Meerut is an education hub of Western Uttar Pradesh with four universities, approx. 50 engineering colleges, 23 management colleges, seven pharmacy colleges, four colleges offering hotel management, one college offering fashion design, over 150 academic colleges and over 50 schools. The city is home to Chaudhary Charan Singh University (formerly Meerut University), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University and Shobhit University. The city has one government-run engineering college, Sir Chhotu Ram Institute of Engineering and Technology, which is a constituent college of Chaudhary Charan Singh University. Meerut has ‘St. John’s Sr. Sec.School’, which is more than 130 years old. It was established by Begum Samru of Saradhana. This School is still running in its original place at bank street, in Meerut Cantonment. The Indian Film and Television Institute is located at the western bypass of the city. The city has two medical colleges: Subharti Medical College and Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College. The city has many madrasahs which provide religious education as well as modern education with computer learning. The city also has coaching institutions for preparing students for entrance exams of engineering and medical fields. By the attempts of local jewellers and Zila Udyog Kendra, a jewel and gem training centre will soon be established in the city.
In the eleventh century AD, the south-west part of the district was ruled by Har Dat, the Dor Raja of Bulandshahr who built a fort, which was long known for its strength and finds mention in Ain-i-Akbari. He was later defeated by Mahmud Ghazni in 1018. A prominent local landmark, the Jama Masjid, dates from this period and is said to have been built by Mahmud’s vizir. Shortly after its capture the city was regained by the local Hindu Raja and part of his fortifications, built for the city’s defence, survived until recent times. The first big invasion on the city came later in 1192 AD, from Mohammad Ghori, when his general Qutb-ud-din Aybak attacked the city, and a much worse fate lay ahead for the district, which came with the invasion of Timur in 1398, during which the Rajputs offered a tough resistance at the fort of Loni, where he fought the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad Tughlaq. But, eventually they were all defeated and all the 1,00,000 prisoners his army had taken in since his invasion of India were massacred, according to Timur’s own accounts in Tuzk-e-Taimuri. Thereafter he went on to attack Delhi, where he again massacred the local population, and returned to attack Meerut town, then ruled by an Afghan chief, Ilias, and took the city in two days, leading to widespread devastation, before heading north once again.
Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) has two industrial estates in the city, namely Partapur and Udyog Puram. Mohkampur industrial area is a private initiative. Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd has unrestricted power at Partapur, Udyogpuram and Mohkampur industrial areas. Bhur Baral industrial area is under development. 1200 hectares of land is available for industrial development. Identified industrial areas are at Shatabdi nagar, Delhi road, Baghpat road, Roorkee road, Mawana road, Parikshitgarh (Kila) road, Garh road, Gagol road (identified by UPSIDC) and Hapur road. 2000 hectares of land is being proposed for industrial development near Delhi–Meerut expressway. Nipro Glass from Japan has set up a large glass plant for medical use. Investment from outside Meerut has started pouring in as Delhi–Mumbai freight corridor and east freight corridor will be intersecting very near to Meerut, making it a cost effective destination for setting up industries. GAIL Gas Ltd is laying infrastructure for piped CNG throughout the city for industrial, domestic and transport use.
Meerut ) is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is an ancient city with settlements dating back to the Indus Valley civilization having been found in and around the area. The city lies 70 km (43 mi) northeast of the national capital New Delhi, and 453 km (281 mi) northwest of the state capital, Lucknow. It is the second largest city in the National Capital Region of India (the largest being Delhi), the 16th largest metropolitan area and 25th largest city in India. It ranked 292 in 2006 and 242 in 2010 in the list of largest cities and urban areas in the world. The city covers an area of about 172 km2 (66 sq mi) while the total area is 198 km2 (76 sq mi), third largest in Uttar Pradesh after Kanpur and Lucknow . It has the 2nd largest army cantonment in the country. The city is one of the largest producers of sports goods, and the largest producer of musical instruments in India. It is also the largest producers of bicycle rickshaw in world. The city is also an education hub in western Uttar Pradesh.
Meerut is becoming an important media center, as journalists from all over Uttar Pradesh and other Indian states are working in Meerut. As media centres are situated in Meerut, the city is getting a good amount of publicity on the national platform. The law and order situation has improved a lot in the recent past and media has had an important role to play in it. Radio stations shared with Delhi are Radio City 91.1 MHz, Big FM 92.7 MHz, Red FM 93.5 MHz, Radio One 94.3 MHz, Hit 95 (95 MHz), Radio Mirchi 98.3 MHz, AIR FM Rainbow 102.6 MHz, Meow FM 104.8 MHz, AIR FM Gold 106.4 MHz. Radio IIMT (90.4 MHz) is the only radio station located in the city. The Hindi-language daily newspapers Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Dainik Hindustan, Janwani, DLA, I-Next, Compact and English-language daily entertainment and lifestyle supplement HT City,Meerut with Hindustan Times are published from the city. A fortnightly English tabloid lifestyle newspaper Pulse of Markets promoting local business is also published here.
A Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) has been proposed for operation between Meerut and Anand Vihar. The RRTS is a rail-based mass transit system that would connect distant areas of National Capital Region (NCR) to the Capital. Once completed it will take only 45 minutes to commute between the two places with the train having a peak speed of 150 km per hour. The proposed system is to have dedicated trains between Anand Vihar and Meerut, which stop nowhere in between, and trains which stop at stations to be constructed after a gap of 4–5 km. Anand Vihar, Sahibabad, Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai, Moradnagar, Modi Nagar, Meerut South, Shatabdi Nagar, Meerut Centre, Begum Bridge, Meerut North and Pallavpuram are the proposed halts. The high-speed rail project under rapid rail transit system in Delhi (NCR) will start with the Delhi-Meerut line. On 14 December 2010 the NCR Planning Board, Meerut Development Authority (MDA) and Nagar Nigam Meerut approved this system.
Meerut is the 63rd-fastest-growing urban area in the world. It is the 14th fastest developing city in India. A new report by U.S. financial services firm Morgan Stanley, “AlphaWise City Vibrancy Index: A Guide to India’s Urbanization” gave Meerut the 5th spot on the “vibrancy” index, ahead of Delhi and Mumbai. Meerut ranked second on both the financial penetration index, which measures things like the presence of ATMs and bank branches, and on the consumption index, indicating the city’s transformation into an urban town. While the city ranked in the bottom 10 in job creations, the report suggests that overall there are plenty of signs of “potential for urbanisation,” including future employment opportunities. The infrastructure segment of Meerut is currently going through a boom phase with many new projects coming up in and around the city. There are many new buildings, shopping complexes, malls, roads, flyovers and apartments coming up.
Existing industries in the city include tyres, textile, transformer, sugar, distillery, chemical, engineering, paper, publishing, and sports goods manufacture. Prospective industries include IT and ITES. Meerut is home to some prominent regional pharmaceuticals companies like Perk Pharmaceuticals Limited, Mankind Pharma & Bestochem. Meerut is one of the major manufacturing regions for sports goods in India. The city is especially famous for the manufacture of cricket goods with SG being the largest Indian cricket goods manufacturer and exporter operating in Meerut. Meerut is also a hub of Gold design in India. Meerut is also the largest manufacturer of musical instruments in India. Meerut was one of the first cities in northern India where publishing was set up during the 19th century. It was a major center of commercial publishing during 1860s and 1870s.
Meerut has a monsoon influenced humid subtropical climate characterised by very hot summers and cool winters. Summers last from early April to late June during and are extremely hot, with temperatures reaching 43 °C (109 °F). The monsoon arrives in late June and continues till the middle of September. Temperatures drop slightly, with plenty of cloud cover but with higher humidity. Temperatures rise again in October and the city then has a mild, dry winter season from late October to the middle of March Lowest temperature recorded is 0.5 °C (32.9 °F). Rainfall is about 80 cm to 100 cm per annum, which is suitable for growing crops. Most of the rainfall is received during the monsoon. Humidity varies from 30 to 100%. The city receives no snow.
According to the 2001 census, the city ranked 6th in terms of population density in Uttar Pradesh. The city also ranked 2nd in terms of population in NCR. Males constituted 53.43% of the population and females 46.56%. The city had an average literacy rate of 65.96%, higher than the national average of 64.8% and the state average of 57.36%. Male literacy was 76.31%, and female literacy was 54.12%. 16.66% of the population was under 6 years of age. Meerut has one of the largest Muslim populations among the cities of India (close to 32.5%). It is the largest Muslim city in Uttar Pradesh. The city had a sex ratio of 871, lower than the state average of 898 and the national average of 933.
During this revolt, Meerut leapt into international prominence, when on 24 April 1857 eighty-five of the ninety troopers of the 3rd Cavalry refused to touch the cartridges and after court-martial were sentenced to ten years imprisonment. On Sunday, 10 May 1857, Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar opened the gates of the prison. These soldiers, along with other imprisoned soldiers escaped prison and declared themselves free, revolted, attacked and killed several of the British authorities to take the city in their control. This marked the beginning of a widespread revolt across northern India as these soldiers marched towards Delhi. 10 May is still celebrated as a local holiday in Meerut.
