Deekshabhoomi, the largest hollow stupa or the largest dome shape monument and an important place of buddhist movement, is located in Nagpur. Every year on the day of Vijayadashmi i.e. Dasehara, followers of Ambedkar visit deekshabhoomi. The 14 April, which is birth date of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar is celebrated. The most famous Temple in Nagpur is Tekdi Ganesh Mandir, and is said to be one of the Swayambhu (means Self-Manifested) temple in city. Sri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir and Shri Mahalaxmi Devi temple of Koradi are important Hindu temples. Religious events are observed in the city throughout the year. Ram Navami is celebrated in Nagpur with shobha yatra with a procession of floats depicting events from the Ramayana. Processions are also held on important festivals of other religions such as Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din, Vijayadashami, Eid E Milad, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti, Durga puja, Ganesh Chaturthi and Moharram. Like the rest of India, Nagpurkars celebrate major Hindu festivals like Diwali, Holi and Dussera with enthusiasm. Celebrations lasting for several days are held on Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja festivals in virtually every small locality in the city. The city also contains a sizeable Muslim population, and famous places of worship for Muslims include the Jama Masjid-Mominpura and Bohri Jamatkhana-Itwari.The most famous Dargah of Hazrat Tajoddin Baba at Taj Baug.The St. Francis De Sales Cathedral is located in Sadar as well as the All Saints Cathedral church.

Human existence around present-day Nagpur city can be traced back 3000 years to 8th century BC. Mehir burial sites at Drugdhamna (near MHADA Colony) indicate that the megalithic culture existed around Nagpur and is still followed. The first reference to the name “Nagpur” is found in a 10th century copper-plate inscription discovered at Devali in the neighbouring Wardha district. The inscription is a record of grant of a village situated in the visaya (district) of Nagpura-Nandivardhana during the time of the Rastrakuta king Krsna III in the Saka year 862 (940 CE). Towards the end of the 3rd century, King Vindhyasakti is known to have ruled the Nagpur region. In the 4th century, the Vakataka Dynasty ruled over the Nagpur region and surrounding areas and had good relations with the Gupta Empire. The Vakataka king Prithvisena I moved his capital to Nagardhan (ancient name Nandivardhana), 28 kilometres (17 mi) from Nagpur. After the Vakatakas, the region came under the rule of the Hindu kingdoms of the Badami Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, and finally the Yadavas. In AD 1296, Allauddin Khilji invaded the Yadava Kingdom after capturing Deogiri, after which the Tughlaq Dynasty came to power in 1317. In the 17th century, the Mughal Empire conquered the region. However, regional administration was carried out by the Gond kingdom of Deogarh-Nagpur in the Chhindwara district of the modern-day state of Madhya Pradesh.

Nagpur is a major education centre in Central India. College of Agriculture, Nagpur is the oldest college in the country founded in 1906 by the then British Government. The college is held at the historic and heritage Victoria Building (built in 1856 for stay of Queen of England Her Highness Victoria at Nagpur) at Maharajbagh, Nagpur. Founded in 1923, Nagpur University is one of the oldest in the country. The name has been officially changed to Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University. The city has both municipal schools (run by the NMC) as well as private schools (run by trusts or individuals), which in some cases receive financial aid from the government. The city’s school system follows a 10+2+3/4 plan, students have the option to enroll in Junior college after 10 years of schooling and later degree courses for three or four years depending on the field. The school system has a geographical jurisdiction over the five districts of Nagpur division in addition to giving affiliation to hundreds of colleges.The Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, one of the premiere colleges of science and technology in the country is located in Nagpur. Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur, one of the reputed B-schools of India is located on a sprawling campus on way to Katol.

Maharashtra State road transport Corporation (MSRTC) runs cheaper transport service for intercity, interstate, interstate travel. It has two bus stations in Nagpur: Nagpur Bus Sthanak (CBS-1) at Ganeshpeth and MorBhawan (CBS-2) at Jhansi Rani Square, Sitabuldi. It operates 1600 daily services from CBS-1 to long and short distances within state and to places in other surrounding states. It also operates 750 daily services from CBS-2 to short distances within Vidarbha. Its services include semiluxury 2+2 NEEM AARAAM, Parivartan 2+2, Asiad 2+2, and ordinary ST 2+3.Bus services are available for big cities in and around the states like Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Raipur, Satna, Rewa, Raipur, Panna, Amravati, Raipur, Jagdalpur, Bilaspur, Mandla, Katni, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik, Mumbai, Nanded, Akola, Jalgaon, Bhusawal, Rajnandgaon, Latur, Buldhana, Washim, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Gondia, Parbhani, Hyderabad, Nijamabad, and Adilabad.

