Visakhapatnam 'The City of Destiny', a port and industrial city brimming with cosmopolitan culture is in the news because Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's government has announced that it would be the new capital of the state.
Vizag is home to the headquarters of Eastern Naval Command and had trade relations with the Middle East and Rome during ancient times. In 1682 it became a settlement of a branch of East India Company. The city became more famous when Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi laid foundation stone for a Steel Plant which was dedicated to the nation by former PM PV Narasimha Rao in the year 1992.
Some important facts about the 'Jewel of the east coast':
Visakhapatnam is the third largest city on East Coast beside Kolkata and Chennai with 682 square kilometres. It is also known as the Jewel of the East Coast.
Visakhapatnam is the largest and most populous city of Andhra Pradesh. It is between the Eastern Ghats and the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It is the second- largest city on the east coast of India after Chennai and the fourth-largest in South India. It is one of the four smart cities of Andhra Pradesh selected under the Smart Cities Mission.
India’s first naval base was also established in Vizag which is one of the 3 major bases of Eastern Naval Command.
It is the only city in India with two of the largest ports in the country- the Vizag port and Gangavaram Port. Visakhapatnam port, which started in 1933, is one of the 13 major ports in India.
In 1941, Hindustan Shipyard Limited was first started in India in Visakhapatnam which is the oldest shipyard built with over 170 vessels.
India’s first Submarine Museum was opened in the city. INS Kursura is one of the first four submarines bought by the Indian navy in 1969 and played a key role in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.
In July 2009, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh formally launched the indigenously-built nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant at the naval dockyard of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) in Visakhapatnam which was India’s first nuclear submarine.
Visakhapatnam is the land of Alluri Seeta Rama Raju who was a famous Indian revolutionary of India’s independence movement against the British.
The city is connected to Chennai and Kolkata via Bhubaneswar and Vijayawada by National Highway 16.
It is also one of the major tourist spots in India with places to visit like Borra Caves, Kailasagiri, Araku Valley, Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, Rama Krishna Beach, and others.
Visakhapatnam is considered one of the traces of Buddhism. It is believed that the Buddhist artefacts discovered in the Thotlakonda Buddhist Complex are estimated to date back between the first century BC to the second century AD.
Other States of India and their capital cities:
India is the seventh largest country in the world. It lies in southern Asia and is officially known as the Republic of India. There are 28 states and 8 Union territories in our country.
Image Source: https://www.mapsofindia.com/
List of states with their capitals is as follows:
Andhra Pradesh- Vishakapatnam (to be announced)
Arunachal Pradesh- Itanagar
Assam- Dispur
Bihar- Patna
Chhattisgarh- Raipur
Goa- Panaji
Gujarat- Gandhinagar
Haryana- Chandigarh
Himachal Pradesh- Shimla
Jharkhand- Ranchi
Karnataka- Bengaluru
Kerala- Thiruvananthapuram
Madhya Pradesh- Bhopal
Maharashtra- Mumbai
Manipur- Imphal
Meghalaya- Shillong
Mizoram- Aizawl
Nagaland- Kohima
Odisha- Bhubaneswar
Punjab- Chandigarh
Rajasthan- Jaipur
Sikkim- Gangtok
Tamil Nadu- Chennai
Telangana- Hyderabad
Tripura- Agartala
Uttar Pradesh- Lucknow
Uttarakhand- Dehradun (Winter)
Gairsain- (Summer)
28. West Bengal- Kolkata
List of Union territories with their capitals is as follows:
Andaman and Nicobar Islands- Port Blair
Chandigarh- Chandigarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu- Daman
Delhi- New Delhi
Jammu and Kashmir- Srinagar (Summer) &
Lakshadweep- Kavaratti
Puducherry- Pondicherry
Ladakh- Leh