Hyderabad pronounced [ haidarabad ] (Telugu: హైదరాబాద్, Urdu: حیدرآباد) is the capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It also goes by sobriquet "City of Pearls". It is largest city in Andhra Pradesh & sixth largest in India with a population of 6.38 million. Hyderabad was founded by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 on the banks of Musi [ River ]. Today the city covers an area of approximately 621.28 km². The city has been classified as an A-1 city in terms of development priorities, due to its size, population and impact. The twin cities, Hyderabad and Secunderabad comes under the ambit of a single municipal unit, The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Hyderabad has developed into one of the major hubs for the information technology industry in India which has earned it additional sobriquet "Cyberabad" ". In addition to IT industry, various biotechnology andpharmaceutics companies have set up their operations in Hyderabad. The city is home to Telugu Film Industry, the second-largest in India, known popularly asTollywood. Residents of Hyderabad are generally called Hyderabadis. Located at the crossroads of North& South India, Hyderabad has developed a unique culture, reflected in its language & architecture.


Thursday, August 12, 2010

Transport In Hyderabad

Road

Hyderabad is connected to the rest of the country by National HighwaysNH-7, NH-9 and NH-202. Hyderabad is also well connected to the remaining parts of the state. Like other cities, Hyderabad suffers from traffic congestion. Completion of the Inner Ring Road and construction of the Outer Ring Road encircling Hyderabad city is also underway and is touted to make travel in the city easier. Manyflyovers and underpasses are also being constructed to ease traffic congestion in the city.


Rail

Railways were first introduced in the city in the year 1869 with the commencement ofSecunderabadWadi line of Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway. Secunderabad Railway Station is the headquarters of the South Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways and is the largest railway station serving Hyderabad. The other major railway stations serving the city are Hyderabad Deccan Station (Nampally), Kachiguda Railway Station and Begumpet Railway Station. These stations provide connectivity within the city and the rest of the country.

Hyderabad has a light rail transportation system known as the MultiModal Transport System (MMTS) which offers connectivity between rail and road transport for the facility of the commuters. MMTS provides connectivity to very few parts of the city, and is not much suitable for exploring the city.MMTS is still in infancy and has been designed by people not aware of public transport needs. Hyderabad Metro is the proposed rapid transit for the city. The deadline of the bidding process has been delayed consistently.


Air

There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of passengers leading to increased air traffic The Airport at Begumpet was unable to cope up with the situation and was shut down on 2008-03-22. The new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport was opened in March 2008 by Sonia Gandhi at Shamshabad, southwest of the city The airport has the longest runway in India and caters to the high passenger and cargo volumes it experiences. There are flights to many destinations, both domestic and international from this airport.

The PV Narasimha Rao Expressway was constructed at an elevated level from Mehdipatnam toRajendranagar along with an underpass and trumpet interchange for providing dedicated high speed travel to the airport. It is the longest flyover in India. There are three wide roads leading to the new airport from the city and modern taxis and buses can shuttle passengers between the city and the airport. The Nehru Outer Ring Road serves as an expressway between Gachibowli and Shamshabad. The other airports located here are Dundigul Air Force Academy, Nadirgul Airport and Hakimpet Airport.

Economy Of Hyderabad

Hyderabad is the financial, economic and political capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh. The city is the largest contributor to the state's gross domestic product, state tax and excise revenues. Hyderabad ranks 93rd (as of 2008) in the List of richest cities in the world by GDP (PPP) with US$60 bn and sixth in India. In terms of GDP per capita (PPP), Hyderabad ranks 4th in India with US$6,428. The workforce participation is about 29.55%. Starting in the 1990s, the economic pattern of the city has changed from being a primarily service city to being one with a more diversified spectrum, including trade, transport, commerce, storage, communication etc.Service industry is the major contributor, with urban workforce constituting 90% of the total workforce. Hyderabad was ranked the 2nd best Indian city for doing business in 2009.

Hyderabad is known as the city of pearls, lakes and, lately, for its IT companies. The bangles market known as Laad Bazaar is situated near Charminar. Products such as silverware, saris,Nirmal and Kalamkari paintings and artifacts, unique Bidri handcrafted items, lacquer banglesstudded with stones,silk ware, cotton ware and handloom-based clothing materials are made and traded through the city for centuries.