Meerut is famously associated with the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company. The famous slogan “Dilli Chalo” (“Let’s march to Delhi!”) was first raised here. Meerut cantonment is the place where the rebellion started when Hindu and Muslim soldiers were given rifle cartridges rumoured to have a coating made of animal fat. The bullet wrapping was to be opened by mouth before use, which affected the religious sensibilities of both Muslims and Hindus as the fat used was alleged to be derived from lard and tallow; cows are held sacred by Hindus and Muslims consider the pig unclean. Meerut soldiers set fire to the bungalows of the English.
Meerut Cantonment was established by the British East India Company in 1803 after the Battle of Laswari. It is the second largest cantonment of India both in land area (3568.06 hectares) and population (90521 people as per 2001 census). The Revolt of 1857 started from “Kali Paltan” in Meerut Cantonment and Indian soldiers stationed here actively participated in the rebellian. The cantonment surrounds the city from 3 sides – from Pallavpuram to Sainik Vihar to Ganga Nagar. It is well connected with the rest of country by roads as well as by rail. The Delhi Niti Paas Road (State Highway No. 45) passes through Meerut Cantonment.
Notable people from Meerut in the film and television industry include Bharat Bhushan, Mandakini, Achint Kaur, Arun Govil, Kailash Kher, Chitrangada Singh, Vishal Bhardwaj and Deepti Bhatnagar. There is also a training college for film and television located in the city.Er.Nityanand `Tushar`, kumar vishwas (poet),prof.p.k.arya(author and tv anchor) Raja Choudhary and Pravesh Rana are new joins to the group and apart of this there are a few international cricket Players who hails from meerut naming Praveen Kumar, Sudeep Tyagi and Bhuvnesh Kumar
The office of the Chief Commissioner, Customs & Central Excise, Meerut Zone, has jurisdiction over 13 districts of Uttrakhand and 14 districts of Uttar Pradesh. This jurisdiction was carved out of the Lucknow Zone. It comprises the erstwhile Customs & Central Excise Commissionerates of Meerut & Noida. The Meerut Commissionerate was bifurcated into two Commissionerates, namely, ‘Meerut-I and Ghaziabad’ and the Noida Commissionerate was bifurcated into ‘Noida and Meerut-II’. In addition, jurisdiction of Central Excise Division Bareilly was included in the jurisdiction of Meerut-II Commissionerate.
Shahpeer’s Mausoleum – This is a Mughal mausoleum erected by the empress Nur Jahan in 1620 in honour of a local Muslim Hazrat Shahpeer. It is a red stone structure that was partly built and is incomplete till date. The tomb is adorned by intricate nakashi (stone painting). There is no roof on the main tomb. People say that Shahpeer was the teacher of Mughal Emperor Jehangir. The tomb is listed by the Archaeological Survey of India as a national heritage monument. Shahpeer gate was built in 1829 by a local Jagirdar “Raja Ji”.
Meerut also contained a Harappan settlement known as Alamgirpur. It was also the easternmost settlement of the Indus valley civilisation. Meerut had been a centre of Buddhism in the period of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (r. 273 BC to 232 BC.), and remains of Buddhist structures were found near the Jama Masjid in the present day city. The Ashoka Pillar, at Delhi ridge, next to the ‘Bara Hindu Rao Hospital’, near Delhi University, was carried to Delhi from Meerut, by Firuz Shah Tughluq (r. 1351–1388); it was later damaged in a 1713 explosion, and restored in 1867.
Meerut City is the headquarters of Meerut district which, according to the 2011 census, has a population of around 3.4 million. Males constitute 53.06% of the population and females 46.94%. The percentage decadal growth in 2001–2011 stands at 15.92%. The sex ratio in Meerut is 885, lower than the state average of 908; while the child sex ratio is 850, lower than the state average of 899. 14.16% of the population is under 6 years of age. The district has a density of 1347 persons/km 2. The overall literacy rate is 74.80%, higher than the state average of 69.72%.
Meerut was also the venue of the controversial Meerut Conspiracy Case in March 1929, in which several trade unionists, including three Englishmen, were arrested for organising Indian-rail strike. This immediately caught attention back in England, inspired the 1932 play titled Meerut Prisoners, by Manchester street theatre group, the ‘Red Megaphones’, highlighting the detrimental effects of colonisation and industrialisation In the 1940s, Meerut cinemas had a “Don’t Move” policy during playing of the British national anthem.
Meerut it is the headquarter of NCR Zone and upwest zone A of Police. An ADG and a secretary level IAS officer cover west U.P.zone. Both the officers look after the legal and developmental condition and system of Western Uttar Pradesh from Meerut for 6 Division of western Uttar Pradesh, namely Meerut, Agra, Bareily Moradabad, Saharanpur and Aligarh under West Zone, and Meerut Division with Saharanpur is in NCR Zone. A DIG looks after Meerut for legal condition and law, Commissioner also looks for 6 district of Meerut Division.