In 1803 Raghoji II joined the Peshwa against the British in the Second Anglo-Maratha War, but the British prevailed. After Raghoji II’s death in 1816, his son Parsaji was deposed and murdered by Mudhoji II. Despite the fact that he had entered into a treaty with the British in the same year, Mudhoji joined the Peshwa in the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1817 against the British but suffered a defeat at Sitabuldi in present-day Nagpur city. The fierce battle was a turning point as it laid the foundations of the downfall of the Bhonsles and paved the way for the British acquisition of Nagpur city. Mudhoji was deposed after a temporary restoration to the throne, after which the British placed Raghoji III, the grandchild of Raghoji II, on the throne. During the rule of Raghoji III(which lasted till 1840), the region was administered by a British resident. In 1853, the British took control of Nagpur after Raghoji III died without leaving an heir.

The government of Maharashtra formed a special-purpose entity in the name of Maharashtra Airport Development Company for development of MIHAN. The project is financed by multiple Indian banks with total loan amount of INR 3,000 million along with investment from state government and Airports Authority of India. With a projected target of serving 14 million passengers and handling 0.87 million tones of cargo this is one of largest aviation project in India. The estimated capital cost of the project is INR 2581 crores (by year 2035) and is supposed to generate revenues INR 5280 crores.Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), india’s largest IT company is constructing its development centre in MIHAN and is to be operational by 2014. Boeing has also constructed its MRO in MIHAN.Lupin, a pharmaceutical company is constructing its new R&D division here. IT majors like Wipro, Infosys, Mahindra Satyam and HCL have acquired lands in MIHAN.

Recent history ascribes the founding of Nagpur to Bakht Buland, a prince of the kingdom of Deogarh-Nagpur. The next Raja (king) of Deogarh was Chand Sultan, who resided principally in the country below the hills, fixing his capital at Nagpur, which he turned into a walled town. On Chand Sultan’s death in 1739, Wali Shah, an illegitimate son of Bakht Buland, usurped the throne and Chand Sultan’s widow invoked the aid of the Maratha leader Raghuji Bhonsle of Berar in the interest of her sons Akbar Shah and Burhan Shah. The usurper was put to death and the rightful heirs placed on the throne. After 1743, a series of Maratha rulers came to power, starting with Raghoji Bhonsle, who conquered the territories of Deogarh, Chanda and Chhattisgarh by 1751.

The Hingna industrial estate on the western fringes of the city is made up of around 900 small and medium industrial units. The major ones among them are tractor manufacturing plant of Mahindra and Mahindra, casting units of NECO Ltd. (the country’s largest casting group), units of International Combustion, Bajaj Auto group, Candico (the second largest confectionery manufacturing plant in India), Ajanta toothbrushes, and Sanvijay Group (largest steel rolling group of companies for long products in Central India). Nagpur is home to ice-cream manufacturer Dinshaws, Indian dry food manufacturer Haldiram’s, Indian Ready to Cook food manufacturer Actchawa and Ayurvedic product company Vicco and Baidnath.

The Vidharbha region has its own distinctive cuisine known as the Varhadi cuisine or Saoji cuisine. Saoji or Savji cuisine was popularised by the Savji community. This traditional food is famous for its spicy taste. The special spices used in the gravy include black pepper, dry coriander, bay leaves, grey cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and ample use of poppy seeds (khus-khus). Non-vegetarian food especially chicken and mutton are commonly eaten in Saoji joints at Nagpur. There are a line of Savji bhojanalays in Nagpur that are very popular in Maharashtra. So much so that the Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor once featured Savji mutton on one of his shows and its recipe is listed on his website.

As Nagpur is located at the centre of the Indian peninsula, far from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, it has tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen climate classification) with dry conditions prevailing for most of the year. It receives an annual rainfall of 1,205 mm (47.44 inches) from monsoon rains during June to September. The highest recorded daily rainfall was 304 mm on 14 July 1994. Summers are extremely hot, lasting from March to June, with May being the hottest month. Winter lasts from November to January, during which temperatures can drop below 10 °C (50 °F). The highest recorded temperature in the city was 48.6 °C on 29 May 2012, while the lowest was 3.9 °C.

