Establishment

Lord Curzon and Lady Curzon arriving at the Delhi Durbar, 1903

The Delhi Durbar of 1911, with George V and Mary seated upon the dais

The 1931 postage stamp series celebrated the inauguration of New Delhi as the seat of government. The one rupee stamp shows George V with the "Secretariat Building" and Dominion Columns.

Until December 1911 Calcutta was the capital of India during the British Rule. However, it had become the centre of the nationalist movements since the late nineteenth century, which led to the Partition of Bengal by Viceroy Lord Curzon. This created massive political and religious upsurge including political assassinations of British officials in Calcutta. The anti-colonial sentiments among the public led to a complete boycott of British goods, which forced the colonial government to reunite Bengal and immediately shift the capital to New Delhi.^[10]

Old Delhi had served as the political and financial centre of several empires of medieval 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.^[11] 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.^[11] The land for building the new city of Delhi was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act 1894.

During the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, George V, Emperor of India, while laying the foundation stone for the viceroy's residence in the Coronation Park, Kingsway Camp, declared that the capital of the Raj would be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.^{[12][13][14][15]} Three days later, George V and his consort, Queen Mary, laid the foundation stone of New Delhi at Kingsway Camp.^[16] Large parts of New Delhi were planned by Edwin Lutyens, who first visited Delhi in 1912, and Herbert Baker, both leading 20th-century British architects.^[17] The contract was given to Sobha Singh. The original plan called for its construction in Tughlaqabad, inside the Tughlaqabad Fort, but this was given up because of the Delhi-Calcutta trunk line that passed through the fort. Construction really began after World War I and was completed by 1931. The gardening and planning of plantations was led by A.E.P. Griessen, and later William Mustoe.^[18] The city that was later dubbed "Lutyens' Delhi" was inaugurated in ceremonies beginning on 10 February 1931 by Viceroy Lord Irwin.^[19] Lutyens designed the central administrative area of the city as a testament to Britain's imperial aspirations.^[20][21]

The Secretariat Building houses Ministries of Defence, Finance, Home Affairs and External Affairs. It also houses the Prime Minister's office.

Soon Lutyens started considering other places. Indeed, the Delhi Town Planning Committee, set up to plan the new imperial capital, with George Swinton as chairman, and John A. Brodie and Lutyens as members, submitted reports for both north and south sites. However, it was rejected by the Viceroy when the cost of acquiring the necessary properties was found to be too high. The central axis of New Delhi, which today faces east at India Gate, was previously meant to be a north–south axis linking the Viceroy's House at one end with Paharganj at the other. Eventually, owing to space constraints and the presence of a large number of heritage sites on the north side, the committee settled on the south site.^[22] A site atop the Raisina Hill, formerly Raisina Village, a Meo village, was chosen for the Rashtrapati Bhawan, then known as the Viceroy's House. The reason for this choice was that the hill lay directly opposite the Dinapanah citadel, which was also considered the site of Indraprastha, the ancient region of Delhi. Subsequently, the foundation stone was shifted from the site of Delhi Durbar of 1911–1912, where the Coronation Pillar stood, and embedded in the walls of the forecourt of the Secretariat. The Rajpath, also known as King's Way, stretched from the India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The Secretariat building, the two blocks of which flank the Rashtrapati Bhawan and houses ministries of the government of India, and the Parliament House, both designed by Baker, are located at the Sansad Marg and run parallel to the Rajpath.

In the south, land up to Safdarjung's Tomb was acquired to create what is today known as Lutyens' Bungalow Zone.^[23] Before construction could begin on the rocky ridge of Raisina Hill, a circular railway line around the Council House (now Parliament House), called the Imperial Delhi Railway, was built to transport construction material and workers for the next twenty years. The last stumbling block was the Agra-Delhi railway line that cut right through the site earmarked for the hexagonal All-India War Memorial (India Gate) and Kingsway (Rajpath), which was a problem because the Old Delhi Railway Station served the entire city at that time. The line was shifted to run along the Yamuna River, and it began operating in 1924. The New Delhi Railway Station opened in 1926, with a single platform at Ajmeri Gate near Paharganj, and was completed in time for the city's inauguration in 1931.^[24][25] As construction of the Viceroy's House (the present Rashtrapati Bhavan), Central Secretariat, Parliament House, and All-India War Memorial (India Gate) was winding down, the building of a shopping district and a new plaza, Connaught Place, began in 1929, and was completed by 1933. Named after Prince Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught (1850–1942), it was designed by Robert Tor Russell, chief architect to the Public Works Department (PWD).^[26]

