Sikar

History

Sikar is a historical city located in Rajasthan state in India. It is famous for its art, culture and Padharo Mhare Desh attitude. It is the administrative headquarters of Sikar District. Sikar is situated midway between Bikaner and Agra on National Highway number 11. It is 114 km away from Jaipur, 320 km from Jodhpur 215 km from Bikaner and 280 km from Delhi.

Rulers of Sikar : 1380-1614

1. Rao Prithvi Singh I (1380-1408)

2. Rao Surya Singh (1408-1426)

3. Rao Vikramaditya Singh (1426-1468)

4. Rao Prithviraj Singh II (1468-1506)

5. Rao Bhojaraj Singh (1506-1514)

6. Rao Fateh Singh (1514-1526)

7. Rao Tej Pratap Singh (1526-1558)

8. Raja Bawalraj Singh (1558-1572)

9. Raja Udayaraj Singh (1572-1602)

10. Raja Bhiwani Singh (Later Maharaja of Shekhawati) (1602-1614)

Geography

Sikar is the district headquarters of Rajasthan's Sikar district which is situated in the eastern part of Rajasthan. It is located at 27.62°N 75.15°E / 27.62; 75.15. It has an average elevation of 427 metres (1401 feet).

Climate

Sikar has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh) climate, rains occur in the monsoon months between June and September. Temperatures remain relatively high throughout the year, with the summer months of April to July having average daily temperatures of around 30 °C (86 °F). The maximum temperatures during the months of May & June can reach close to 50 °C (122 °F) with little to no humidity. During the monsoon there are frequent, heavy rains and thunderstorms, but flooding is not common. The winter months of November to February are also harsh, with average temperatures ranging from 5–15 °C (41–59 °F) and with little or no humidity. There are however several cold fronts that lead to temperatures below freezing −3 °C (27 °F).

Demographics

Sikar city has a population of about 237,579 people according to the census of 2011. As per provisional reports of Census India, population of Sikar in 2011 is 237579; of which male and female are 123156 and 114423 respectively. The sex ratio of Sikar city is 929 per 1000 males. In education section, total literates in Sikar city are 158413 of which 91403 are males while 67010 are females. Average literacy rate of Sikar city is 77.13 percent of which male and female literacy was 86.29 and 67.37 percent respectively. Total children age group (0-6) in Sikar city are 32189 as per figure from Census India report on 2011. There were 17236 boys while 14953 are girls. Child sex ratio of girls is 868 per 1000 boys.

Place of Interest

Administration

Sikar city is governed by a Municipal Corporation, which comes under the Sikar Urban Agglomeration. Sikar city is divided into 45 wards. Although Sikar city has a population of 237,579, its urban/metropolitan population is 244,563, of which 126,964 are males and 117,599 are females. The Sikar metropolitan area includes Chandrapura (Rural), Radhakrishnpura, Samarthpura, Shivsinghpura and Sikar city. At present, the Member of Parliament from Sikar is Swami Sumedhanand Sarsawati (May 2014).

Rail

Sikar Junction railway station comes within the territory of the North Western Railway. Sikar city is connected through a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) meter gauge railway line section to Jaipur, and a broadgauge line to Jhunjhunu, Rewari, and Delhi and Sikar - Churu rail line began converting to 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 1 September 2015 (Tuesday) flagged off two trains to mark the completion of Rs. 260 crore gauge conversion of the 122 km Loharu-Sikar railway line in Rajasthan.

Both trains were flagged off by Prabhu through remote control by organising video conferencing between Rail Bhawan in New Delhi and Sikar. Prabhu pointed out that sufficient funds have been provided in 2015-16 to complete this project, i.e., Jaipur-Ringas-Churu by March, 2017.

Rail service between Sikar and Delhi as train no.14811/14812 Sikar - Delhi Sarai Rohilla Express (bi-weekly) began 2 September 2015. This train was inaugurated by Suresh Prabhu as well as more trains from Sikar to Delhi and for rest of India has been demanded by public.

Road

Sikar is well connected by roads from all the major cities of Rajasthan and nearby states. A four-lane national highway NH-11 passes through the center of the city. NH-11 connects Sikar with Jaipur and Bikaner. The western freight corridor will also pass through Sikar, as a main project of the central government. Kotputali Kuchaman Mega Highway also passes through Sikar.

Air

The nearest airport to Sikar city is Jaipur International Airport, which operates daily flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Indore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Guwahati, Kolkata, Udaipur, Dubai, Sharjah, Muscat. A new airport is proposed at Shahpura (a town in Jaipur district) that is very near to Sikar. A small air strip at Tarpura village is also available for the landing of small private planes (against payment).

Education

Sikar has become a major education hub of Rajasthan these days. Along with numerous government colleges providing arts, sciences, and commerce education, a number of private educational institutes have also opened up. Shri Kalyan Government College is the largest college . sikar University has been opened in 2013 by Rajasthan Govt. In the last few years many coaching institutes have become established in the city for the preparation of JEE, PMT, AIIMS and other competitive exams. The coaching class movement started in the early 'nineties but grew modestly because of a lack of quality providers. However, in recent years, the city has become a force to reckon with due to multiple high quality institutions for IIT JEE and PMT preparation. Those students who follow coaching institutes no longer migrate to other major cities, like Kota and Jaipur.