After Indian Independence in 1947, Central Provinces and Berar became a province of India and in 1950 became the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, again with Nagpur as its capital. When the Indian states were reorganised along the linguistic lines in 1956, Nagpur and Berar regions were transferred to Bombay state, which in 1960 was split between the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. At a formal public ceremony on 14 October 1956 in Nagpur B. R. Ambedkar with his supporters converted to Buddhism starting Dalit Buddhist movement which is still active. In 1994, the city witnessed its most violent day in modern times in form of Gowari stampede deaths.

Nagpur is an important city for the Indian armed forces. The city is the headquarters of Maintenance Command of Indian Air Force. The Indian Army’s ordnance factory and staff college are in the western part of the city. Nagpur’s suburb Kamptee has cantonment of regimental center of Indian Army’s Brigade made up of National Cadet Corps’ Officers’ Training School, Institute of Military Law and other establishments. Nagpur’s National Civil Defense College provides civil defence and disaster management training to pupils from all over India and abroad. Indian Air Force’s giant IL-76 transport planes nicknamed “Gajraj” are also based in Nagpur.

Nagpur lies on the Deccan plateau of the Indian Peninsula and has a mean altitude of 310.5 meters above sea level. The underlying rock strata are covered with alluvial deposits resulting from the flood plain of the Kanhan River. In some places these give rise to granular sandy soil. In low-lying areas, which are poorly drained, the soil is alluvial clay with poor permeability characteristics. In the eastern part of the city, crystalline metamorphic rocks such as gneiss, schist and granites are found, while in the northern part yellowish sand stones and clays of the lower Gondwana formations are found.

Nagpur’s economy is currently recovering from past slowdowns and the city has attracted Rupees 5,000 crore in investment in 2004. It was ranked the 11th most competitive city in the country by the Institute for Competitiveness in its 2012 report. The city is important for the banking sector as it hosts the regional office of Reserve Bank of India, which was opened on 10 September 1956. The Reserve Bank of India has two branches in Nagpur in which one of it houses India’s entire gold assets. Sitabuldi market in central Nagpur, known as the Heart of the city, is the major commercial market area.

Nagpur is an emerging metropolis. In 2004, it was ranked the fastest growing city in India in terms of the number of households with an annual income of Rs 1 crore (10 million) or more. Nagpur has been the main center of commerce in the Vidarbha region since its early days and is an important trading location. However, Nagpur’s economic importance had gradually declined relative to Mumbai and Pune after the merging of Vidarbha into the Maharashtra because of a period of neglect by the state government. During the slowdown, state and central government offices were a major source of employment.

Three brothers Ghulam Ali (Kotwal), Mohammad Saaduddin (Subedar) and Mohammad Saladuddin (Minister and Kotwal) from Jhajjar are remembered as great scholars of Urdu and Persian during the reign of Maharaja Senasaheb Subha Chhatrapati Raghuji Bapusaheb Bhonsle III. They founded ‘Jhajjar Bagh’ at Hansapuri (Now Mominpura). In this location, they built their residence ‘Aina-e Mahal’, a well and a Masjid (now Masjid Ahle Hadith). ‘Jhajjar Bagh’ also known as ‘Subedar ka Bada’ was located where nowadays Mohammad Ali Road at Mominpura, Jamia Masjid, Mohammad Ali Sarai and Furqania Madrasa are located.

Nagpur (Nagpur) ( pronunciation (help·info)) also known as Nagpore is the winter capital of the state of Maharashtra. It is a fast-growing metropolis and the third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune and third most industrialized city after Mumbai and Pune. With a population of 2,405,421 (2011 census figures) Nagpur Metropolitan Area is the 13th largest urban agglomeration in India. According to a survey by ABP News-Ipsos, Nagpur has been identified as the best city in India by topping the liveability, greenery, public transport, and health care indices.

From 1853 to 1861, the Nagpur Province (which consisted of the present Nagpur region, Chhindwara, and Chhatisgarh) became part of the Central Provinces and Berar and came under the administration of a commissioner under the British central government, with Nagpur as its capital. Berar was added in 1903. Tata group started the country’s first textile mill at Nagpur formally known as Central India Spinning and Weaving Company Ltd. The company was popularly known as “Empress Mills” as it was inaugurated on 1 January 1877, the day queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.