After the capital of India moved to Delhi, a temporary secretariat building was constructed in a few months in 1912 in North Delhi. Most of the government offices of the new capital moved here from the 'Old secretariat' in Old Delhi (the building now houses the Delhi Legislative Assembly), a decade before the new capital was inaugurated in 1931. Many employees were brought into the new capital from distant parts of India, including the Bengal Presidency and Madras Presidency. Subsequently, housing for them has developed around Gole Market area in the 1920s.^[27] Built in the 1940s, to house government employees, with bungalows for senior officials in the nearby Lodhi Estate area, Lodhi colony near historic Lodhi Gardens, was the last residential areas built by the British Raj.^[28]

Post-independence

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the home of the President of India

After India gained independence in 1947, limited autonomy was conferred to New Delhi and was administered by a Chief Commissioner appointed by the Government of India. In 1966, Delhi was converted into a union territory and eventually the Chief Commissioner was replaced by a Lieutenant Governor. The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 declared the Union Territory of Delhi to be formally known as National Capital Territory of Delhi.^[29] A system was introduced under which the elected government was given wide powers, excluding law and order which remained with the Central Government. The actual enforcement of the legislation came in 1993.

The first major extension of New Delhi outside of Lutyens' Delhi came in the 1950s when the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) developed a large area of land southwest of Lutyens' Delhi to create the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri, where land was allotted for embassies, chanceries, high commissions and residences of ambassadors, around a wide central vista, Shanti Path.^[30]

Seismology

New Delhi falls under the seismic zone-IV, making it vulnerable to earthquakes.^[32] It lies on several fault lines and thus experiences frequent earthquakes, most of them of mild intensity. There was a spike in the number of earthquakes between 2011 and 2015, most notable being a 5.4 magnitude earthquake in 2015 with its epicentre in Nepal, a 4.7-magnitude earthquake on 25 November 2007, a 4.2-magnitude earthquake on 7 September 2011, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake on 5 March 2012, and a swarm of twelve earthquakes, including four of magnitudes 2.5, 2.8, 3.1, and 3.3, on 12 November 2013.

Climate

The climate of New Delhi is a dry-winter humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa) bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) with high variation between summer and winter in terms of both temperature and rainfall. The temperature varies from 46 °C (115 °F) in summers to around 0 °C (32 °F) in winters. The area's version of a humid subtropical climate is noticeably different from many other cities with this climate classification in that it features long and very hot summers with dust storms, relatively dry and mild winters with wildfire haze, and a monsoonal period. Summers are long, extending from early April to October, with the monsoon season occurring in the middle of the summer. Winter starts in November and peaks in January. The annual mean temperature is around 25 °C (77 °F); monthly daily mean temperatures range from approximately 13 to 34 °C (55 to 93 °F). New Delhi's highest temperature ever recorded is 49.2 °C (120.6 °F) on 15 May 2022 at Met Delhi Mungeshpur while the lowest temperature ever recorded is −2.2 °C (28.0 °F) on 11 January 1967 at Indira Gandhi International Airport (formerly known as Palam Airport).^[33] The average annual rainfall is 774.4 millimetres (30.49 in) & monsoon rainfall from June to September is about 640.4 millimetres (25.21 in), most of which is during the monsoons in July and August.^[34]

Air quality

In Mercer's 2015 annual quality-of-living survey, New Delhi ranks at number 154 out of 230 cities due to bad air quality and pollution.^[72][73] The World Health Organization ranked New Delhi as the world's worst polluted city in 2014 among about 1,600 cities the organisation tracked around the world.^{[74][75][76][77]} In 2016, United States Environmental Protection Agency listed New Delhi as the most polluted city on Earth^[78][79] and IQAir listed New Delhi as the world's most polluted capital city for the second straight year in year 2019.^[80]

Dense smog at Connaught Place, New Delhi

In an attempt to lessen air pollution in New Delhi, which gets worse during the winter, a temporary alternate-day travel scheme for cars using the odd- and even-numbered licence plates system was announced by Delhi government in December 2015. In addition, trucks were to be allowed to enter India's capital only after 11 pm, two hours later than the existing restriction.^[77] The driving restriction scheme was planned to be implemented as a trial from 1 January 2016 for an initial period of 15 days. The restriction was in force between 8 am and 8 pm, and traffic was not restricted on Sundays.^[81] Public transportation service was increased during the restriction period.^[77]

