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Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as Chakra Khetra and Ekamra Khetra (Area adorned with a mango tree). Bhubaneswar is dubbed the "Temple City", a nickname earned because of many which are standing there. In contemporary times, the city is a hub of sports, tourism and IT in the country. Although the modern city of Bhubaneswar was formally established in 1948, the history of the areas in and around the present-day city can be traced to the 1st century BCE. It is a confluence of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism heritage and includes several Kalingan temples, many of them from 6th–13th century CE. With Puri and Konark, it forms the "Swarna Tribhuja" (), one of Eastern India's most visited destinations.Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra, Archaeology in Orissa, Vol I, Page 47, B. R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1986, .
Bhubaneswar replaced Cuttack as the capital on 13 April 1948. The modern city was designed by the German architect, Otto Königsberger, in 1966. Along with Jamshedpur and Chandigarh, it was one of modern India's first planned cities.BBSR Metropolitan/City Population section of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are often referred to as the 'twin cities of Odisha'. The area formed by the two cities had a population of 1.7 million in 2011. It is categorised as a Tier-2 city. Bhubaneswar and Rourkela are the two cities in smart city mission from Odisha.
In the 16th century, the area came under pachamani Mughal Empire control. The Marathas, who succeeded the Mughals in the mid-18th century, encouraged pilgrimage in Odisha. In 1803, the area came under British India colonial rule and was part of the Bengal Presidency (until 1912), Bihar and Orissa Province (1912–1936) and Orissa Province (1936–1947). The capital of the British-ruled and post-independent Orissa State was also Cuttack, which was vulnerable to floods and suffered from space constraints. Because of this, in September 1946, a proposal to move the capital to a new capital was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of the Odisha Province. After independence of India, the foundation of the new capital was laid on 13 April 1948.
The name of the new capital came from "Tribhubaneswara" or "Bhubaneswara" (literally "Lord of the Earth"), a name of Shiva, the deity of the Lingaraja temple. The Legislative Assembly of Odisha was shifted from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar in 1969. Bhubaneswar was built as a modern city, designed by German architect Otto Königsberger with wide roads, gardens and parks. Though part of the city followed the plan, it grew rapidly over the next few decades, outstripping the planning process. According to the first census of independent India, taken in 1951, the town's population was just 16,000. From 1952 to 1979, it was administered by a Notified Area Council or a nagar panchayat; a municipality was established only on 12 March 1979. During this time, due to fear of wild animals and forested areas, Cuttack continued to be the people's favourite destination. The government officials lived at Cuttack and came to Bhubaneswar for work. The government then forced the officials to live at Bhubaneswar. Then some traders came to set up some shops. By the 1991 census, the population of Bhubaneswar had increased to 411,542. Accordingly, on 14 August 1994, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation was established.
Bhubaneswar is topographically divided into western uplands and eastern lowlands, with hillocks in the western and northern parts. Kanjia lake on the northern outskirts, affords rich biodiversity and is a wetland of national importance. Bhubaneswar's soils are 65 per cent laterite, 25 per cent alluvial and 10 per cent sandstone. The Bureau of Indian Standards places the city inside seismic zone III, on a scale ranging from in order of increasing susceptibility to earthquakes. The United Nations Development Programme reports that there is "very high damage risk" from winds and . The 1999 Odisha cyclone caused major damage to buildings, the city's infrastructure and cost many human lives. Floods and waterlogging in the low-lying areas have become common due to unplanned growth.
The old town or "Temple Town", the oldest part of the city, is characterised by many temples, including the Lingaraja temple, Nilakantha Siva, Rajarani Temple and Muktesvara deula, standing alongside residential areas. Additional structures include the Somabaresvara Siva Temple and the Kartikesvara Siva Temple. The area is congested, with narrow roads and poor infrastructure. Among neighbourhoods in the old town are Rajarani Colony, Pandaba Nagar, Brahmeswara Bagh, Lingaraja Nagar, Gouri Nagar, Bhimatangi, Kapilaprasad and Sundarpada.
