Basic Punjab Gk

    Capital – Chandigarh
    Official Language – Punjabi
    Main spoken languages – Punjabi, Hindi
    Area – 50,362 Sq Km
    Area Rank – 19th
    Population – 2,77,04,236 (as per 2011 census)
    Population Rank – 16th
    Population Density – 550 / Sq Km
    Pop. Density Rank – 7th
    Sex Ratio – 893 females per 1000 male (2011 census)
    Sex Ratio Rank – 26th
    Literacy Rate – 76.6 %
    No of Districts – 22
    Assembly seats – 117 (Unicameral Legislature)
    Lok Sabha seats – 13
    Rajya sabha seats – 7
    First Chief Minister – Gopi Chand Bhargava
    First Governor of present Punjab – Chandulal Madhavlal Trivedi
    Established on – 15 Aug 1947 (As Punjab Province)
    Created in its present form on  – 31 Oct, 1966 (Himachal and Haryana separated  out)


State Symbols of Punjab

    State Tree – Tahli (Dalberigga Sissoo), also known as Sheesham
    State River – Indus
    State Animal – Blackbuck
    State Bird – Baaz


Historical Facts about Punjab

    Indian Punjab state came to existence after independence on 15 Aug 1947. Punjab in its present form was created on 31 Oct 1966 after separation of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
    The sikh faith came into light in Punjab region during 15 and 16 century. Guru Nanak founded new religion followed by 9 Gurus.
    Guru Ram das laid the foundation of present city amritsar.
    Guru Arjun Dev compiled the Adi Granth. His son Guru Har Gobind trained his followers in military art.
    The Sikh Empire (1801 – 1849) was formed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.


Geographical Facts about Punjab

    Punjab borders with 4 states – Jammu and Kasmir in north, Himachal pradesh in northeast, Haryana in south and Rajasthan in Southwest.
    The land is highly fertile as it is watered by Indus, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Ghaggar (Literal meaning of punjab is 5 rivers).
    The word punjab is made of two words- “punj” means five and “ab” means water.
    Amritsar district of Punjab is largest in terms of both area and population.


Social and Cultural Facts about Punjab

    The holiest of Sikh shrines, Harminder sahib (Golden Temple) is in the city of Amritsar. The city of Amritsar was founded by fourth Sikh Guru Ram Das and this temple was designed by fifth Guru Arjan. The temple in its present form was rebuilt by Jassa Singh Ahluwalia in 1764. Gold cover was installed above the gurudwara by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
    Of the five Takhts of Sikhism, three are in Punjab – Sri Akal Thakt Sahib, Damdama Sahib and Anandpur Sahib.
    Bhangra and Giddha are traditional dance forms of the state to celebrate the harvest season of Lohri.
    Amritsar is one of the major tourist destinations of not only punjab but India attracting more visitors than Taj Mahal.



Famous Persons from Punjab

    Aroon Purie – is the famous businessman, CEO of India Today Group and Editor of India Today Magazine was born in Lahore of undivided Punjab before independence.
    Sunil Mittal – is the famous businessman and CEO of Bharti Telecom. He was born in Ludhiana of Punjab.
    Sabeer Bhatia – who is the founder of Hot Mail, graduated from BITS Pilani and was born in Chandigarh.
    Naresh Goyal – the chairman of Jet Airways was born in Sangrur of Punjab in 1949.
    Amrita Sher Gil – is a famous painter who was born in Budapest (Hungary) to Punjabi Sikh father. She is also known as most expensive woman painter of India.
    Har Govind Khurana – was the scientist who received Nobel Prize in year 1968. He later became citizen of US. He was born in Raipur of Punjab (present Punjab region of Pakistan).
    Dharmendra – the famous hindi films actor was born in Ludhiana district of Punjab.
    Jeetendra – the famous charming hindi film actor whose real name is Ravi Kapoor was born in Amritsar.
    Numerous old Bollywood actors are either born or lineage related to undivided Punjab of British India. They are Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Balraj Sahni, Rajendra Kumar, Amrish Puri, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Pankaj Kapoor, Veeru Devgan, Gufi Paintal, Anand Bakshi, Yash Chopra.