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GURGAON INFORMATION

Gurgaon is the sixth largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. According to the 2001 India census, Gurgaon has a population of 228,820. Gurgaon has grown extensively during the last decade due to its proximity to West Delhi and South Delhi and its emergence as a major outsourcing destination and as a real estate market in northern India.

An important town in ancient Hindu mythology, Gurgaon is one of Delhi's four major satellite cities and is therefore considered to be a part of the National Capital Region of India. Over the past few years the city has grown tremendously as an outsourcing destination within India and has also witnessed a big real estate boom. It has also become the poshest area of Delhi with numerous Villas and condominiums and many malls with multinational brands.

The origin of the city's name is steeped in Hindu mythology. Legend has it that Gurgaon is the ancestral village of Guru Dronacharya, the teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata. In Sanskrit, Guru means teacher, which in this case refers to Dronacharya and Gram means village. According to Hindu mythology, the village was gifted by the Pandavas and Kauravas to Dronacharya, and was therefore known as guru-gram. The gram was over a period of time rounded off to a colloquial gaon (which also means village in Prakrit) and hence the name Gurgaon emerged. According to another theory, the word Gurgaon is an amalgamation of the words 'gur' (a kind of Jaggery) and 'gaon'(village).

Before the real estate boom, Gurgaon was dominated by Jat people and Gujjars. Jats and Gujjars, like the citizens of ancient Rome, alternated between farming and fighting for their lands in this part of the world for centuries. This fierce race had been the buffer by default shielding Hindus from foreign Islamic invasions from the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent. However, after the rise of Mughals, Jats' influence gradually waned. During the British rule in India, Gurgaon was integrated into the Punjab Province. Following India's independence, Gurgaon remained a part of the state of Punjab but after the bloody Punjab insurgency, it became a part of the newly created state of Haryana.

Gurgaon remained a small farming village while neighboring Delhi emerged as India's political capital. Delhi's economic rise attracted a large influx of laborers from neighboring regions like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab rapidly increasing Delhi's population. By early 1990s, Delhi was one of the most populated and crowded cities in the world and the need for a satellite city became more apparent. Gurgaon seemed like an ideal choice given its vast undeveloped farming lands and proximity to Delhi. Haryana Urban Development Authority bought large acres of land from farmers in Gurgaon and developed residential and commercial sectors. Tax incentives by the state government of Haryana and improvement in infrastructure attracted Indian companies and foreign investment and Gurgaon emerged as one of the major manufacturing and services hub in northern India.

The present Gurgaon district comprising nine blocks Tauru, Nuh, Pataudi, Nagina, Punhana, F.P.Jhirka, Sohna, Gurgaon & Farrukhnagar was created on 15 August,1979. It is the southern-most district of Haryana. On its north, it is bounded by the district of Rohtak and the Union Territory of Delhi. Faridabad district lies to its east. On its south, the district shares boundaries with the states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. To its west lies the district of Rewari and the State of Rajasthan. It is surrounded on 3 sides by Haryana and to the east, across the river Yamuna by Uttar Pradesh. Its greatest length is around 13 miles and the greatest breadth is 17 miles.