Being a very peaceful place in the otherwise disturbed North-East earned it the bon mot of "Island of Peace" from India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.The name "Silchar" has been originated from the Bengali words 'Shil' (a kind of stone) & 'Char' (river bank). During the British rule, ships were docked at the bank of the "River Barak" so a market developed at the bank of the river and became a major place of economic activity. The bank of the River Barak was covered with stones to help docking of ships and vessels and the market developed at a place which was fully covered with stones. People started to refer to the place as "Shiler Chor" means a bank of stone. Gradually "Shiler Chor" became "Silchar" for linguistic simplification. Later on, British officials started to use "Silchar" in their official documents referring the surrounding area of the market and "Silchar" became the official name of the place. Approximately 90% residents of Silchar are Bengalis who speak the Sylheti dialect, the rest being Manipuri-Meiteis, Marwaris, Bishnupriya Manipuris, and some tribal groups like Nagas. Silchar is situated by the banks of the Barak River in what is popularly known as Barak Valley. Rice is the staple cereal. Fish is also available. Shuţki (the local name for dried fish), shidal chutney, "chunga-r peetha" are some of the local delicacies. Over the past few years, the town is constantly witnessing a huge influx of people from nearby smaller places due to the town's increasing future prospects and other developments in the field of education, medical facilities and the more recently booming real estate market and other commercial enterprises, making the town quite an overcrowded one. It has the second highest population in the state, although the difference with the highest populated city, Guwahati, is quite huge.
After several years of persistent efforts, Silchar got its own university Assam University, a central university, which imparts education in both the general as well as professional streams. The university, which came in to existence in 1994, has 16 schools and 34 Post-Graduate departments under them. The university also has 51 affiliated colleges under it.
Some reputed schools in Silchar include Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Cachar High School, Adhar Chand H.S. School, Holy Cross School, Silchar Collegiate School, Narsing School, Govt. Boys School, Govt. Girls school, Muktashree High School, Pranabananda Holy Child School, South Point School, Oriental High School, Daffodils School, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Pranabananda Vidya Mandir, a couple of Kendriya Vidyalayas, Don Bosco School amongst others. Among the colleges, the best known ones are Guru Charan College, Cachar College, Ramanuj College, Radhamadhab College, Cachar College etc. Guru Charan College is one of the most respected and reputed colleges in the whole of Assam.
The city has a medical college, Silchar Medical College and Hospital, established in 1968,serving the southern regions of Assam There is also a Polytechnic Institute, B.Ed colleges, two Law colleges and one Industrial Training Institute (ITI).
Silchar is connected through meter gauge rail network with Lumding and Agartala and this is currently being updated to broad gauge lines. The railways station is located at Tarapur, Silchar.
There are regular bus services connecting Silchar with Guwahati, Shillong, Aizawl, Agartala and other places.
The airport is located at Kumbhirgram, about 22 km from Silchar and there are regular flights connecting Silchar with Kolkata, Guwahati, Tezpur, Agartala, Imphal & Aizawl. The airport is being mordernised and is considered as the second busiest in Assam in terms of passenger foot-fall and cargo, after Guwahati airport.
In December 1985, Air India operated the first all-woman crew flight in the world from Kolkata to Silchar which was commanded by Captain Saudamini Deshmukh on a Fokker F-27 Friendship aircraft.
In the 1850s, British tea planters re-discovered the game polo in Manipur on the Burmese border with India. The first polo club in the world was formed at Silchar. The first competitive modern form of Polo was also played out in Silchar and the plaque for this feat still stand at the back side of the District Library, Silchar. Other clubs followed and, today, the oldest in the world is the Calcutta Club, founded in 1862.
Category:Cities and towns in Cachar district Category:Cities in Northeast India Category:Cachar
as:শিলচৰ bn:শিলচর ca:Silchar de:Silchar es:Silchar fr:Silchar gu:સિલચર bpy:শিলচর id:Silchar it:Silchar pam:Silchar mr:सिलचर ru:Силчар vi:Silchar war:SilcharThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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