Demographics

The peripheral regions of Uttar Pradesh, are home to a number of tribal communities such as Agaria, Baiga, Bhar, Bhoksa, Bind, Chero, Gond, Kol and Korwa. Five of these tribal communities have been recoginised by the Government of India as disadvantaged scheduled tribes, viz. Tharus, Boksas, Bhotia, Jaunswaris and Rajis.

Politics

The State Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) has 403 electoral constituencies. In the Uttar Pradesh Elections, 2007, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party achieved unexpected majority status, leading to her emergence as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. This is the first time, since 1991 victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a majority, that a single party has gained absolute majority; the last two decades having been mostly dominated by various coalitions among the Samajwadi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Bahujan Samaj Party. One characteristic of the BSP win in 2007 was the amalgamation of Brahmin votes into this Dalit dominated party, as opposed to the decades-old trend of deep-rooted electoral divisions in the state between Dalits, Upper Castes, Muslims and different OBC groups, which tend to vote in blocks. Mayawati, having won 206 seats, took the oath of secrecy for the post of UP's next CM on 13 May 2007. She became Chief Minister for the fourth time. Along with her 19 cabinet rank ministers, 21 Ministers of State holding Independent Charge were also sworn in by the Governor T. V. Rajeswar. Some of the prominent names of her cabinet colleagues are: Awadhpal Singh,, Badshah Singh, Nasimuddin Siddiqui, Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, Ratanlal Ahirwar and Sudhir Goyal. Former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party stood second in State with 97 seats.

Political leadership

Ch. Charan singh, Ch. Ajeet Singh, Kokab Hamid, Sompal Shastri and many of the politicians are from Baghpat Distt.

The contemporary political scene is also interesting in the national context. Heirs-apparent to the Nehru-Gandhi family have adopted U.P. as their home state. Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi represents Rae Bareli and her son Rahul Gandhi Amethi, Sultanpur. Indira Gandhi's younger daughter-in-law Maneka Gandhi is a seven time BJP Parliamentarian from Aonla, while her son Varun Gandhi has also made his debut as a BJP politician and is a member of Lok Sabha from Pilibhit. Other prominent politicians include BJP leader and past Human Resources Development minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, SP leader and ex-Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav whose workplace is Mainpuri and Badaun., BSP leader and now fourth time Chief Minister Mayawati, BJP President and ex-Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, former BJP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh and ex-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and later of Uttarakhand, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Ex-Deputy Chief & Finance Minister Laxmi Raman Acharya, Ex-Minister for State for Environment & Forest, & also Minister for Education [Vir Sen, Khurja & Hapur], Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Ex Information & Broadcasting Minister, Govt. of India, Zafar Ali Naqvi Minister of Education, UP Govt. etc.

At the lowest tier of political pyramid the state has a large number of village councils, known as Panchayats, which are similar to those found in other states in India.

Education

The region of Uttar Pradesh had a long tradition of learning, although it had remained mostly confined to the elite class and the religious establishment. Sanskrit-based education comprising the learning of Vedic-to-Gupta periods, coupled with the later Pali corpus of knowledge and a vast store of ancient-to-medieval learning in Persian/Arabic languages, had formed the core of Hindu-Buddhist-Muslim education, until the rise of British power. The present schools-to-university system of education owes its inception and development here, as in the rest of the country, to foreign Christian missionaries and the British colonial administration.

Banaras Hindu University is a Central University located in Varanasi. It evolved out of the Central Hindu College of Varanasi, set up by Annie Besant – a colourful British lady of Irish descent – who joined hands with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in April 1911 for a common Hindu University at Varanasi. Eventually, the Banaras Hindu University started functioning from 1 October 1917, with the Central Hindu College as its first constituent college. Most of the money for the university came from Hindu princes and its present campus was built on land donated by the Kashi Naresh. Regarded as the one among the largest residential universities in Asia, it has more than 128 independent teaching departments; several of its colleges – including science, linguistics, law, engineering (IT-BHU) and medicine (IMS-BHU) – are ranked amongst the best in India. The university's total enrollment stands at just over 15000, including the students from abroad. It will be the only university in India that will host one of the IITs in its premises, the IT-BHU, from academic session 2010.

