government of british india shifted the capital from calcutta to delhi.
government of british india shifted the capital from calcutta to delhi.
who shifted the capital from calcutta to delhi?
government of british india
old delhi had served as the political and financial centre of several empires of ancient india and the delhi sultanate, most notably of the mughal empire from 1649 to 1857. during the early 1900s, a proposal was made to the british administration to shift the capital of the british indian empire, as india was officially named, from calcutta on the east coast, to delhi. the government of british india felt that it would be logistically easier to administer india from delhi, which is in the centre of northern india. the land for building the new city of delhi was acquired under the land acquisition act 1894.
new delhi
delhi became the capital of british india after the seat of power was shifted from calcutta in 1911. with this shift, the new city of new delhi was established and the sixth city of shahajahanabad to its north became the old delhi. based on the designs of edwin lutyens, new delhi was built over 20 years. one of the important landmarks built during this period was the india gate. built in 1921, it is officially known as all india war memorial (an arch) to the indian soldiers killed in the world war i, the northwest frontier operations of the same time and the 1919 afghan fiasco. the gate has an impressive stone arch of height; the names of over 90,000 soldiers are engraved on it. the base of the gate is built in red bharatpur stone and displays a shallow domed bowl. the past tradition was to fill this bowl with oil and light it as a lamp on anniversaries but is no more practiced, instead an eternal flame burns below the arch. the eternal flame was added in the 1970s in the arch of the gate to honour the immortal soldier. it is flanked by two uniformed soldiers. the place takes a carnival atmosphere in the evenings when it is well lighted and visitors flock to the gate. seen behind the india gate is an impressive chhatri, which displayed the statue of king george v till 1968. this statue has been shifted to the coronation park, delhi, which was the site of the declaration of the new capital of delhi. the chhatri is now devoid of any statue since there is a protracted discussion on which national leader's statue should be installed there. there is an impressive set of a large central steel gates flanked by asymmetrically designed smaller gates that provides entry into the rashtrapati bhavan (president's palace). a commemorative column called the jaipur column with a "distinctly peculiar crown: a glass star springing out of bronze lotus blossom", is located midway between the entry gates and the rashtrapati bhavan.
gates of delhi