On 16 December 2015, the Supreme Court of India mandated several restrictions on Delhi's transportation system to curb pollution. Among the measures, the court ordered to stop registrations of diesel cars and sport utility vehicles with an engine capacity of 2,000 cc and over until 31 March 2016. The court also ordered all taxis in the Delhi region to switch to compressed natural gas by 1 March 2016. Transportation vehicles that are more than 10 years old were banned from entering the capital.^[82]

Analysing real-time vehicle speed data from Uber Delhi revealed that during the odd-even program, average speeds went up by a statistically significant 5.4 per cent (2.8 standard deviation from normal). This means vehicles have lesser idling time in traffic and vehicle engines would run closer to minimum fuel consumption.^[83] In bordering areas, PM 2.5 levels were recorded more than 400 (ug/m3) while in inner areas in Delhi, they were recorded between 150 and 210 on an average.^[84] However, the subcity of Dwarka, located in the southwest district, has a substantially low level of air pollution. At the NSIT University campus, located in sector 3 Dwarka, pollution levels were as low as 93 PPM.

On 7 November 2017, the Indian Medical Association declared a public health emergency due to high pollution levels.^[85] The highest being in the Punjabi Bagh district with an air quality index of 999 and in the RK Puram district with an index of 852. The lowest index recorded was in the Anand Vihar district with an index of 319.^[86] Levels of PM2.5 were recorded at 710 μg/m³, more than 11 times the World Health Organization's safe limit.^[85]

In a 2018 study, New Delhi was found to be the most polluted capital out of 61 capital cities around the world.^[87]

In December 2019, IIT Bombay, in partnership with the McKelvey School of Engineering of Washington University in St. Louis, launched the Aerosol and Air Quality Research Facility to study air pollution in New Delhi, among other Indian cities.^[88]

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India, The water quality of the Yamuna and Ganges river basins have improved as industries are closed due to the lockdown.^{[89][90][91][92]} The air quality has also significantly improved during the lockdown.^[93]

On 5 November 2020, New Delhi recorded its most toxic day in a year, as the concentration of poisonous PM2.5 particles was recorded at 14 times the WHO's safe limit.^[94]

2015 Air pollution in New Delhi (PM2.5 AQI)

   Hazardous

   Very Unhealthy

   Unhealthy

   Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups

   Moderate

   Good

Religion

According to 2011 census, Hinduism is the religion of 89.8% of New Delhi's population.^[98] There are also communities of Muslims (4.5%), Christians (2.9%), Sikhs (2.0%), Jains (0.4%).^[98] Other religious groups include Parsis, Buddhists, and Jews.^[99]

• Religious buildings in New Delhi
• 
  Sacred Heart Cathedral, designed by Henry Medd based on Italian architecture
• 
  Gurudwara Bangla Sahib,
  a Sikh Gurdwara
• 
  Laxminarayan Temple,
  a Hindu Mandir
• 
  Qila-i-Kuhna Mosque inside Old Fort,
  a mosque

Historic sites, museums and gardens

The National Museum in New Delhi is one of the largest museums in India.

New Delhi is home to several historic sites and museums. The National Museum, which began with an exhibition of Indian art and artefacts at the Royal Academy in London in the winter of 1947–48,^[110] was later at the end was shown at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in 1949. Later it was to form a permanent National Museum. On 15 August 1949, the National Museum was formally inaugurated and has 200,000 works of art, both of Indian and foreign origin, covering over 5,000 years.^[111]

The India Gate, which was built in 1931, was inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.^[112] It is the national monument of India commemorating the 90,000 soldiers of the Indian Army who died while fighting for the British Raj in World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War.^[112] The monument is barricaded now with entry to inside arch restricted.

The Rajpath, which was built similar to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, is the ceremonial boulevard for the Republic of India, located in New Delhi. The annual Republic Day parade takes place here on 26 January. The Beating retreat takes place here two days later.

The Rajghat, the final resting place of Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi Smriti in New Delhi is the location where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated on 30 January 1948. Rajghat is the place where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated on 31 January 1948 after his assassination and his ashes were buried and make it a final resting place beside the sanctity of the Yamuna River. The Raj Ghat in the shape of large square platform with black marble was designed by architect Vanu Bhuta.

Jantar Mantar located in Connaught Place was built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur. It consists of 13 architectural astronomy instruments. The primary purpose of the observatory was to compile astronomical tables, and to predict the times and movements of the sun, moon and planets.

