is the present capital of Gujarat and when did it come into existence?

Answer 1

Hint: A state on India's western coast, Gujarat is a state with a population of 60.4 million people and also has the longest coastline of almost 1,600-kilometers where the majority of it lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. It has been categorised as the fifth-largest state in terms of area and the ninth-largest in terms of population in India.

Complete answer:
The word Gujarat is derived from the Sanskrit phrase Gurjaradesa, which means "Land of the Gurjaras". The Gurjaras were the prominent people who governed Gujarat in the eighth and ninth century CE. Before the Mughal Empire, parts of modern-day Rajasthan and Gujarat were referred to as Gurjaratra or Gurjarabhumi. Gujarat was among the Indus Valley Civilisation's most important centres. It has historic Indus Valley conurbations like Lothal, Gola Dhora and Dholavira.

Gujarat now comprises 33 districts and 250 talukas. The Gujarati people of India are native to the state, and Gujarati is the official language of the state. Gujarat's economy is the fifth largest in India, and it ranks 21st in terms of human development index in comparison to the other states of the country. The state has a long history of low unemployment and is largely regarded as one of India's most industrialised and commercial hubs.

Ahmedabad is the largest city in the state of Gujarat, but the capital of the state is Gandhinagar. Established in the year 1960, Gandhinagar lies around 23 kilometres north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial Corridor between Delhi (India's political capital) with Mumbai (India's financial capital). The city is located on Sabarmati River's west bank. Mohandas K. Gandhi, the leader of the Indian nationalist struggle, was honoured with the name of the city as Gandhinagar.

The city's development began in 1966, with the goal of replacing Ahmedabad as the state's capital. In 1970, state government offices were relocated to Gandhinagar, and the city grew to become Gujarat's commercial and cultural hub. As of now, Gandhinagar has been named Asia's greenest capital city, with more than half of its entire area covered in trees, and it is also considered as one of the cleanest cities of India.

Note: When the state of Mumbai was separated into two independent states, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Gandhinagar gained its own identity as the capital of the state of Gujarat. Chief Architect H.K. Mewada, a Cornell University graduate, and his assistant Prakash M Apte designed the new capital city. In the 1950s, both Mewada and Apte were apprentices under famous architect Le Corbusier on the Chandigarh Project, which was a project to establish the planned city of Chandigarh.