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Rajkot (Hindi: [ˈraːdʒkoːʈ] ⓘ) is the fourth-largest city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, after Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara. It is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of more than 2 million as of 2021. Rajkot is the 6th cleanest city of India, and it is the 22nd fastest-growing city in the world as of March 2021. It is located on the banks of the Aji and Nyari rivers. Rajkot was the capital of the Saurashtra State from 15 April 1948 to 31 October 1956, before its merger with Bombay State on 1 November 1956. Rajkot was reincorporated into Gujarat State on 1 May 1960.
The name "Rajkot" is derived from two words: "Raj", meaning "king" or "royalty", and "Kot", meaning "fort"—thus, Rajkot translates to "King's Fort". The city was founded in 1612 by Thakur Sahib Vibhoji Ajoji Jadeja, a member of the Jadeja Rajput clan and grandson of Jam Sataji of Nawanagar State (present-day Jamnagar). Vibhoji received the territory as a jagir (land grant) and established Rajkot as the capital of his princely state. Over time, Rajkot developed into an important administrative and cultural center in the Saurashtra region.
Under British rule, Rajkot served as the headquarters of the Kathiawar Agency and later as the capital of the Western India States Agency (WISA). The princely Rajkot state acceded to the Indian Union in 1948, following India’s independence in 1947.
It has had a long history and had a significant influence in the Indian independence movement. Rajkot was home to many personalities like Mahatma Gandhi. Rajkot is in a transition period of growing cultural, industrial, and economical activities. Rajkot is the 26th largest city in India and the 22nd fastest-growing urban area in the world.
Rajkot was the capital of Saurashtra state from 15 April 1948 to 31 October 1956 before merging in bilingual Bombay State on 1 November 1956. Rajkot was merged into Gujarat State from bilingual Bombay state on 1 May 1960. Thakur Saheb Pradyumansinhji died in 1973. His son, Manoharsinhji Pradyumansinhji, has carved out a political career at the provincial level, succeeded him. He served as a Member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly for several years and as the state Minister for Health and Finance. Monoharsinhji's son, Mandattasinh Jadeja has embarked on a business career.
On 26 January 2001, the 7.7Mw Gujarat earthquake shook Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured. This earthquake mainly affected the Kutch region of western Gujarat.
Rajkot is located at 22°18′N 70°47′E / 22.3°N 70.78°E. It has an average elevation of 128 metres (420 ft). The city is located on the bank of Aji River and Nyari River which remains dry except the monsoon months of July to September. The city is spread in the area of 170.00 km2.
Rajkot is situated in the region called Saurashtra in the Gujarat state of India. The significance of Rajkot's location is that it is one of the prime industrial centres of Gujarat. Rajkot has a central location in the area called the Kathiawar peninsula. The city is located within the Rajkot district in Gujarat. Rajkot city is the administrative headquarters of the district of Rajkot. The district is surrounded by Botad in the east, and Surendranagar in the north, Junagadh and Amreli in the south, Morbi in the northwest and Jamnagar in the west and Porbandar in the southwest.
Rajkot has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh), with hot, dry summers from mid-March to mid-June and the wet monsoon season from mid-June to October, when the city receives 670 millimetres or 26 inches of rain on average. However, this rainfall varies greatly from year to year – for instance less than 160 millimetres or 6.3 inches fell in 1911 and 1939 but more than 1,300 millimetres or 51 inches in 1878 and over 1,450 millimetres or 57 inches in the incomplete year of 1959. The months from November to February are mild, the average temperature being around 20 °C or 68 °F, with low humidity.
One of the most important weather phenomena that is associated with the city of Rajkot is the cyclone. The cyclones generally occur in the Arabian Sea during the months after the rainy season. The region experiences a lot of rainfall and high-speed winds during the time of the year after the monsoon season as well as the months of May and June. However, June experiences lesser amount of rainfall and winds than the post-monsoon time. Thunderstorms are another important part of the Rajkot weather in the months of June and July. During summer time, the temperature ranges between 24 and 42 °C (75.2 and 107.6 °F). In the months of winter, Rajkot temperature varies between 10 and 22 °C (50.0 and 71.6 °F) but on a whole winters are pleasant.
Rajkot has been ranked 14th best “National Clean Air City” (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India according to 'Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2024 Results'
As of the 2011 Census of India, Rajkot recorded a total population of 1,390,640. Rajkot city has an average literacy rate of 82.20%, higher than the national average. The population is 52.43% male and 47.47% female. Most of the population is Hindu with a Muslim and Jain minority.
Hinduism was the main religion, practiced by 89.90% of the population. Islam was the second-largest religion (7.68%). Jains were 1.90%.
At the time of the 2011 census, 94.60% of the population spoke Gujarati and 2.71% Hindi as their first language.
As with large parts of Gujarat, the people of Rajkot are primarily vegetarian.
Rajkot is multicultural. One can find many languages, like Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, English, Sindhi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi. However, only Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, and English are well understood. Rajkot is the part of Kathiyawad. Because of this, people of Rajkot are also known as Kathiyawadi.
Rajkot is frequently referred to as Rangilu Rajkot (રંગીલુ રાજકોટ), meaning "Colourful Rajkot". Rajkot is also called as "Chitranagri" (City of Paintings).