New Delhi is home to Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art, National Museum of Natural History, National Rail Museum, National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum, National Philatelic Museum, Nehru Planetarium, Shankar's International Dolls Museum.^[113] and Supreme Court of India Museum,^[114]

In the coming years, a new National War Memorial and Museum will be constructed in New Delhi^[115][116] for ₹4,000 million (US$50 million).^[117][118]

New Delhi is particularly renowned for its beautifully landscaped gardens that can look quite stunning in spring. The largest of these include Buddha Jayanti Park and the historic Lodi Gardens. In addition, there are the gardens in the Presidential Estate, the gardens along the Rajpath and India Gate, the gardens along Shanti Path, the Rose Garden, Nehru Park and the Railway Garden in Chanakya Puri. Also of note is the garden adjacent to the Jangpura Metro Station near the Defence Colony Flyover, as are the roundabout and neighbourhood gardens throughout the city.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area was declared the cleanest in North India, based on solid waste management, access to sanitation and other parameters of cleanliness, under the zone-wise Swachh Survekshan 2017.^[119]

Architecture

The New Delhi town plan, like its architecture, was chosen with one single chief consideration: to be a symbol of British power and supremacy.^{[21][121][122]} All other decisions were subordinate to this, and it was this framework that dictated the choice and application of symbology and influences from both Hindu and Islamic architecture.^[112][121]

It took about 20 years to build the city from 1911.^[123] Many elements of New Delhi architecture borrow from indigenous sources; however, they fit into a British Classical/Palladian tradition. The fact that there were any indigenous features in the design were due to the persistence and urging of both the Viceroy Lord Hardinge and historians like E.B. Havell.^[112]

In the year 2019, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Government of India introduced the Central Vista redevelopment project proposing the redevelopment of over 440 Hectares,^[124] costing ₹20,000 crore (equivalent to ₹240 billion or US$2.9 billion in 2023)^[125]

Air

Indira Gandhi International Airport, situated to the southwest of Delhi, is the main gateway for the city's domestic and international civilian air traffic. In 2012–13, the airport was used by more than 35 million passengers,^[126][127] making it one of the busiest airports in South Asia. Terminal 3, which cost ₹96.8 billion (US$1.2 billion) to construct between 2007 and 2010, handles an additional 37 million passengers annually.^[128]

The Delhi Flying Club, established in 1928 with two de Havilland Moth aircraft named Delhi and Roshanara, was based at Safdarjung Airport which started operations in 1929, when it was the Delhi's only airport and the second in India.^[129] The airport functioned until 2001; however, in January 2002 the government closed the airport for flying activities because of security concerns following the New York attacks in September 2001. Since then, the club only carries out aircraft maintenance courses,^[129] and is used for helicopter rides to Indira Gandhi International Airport for VIP including the president and the prime minister.^[130]

In 2010, Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was conferred the fourth best airport award in the world in the 15–25 million category, and Best Improved Airport in the Asia-Pacific Region by Airports Council International.^[131] The airport was rated as the Best airport in the world in the 25–40 million passengers category in 2015, by Airports Council International.^[132] Delhi Airport also bags two awards for The Best Airport in Central Asia/India and Best Airport Staff in Central Asia/India at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2015.^[133]

Road

New Delhi has one of India's largest bus transport systems. Buses are operated by the state-owned Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), which owns the largest fleet of compressed natural gas (CNG)-fueled buses in the world and Delhi Transit. Personal vehicles especially cars also form a major chunk of vehicles plying on New Delhi roads. New Delhi has the highest number of registered cars compared to any other metropolitan city in India. Taxis and Auto Rickshaws also ply on New Delhi roads in large numbers. New Delhi has one of the highest road density in India and average vehicle speed is around 15–20 km/h (9.3–12.4 mph) in peak hours in the city.^[134]

Some roads and expressways serve as important pillars of New Delhi's road infrastructure:

• Inner Ring Road is one of the most important "state highways" in New Delhi. It is a 51 km long circular road, which connects important areas in New Delhi. Owing to more than 2 dozen grade-separators/flyovers, the road is almost signal-free.
• Outer Ring Road is another major artery in New Delhi that links far-flung areas of Delhi.
• The Delhi Noida Direct Flyway (DND Flyway) is an eight-laned access controlled tolled expressway which connects New Delhi and Delhi to Noida (an important satellite city of Uttar Pradesh). The acronym DND stands for "Delhi-Noida Direct".
• 'The Delhi Gurgaon Expressway is a 28 km (17 mi) expressway connecting New Delhi to Gurgaon, an important satellite city of Haryana.
• The Delhi Faridabad Skyway is controlled tolled expressway which connects New Delhi to Faridabad, an important satellite city of Haryana.

