Shahbad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Shahbad
Haryana, India |
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| District(s) | Kurukshetra |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Population | 37,130 (2001) |
Shahbad is a city and a Municipal Committee in Kurukshetra District in the Indian state of Haryana.
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[edit] Demographics
As of 2001 India censusGRIndia, Shahbad had a population of 37,130. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Shahbad has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 76%, and female literacy is 69%. In Shahbad, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
[edit] Location
Shahbad lies 21 kilometers south of Ambala on the Ambala Delhi Highway. It is some 60 kilometers to the North of Kurukshetra city, which is the capital of the district. Shahbad is on the national highway, and has a railway station on the Delhi Ambala line. It lies on the banks of the river Markanda- A tributary of the Ghaggar, and supposed to be a part of the ancient/ Vedic Saraswati River Basin system. There is a large historic temple on the banks of the river with Markendeshwar, the river sage/diety being worshipped there. There is also a road from Panchkula, via Dosarka that comes out near Shahbad. There are also direct roads to Ladwa and Radaur as well as Yamunanagar from Shahbad. Pipli, near Kurukshetra and Nilokheri are other nearby towns on the National highway.
[edit] Economy
It is a significant agricultural market for procurement of agricultural products. The area being on a river bank is fertile and is used for paddy as well as wheat and vegetables. The yield is very high, and the belt till Karnal has a large number of rice mills to pick up the high quality grain.
[edit] Sports
Of late Shahbad has produced a large number of women hockey players. This is thanks to the efforts of Coach Baldev Singh, who is also a Asst Director in the Haryana Sports department. The current national Hockey team has 12 women from Shahbad. For the last decade Shahbad has produced a large number of women Hockey players who have donned Haryana , Railways or Indian team colours. It has got the epithet of Sansarpur of Women's hockey. Current national team representatives from Shahbad are :- Suman Bala, Nutan, Meenakshi, Simarjeet Kaur, Balwinder Kaur, Kiran Bala, Gurpreet Kaur, Jasjeet Kaur, Rajni Bala, Rajwinder, Gagandeep Kaur and Surinder Kaur.
[edit] History
Historically it was a muslim majority town, with references made to a fort during Mughal times, and raids as well as sacking of the fort by Banda Bahadur. Significantly it also has a historic gurudwara of those times. After partition most of the muslims left, and Punjabi Sikh's and Hindu's from Pakistan were resettled here. The town and surrounding villages hence have a large Punjabi presence. At the time of partition it was a small village, but has subsequently grown and now even has to urban area sectors planned and developed by HUDA.
[edit] Links
Article on hockey in Shahbad [1]
