In the reign of Sikandar, son of Bahlol Lodi, the people about Ludhiana were oppressed by the plundering Baluchis, and applied to the Emperor for assistance. Sikandar, in answer to their prayer, sent two of his Lodi chiefs, by name Yusaf Khan and Nihang Khan, with an army. These chiefs fixed on the present site of the Ludhiana city, which was then a village called Mir Hota. Nihang Khan remained at Mir Hota as the Emperor’s Lieutenant; and called the place Ludhiana. He was succeeded by his son a grandson. The latter, Jalal Khan, built the fort of Ludhiana out of the bricks found at Sunet. He saved the town from invaders and treated all its citizen equally. His two sons partitioned the country round about Ludhiana, which was then lying in waste, amongst the people of the town, and distributed them in villages. In the time of Jalal Khan’s grandsons, Alu Khan and Khizr Khan, the Lodi dynasty was overthrown by Babar; and the Lodis of Ludhiana sunk to the position of ordinary subjects of the Mughal empire. They are said to have lived close to the fort for many generations, but all traces of them have now disappeared, and even the tombs of Nihang and his immediate descendants have been lost sight of, although they are said to have been standing some years ago.
The century and a half following the death of Akbar (a Mughal emperor) in 1705 was dominated by the rise of Sikhism as a power, and the decline of the Mughal empire. By this time the Mughal empire was tottering to its fall, and local powers began to assert their independence. The Rais of Raikot, who until then had held a considerable tract of land around Ludhiana in lease from the emperors, were some of the first to assert their independence. Raja Ala Singh of Patiala, the representative of the crumbling Delhi Sultanate and Rai Kalha II were the principal actors contenders for power in the region. “Rai Kalha III,who appears to have been a ruler of very great ability, extended his power up to Ludhiana. He established independent power over the whole of the Jagraon(the place of the Rais)and the greater part of Ludhiana Tahsils, and a large portion of the Ferozepur District.” Khan Bahadur Rai Inayat Khan of Raikot (the custodian of Guru Gobind Singh ji’s Ganga Sagar) was the chief of Rai family at the time of partition of India 1947. Hatur, Chakar, Talwandi Rai in 1478 AD, Halwara and Raikot in 1648 AD and Jagraon in 1680 AD were founded by the Manj Rai family of Raikot and their ancestors.
PCTE Group of Institutes Baddowal, Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT) Model Town Ludhiana, SDP College for Women, Khalsa College, Gujranwala Guru Nanak Institute Of Management & Technologies] (Co Educational), B.C.M College Of Education, Arya College for Boys, Kamla Lohtia College, Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management and SCD Government Colleges for Boys and Girls are some of the other reputed colleges for higher education in this region. S.C.D Government College for Boys is named after Satish Chander Dhawan – a renowned Space Scientist, who like many of his disillusioned compatriots migrated to the USA, and had a long & illustrious career at MIT, Massachusetts. Other famous people from Ludhiana include the well-loved poet Sahir Ludhianvi, the renowned Punjabi literaturer Dr Vidya Bhaskar Arun, economists M S Gill and SS Johl, union HRD minister Kapil Sibal, the retired police chief KPS Gill, and film-director David Dhawan. Late Sardar Sahib Sardar Amar Singh Thandi Amar Villa civil lines Ludhiana ( Minister Mandi Skait 1920s).
Ludhiana features a humid subtropical under the Köppen climate classification, with three defined seasons; summer, monsoon and winter. Summers, which range from April through June in the city, tends to be very hot and very dry with average highs in May and June hovering around 40 degrees Celsius. The monsoon season which runs from July through September, sees a slight decrease in average temperatures but an increase in humidity. The bulk of the city’s annual precipitation is received during the monsoon season. October and November interestingly enough is dry; more similar to a summer month than a monsoon month, though November is noticeably cooler than a summer month. Average temperatures though tend to decrease during the course of each of these months. December through February, which forms the winter months, is relatively mild with warm days and chilly nights. March is more of a sharp transitional month from winter to summer. Ludhiana on average sees roughly 730 mm of precipitation annually.