National Highways passing through New Delhi

New Delhi is connected by road to the rest of India through National highways:

• National Highway 19 (India) (old number: NH 2), commonly referred as Delhi-Kolkata Road is a busy Indian National Highway that runs through the states of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.
• National Highway 44 (India) is a National Highway that connects Srinagar with Kanyakumari and passes through Delhi.
• National Highway 48 (India) is a National Highway that connects New Delhi with Chennai.
• National Highway 9 (India) is a National Highway that connects Malout in Punjab to Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand and passes through Delhi.

Railway

New Delhi is a major junction in the Indian railway network and is the headquarters of the Northern Railway. The five main railway stations are New Delhi railway station,Delhi Junction,Nizamuddin Railway Station, Anand Vihar Railway Terminal and Sarai Rohilla.^[135] The Delhi Ring Railway, a 35-kilometre circular railway network in Delhi that runs parallel to the Ring Road, is a part of Delhi's suburban railway services.^[136]

Metro

Delhi Metro – Phase 2

The Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Noida in the National Capital Region of India. Delhi Metro is the world's 12th largest metro system in terms of length. Delhi Metro was India's first modern public transportation system, which had revolutionised travel by providing a fast, reliable, safe, and comfortable means of transport. Presently, the network consists of 10 colour-coded lines^[137] serving 255 stations^{[lower-alpha 1]} with a total length of 348.12 kilometres (216.31 mi).^{[lower-alpha 2]} The network has now crossed the boundaries of Delhi to reach Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, and Faridabad and Gurgaon in Haryana. All stations have escalators, elevators, and tactile tiles to guide the visually impaired from station entrances to trains. It has a combination of elevated, at-grade, and underground lines, and uses both broad gauge and standard gauge rolling stock. Four types of rolling stock are used: Mitsubishi-ROTEM Broad gauge, Bombardier MOVIA, Mitsubishi-ROTEM Standard gauge, and CAF Beasain Standard gauge. According to a study, Delhi Metro has helped in removing about 390,000 vehicles from the streets of Delhi.^[140]

Delhi Metro is being built and operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC), a state-owned company with equal equity participation from Government of India and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi. However, the organisation is under administrative control of Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. Besides construction and operation of Delhi metro, DMRC is also involved in the planning and implementation of metro rail, monorail and high-speed rail projects in India and providing consultancy services to other metro projects in the country as well as abroad. The Delhi Metro project was spearheaded by Padma Vibhushan E. Sreedharan, the managing director of DMRC and popularly known as the "Metro Man" of India. He famously resigned^[141] from DMRC, taking moral responsibility for a metro bridge collapse^[142] which took five lives. Sreedharan was awarded with the Legion of Honour by the French government for his contribution to Delhi Metro.

Schools

• DAV Public School (at multiple areas)
• Delhi Public School (at multiple areas)
• Guru Amar Dass Public School
• St. Mark's Senior Secondary Public School
• St. Xavier's School (at multiple areas)
• The British School
• Union Academy Senior Secondary School

Colleges

• Delhi College of Arts and Commerce
• Hindu College, Delhi
• Indian Institute of Mass Communication
• Indian Statistical Institute
• Institute of Information Technology and Management (IITM) (at multiple areas)
• Management Education & Research Institute (MERI)
• Pannalal Girdharlal Dayanand Anglo Vedic College (PGDAV College)
• Ramanujan College
• Shaheed Bhagat Singh College

Universities

• All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
• Association of Indian Universities
• Delhi School of Economics
• Delhi School of Management
• Delhi School of Music
• Indian Agricultural Research Institute
• Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
• Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women
• Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)
• Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology
• Jamia Hamdard University
• Jamia Millia Islamia University
• Jawaharlal Nehru University
• National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA)
• National Institute of Technology Delhi
• National Law University
• Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University
• South Asian University
• TERI School of Advanced Studies
• University of Delhi

Summits, conferences and conventions

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development hosted its second meeting conference in the year 1968 at New Delhi.

New Delhi hosted the 7th NAM Summit in 1983, 4th BRICS Summit^[146] in 2012, IBSA Summit in 2015,^[147][148] and 5th Global Conference on CyberSpace in 2017.^[149][150] India has also host the G20 summit in 2023 in New Delhi.^[151]

Sister cities

• Moscow, Russia^[152]
• Beijing, China (2013)^[153]