The city contains people from other Indian states as well as people belonging to the world’s major faiths, and yet is known for staying calm during communal conflicts in India. Nagpur plays host to cultural events throughout the year. Cultural and literary societies in Nagpur include Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh (for development of Marathi), Vidarbha Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti (promotion and spreading Hindi) and Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (for promoting Hindi). Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, the conference on Marathi Literature were held twice in Nagpur city.

Nagpur Mahanagar Parivahan Ltd (NMPL) is the company formed with elected municipal corporators on board that caters to the city public transport. It has contracted Vansh Nimay Infraprojects (VNIL) to run city buses. It has a fleet of 470 Low-floor StarBuses that serve around 2.5Lakh citizens daily in the urban, suburban, metro areas. Of the total fleet 88 are low floor MiniBuses, and 382 are low floor 50 seater StarBuses as shown in the picture below. 240 buses are acquired under JNNURM and 230 are acquired under purchase-run-transfer basis by VNIL.

The Butibori industrial area is the largest in all of Asia in terms of area. The estate’s largest unit is of Indo Rama Synthetics, which manufactures synthetic polyester yarn. Other units in Butibori include the power transmission company KEC, Hyundai Unitech, ACC Nihon Castings Ltd. Koradi Thermal Power Station and Khaparkheda Thermal Power Station are the two major thermal power stations located near Nagpur and operated by MSPGCL. NTPC has a super thermal power plant in Mauda around 40 km from Nagpur whose first plant is commissioned.

The Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground (VCA) in Nagpur is one of the nine test venues in the country. A new stadium of VCA called Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium has been built on Wardha road with a seating capacity of 45,000 people at cost of 75 crore (US$14 million) and was one of the venues for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.Nagpur have one more cricket stadium named as VCA, Civil Lines which also hosted international matches.Thus Nagpur is one of the few cities, having more than one international cricket stadium in India.

The South Central Cultural Centre also sponsors cultural events in Nagpur city, such as the Orange City Craft Mela and Folk Dance Festival, Vidarbha which is noted for its numerous folk-dances. Nagpur is a head office of Aadim Sanvidhan Sanrakshan Samiti(working for the rights of scheduled tribes). Newspapers are published from Nagpur in Marathi, English and Hindi. In addition, the Government of Maharashtra organises a week-long Kalidas Festival, a series of music and dance performances, by national level artists.

State government’s Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) is formed in joint partnerships with equal shares from City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Maharastra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). Singapore Changi Airport have been selected as the consultants for the project. Indian Air Force(IAF) is going to come up with its own Gajraj project alongside MIHAN.

The site inspection has already begun in March 2012 with the initiatives from NIT. The Rs 10,000-crore project will be executed by a new company called Nagpur Metro Transport Co Ltd (NMTCL) formed under the NIT. NMC, Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC) — that is currently developing the MIHAN project – MIDC and CIDCO are the other participating organisations. MIHAN vice-chairman UPS Madan will be the chairman of the new company and NIT chairman Parvin Darade will be its executive director.

As the project progresses, Nagpur will see an influx of migrants adding to city’s population. The existing city bus service would not be able to cope up with this. So a new bus mass transit system would be started with combine efforts from NMC, NIT, MSRTC and MIDC each organisation playing part in it. NMC and NIT are together responsible for civic administration in Greater Nagpur Metropolitan Area and MSRTC along with Indian Railways would be responsible for developing logistic infrastructure.

Nagpur is the headquarters of some national scientific and governmental establishments such as the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), the Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), the National Research Centre for Citrus, the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Aluminium Research and Development Centre, and the Petroleum And Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), formerly known as the Department of Explosives.

Nagpur is home to India’s only National Fire Service College that provides a graduation course in Fire Engineering. Nagpur houses IGNOU regional center.. Also Indian Institute of Fire Engineering (IIFE) is another institution affiliated with Maharashtra Board of Technical Education (MSBTE) and Director of Technical Education (DT Board, Mumbai) that provides diploma courses in Fire Engineering, Safety and Security Management and located on Katol road.

Nagpur is administered by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), which is a democratically elected civic governing body. Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) works with NMC and carries out works such as development of the civic infrastructure and new urban areas on behalf of NMC. The city is divided into 10 zones, which are, in turn, divided into 145 wards. Each ward is represented by a corporator, majority of whom are elected in local elections.

Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur is an airport project for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur. It is the biggest economical development project currently underway in India in terms of investments. The project aims to exploit the central location of Nagpur and convert the present airport into a major cargo hub with integrated road and rail connectivity. This project consists of two parts:

Nagpur Metro Region Development: In the year 1999, the government of Maharashtra declared that the Nagpur Metropolitan Area shall comprise all of Nagpur city, Nagpur Gramin (rural areas near Nagpur), Hingna, Parshivni, Mauda and Kamptee Taluka and parts of Savner, Kalmeshwar, Umred and Kuhi. The boundaries of the “Metro region” around the municipal corporation limits of the city have been defined as per the notification.

The city was founded by the Gonds and later became a part of the Maratha Empire under the Bhonsles. The British East India Company took over Nagpur in the 19th century and made it the capital of the Central Provinces and Berar. After the first reorganisation of states, the city lost its status as the capital. Following the informal “Nagpur Pact” between political leaders, it was made the second capital of Maharashtra.

The Nagpur Metro Rail project is announced by the state government of Maharashtra for the city with the expenses of 4,400 Cr and 3,800 Cr Rupees for its two phases of 25 km (from Sitabuldi to MIHAN and Butibori via Airport) and 20 km (Sitabuldi to Automotive Square in Kamptee) respectively. Consultants Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) will study the alignment and submit a detailed project report.

Nagpur is known for its greenery and was adjudged the cleanest and second greenest in India after Chandigarh in 2010. Recently, the government of India selected Nagpur as a model city for the National Clean Air Mission by allocating 25 crores for the plan. This project will be handled by Nagpur’s own National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).

The non-cooperation movement was launched in the Nagpur session of 1920. The city witnessed a Hindu–Muslim riot in 1923 which had profound impact on K. B. Hedgewar, who in 1925 founded the RSS, a Hindu nationalist organisation in Nagpur with an idea of creating a Hindu nation. After the 1927 Nagpur riots RSS gained further popularity in Nagpur and the organisation grew nationwide.

Nagpur is a major junction for roadways as India’s two major national highways, Kanyakumari-Varanasi (NH 7) and Hajira-Kolkata (NH-6), passing through the city. One more highway number 69 connect Nagpur to Obaidullaganj near Bhopal. Nagpur is at the junction of two Asian Highways namely AH43 Agra to Matara, Sri Lanka and AH46 connecting Kharagpur, India to Dhule, India.

Nagpur is the seat of the annual winter session of the Maharashtra state assembly, “Vidhan Sabha”. Nagpur is a major commercial and political center of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. In addition, the city derives political importance from being the headquarters for the Hindu nationalist organisation RSS and an important location for the Dalit Buddhist movement.

Nagpur is currently witnessing an economic boom as the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) is under development. MIHAN will be used for handling heavy cargo coming from south east Asia and the Middle East. The project will include 10000 crore (US$1.8 billion) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Information Technology (IT) companies.

The Nag river, a tributary of the Kanhan river, has been named after its serpentine course; the word for “serpent” in Marathi being “Nag”. Nagpur, which lies on the banks of the Nag, takes its name from the river. The word “pur” means “city” in many Indian languages. During the British rule, the name of the city was spelt and pronounced “Nagpore”.

Nagpur city is dotted with natural and artificial lakes. The largest lake is Ambazari. Other natural lakes include Gorewada Lake and Telangkhedi lake. Sonegaon and Gandhisagar lakes are artificial, created by the city’s historical rulers. Nag river, Pilli Nadi along with nallas form the natural drainage pattern for the city.

As of the 2011 census, Nagpur municipality had a population of 2,405,421 and the urban agglomeration had a population of 2,523,911. The municipality had a sex ratio of 961 females per 1,000 males and 9.9% of the population were under six years old. Effective literacy was 93.13%; male literacy was 96.16% and female literacy was 89.99%.

Nagpur is well connected by daily direct flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Indore, Ahmedabad, Goa, Jaipur, Kochi, Nanded, Aurangabad, Raipur operated by Air India, Jet Airways, JetLite, IndiGo, GoAir, SpiceJet. Air Arabia operates a 4 times a week to and fro flight between Nagpur and Sharjah.

Nagpur is also called the “Tiger Capital of India” as it connects many tiger reserves in India to the world. It is among the important cities for the Information Technology sector in Maharashtra. Nagpur lies at the dead center of the country with the Zero Mile marker indicating the geographical center of India.

The new state highway, Nagpur–Aurangabad–Mumbai express highway, built on the national highway basis is also sanctioned by the state and central government. This highway connects the state capital Mumbai to Nagpur via Aurangabad and significantly reduces the distance travelled by NH 6 and NH 3 between two cities.