The planned city was designed in 1948 to house the capital. It is subdivided into units, each with a high school, shopping centres, dispensaries and play areas. While most of the units house government employees, Unit V houses the administrative buildings, including the State Secretariat, State Assembly and the Raj Bhavan. Private residential areas were later built in other areas of the planned city, including Saheed Nagar and Satya Nagar. Unit I, popularly known as the Market Building, was formed to cater to the shopping needs of the new capital's residents. Later, markets and commercial establishments developed along the Janpath and Cuttack-Puri Road at Saheed Nagar, Satya Nagar, Bapuji Nagar and Ashok Nagar. A dedicated institutional area houses educational and research institutes, including Utkal University, the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology and Sainik School. Indira Gandhi Park, Gandhi Park and the Biju Patnaik Park are located in the unit.
The added areas are mostly areas lying north of National Highway 5, including Nayapalli, Jayadev Vihar, Chandrasekharpur and Sailashree Vihar, Niladri vihar which were developed by Bhubaneswar Development Authority to house the growing population. With the development of the new areas such as Chandrasekharpur, the city is now divided roughly into North (newer areas) and South Bhubaneswar (older areas) by the NH-5 highway.
The peripheral areas are outside the municipal boundary or have subsequently been included within the extended boundary, including Tomando, Patia and Raghunathpur. Most of these areas were developed in a haphazard manner, without proper planning. The Master Planning Branch of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority developed the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) in 2010. According to the Odisha Development Authorities Act, 1982, the Development Authority has control over the planning for municipal areas. Apart from the CDP, BDA has also created Zonal Development Plans for some of the areas under the CDP. Bhubaneswar secured the top rank in the Smart city list in India.
Rains brought by the Bay of Bengal branch of the south west summer monsoon lash Bhubaneswar between June and September, supplying it with most of its annual rainfall of . The highest monthly rainfall total, , occurs in August.
Bhubaneswar has been ranked 7th best “National Clean Air City” under (Category 2 3-10L Population cities) in India according to 'Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2024 Results'
In 2011, according to a study by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, Bhubaneswar had the highest rate of employment growth among 17 Tier-2 cities in India. It has been listed among the top ten emerging cities in India by Cushman and Wakefield, taking into consideration factors like demographics, physical, social and real estate infrastructure, current level and scope of economic activities and government support. In 2012, Bhubaneswar was ranked third among Indian cities, in starting and operating a business by the World Bank. Bhubaneswar has been traditionally home to handicrafts industry, including silver filigree work, appliqué work, stone and wood carvings and Pattachitra, which significantly contributes to the city's economy. The late 2000s saw a surge of investments in the real estate, infrastructure, retail and hospitality sectors; several shopping malls and organised retails opened outlets in Bhubaneswar. In the informal sector, 22,000 vendors operate in regulated or unregulated vending zones.
As of 2001, around 2.15% of the city's workforce was employed in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry, mining, etc.); 2.18% worked in the secondary sector (industrial and manufacturing); and 95.67% worked in the tertiary sector (service industries).
The Department of Industries established four industrial areas in and around Bhubaneswar, in the Rasulgarh, Mancheswar, Chandaka, and Bhagabanpur areas. Industrial sector in Bhubaneswar includes paper, steel, automobile, food, pharma and electronics industries. A large number of companies including Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation, Bharat Biotech, Topaz Solar, Britannia Industries, SMS Group and Jockey International have there manufacturing plant.
In 2009, Odisha was ranked ninth among Indian states in terms of software export by NASSCOM, with most IT/ITES companies established in Bhubaneswar. In 2011–12, Odisha had a growth rate of 17% for software exports. According to a 2012 survey, among the tier-2 cities in India, Bhubaneswar has been chosen as the best for conducting IT/ITES business. The government fostered growth by developing of IT parks such as Infocity-1, Infovalley, STPI-Bhubaneswar and JSS STP. Infocity was conceived as a five-star park, under the Export Promotion Industrial Parks (EPIP) Scheme to create infrastructure facilities for setting up information technology related industries. Infosys and Tech Mahindra have been present in Bhubaneswar since 1996. Other Multinational Companies include Accenture, Cognizant, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, IBM, Genpact, Firstsource, Mindtree, MphasiS, Ericsson, Semtech, Reliance Communications, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bharti Airtel, DLF (company), Capgemini, Happiest Minds, Concentrix, RiR Electronics, Synopsis, EY and Deloitte. It also houses the headquarters of POSCO India, a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate POSCO and Govt. of India owned National Aluminium Company(NALCO). Apart from the big multinationals, some 300 small and mid-size IT companies and business startups have offices in Bhubaneswar.