Hyderabad is a major centre for pharmaceuticals with companies such as Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Matrix Laboratories, Hetero Drugs Limited, Divis Labs, Aurobindo Pharma Limited, Lee Pharma and Vimta Labs being housed in the city. Initiatives such as Genome Valley, Fab City and the Nano Technology park are expected to create extensive infrastructure in bio-technology.

Like many Indian cities, Hyderabad has witnessed a high growth in the real estate business, thanks to an information-technology-driven boom in the 1990s and the retail industry growth over the last few years which have spurred hectic commercial activity. A number of mega malls have come up or are being built in the city. Real estate demand in the suburban and rural areas surrounding Hyderabad has gone up exponentially leading to a rapid increase in prices over the past few years. Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills and Himayath Nagar areas are considered the posh residential areas of Hyderabad.

The retail industry in Hyderabad is on the rise. Many international and national brands have set up retail chains here. The city has multiple Central Business Districts (CBDs) spread across the city. There are many major business/commercial districts from the older Charminar area to newer Kothaguda. For the advancement of infrastructure in the city, the government is building a skyscraper business district at Manchirevula, near Rajendranagar with a 450 m supertall structure APIIC Tower at its centre. Also, the Lanco Hills near Gachibowli presents the tallest structure in India for residential and commercial purposes.

The largest employers in Hyderabad are the Andhra Pradesh Government and the Government of India with 113,098 and 85,155 employees respectively.

Information technology industry

Hyderabad has established itself as the leading destination for IT and IT-enabled services, pharmaceuticals call centres and entertainmentindustries. Many computer software companies, software consulting firms, business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, dealing with IT and other technological services firms have established their offices and facilities in the city since the 1990s.

The development of a township with related technological infrastructure called HITEC Cityprompted several IT and ITES companies to set up operations in the city. An aggressive promotion of growth in this area has led civic boosters to call the city Cyberabad. There have been extensive investments in digital infrastructure within the city promoting the setting up of several campuses by a vast array of companies within the city. This list includes several multinational corporations having established their development centres in the city. Major areas where such campuses have been set up are Madhapur, Kondapur, Gachibowli and Uppal.

Several Fortune 500 corporations, mostly related to IT or BPO services industry. Microsoft (with its largest R&D campus outside the US), Oracle Corporation,Capgemini, Accenture, ADP, Agilent, Alcatel Lucent,Amazon, AMD, AT&T, Bank of America, Computer Associates, CSC, Convergys, Dell, Deloitte,DuPont, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Fidelity Investments, Franklin Templeton, GE, Google,Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, Hyundai, IBM, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Rockwell Collins, SAP AG, UBS AG, Verizon, Virtusa, Wells Fargo have a significant presence in Hyderabad.

Major Indian IT Corporations such as Mahindra Satyam, HCL, Infosys, Wipro, Patni Computer Systems, Cognizant Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Persistent Systems and Polaris Software Lab Limited also have development centres in the city.

Facebook is setting up an office in the city soon.


Administration Of Hyderabad

AP High Court at Hyderabad, the supreme judicial body of the State of Andhra Pradesh

The city is administered by a nagar nigam called Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation(GHMC)now HMDA Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, whose titular head is theMayor of Hyderabad who has few executive powers. In the past, the mayor was chosen by the legislative body of the corporation, but just before the last elections, the state government modified the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955, to stipulate that the mayoral election be held directly and simultaneously with the corporation elections. The real executive power of the corporation is vested in the Municipal Commissioner, an IAS officer appointed by the Andhra Pradesh state government. The Mayor and the Corporation legislative body can and have been in the past dismissed by the state government. For several years elections had not been held for the corporation. Recently the corporation completed its full term and elections are due to the GHMC and for the post of Mayor.

The GHMC is in charge of the civic needs and the infrastructure of the city. Hyderabad is divided into 150 municipal wards, each overseen by a corporator. The corporators of the administration are elected through popular vote, and almost all the political parties field candidates.The twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad are in three districts, Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy andMedak. The administration of each district is headed by a District Collector who is in charge of property records and revenue collection for theCentral government. The district collectors also oversees the elections held in the city.


Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in Hyderabad

Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), a planning agency chaired by the Chief Minister along with an IAS cadre officer has been formed to undertake developmental activities in a jurisdiction of above 6,250 km². The Hyderabad Metropolitan area falls under the following districts each headed by a collector: Hyderabad district- full (16 Mandals), Medak district- part (10Mandals), Rangareddy district-part (22 Mandals), Mahboobnagar district- part (64 Mandals),Nalgonda district-part (4 Mandals)

Hyderabad voters send 24 members to the Legislative Assembly, whose constituencies come under 5 Lok Sabha segments. The new Assembly segments and their respective parliamentary constituencies(PC) are: Malkajgiri, Kukatpally, Uppal, Lal Bahadur Nagar (LB Nagar), Secunderabad Cantonment, Quthbullapur under Malkajgiri PC; Musheerabad, Amberpet, Khairatabad, Jubilee Hills, Sanathnagar, Nampally, Secunderabad under Secunderabad PC; Malakpet, Karwan, Goshamahal, Yakutpura, Charminar, Chandrayanagutta, Bahadurpura under Hyderabad PC; Maheswaram, Rajendranagar, Serilingampally under Chevella PC and Patancheru under Medak PC.

The city is divided by the state police into Hyderabad Police and Cyberabad Police which come under the state Home Ministry and are headed by Police Commissioners, who are IPS officers. Basheerbagh houses important government offices such as the Police Commissioner's office, Police Control room, Income tax Commissioner's office, Central Excise and customs office, Central Reservation office etc. The city is divided into five police zones, each headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police. The Traffic Police is a semi-autonomous body under the Hyderabad and Cyberabad commissionerates.

Hyderabad is the seat of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, and also has two lower courts - the Small Causes Court for civil matters and theSessions Court for criminal cases. The High Court and Legislature are heritage buildings built by Nizam.

Demographics Of Hyderabad

Birla Mandir is a Hindu temple built entirely from white marble.

The city's population in 2001 was 3.6 million and it has reached over 4.0 million by 2009 making it among the most populated cities in India, while the population of the metropolitan area was estimated above 6.3 million. Muslims constitute about 40% of the population, making Hyderabad's Muslim community the largest in Andhra Pradesh. Muslims have substantial presence across the city and are predominant in and around Old City. Christians constitute a small amount of the city's population. Churches are located across the city and the popular ones are in Abids and Secunderabad areas.

Telugu and Urdu are the principal languages spoken in the city. English and Hindi have a strong presence in Hyderabad. Other widely spoken languages here are Marathi, Kannada, Tamil,Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarathi, Punjabi, Nepali

Urdu spoken here is also unique, with influences of Turkish, Persian, Hindi and Telugu, giving rise to a dialect sometimes called Hyderabadi Urdu or Deccani. The official language, Telugu, varies a little across the state but the core language remains the same.

Geography Of Hyderabad

Hussain Sagar Lake, an man-made lake built by Hazrat Hussain Shah Wali, during the rule of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah

Situated on the Deccan Plateau, Hyderabad has an average elevation of about 536 metres above sea level (1,607 ft). Most of the area has a rocky terrain and some areas are hilly. Crops are commonly grown in the surrounding paddy fields.

The original city of Hyderabad was founded on the banks of river Musi. Now known as the historic Old City, home to the Charminar and Mecca Masjid, it lies on the southern bank of the river. The heart of the city saw a shift to the north of the river, with the construction of many government buildings and landmarks there, especially south of the Hussein Sagar lake. The rapid growth of the city, along with the merging of Hyderabad, 12 municipal circles and the Cantonmenthas resulted in a large, united and populous area. Still so many villages near by are getting a facelift to merge in the twin cities in the near future.


Climate

Hyderabad has a tropical wet and dry climate that borders on a semi-arid climate, with hot summers from late February to early June, the monsoon season from late June to early October and a pleasant winter from late October to early February. In the evenings and mornings, the climate is generally cooler because of the city's good elevation. Hyderabad gets about 32 inches (about 810 mm) of rain every year, almost all of it concentrated in the monsoon months. The highest maximum (day)temperature ever recorded was 45.5 o C (113.9 °F) on 2 June 1966, while the lowest minimum (night) recorded temperature was 6.1o C (43 °F) on 8 January 1946.