Nagpur is a city with great capabilities to grow and prosper in the coming days. It is very important for State and Central Governments to contribute to the growth, development, prosperity of Nagpur. Nagpur completed 300 years of establishment in the year 2002. A big celebration was organised to mark the event.

The city is the Divisional Head Quarters for the Central Railway and South East Central Railway Zone of Indian Railways. In 2010 Jan aahar opened its outlet in Nagpur Railway station. Jan aahar has only a few of its outlets in India offering light and healthy food at very affordable prices.

The Raman Science Centre promotes scientific knowledge and has a 133 seat planetarium. The present day Maharajbagh zoo was originally a garden developed by the Bhonsle rulers. The state government has approved a new safari park of international standards besides Gorewada Lake.

Indian Railways would have new station coming up near MIHAN to connect cargo hub with countries rail network. MADC would later play a larger role in Maharashtra for airports not owned by AAI and IAF. CIDCO has been selected as it had successfully formed the CIDCO city near Mumbai.

State and Central government (NHAI) also approved the extension of NH 204 from Kolhapur to Nagpur via Solapur, Tuljapur, Latur, Nanded, Yavatmal, Wardha and Butibori, which mainly covers all the portion covered by the current Major State Highway, MSH 3 between Butibori and Tuljapur.

Nagpur’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) is the busiest in India, with more than 300 flights flying over the city every day in 2004. In October 2005, Nagpur’s Sonegaon Airport was declared an international airport and was renamed Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.

In 2002, the government extended the jurisdiction of the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) outside the limits of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) by 25 to 40 kilometres. This new area was defined under clause 1(2) of NIT Act-1936 as “Nagpur Metropolitan Area”.

Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Jainism are four major religions in Nagpur with 66.0%, 11.0%, 20.0% and 1.5% of the population following them. Others are 1.5%. 52.5% of Nagpur’s population is in the 15–59 years age category. Around 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

The Vidarbha Cricket Association promotes and develops Cricket by conducting various League Tournaments,Tournaments for the age group Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, and Under-19, Under-22 and Under-25 categories besides organising and conducting National Tournaments.

A total of 160 trains stop at Nagpur. These include passenger, express, mail, Duronto, rajdhani, garib rath trains. Of these 65 are daily trains and 26 terminate/originate from Nagpur. Almost 1.5 lakh passengers board/leave Nagpur Railway Station daily.

Vidarbha Cricket Association affiliated to the Board of control for cricket in India is the parent body or governing the game of Cricket in Vidarbha, and involved in the conduct of the game from the grass root level to the International level.

Nagpur Premier League: NPL (Nagpur Premier League), a football tournament, is held at Nagpur annually and was started in 2010. The people in Nagpur city and the region given a great response to Nagpur Premier League with great enthusiasm.

Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) is the governing body of the Cricket activities in the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra state of India and the Vidarbha cricket team. It is affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Nagpur is the home to the National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) where officers of the revenue Services are trained and the National Academy of Defence Production (NADP), where officers of ordnance factories are trained.

Nagpur is the Medical Hub of Central India. In fact Nagpur recently has been awarded as the Best City in India for Health Care Service by ABP News-Ipsos There are many Government and Private run Hospitals in Nagpur.

Nagpur boasts vast forests and tiger sanctuaries within a radius of few hundred kilometers. In fact, Nagpur has been declared as tiger capital of the country. Some famous national parks surrounding Nagpur are:

N. K. P. Salve remained President of Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) (1972 – 1980), he later remained president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) 1982 to 1985.

The Hitavada, The Indian Express, The Times Of India, The Economic Times and Lokmat Times are the prominent English Newspapers which are published and circulated in Nagpur.

Tiger tourism is witnessing a good growth in the city. Nagpur is attracting lot of foreign tourists as it holds the advantage of having an international airport.

Owing to natural resource richness of region, mining is major activity. Several government organizations related to Mining industry are based in Nagpur.

It is famous for the Nagpur Orange and is known as the “Orange City” for being a major trade center of oranges cultivated in the region.

Itwari and Mahal areas also host large number of small businesses and are very famous for shopping and crowded especially during holidays.

Nagpur is the largest city in central India in terms of population as per the 2001 census. List of localities in Nagpur

Indian Air Force has its base at Sonegaon near Nagpur International Airport. It houses Mi8 Helicopters and the IAF carriers IL-76.