Lulu International Shopping Malls Private Limited plans to set up shopping malls, hypermarkets, agri sourcing and logistics hub with an investment of Rs 1,500 crore.
As Bhubaneswar's apex body, the corporation discharges its functions through the mayor-in-council, which comprises a mayor, a deputy mayor and other elected members. The executive wing is headed by a Commissioner. There are 13 administrative departments under BMC: PR & Communication, Disaster Management, Finance, Health & Sanitation, Engineering, Revenue & Tax, Electrical, Environment, Social Welfare, IT and Social Projects, Establishment, Land & Assets, Enforcement & Recovery. The responsibilities of the municipal body include drainage and sewerage, sanitation, solid waste management and street lighting.
The tenure of the last elected body ended in March 2022 and new elections have already took place. Ward committees have been formed in Bhubaneswar and are very active. The Committees are responsible for issues such as public health, sanitation, street lighting and conservancy in their respective wards. There is no fixed number of members in the committees.
The processes for the municipal budget 2020–21 was initiated in February 2020, but it is unclear if they have continued after the lockdown was announced. The budget for 2020–21 was supposed to be around Rs. 700, an increase of 51.8% from the 2019–20 budget. The increase was supposedly to fund the various socio-economic welfare schemes in the city. The key revenue sources for BMC are: Holding Taxes, tax from advertisements, rent from municipal properties such as markets, shopping complexes, and kalyan mandaps (marriage halls), fees and user charges, and grants from state and central governments.
26.7% of the city is covered by sewage network, while more than 50% of the households are dependent on onsite containment systems, such as septic tanks. There is no sewage treatment plant in Bhubaneswar right now, but one is being built using JNNURM funds. The waste from the limited sewage network flows untreated into the Daya river. There is one septage treatment plant for fecal sludge with a capacity of 75 KLD.
The municipal corporation is responsible for the solid waste management in the city. The average municipal waste generated in the city is 480 kg/m3 for wet waste and 600 kg/m3 for wet waste. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation BMC has introduced door to door collection through battery operated garbage collection vehicle. It is trying to introduce segregation at source by providing two waste bins to every household, one each for dry and wet waste. Landfilling is the most common method of waste disposal in Bhubaneswar. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, or BSNL, as well as private enterprises, among them Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, are the leading telephone, cell phone and internet service providers in the city.
Notable union government schools in the city include
Notable state government schools in the city include
Notable private schools in the city include
The Eastern Regional Centre of Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), was established in 1996. One IATA Authorised Training Centre (ATC) is located in the city. Several regional management educational institutions also have travel and tourism related courses in their curriculum.
The headquarters of the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) is in Bhubaneswar. The main Bhubaneswar inter-state bus terminus is at Barmunda, from the city centre, from where OSRTC and private operators run buses connecting Bhubaneswar to cities in Odisha and with the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Bhubaneswar is connected to the rest of Odisha and India by National Highway-NH 16, which is a part of the Kolkata-Chennai prong of the Golden Quadrilateral, NH 203, State Highway 13 (Odisha) and State Highway 27 (Odisha). Asian Highway- AH 45 passes through the city.
| Bhubaneswar | BBS | East Coast Railway | 6 |
| Mancheswar | MCS | East Coast Railway | 4 |
| Lingaraj Temple Road | LGTR | East Coast Railway | 3 |
| Vani Vihar | BNBH | East Coast Railway | 2 |
| Patia | PTAB | East Coast Railway | 2 |
| New Bhubaneswar | BBSN | East Coast Railway | 7 |
| Barang | BRAG | East Coast Railway | 3 |
A satellite station New Bhubaneswar railway station is opened near Barang in July 2018 to decongest the existing installation.
Temples include Lingaraja Temple, Muktesvara deula, Rajarani Temple, Ananta Vasudeva Temple.Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra, Archaeology in Orissa, Vol I, Page 47-84, B. R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1986, The Kukutesvara Siva Temple is a small, 1000-year-old shrine to Shiva. The twin hills of Khandagiri and Udayagiri, served as the site of an ancient Jainism matha which was carved into cave-like chambers in the face of the hill. These caves, with artistic carvings, date back to the 2nd century BCE. Dhauli hills has major edicts of Ashoka engraved on a mass of rock and a white Peace Pagoda, built by the Japan Buddha Sangha and the Kalinga Nippon Buddha Sangha in the 1970s. Apart from the ancient temples, other important temples were built in recent times including Ram Mandir and ISKCON.
