New Delhi (redirected from "New Delhi district)

New Delhi (dĕl`ē), city (1991 pop. 294,149), capital of India and of Delhi state, N central India, on the right bank of the Yamuna River. Predominantly an administrative center, it was constructed between 1912 and 1929 to replace Calcutta (now Kolkata) as capital of British India; New Delhi was officially inaugurated in 1931. The city is also a transportation hub and trade center with manufactures in electronics, automobile parts, engineering products, and electrical appliances.

Designed by architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, New Delhi has broad, symmetrically aligned streets that provide vistas of historic monuments. Between the main government buildings a broad boulevard leads east to west from India Gate, a massive war memorial arch (built 1921), through a great court to the resplendent sandstone and marble Government House (formerly the viceroy's palace; now the residence of India's president). In the southern section of the city is the prayer ground where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated (1948). In the west are Balmiki and Lakshminarayan temples, which Gandhi frequented; the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple (2005) is is East Delhi across the Yamuna. The city has many sports stadiums and medical institutes. In recent years metropolitan New Delhi, including Old Delhi, has experienced overcrowding and severe air pollution. The city opened its subway system, the second in India, in 2002.

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New Delhi

City (pop., 2001: 302,363), capital of India, on the western bank of the Yamuna River, south of Old Delhi in the Delhi national capital territory. Construction of the city began in 1912, and it was formally opened in 1931, when it became the capital. In contrast to the convoluted street plan of Old Delhi, New Delhi has an orderly, diagonal pattern and gives a feeling of openness and quiet. The main east-west axis is Central Vista Park, a thoroughfare lined with government buildings, museums, and research centres.