The riches are brought mostly by small-scale industrial units, which produce industrial goods, machine parts, auto parts, household appliances, hosiery, apparel, and garments. Ludhiana is Asia’s largest hub for bicycle manufacturing and produces more than 50% of India’s bicycle consumption of more than 10 million each year. Ludhiana produces 60% of India’s tractor parts and a large portion of auto and two-wheeler parts. Many parts used in German cars like BMW and Mercedes are exclusively produced in Ludhiana to satisfy the world requirement. It is one of the largest manufacturer of sewing machines. Hand tools and precision industrial equipment is another speciality. The apparel industry Ludhiana is famous all over India for its woolen sweaters and cotton t-shirts; most of the top Indian woolen apparel brands like Octave, Monte Carlo & Miss Grace are based in Ludhiana.
With fastest growing population of Ludhiana, the number of Restaurants in Ludhiana is also Increasing. There are Restaurants like McDonald, Pizza Hut, Dominos, KFC, Gigabyte, Subway, Cafe Coffee Day, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s The Yellow Chilli, Hot Breads, Mayfair Foods, etc. The famous sweet Shops in Ludhiana are Lovely Sweets(dandi swami Road), Bikanerwala,Sartaj bikaneri, Khushi Ram etc. There are various Bars and Pubs in Ludhiana. Ludhiana now is the first city in Punjab to have a restaurant with its own micro-brewery where fresh beer is prepared in-house, The Restaurant is named The BrewMaster and is located in the WestEnd Mall on Ferozpur road. The Main Market in Sarabha Nagar has many Restrauants.It also has some famous snacks and namkeens shops such as Sartaj bikaneri, Sita rams etc.
In 1798, Ludhiana was attacked by the Sikhs under Bedi Sahib Singh of Una. At the time, the ruler of the Rais, Rai Alias was a child. His agents Roshan and Gujar made a good stand against the Sikhs at Jodh, ten miles (16 km) southwest of Ludhiana. Roshan was the killed in the fight, and Rai’s army was dispersed. However, the Phulkian chiefs, who were on good terms with the Rais, had no intention of allowing the Bedi to establish himself in their midst and came to their aid, driving the invaders out of the villages. Upon the Bedi’s siege of Ludhiana, the Rais called in British mercenary George Thomas to help with the defense of the city. On Thomas’s approach, Bedi retreated to the other side of the river.
His successor, Ahmed Shah Durrani, invaded in 1747. On reaching the Sutlej at Ludhiana, he found his passage opposed by the son of the emperor, Kamardin, with a huge army that had advanced from Sirhind. Durrani avoided the conflict but ended up in direct confrontation with him very near Khanna. While Ahmad Shah Bahadur was defeated, the losses were very heavy on both sides. The subsequent invasions of Ahmad Shah were not resisted by the Mughal troops from Sirhind, but they were constantly harassed by the Phulkian chiefs and the Rais. It was some time about 1760 that the Rais were permitted by Ahmed Shah to take possession of the town of Ludhiana and to extend their power over the country about.
Ludhiana is well connected by air and rail as it is on main Delhi-Amritsar route and is an important railway junction with lines going to Jalandhar, Ferozepur, Dhuri and Delhi . The city is very well connected with daily or weekly trains to most places in India including the major cities of Jammu, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Pathankot, Kanpur, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. For administrative reasons the station is under Ferozepur Railway Division.There is also a proposal to construct a railway line between Ludhiana and Chandigarh. The government has even passed a dedicated freight track between Ludhiana and Kolkata.
Ludhiana Punjabi: ??????? is a city and a municipal corporation in Ludhiana district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is the largest city in the state, with an estimated population of 3,487,882 as per Census 2011.The population increases substantially during the crop harvesting season due to migration of labourers from states like eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Delhi. It has an area of about 3787 km². The city stands on the Sutlej River’s old bank, 13 km south of its present course. It is a major industrial centre of northern India. Residents of the city may be referred to as Ludhianvis.