Bhubaneswar along with Cuttack is the home of the Odia cinema industry, dubbed "Ollywood", where most of the state's film studios are situated.
Odia culture survives in the form of Classical Odissi dance, handicrafts, sand artistry and sculpturing as well as theatre and music. Boundary walls and gardens are increasingly being redone to depict the folk art of the state. Odissi, the oldest of the eight surviving classical dance forms of India can be traced from archaeological evidence of the temples in Bhubaneswar.
The Odisha State Museum offers archaeological artefacts, weapons, local arts and crafts as well as insights into Odisha's natural and indigenous history. The Tribal Research Institute Museum hosts authentic tribal dwellings created by tribal craftsmen. Nandankanan Zoological Park, located on the northern outskirt of the city, is India's first zoo to join World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The State Botanical Garden (Odisha) and Regional Plant Resource Center, popularly known as Ekamra Kanan, a park and botanical garden, has a large collection of exotic and regional fauna. The Ekamra Haat is a hand-loom and handicrafts market. Nicco Park and Ocean World are amusement parks. Other museums include Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Regional Museum of Natural History, Regional Science Center and State Handicrafts Museum.
As a part of the Ekamra Festival, many cultural sub-festivals take place in January in Bhubaneswar which includes Kalinga Mahotsaba (for traditional martial arts), Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsaba (for classical dance forms), Rajarani Music Festival (for classical music) and Mukteswara Dance Festival (for Odishi dance). Residents engage in khattis, or leisurely chats, that often take the form of freestyle intellectual conversation.
Other festivals celebrated include Shivaratri, Diwali, Ganesh Puja, Nuakhai and Saraswati Puja. Eid and Christmas are celebrated by the religious minorities in the city.
The Adivasi Mela, held in January, is a fair that displays the art, artefacts, tradition, culture, and music of the tribal inhabitants of Odisha. The Toshali National Crafts Mela, held in December, showcases handicrafts from all over India and from foreign countries. Other important fairs in the city include the Rajdhani Book Fair, Dot Fest and Khandagiri Utsav. Two international literary festivals are held in the city, Kalinga Literary Festival and Mystic Kalinga Festival. In modern times, Bhubaneswar hosts a literary festival, the Odisha Literary Fest.
Street foods such as gupchup (a deep-fried crêpe, stuffed with a mix of mashed potatoes and boiled yellow peas, and dipped in tamarind-infused water), cuttack-chaat, Dahibara Aludam (a deep-fried doughnut-shaped lentil dumpling marinated in yogurt-infused water and served alongside potato curry) and bara-ghuguni are sold all over the city. Traditional Oriya food such as Pakhala (rice soaked in water with yogurt and seasonings) which is considered as a body coolant, accompanied by badi chura or saga are consumed during the months of April–June.
The abadha of Lingaraja Temple and Ananta Vasudeva Temple served for devotees is considered a vegetarian culinary delight. Other vegetarian dishes are Dalma (made of lentils and vegetables boiled together and then fried with other spices) and Santula (lightly spiced steamed vegetables).
The 2017 Asian Athletics Championships was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 6–9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium. Bhubaneswar is the third Indian city to host the Asian Athletics Championships, with Delhi being the first, in 1989, and Pune, the second, in 2013.
The FIH and the IOA president, Narindar Batra stated in a ceremony that Bhubaneswar is emerging as the new sports capital of India while unveiling the new logo for the Indian hockey team jersey, which is sponsored by the government of Odisha. The state, Batra mentioned, provides equal importance and opportunity for all sports such as cricket, football, field hockey, tennis, badminton, chess and many more.
All India Radio, the national state-owned radio broadcaster, airs several AM broadcasting channels from the radio station located in Cuttack. Bhubaneswar has five local radio stations broadcasting on FM, including two from AIR. India's state-owned television broadcaster DD Odia provides two free-to-air terrestrial channels, while a mix of Odia language, Hindi, English language and other regional channels are accessible via Cable television and direct-broadcast satellite services. Some of the Odia language television channels are Sidarth TV, Manjari, Colors Odia, Sarthak TV and Tarang TV. Odia-language 24-hour television news channels include News 7, Argus, Odisha TV, Kanak TV, ETV News Odia, MBC TV and Naxatra News.
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