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Punjab State
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 Punjab
suffered the most destruction and damage at the time of
partition of India. Prior to partition the Punjab extended
across both sides of what is now the India-Pakistan border,
and its capital Lahore is now the capital of the Pakistani
state of Punjab. The major city in the Punjab is Amritsar,
the holy city of th e Sikhs. Chandigarh, a new planned
city, was conceived and built in the 1950s to serve as
the capital of the new Punjab. In 1966, Punjab underwent
another split. It was divided into the predominantly Sikh
and Punjabi- speaking state of Punjab and the state of
Haryana. At the same time some of the northern parts of
the Punjab were hived off to Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh
on the border of Punjab and Haryana, remains the capital
of the two states, yet is administered as a union territory
from Delhi. The Punjab's per capita income is nearly double
the all-India average (in second place is Haryana). Although
Punjabi's comprise less than 2.5% of India's population,
they provide 22% of India's Wheat and 10% of its rice.
The Punjab provides a third of all the milk production
in India. From the travellers point of view, the area
has just one attraction -the beautiful Golden Temple in
Amritsar. Apart from this the states are mainly places
of transit for travellers on their way to the Himachal
hill stations, Pakistan, and Kashmir. The Golden temple
- The sacred Sikh sanctuary, marbled, bronzed & covered
with gold leaf is at Amritsar. The historic Jallianwala
Bagh where Gen. Dyer's bullets killed scores of innocent
Indians and the beautiful Ram Bagh Gardens are other places
of interest. Chandigarh was designed by Le Corbusier,
is the state capital of Punjab and Harayana states. Covering
an area of 56 square Kms, it is the first `planned' city
of India.
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