The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur – set up in 1960 in the industrial city of Kanpur and now known as IIT-Kanpur or 'IITK' – is one of the famous internationally respected Indian Institutes of Technology; it is primarily focused on teaching of undergraduates in engineering and related sciences and technologies and research in these fields. It is also among the very few institutions which enjoys the status of Institute of National Importance .It was the first college in India to star a education in Computer Science.

The Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad was formerly Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College, Allahabad. It is among one of the leading institutes in INDIA and was established in year 1961 as a joint enterprise of Govt. of India and Govt. of U.P. in accordance with the scheme of establishment of REC. However with effect from June 26 of 2002 the college became deemed university and is now known as Motilal Nehru National Institute of technology and declared as an Institute of National Importance.MNNIT was the first college in India to give B.Tech degree in Computer Scince and Engineering and among the very few colleges in India to have PARAM Supercomputer.

The Indian Institute of Management Lucknow is among premier management schools in India.

The Allahabad University (Hindi: इलाहाबाद विश्वविद्यालय), is a premier Central University located in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Its origins lie in the Muir Central College, named after Lt. Governor of North-Western Provinces, Sir William Muir in 1876, who suggested the idea of a Central University at Allahabad, which later evolved to the present University, and at one point it was called the "Oxford of the East", and on June 24, 2005 its Central University status was restored through the 'University Allahabad Act, 2005', of the Parliament of India.

The Aligarh Muslim University is a residential academic institution. This entire university is spread in over 1.5 km². Modelled on the British University of Cambridge, it was established by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in 1875 – then named as Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College – and in 1920 it was granted the status of a Central University by an Act of Indian Parliament. Located in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, it was among the first institutions of higher learning set up during the British Raj.

The Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad is the centre of excellence in Information Technology and is reputed to produce one of the best programmers.

The school of Management Sciences (SMS), Varanasi is an autonomous educational institution approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of HRD, Govt of India. It was established in 1995, by SMS Society, A philonthrphic non profit organization registered under Societies Registration Act 1860. The Inderprastha Dental College & Hospital is an autonomous education insititution approved by Dental Council of India ranked as the Best Private Dental College in Delhi NCR.

The Uttar Pradesh Technical University is one of the famous technical university in India, known as UPTU,which provide the 'Technical Education' includes programmes of education, research and training in Engineering, Technology, Architecture, Town Planning, Pharmacy, Applied Arts & Crafts and such other programmes and areas that the central Government may in consultation with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) by notification in Gazette declare. There are five government engineering college of uptu : # Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur # Madan Mohan Malaviya Engineering College, Gorakhpur # The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow # Kamla Nehru Institute of Technology, Sultanpur # Bundelkhand Institute of Engineering & Technology, Janshi.

There are many other reputed schools in the State's capital Lucknow, including the famous St. Francis' College, Lucknow and La Martinière College. Other schools, like Loreto Convent, St Agnes' Loreto High School, CMS are also there.

The Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences (Formerly Allahabad Agricultural Institute, Deemed-to-be-University)established in 1910,is striving to acquire a place in the arena of International Science and Technology while holding a pioneering status in India. The University offers thirty nine (39) Undergraduate Programmes, hundred and one (101) Postgraduate programmes, eighteen (18) Diploma programmes and Doctoral programe in various disciplines.

Economy

Uttar Pradesh is the second largest state-economy in India contributing 8.34% to India's total GDP. Between 2004 and 2009, Uttar Pradesh grew at 6.29% and is now quite close to the miracle growth norm (which is 7% by international norm). Most of the part of this growth was contributed in period of 2007-09 after Mayawati took the charge of Uttar Pradesh. She decided to promote the Lucknow region as another IT destination after Noida. Some IT giants like TCS have already started their campus in Lucknow since 2008-09.