Rajkot has many historical landmarks. The Jubilee Garden is a large, open park in the centre of the city featuring many monuments from colonial times. Located prominently in the centre of the garden is the Connaught Hall. Other notable points of interest near the garden include the historic Mohandas Gandhi High School (Now Mahatma Gandhi Museum), Kaba Gandhi No Delo (Mohandas Gandhi's childhood residence), Rashtriya Shala, Watson Museum, Rotary Dolls Museum, Lang Library, Rotary Midtown Library and Niranjan Shah Stadium (originally Khanderi Stadium).
The Rotary Dolls Museum has a collection of more than 1,400 dolls from all over the world. This museum is being managed by Rotary Club of Rajkot Midtown along with Rajkot Nagrik Sahakari Bank. The Museum has earned a place in Limca Book of Records for its unique collection of dolls.
The Trimandir, a non-sectarian temple founded by Dada Bhagwan, is located at a short distance from the city.
Best LAW and Order city – 2013, Best Housing & Transport City- 2015, Safe City Award for Rajkot Eye-Way Project 2018, Best city for Women Safety- 2013, Best City Cleanliness and Sanitation- 2013, National Winner of WWF's One Planet City Challenge 2018, National Award For Implementation of Food Safety Act-2016
Rajkot is a major regional centre for the arts, with many venues for the performing arts in the city. Hemu Gadhavi Natyagraha.
Rajkot has its own native music genre, called Dayro, which is used to convey folk stories and sayings.
Cricket is the most popular sport in the city. One-day internationals, domestic tournaments such as the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy and many inter-school and collegiate tournaments are played at the Madhavrao Sindhia Cricket Ground. The newly constructed 2nd International Cricket Stadium situated in Rajkot, Niranjan Shah Stadium, formerly known as Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium and Khandheri Cricket Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Khandheri, about 15 kilometers outside Rajkot. The Stadium has a capacity of 28,000 spectators. In this cricket stadium, Day/Night matches can now also be played. It hosts the Indian national cricket team and Saurashtra cricket team matches. The stadium hosted its 1st International Cricket Match played on 11 January 2013 between India and England. Till date this venue has hosted multiple international Tests, ODIs and T20Is. This stadium also hosted several IPL matches during 2016-17, when Gujarat Lions opted for Rajkot as their home base. The stadium will part of a larger sports complex that will include venues for other sports such as badminton, basketball, and volleyball. Rajkot has produced cricketers such as Karsan Ghavri and Cheteshwar Pujara who have been members of the Indian national cricket team. Rajkot has many other cricket grounds around the city, including the Railway Cricket Ground and the Rajkumar College South Ground. Apart from cricket, other sports such as hockey, football, volleyball, badminton, tennis, table-tennis, chess, swimming, and squash are rapidly growing popular in the city. There has been a significant increase in recent years in the number of private sports clubs, gymkhanas, and gymnasiums. Kathiawar Gymkhana, Veer Savarkar Indoor Stadium, Swami Vivekananda Indoor Stadium and swimming pools of Rajkot Municipal Corporation are major sports clubs in the city. Recently, the Gujarat Hockey Team (Under 14) was assembled with all 16 players coming from Rajkot. A new modernized cricket ground is even under construction at the outskirts. Rajkot Municipal Corporation also owns a 9-hole golf course at Ishwaria. It is maintained by Green Meadows Golf Club.
Garba is popular among both, men and women and is performed during the festival of Navratri. The dance starts before midnight and continues until dawn. Mata Ambe, who rides a lion, has a special reverential status with any highly religious Gujarati. The 'Janmastami Mela' is organised for five days at the Race Course grounds to celebrate Janmastami. Diwali is one of the most important festival and is usually a week long holiday. Rajkot Municipal Corporation arranges the annual Fireworks Show for the citizens of Rajkot during the Diwali festival. Holi is also celebrated with frolic and is widely enjoyed by most of the city folk. People also celebrate Makar Sankranti (Uttarayan) on 14 January by flying kites from their terraces.
The city contributes to the economy of the state with heavy and small scale industries under the patronage of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and Gujarat State Financial Corporation (GSFC).
According to financial data published on the CityFinance Portal of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation reported total revenue receipts of ₹867 crore (US$104 million) and total expenditure of ₹1,009 crore (US$121 million) in 2022–23. Tax revenue accounted for about 31.6% of the total revenue, while the corporation received ₹55 crore in grants during the financial year.
Products made in Rajkot include jewellery, silk embroidery and watch parts. Industrial products include bearings, diesel engines, kitchen knives and other cutting appliances, watch parts (cases and bracelets), automotive parts, forging industry, casting industry, machine tools, share market and software development. The city is also home to several CNC machine and auto parts manufacturers.
There are about 500 foundry units in Rajkot. The cluster came up mainly to cater to the casting requirements of the local diesel engine industry. The geographical spread of the cluster includes Aji Vasahat, Gondal Road, Bhavanagar Road areas, Shapar, Veraval and Metoda. The majority of foundry units in Rajkot produce grey iron castings for the domestic market. About 2% of the foundry units export castings such as electric motor castings and automobile castings.
Rajkot also houses Western Region Pipelines Headquarter of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) near Gauridad village. Also natural gas industries like GSPL and GSPC are also present. A petroleum depot of IOCL is also present.
In 2006, the Rajkot Engineering Association announced plans too seek approval from the government of Gujarat to establish a Special Economic Zone.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Rajkot”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.