Silchar

Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is second largest city of Assam after Guwahati in terms of population and GDP. It is located south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832¹ when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar. It earned the moniker "Island of Peace" from Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Silchar is the site of the world's first polo club and the first competitive polo match. In 1985, an Air India flight from Kolkata to Silchar became the world's first all-women crew flight. Silchar was a tea town and Cachar club was the meeting point for tea planters.

Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is second largest city of Assam after Guwahati in terms of population and GDP. It is located south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832 when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar. It earned the moniker "Island of Peace" from Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Silchar is the site of the world's first polo club and the first competitive polo match. In 1985, an Air India flight from Kolkata to Silchar became the world's first all-women crew flight. Silchar was a tea town and Cachar club was the meeting point for tea planters. ==History== ====Language movement in Barak Valley==== is popularly known as Bhasa Shahid Station.]] Silchar saw one of the uprisings in favour of the Bengali language. When the Assam government, under Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha, passed a circular to make Assamese mandatory, the Bengalis of Barak Valley protested. On 19 May 1961, Assam police opened fire on unarmed protesters at Silchar railway station. Eleven people (listed below) were killed. Kanailal Niyogi Chandicharan Sutradhar Hitesh Biswas Satyendra Deb Kumud Ranjan Das Sunil Sarkar Tarani Debnath Sachindra Chandra Pal Birendra Sutradhar Sukamal Purakayastha Kamala Bhattacharya After the revolt, the Assam government withdrew the circular and Bengali was ultimately given official status in the three districts of Barak Valley. Section 5 of Assam Act XVIII, 1961, safeguards the use of Bengali in the Cachar district. It says, “Without prejudice to the provisions contained in Section 3, the Bengali language shall be used for administrative and other official purposes up to and including district level.” ==Geography== Silchar is located in the southernmost part of Assam. It is located between longitudes 92º24' E and 93º15' E and latitudes 24º22'N and 25º8'N East and is 35 meters above mean sea level. The city is located in an alluvial flat plain with swamps, streams, and isolated small hills (locally known as tilla) marking its landscape. Apart from Barak river, the other major river is Ghagra river. Silchar is in Zone V on the Seismic Zonation Map and has witnessed major earthquakes. The earthquake in January 1869 was of magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale and caused heavy damage. Other significant earthquakes include those in 1947 (magnitude 7.7), 1957 (7.0) and 1984 (6.0). ==Demographics== According to 2011 India census, Silchar municipal area has a population of 172,830. The sex ratio of Silchar is 989 females per 1,000 males, which is above the national ratio of 940 females per 1,000 males. Silchar municipal area has an average literacy rate of 82.33%, higher than the national average of 74.04%, with male literacy at 84.15% and female literacy at 80.49%. The Silchar Urban Agglomeration had a total population of 228,985, of which 115,443 were males and 113,542 were females, with a literacy rate of 91.05%, with male literacy at 93.63% and female literacy at 88.44%. ==Politics== Silchar is part of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies. The current member of Parliament from Silchar is Parimal Suklabaidya of the BJP and current MLA is Rajdeep Roy of the BJP. ==Industries== ONGC has its base located at Srikona, near Silchar, which is known as Cachar Forward Base with ongoing operations in Tripura, Mizoram and Barak Valley. Cachar Paper Mill (CPM) is the only major industrial undertaking in south Assam and the adjoining states of Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura. Despite a lack of infrastructure, CPM has a continuous record of improvement in production. During the year 2006–07, the mill recorded the highest annual production of 103,155 metric tonnes, registering 103% capacity utilisation, which was 100% during the previous year. Silchar is a cluster centre for cane and bamboo artisans. ==Transport== ===Air transport=== Silchar Airport (IXS) is located at Kumbhirgram, about 22 km from Silchar. It was built during World war II and the current ATC services are provided by Indian Air Force. Silchar has been selected as one of the towns for the construction of 51 low-cost airports across the country. Silchar Airport is the 2nd busiest airport (70 civilian flights/week) in Assam and 4th busiest in North east after Guwahati, Agartala and Imphal and handles approximately 200,000 PAX yearly. In December 1985, Air India operated the first all-woman crew flight in the world from Kolkata to Silchar which was commanded by Captain Saudamini Deshmukh on a Fokker F-27 Friendship aircraft. ISBT - SILCHAR ISBT from where Bus are runs every day for Guwahati, Shillong, Agartala, Siliguri, Imphal. ===Road=== Shillong–Silchar High-Speed Corridor - connected to Shillong: from Mawlyngkhung near Shillong to Panchgram on NH-6 near Silchar, will cut travel time between the two cities from 8.5 hours to 5 hours and act as a continuation of Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project offering a new Rs 22,864 crore high-speed highway between the North-East and Kolkata bypassing Bangladesh, executed by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and expected to be completed by 2030. Also there is an Inter State Bus Terminus in the outskirt of the city commonly known as (SILCHAR ISBT) from where Bus are runs every day for Guwahati, Shillong, Agartala, Siliguri, Imphal ===Technical institutions=== National Institute of Technology, Silchar Triguna Sen School of Technology, Assam University, Silchar Silchar Polytechnic National Institute For Automotive Inspection Maintenance & Training (NIAIMT) ===Colleges=== Gurucharan College Cachar College Women's College, Silchar Radhamadhab College Silchar College Lalit Jain Commerce College ===Medical college=== Silchar Medical College and Hospital, established in 1968¹, serves the southern region of Assam. There is an Institute of Pharmacy attached to it. Government Dental College, Silchar S. M. Dev Civil Hospital, Silchar Cachar Cancer Hospital, Silchar - Established and is administered by the Cachar Cancer Hospital Society, a non-profit NGO registered under the Societies Registration Act. ===Law colleges=== A. K. Chanda Law College at Tarapur. ==Notable people== B. B. Bhattacharya Kalika Prasad Bhattacharya Arun Kumar Chanda Moinul Hoque Choudhury Pritam Das Santosh Mohan Dev Sushmita Dev Ullaskar Dutta Rajdeep Goala Nurul Huda Nihar Ranjan Laskar Dilip Kumar Paul Kabindra Purkayastha Ravi Kannan R Rajdeep Roy Debojit Saha Debattama Saha Bir Radha Sherpa Rahul Singh ==See also== Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium Silchar Part-X 2022 Silchar Floods ==References== ==External links== Britannica article on Silchar

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