The major economic activity in the state is agriculture; in 1991, 73% of the population in the state was engaged in agriculture and 46% of the state income was accounted for by agriculture. UP has retained its preeminent position in the country as a food-surplus state.

Uttar Pradesh is home to largest number of Small Scale industrial units in the country, with 12% of over 2.3 million units. But, industrial output has been adversely affected by erratic power supply from the UP State Electricity Board and remains far below its full production capacity. Unavailability of adequate raw materials at competitive prices is another negative factor. Also, like in most parts of India, traders and middlemen make most of the profits while the labour class lives at subsistence level. Nevertheless, labour efficiency is higher in UP at 26 than the national average of 25.

With a solid GDP of US$20 billion, Kanpur is the largest economic hub of Uttar Pradesh - followed by Lucknow - that is why Kanpur is assigned the status of economic capital of Uttar Pradesh and is the only city of the State listed in the 'Top 10 Indian cities'. Following are some of the important industrial hubs in the state:

Kanpur is the largest shoe-manufacturing centre in the country with strong leather, engineering, chemical and other booming sector Industries.

NOIDA is among the top IT (Information Technology) destinations of the country while Lucknow is an emerging one.

Meerut, a manufacturing centre of sports goods, sharp tools like scissors and also of gold ornaments, is regularly listed among the top tax-paying cities in the country.

Mirzapur and Bhadohi are manufacturing centres and worldwide exporters of carpets and cotton durries.

Moradabad, a famous production centre of traditional 'Moradabadi' metalware, has emerged now as a major producer and exporter of stainless steel utensils also.

Aligarh is a manufacturing hub of brass, zinc, aluminium, iron door fittings and is also famous for its padlocks. These items are exported all over the world.

Agra was visited by more than 8 million domestic and 825,000 foreign tourists in 2006, followed by Varanasi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Vrindaban, Budaun and Mathura.Agra is also famoush for handicraft items, gold jewellery and a number of small scale industries.

Economy is gearing itself to cater to contemporary Western tastes and life style in upper class Uttar Pradeshis; elegant shopping malls are coming up in big cities to satisfy their needs. The economy also benefits from the State's thriving tourism industry.

Allahabad has glass, wire based industries. The main industrial area of Allahabad is Naini and Phulpur, where several public and private sector companies have their units, offices and factories. These include AREVA T&D; India [2] (a division of multinational Areva Group), Bharat Pumps & Compressors (BPC)[3] which is a Miniratna now, Indian Telephone Industries Limited [ITI] was set up in Naini in the year 1971 for the manufacture of transmission equipment. The major products are optic fibre systems of both PDH and SDH and telephone instruments of various types, Reliance Industries - Allahabad Manufacturing Division, Hindustan Cables also called as HCL which has now been taken over by defence for its revival, Triveni Structurals Limited (TSL, a subsidiary of Bharat Yantra Nigam), GEEP battery factory etc. Indian Farmers Fertilizer Co-Operative is in Phulpur. IFFCO's Phulpur complex has two Urea production units and once was world’s largest fertiliser complex based on naphtha as feed stock. But owing to environmental concerns, it has been switched to Natural Gas based Plant Baidyanath Ayurved has its unit in Naini, Allahabad

Tourism

The city of Agra, gives access to three World Heritage Sites: Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and the nearby Fatehpur Sikri. Taj Mahal is a mausoleum built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is cited as ''"the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". Agra Fort is about 2.5 km northwest of its much more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled palatial city. Fatehpur Sikri was the world famous 16th century capital city near Agra, built by the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great, whose mausoleum in Agra is also worth a visit. Dayal Bagh in Agra is a modern day temple and popular tourist sight. Its lifelike sculptures in marble are unique in India. Agra's dubious modern attractions include Asia's largest Spa as well as Asia's first and only 6D theatre.

