New Delhi (/ˈdɛli/ ( listen))[4][5] is an urban district of Delhi which serves as the capital of India and

seat of all three branches of the Government of India.

The foundation stone of the city was laid by Emperor George V during the Delhi Durbar of 1911.[6] It
was designed by British architects, Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker. The new capital was
inaugurated on 13 February 1931,[7] by Viceroy and Governor-General of India Lord Irwin.
Although colloquially Delhi and New Delhi are used interchangeably to refer to the National Capital
Territory of Delhi (NCT), these are two distinct entities, with New Delhi forming a small part of Delhi.
The National Capital Region is a much larger entity comprising the entire NCT along with adjoining
districts in neighboring states.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Establishment
o 1.2Post-independence
 2Geography
o 2.1Seismology
o 2.2Climate
o 2.3Air quality
 3Demographics
o 3.1Religion
 4Government
 5Economy
 6Culture
o 6.1Historic sites, museums and gardens
 7Transport
o 7.1Air
o 7.2Road
o 7.3Railway
o 7.4Metro
 8Cityscape
o 8.1Architecture
 9Sports
 10Aerial view of New Delhi
 11International relations and organisations
o 11.1Sister cities
 12See also
 13References
 14Bibliography
 15External links

History
Establishment
Lord Curzon and Lady Curzon arriving at the Delhi Durbar, 1903.

The Delhi Durbar of 1911, with King-Emperor George V and Queen-Empress Mary seated upon the dais.

Calcutta (now Kolkata) was the capital of India during the British Raj, until December 1911. Calcutta
had become the centre of the nationalist movements since the late nineteenth century, which led to
the Partition of Bengal by then Viceroy of British India, Lord Curzon. This created massive political
and religious upsurge including political assassinations of British officials in Calcutta. The anti-
colonial sentiments amongst the public led to complete boycott of British goods, which forced the
colonial government to reunite Bengal and immediately shift the capital to New Delhi.[8]
Old Delhi had served as the political and financial centre of several empires of ancient India and
the Delhi Sultanate, most notably of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857. During the early 1900s,
a proposal was made to the British administration to shift the capital of the British Indian Empire, as
India was officially named, from Calcutta on the east coast, to Delhi.[9] The Government of British
India felt that it would be logistically easier to administer India from Delhi, which is in the centre of
northern India.[9] The land for building the new city of Delhi was acquired under the Land Acquisition
Act 1894.[10]
During the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, George V, then Emperor of India, along with Queen
Mary, his consort, made the announcement[11][12] that the capital of the Raj was to be shifted
from Calcutta to Delhi, while laying the foundation stone for the Viceroy's residence in
the Coronation Park, Kingsway Camp.[13][14] The foundation stone of New Delhi was laid by King
George V and Queen Mary at the site of Delhi Durbar of 1911 at Kingsway Camp on 15 December
1911,[15] during their imperial visit. Large parts of New Delhi were planned by Edwin Lutyens, who
first visited Delhi in 1912, and Herbert Baker, both leading 20th-century British architects.[16] The
contract was given to Sobha Singh. The original plan called for its construction in Tughlaqabad,
inside the Tughlaqabad fort, but this was given up because of the Delhi-Calcutta trunk line that
passed through the fort. Construction really began after World War I and was completed by 1931.
The city that was later dubbed "Lutyens' Delhi" was inaugurated in ceremonies beginning on 10
February 1931 by Lord Irwin, the Viceroy.[17] Lutyens designed the central administrative area of the
city as a testament to Britain's imperial aspirations.[18][19]
The 1931 postage stamp series celebrated the inauguration of New Delhi as the seat of government. The
one rupeestamp shows George V with the "Secretariat Building" and Dominion Columns.