The first major setback to the industry and business in Ludhiana has been the insurgency in Punjab that lasted from 1984 to 1992. Many industries moved out of and set up base in the township of Faridabad, Harayana, in close contiguity with teater New Delhi area. Another major impact has been the preferential taxation policies in neighbouring hill states which has provided the businesses in those states a huge competitive advantage. Many Ludhiana-based industries are moving into those areas to take advantage of the zero tax policies. Another major challenges in recent years has been the chronic labour shortages.
Ludhiana is also becoming an IT Hub. There are several advanced IT institutes and Finishing schools that provide professional computer education, offering IT Education and Web Development Services]. Students from nearby districts also come to Ludhiana. One can get education in each & every subject on computer stream in Ludhiana. Mainly Programming in all major languages, Graphic Designing, Web Designing, Hardware & Networking, Animation, Audio Video Editing. Ludhiana has also many examination centre for all major IT certifications like Microsoft, CISCO, Linux and also Visual Basic etc.
Ludhiana is a kind of hub for trade in north India. Chaura Bazaar and also ghumar mandi is the main market. Ludhiana is regarded as the best city in Punjab for shopping. There are about 20 malls in Ludhiana, the primary ones among them being Silver Arc, MBD and Westend. For the first time, these malls have introduced international brands, including many premium and a few luxury brands. The likes of Mango, Promod and Aldo in Silver Arc, Vero Moda in MBD and Espirit in Westend, to name a few, have made Ludhiana a major retail destination.
Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Bhutta College of Engineering And Technology and Ludhiana College of Engineering & Technology are three main colleges offering quality education in engineering. Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College is a very old and renowned institution offering best available facilities and education for engineering students.Research & development centre for bicycle and sewing machine-www.bsrdindia.com . There are other institutes catering to local and surrounding areas such as Institute of Banking Services (IBS).
The fall of Sirhind marked the last vestige of Mughal control over the area, and Ludhiana was left in possession of the Rais. The Malaudh Sirdars belonging to the Phulkian stock had already established themselves in the south of Ludhiana in the Jangal villages and the country about Malaudh; and Sudha Singh Gill, an adventurer from Loharu in the Ferozepur district, secured a few villages around Sahnewal. In 1767 Ahmed Shah reached Ludhiana on his last expedition but got no further.
Ludhiana is well connected with other cities of Punjab and also with other states by Bus service. The transportation services are provided by state owned Punjab Roadways and private bus operators. Moving inside the city, now there are state of the art Tata Marcopolo low floor buses for local travelling inside the city.The Ludhiana City Bus Services Limited(LCBSL) is the company which operates these buses in the City
Ludhiana is mixture of Urban and Rural race. Ludhiana dist. has great history in agriculture, due to fertile soil no forest is left. Farming, Industry and human occupancy used most of the land. But still Ludhiana holds some beautiful gardens and public places. City is covered bye farming land from each side but inside very parks are still existing for relaxation, walking and picnic.
Ludhiana is connected by air with Delhi. Air India and Kingfisher fly daily between New Delhi and Ludhiana Airport. The government is looking at purchasing another 500 acres (2.0 km2) of land to construct the new international airport.. Ludhiana’s status as a large industrial hub is cited as a reason for another international airport in Punjab after Amritsar.
30.9°N 75.85°E. It has an average elevation of 244 metres (798 ft). Ludhiana City, to its residents, consists of the Old City and the New City (or the residential and official quarters of the Colonial British encampment, traditionally known as Civil Lines; this is as opposed to the Army Lines, which are no longer extant as the British Cantonment was abandoned in 1845).
Thinking to take advantage of this power struggle, Nadir Shah invaded and crossed the Sutlej at Ludhiana, which was then on its banks, and marched through the district along what is now the Grand Trunk Road. Nadir Shah is said to have ordered a general massacre of the inhabitants of Ludhiana on the account of some petty fault, but it seems doubtful that he did.