''The pilgrimage circuit'' includes the holiest of the Hindu holy cities on the banks of sacred rivers Ganges and the Yamuna: Varanasi (also considered world's oldest city), Ayodhya (birth place of Lord Rama), Mathura (birth place of Lord Krishna), Vrindavan (the village where Lord Krishna spent his childhood), and Allahabad (the confluence or 'holy-sangam' of the sacred Ganges-Yamuna rivers).

Varanasi is widely considered to be one of the oldest cities in the world. It is famous for its ghats (bathing steps along the river), full of pilgrims year round who come to bathe in the sacred Ganges River.

Mathura is world-famous for its colourful celebrations of the Holi festival, which attracts many tourists also – thanks partly to the hype, which the Indian film industry has given to this highly entertaining socio-religious festival.

Thousands gather at Allahabad to take part in the Magh Mela festival, which is held on the banks of the Ganges. This festival is organised on a larger scale every 12th year and is called the Kumbha Mela, where over 10 million Hindu pilgrims congregate — proclaimed as one of the largest gathering of human beings in the world.

Budaun is also a city which attracts thousands of tourists annually. Its religious city with many historical monuments and tombs of many famous people.

The historically important towns of Sarnath and Kushinagar are located not far from Varanasi. Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath after his enlightenment and died at Kushinagar; both are important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists. Also at Sarnath are the Pillars of Ashoka and the Lion Capital of Ashoka, both important archaeological artifacts with national significance. At a distance of 80 km from Varanasi, Ghazipur is famous not only for its Ganges Ghats but also for the Tomb of British potentate Lord Cornwallis, maintained by the Archeological Survey of India.

Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, has several beautiful historical monuments such as Bara Imambara and Chhota Imambara. It has also preserved the damaged complex of the Oudh-period British Resident's quarters, which are being restored.

Some of the main natuaral protected areas in Uttar Prdesh are:-

Some areas require a special permit for non-Indians to visit.

Transportation

''Airways'': The state has four major airports and 23 airstrips. Cities that have nationally well connected. Lucknow an International airport is the largest and most important airport of the state. Domestic airports are Gorakhpur, Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad and Varanasi.

''Railways'': Almost all the major as well as smaller cities of the state are linked through railways. It has largest railway network in the country; with a total length of 8,546 km (as on 2006) and the sixth largest railway density.

''Roadways'': The state has largest road network in the country, after Maharashtra. It boasts of 31 National Highways (NH), with a total length of 4,942 km (8.5% of total NH length in India). Approx. each and every city is connected to State highways, most important of them are SH33, SH29 and SH51. Budaun city is the key city of these highways. It has seventh highest road density in India, (1,027 km per 1000 km,² as on 2002 ) and largest surfaced urban road network in the country (50,721 km, as on 2002). Cities of Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Allahabad, Varanasi, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Agra and Ghazipur are connected to a number of National Highways. With an existing expressway between Lucknow and Kanpur, new expressways are coming up between Agra and Noida and between Noida and Ballia ( through Budaun). The State Government’s road transport company Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) serves nationalized routes in the state for intrastate and interstate transport. The State also set up the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority with the task of developing 7 new expressways.

''Waterways'': A long stretch of the river Ganges – from Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) to Haldia (West Bengal) – has been declared as National Waterway (NW)-I and 600 km of the total NW-I lies in Uttar Pradesh.

Although, the state has a large and diversified transportation network, its condition and functioning need substantial improvement.

Culture

Architecture

Medieval kings and emperors have left imposing monuments: forts, palaces, temples, mosques and mausoleums, whose external and internal grandeur recalls the opulence of those times. British colonial architecture is still seen in many cities' judicial buildings, hospitals, banks, post offices, police stations, and railway stations.