Soon Lutyens started considering other places. Indeed, the Delhi Town Planning Committee, set up
to plan the new imperial capital, with George Swinton as chairman, and John A. Brodie
and Lutyens as members, submitted reports for both North and South sites. However, it was rejected
by the Viceroy when the cost of acquiring the necessary properties was found to be too high. The
central axis of New Delhi, which today faces east at India Gate, was previously meant to be a north-
south axis linking the Viceroy's House at one end with Paharganj at the other. Eventually, owing to
space constraints and the presence of a large number of heritage sites in the North side, the
committee settled on the South site.[20] A site atop the Raisina Hill, formerly Raisina Village,
a Meo village, was chosen for the Rashtrapati Bhawan, then known as the Viceroy's House. The
reason for this choice was that the hill lay directly opposite the Dinapanah citadel, which was also
considered the site of Indraprastha, the ancient region of Delhi. Subsequently, the foundation stone
was shifted from the site of Delhi Durbar of 1911–1912, where the Coronation Pillar stood, and
embedded in the walls of the forecourt of the Secretariat. The Rajpath, also known as King's Way,
stretched from the India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The Secretariat building, the two blocks of
which flank the Rashtrapati Bhawan and houses ministries of the Government of India, and
the Parliament House, both designed by Baker, are located at the Sansad Marg and run parallel to
the Rajpath.
In the south, land up to Safdarjung's Tomb was acquired to create what is today known as Lutyens'
Bungalow Zone.[21] Before construction could begin on the rocky ridge of Raisina Hill, a circular
railway line around the Council House (now Parliament House), called the Imperial Delhi Railway,
was built to transport construction material and workers for the next twenty years. The last stumbling
block was the Agra-Delhi railway line that cut right through the site earmarked for the hexagonal All-
India War Memorial (India Gate) and Kingsway (Rajpath), which was a problem because the Old
Delhi Railway Station served the entire city at that time. The line was shifted to run along
the Yamuna river, and it began operating in 1924. The New Delhi Railway Station opened in 1926,
with a single platform at Ajmeri Gate near Paharganj, and was completed in time for the city's
inauguration in 1931.[22][23] As construction of the Viceroy's House (the present Rashtrapati
Bhavan), Central Secretariat, Parliament House, and All-India War Memorial (India Gate) was
winding down, the building of a shopping district and a new plaza, Connaught Place, began in 1929,
and was completed by 1933. Named after Prince Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught (1850–1942), it was
designed by Robert Tor Russell, chief architect to the Public Works Department(PWD).[24]
After the capital of India moved to Delhi, a temporary secretariat building was constructed in a few
months in 1912 in North Delhi. Most of the government offices of the new capital moved here from
the 'Old secretariat' in Old Delhi (the building now houses the Delhi Legislative Assembly), a decade
before the new capital was inaugurated in 1931. Many employees were brought into the new capital
from distant parts of India, including the Bengal Presidency and Madras Presidency. Subsequently,
housing for them was developed around Gole Market area in the 1920s.[25] Built in the 1940s, to
house government employees, with bungalows for senior officials in the nearby Lodhi Estate
area, Lodhi colony near historic Lodhi Gardens, was the last residential areas built by the British
Raj.[26]

Post-independence

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the home of the President of India

After India gained independence in 1947, a limited autonomy was conferred to New Delhi and was
administered by a Chief Commissioner appointed by the Government of India. In 1966, Delhi was
converted into a union territory and eventually the Chief Commissioner was replaced by a Lieutenant
Governor. The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 declared the Union Territory of Delhi
to be formally known as National Capital Territory of Delhi.[27] A system was introduced under which
the elected Government was given wide powers, excluding law and order which remained with the
Central Government. The actual enforcement of the legislation came in 1993.
The first major extension of New Delhi outside of Lutyens' Delhi came in the 1950s when the Central
Public Works Department (CPWD) developed a large area of land southwest of Lutyens' Delhi to
create the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri, where land was allotted for embassies, chanceries,
high commissions and residences of ambassadors, around a wide central vista, Shanti Path.[28]

Geography
With a total area of 42.7 km2 (16.5 sq mi), New Delhi forms a small part of the Delhi metropolitan
area.[29] Since the city is located on the Indo-Gangetic Plain, there is little difference in elevation
across the city. New Delhi and surrounding areas were once a part of the Aravali Range; all that is
left of those mountains is the Delhi Ridge, which is also called the Lungs of Delhi. While New Delhi
lies on the floodplains of the Yamuna River, it is essentially a landlocked city. East of the river is the
urban area of Shahdara. New Delhi falls under the seismic zone-IV, making it vulnerable to
earthquakes.[30]

Seismology
New Delhi lies on several fault lines and thus experiences frequent earthquakes, most of them of
mild intensity. There was a spike in the number of earthquakes between 2011 and 2015, most
notable being a 5.4 magnitude earthquake in 2015 with its epicentre in Nepal, a 4.7-magnitude
earthquake on 25 November 2007, a 4.2-magnitude earthquake on 7 September 2011, a 5.2-
magnitude earthquake on 5 March 2012, and a swarm of twelve earthquakes, including four of
magnitudes 2.5, 2.8, 3.1, and 3.3, on 12 November 2013.

Climate
See also: Climate of Delhi
The climate of New Delhi is a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa)
bordering a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) with high variation between summer and winter in
terms of both temperature and rainfall. The temperature varies from 46 °C (115 °F) in summers to
around 0 °C (32 °F) in winters. The area's version of a humid subtropical climate is noticeably
different from many other cities with this climate classification in that it features long and very hot
summers, relatively dry and mild winters, a monsoonal period, and dust storms. Summers are long,
extending from early April to October, with the monsoon season occurring in the middle of the
summer. Winter starts in November and peaks in January. The annual mean temperature is around
25 °C (77 °F); monthly daily mean temperatures range from approximately 14 to 34 °C (57 to 93 °F).
New Delhi's highest temperature ever recorded is 48.4 °C (119.1 °F) on 28 June 1883 while the
lowest temperature ever recorded is −2.2 °C (28.0 °F) on 11 January 1967, both of which are
recorded at Indira Gandhi International Airport (formerly known as Palam Airport).[31] The average
annual rainfall is 714 millimetres (28.1 in), most of which is during the monsoons in July and
August.[32]