India > Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand or Uttaranchal

Uttarakhand was previously known as Uttaranchal and it is the eighteenth largest state of India with an area of 53566 Sq Km. It is placed in the northern part of India. According to the census of India 2011, approximately 10 millions people reside here. Uttarakhand is mostly covered with mountains (93% of total region). Uttarakhand is separated by an international border with its neighboring country Nepal to the East and the neighboring state of Uttaranchal are Uttar Pradesh to the south, Nepal to the east, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana to the west and the northern parts are border by Himalayan Mountain Ranges. 

Mussoorie hill station

(Mussoorie hill station)

Uttarakhand or Uttaranchal is the 27th state of India. It was established in 2000 on 9th November with some region of Uttar Pradesh and Himalayans ranges by the Indian government. Dehradun is the provisional capital city of the state and the High Court is placed in Nainital. The major cities of Uttarakhand are Haridwar, Haldwani, Roorkee, Kashipur, Kotdwara, Rudrapur, Rishikesh, Pithoragarh, Manglaur, Ramnagar, Nainital, Almora, Mussoorie, Kotdwara and Srinagar. . The state is build up with 32 distinct districts which are comprises 39 Lok Sabha constituencies. 

The state is build up with 2 distinct divisions namely Kumaon and Garhwal which are contained with 17 district the Kumaon division - Almora, Ranikhet, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Didihat and Udham Singh Nagar. Garhwal division - Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkashi, Yamunotri, Chamoli, Pauri Garhwal, Rudraprayag and Kotdwar.  Read more...

Climate and Landforms of Uttarakhand

Landforms
Most of the northern or upper parts of the state are placed in Greater Himalaya ranges with elevation more over 5000 meters and covered by many Himalayan peaks and glaciers. And the middle of the state is placed between the elevation ranges of 3000 meters to 5000 meters. This region is covered with the western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows. The lower parts of the state are situated (bellow 1500 meters) in the foothills of great Himalayans which are thickly covered with subtropical pine forests. And the plain southern region of the state is covered with drier Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands along the Uttar Pradesh border which is locally known as Bhabhar. 

Climate
The climate of Uttarakhand has two distinct climatic zones - the mountainous climatic zone and the smaller plain climatic zone. The climatic condition of the plains is almost similar to other plains regions of India and its temperatures varies between 25°C to 40°C in summer and winter is little cold with temperatures below 5°C. 

Climate of a region vary with its elevation changes and so the temperatures of the state are different in different elevation zone. The climate of southern foothill of Uttar Anchal is subtropical type with average temperature 30°C in summer and 18°C in winter. Middle parts of the state have marked an average temperature of 16°C in summer and winters drop below the freezing point. The northern part of the state is placed in higher elevation range of Himalayans which is usually cold alpine climate type and almost of the region covered with snow and ice throughout the year.

Culture of Uttarakhand or Uttaranchal

Festivals in Uttarakhand
Dussehra or Dasara is most popular festival in Uttarakhand. It is celebrated during the month of September or October. Other popular festivals of the state are Diwali, Lakshmi Puja, Holi (festival of colors), Id al-Ftr and Christmas. Near about 85% of total population in Uttarakhand belongs to Hinduism. There have several sacred places and Temples for Hindus like Haridwar, Rishikesh, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Hemkund. Lots of religious or temple festivals are organized in these sacred places basically in winter. 

Languages in Uttarakhand
People of Uttaranchal usually use Hindi dialect as their main spoken and official language, more than 87.95% of inhabitants speak this language and rest are use Urdu (5.86%), Punjabi (2.91%), Nepali (1.07%) and other 2.21% of local tribal generally use some regional native languages like Kumaoni, Garhwali, Pahari, Jaunsari, Bhotiya and Sanskrit. 

Religions in Uttarakhand
The people of Uttaranchal mainly follow Hindu religion (85% of total population), Islam (10.5%), Sikhs (2.5%) and rest are Christians, Buddhists and Jains. The local tribal of the state usually follows the Hindu religion and they locally called as Kumaoni or garhwali and they lived in Garhwal or Kumaon region. Hindu communities are classified in three different castes- Rajput, Brahmin and Shilpkar among them Brahmin community keep a large scale (20%) of total population.