Art and craft

Language and literature

Uttar Pradesh is the seat of Hindi literature, and has produced many legendary writers and poets like Jaishankar Prasad, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Munshi Premchand, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Babu Gulabrai, Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Agyeya', Rahul Sankrityayan, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Dharamvir Bharati, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Dushyant Kumar, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, Chandramani Brahmdutt, Acharya Kuber Nath Rai, Bharatendu Harishchandra, Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena, Shivmangal Singh Suman, Pushpa Singh Visan, Mahadevi Varma, Vibhuti Narain Rai, Pushpendra Naagar and man more

Dance and music

Kathak, a classical dance form, involving gracefully coordinated movements of feet and arms along with the entire body, grew and flourished in Uttar Pradesh. Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh, was a great patron and a passionate champion of Kathak. Today, the state is home to two prominent schools of this dance form, namely, Lucknow Gharana and Banaras Gharana.

In modern times, Uttar Pradesh has given to the world music legends like Anup Jalota, Baba Sehgal, Girija Devi, Gopal Shankar Misra, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Kishan Maharaj, Naushad Ali, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Shubha Mudgal, Siddheshwari Devi, Talat Mehmood, and Ustad Bismillah Khan. The legendary Ghazal singer Begum Akhtar was also a native of Uttar Pradesh; ''"Ae Mohabbat Tere anjaam pe rona aaya"'' is said to be one of her best musical performances of all times. Uttar Pradesh is also the birthplace of British pop legend Sir Cliff Richard. The Bhatkhande Music Institute University at Lucknow is named after the great musician Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande.

The region's ''folk heritage'' includes songs called rasiya (known and especially popular in Braj), which celebrate the divine love of Radha and Shri Krishna. These songs are accompanied by large drums known as ''bumb'' and are performed at many festivals. Other folk dances or folk theater forms include:

''Lokrang Sanskritik Samiti'' – an organisation of Jogia Janubi Patti, Fazilanagar, Kushinagar – is doing research work in the field of Folk-songs, Folk-artists and Folk-cultures. In the month of May, every year the Samiti organises its function "Lokrang". More than 150 artists and writers participate in this programme.

Cuisine

A formal vegetarian meal of Uttar Pradesh consists of chapatis, rotis (flatbread) and/or puris (deep fried puffed flatbreads), daal (thick lentil soup), rice (boiled white rice), vegetable curries (one or more of dry/fried and semi-liquid curries each), curd, pickles, papad (thin spicy crackers) and a variety of sweets ( gulab jamuns, rasmalai, rabri, jalebi, laddoos of varying varieties, pethas, kheer, gujhiys and many others). It is normally served in metal dishes and traditionally eaten without the use of cutlery, sitting on the bare floor. When a large gathering is to be feasted in a traditional manner, food may also be served on disposable, flat platters (called 'pattal'), which are made by intertwining broad leaves of certain trees. Samosas and pakoras are among the favourite snacks.

A non-vegetarian meal consists of many varieties of meat- or rice-preparations that have evolved in the region, and are now nationally and internationally known as the Moghlai cuisine; some of these are: kebab, kofta, korma, keema, pulao, biryani, parathas (plain or stuffed), halwa, firni etc. In addition, a selection from the above vegetarian dishes may be present among the food spread. Traditionally, food is served in metal-ware or ceramic crockery, eaten directly with bare hands or (sometimes) with spoons, sitting on the ground covered with a flooring material like cloth-sheet or carpet.

Dress

Festivals

Among the most important Hindu festivals are Diwali, Holi and Dashehra, which are also observed with equal fervour by Jains and Sikhs.Ten days of Ramlila takes place during the period of navratri and on the 10th day, epithet of Raavan is burnt with great fervour. Durga puja is also observed in many parts of the state during navratri. Bārah Wafāṭ, Eid, Bakreed and Birthdate of Imam Ali ibn Abitalib are recognized official Muslim religious festivals. Moharram, though the day of Ashura is official holiday but Shiites consider it as a day of mourning and not a festival as some people believe. Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated by Jains, Buddha Jayanti by Buddhists, Guru Nanak Jayanti by Sikhs and Christmas by the Christians. Other festivals include Ram navami, Chhath puja, Krishna-janmashtami, Mahashivratri, etc.

Media

''Radio broadcasts'': Broadcasting was started in India in 1936 by All India Radio (abbreviated as AIR), now officially known as Akashvani. Today, it is the sister service of Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster; both are a division of Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India), an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Broadcasts in several languages are being aired in the State from a number of transmission stations by Akashwani.

''Television'': Telecasting had begun in India in 1959, with test educational telecasting in New Delhi. Doordarshan started black-and-white small-screen programming in the mid 1970s and 1982 saw colour version of TV. Several private TV Channels, functioning now at national level, have become a vibrant and very effective part of the media. ''Satellite-telecasting'' has revolutionized their reach. Telecasts of important cricket matches draw enormous viewers; even street-side TV-sets attract crowds of cricket fans.

''Newspapers and magazines'' etc. A number of periodicals are published in Hindi, English and Urdu. Growth of journalism had its roots as much in the initiative of resident Britons as in the Indian freedom movement and the need for dissemination of other news and messages of socio-religious reforms. ''The Pioneer'' was founded in Allahabad in 1865 by George Allen, an Englishman. It was brought out three times a week from 1865 to 1869 and daily thereafter. In 1866, a supplement, the ''Pioneer Mail'', consisting mostly of advertisements, was added to the publication. Also from Allahabad, a nationalist newspaper ''The National Herald'' had started publication, under the patronage of the Nehrus and M.C. Rau as its editor, during the British period. In 1909, Madan Mohan Malviya, started ''The Leader'', from Allahabad, with C. Y. Chintamani, as its editor from 1909 to 1934. ''Sidque'', a famous Urdu weekly, was started in that period by the highly respected intellectual Moulana Abdul Maajid Daryabadi for reforming the Indo-Islamic society. Presently, all major national level dailies are publishing their ‘City Editions’ from several major cities of the state. The State's own ‘native’ publications – dailies/ weeklies/ monthlies – are numerous, and mostly in Hindi and Urdu languages. Some Hindi language dailies, e.g. ''Amar Ujala'' and ''Dainik Jagran'', have a wide circulation, with their local editions being published from several important cities. ''National Herald'' now publishes an Urdu version also. At still lower level, locally published newspapers and literary weeklies and monthlies are extremely large in number.

''Audio-visual production'': In spite of its large size, Bollywood level ''Production'' of films for the silver screen, or of informative short documentary films of high standard, has not grown in Uttar Pradesh. However, writers and artists from the State have continued to contribute – as song and story writers, music composers and lyricists, actors, directors and producers and earn name and fame in centres of the Indian film industry.

Sports

''Traditional sports'', now played mostly as a past time, include wrestling, swimming, kabaddi and track- or water-sports played according to local traditional rules and without use of modern gears; some times, display of martial skills using a sword or ‘Pata’ (stick) etc. form the basis of sports. Due to lack of organized patronage and requisite facilities, these sports are surviving mostly as individuals' hobbies or local competitive events, e.g. in interested schools.

''Modern sports'' – the indoor, field and track games – are popular, especially among the educated class, but the State has yet to attain all-round national standing in most of them. Field hockey is very popular and Uttar Pradesh has produced some of the finest players in India.

Dhyan Chand, the legendary field hockey player of India and a hero of many Olympic Games was born on 29 August 1905, in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor of Germany, was so impressed by Dhyan Chand's performance in the Berlin Olympic hockey finals that he offered to elevate 'Lance Naik' Dhyan Chand to the rank of a Colonel if he migrated to Germany; Chand had declined the offer.

Cricket has become more popular than field hockey. Though not renowned for it cricket team, U.P. won its first Ranji Trophy tournament in February 2006, beating Bengal in the final. It can also boast of its 3 or 4 players normally finding a place in the national side. Green Park Stadium in Kanpur is one of the oldest cricket venues in India and has witnessed some of India's most famous victories.

Regions of Uttar Pradesh

References

External links

Category:States and territories of India Category:States and territories established in 1834 Category:Urdu-speaking countries and territories