Muzaffarnagar (, ) is a city under Muzaffarnagar district in the Indian State of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. It is situated midway on the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Haridwar Haridwar (; ; formerly Mayapuri) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is s ...

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

National Highway ( NH 58) and is also well connected with the national railway network. It is known as the sugarbowl of Uttar Pradesh. The city previously called Sarwat and is located in the middle of the highly fertile upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab region and is very near to New Delhi and Saharanpur, making it one of the most developed and prosperous cities of Uttar Pradesh. It comes under the Saharanpur division. This city is part of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and Amritsar Delhi Kolkata Industrial Corridor (ADKIC). It shares its border with the state of Uttarakhand and it is the principal commercial, industrial and educational hub of Western Uttar Pradesh.

History

The earliest settlers of Muzaffarnagar and the region around it were

Brahmins Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

and

Rajputs Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

, followed by later migrations of Jat and Gurjar tribes. The town was established in 1633 by the son of a Mughal Commander Sayyid Muzaffar Khan Barha, otherwise known as Khan-i-Jahan, during the reign of

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

. At the time Muzaffarnagar was part of the ''Barah country'' as it was intimately connected with the Indian Muslim kinship group called the Barah Sayyids, who controlled the upper Doab. From Muzaffarnagar, the influential

Sayyid brothers The Sayyid brothers were Hassan Ali Khan Barha, Abdullah Khan II and Hussain Ali Khan Barha, Syed Hussain Ali Khan, two powerful Mughal Empire, Mughal nobles who were active during the decline of the Mughal Empire. They were Punjabi Muslims bel ...

became de-facto rulers of the Mughal empire in the 1710s. The Indian Muslim inhabitants of Barha especially from near the town of Jansath were heavily recruited in the Mughal army and in the personal cavalry of the

Sayyid Brothers The Sayyid brothers were Hassan Ali Khan Barha, Abdullah Khan II and Hussain Ali Khan Barha, Syed Hussain Ali Khan, two powerful Mughal Empire, Mughal nobles who were active during the decline of the Mughal Empire. They were Punjabi Muslims bel ...

. In 1901, during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, it was a district in the

Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...

Division in

United Provinces of Agra and Oudh The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh was a province of India under the British Raj, which existed from 22 March 1902 to 1937; the official name was shortened by the Government of India Act 1935 to United Provinces (UP), by which the province ...

. In 1947, when the country got independence Indian flag was hoisted for the first time in the Muzaffarnagar City. On 18 October 1976, during " The Emergency, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's suspension of democracy in India, between 25 and 30 people protesting against compulsory sterilisation were killed when Uttar Pradesh police fired into the

crowd A crowd is as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent. Examples are a Demonstration (people), demonstration, a Sport, sports event, or a looting (classified in sociology as an acting crowd). A crowd may also simply ...

2013 Muzaffarnagar riots

The 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots between Hindus and Muslims resulted in 62 deaths. According to a May 2015 report in

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

Geography

Topography

Muzaffarnagar is 272 meters above sea level in the Doab region of

Indo-Gangetic Plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the Northern Plain or North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain spanning across the northern and north-eastern part of the Indian subcontinent. It encompasses North India, northern and East India, easte ...

. It is 125 kilometres north east of the national capital,

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, and 200 kilometres south east of

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

, and near to

Roorkee Roorkee (Rūṛkī; ) is a city and Municipal Corporations in India, municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is from Haridwar, the district headquarters. It is spread over a flat terrain under the ...

, Saharanpur,

Bijnor Bijnor () is a city and a municipal board in Bijnor district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

influenced humid subtropical climate characterised by much hot summers and cooler winters. Summers last from early April to late June and are extremely hot. The monsoon arrives in late June and continues until the middle of September. Temperatures drop slightly, with plenty of cloud cover but with higher humidity. Temperatures rise again in October and the city then has a mild, dry winter season from late October to the middle of March. June is the warmest month of the year. The temperature in June averages 30.2 °C. In January, the average temperature goes to as low as 7 °C. It is the lowest average temperature of the whole year. The average annual temperature in Muzaffarnagar is 24.2 °C. The highest and lowest temperatures ever recorded in Muzaffarnagar are on 29 May 1994 and on 23 December 1990 respectively. The rainfall averages 929 mm. The driest month is November, with 8 mm of rain. Highest precipitation falls in July, with an average of 261.4 mm. According to the World Air Quality Report 2024, Muzaffarnagar is one of the 20 most polluted cities in India.

Demographics

2011 census, Muzaffar Nagar municipality had a population of 351,838 The municipality had a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 897 females per 1,000 males and 12.01% of the population were under six years old. Effective literacy was 85.16%; male literacy was 88.83% and female literacy was 81.05%. The urban/metropolitan population is 494,792, of which 261,338 are males and 233,454 are females.

Religion

The city has 55.79%

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

, 41.39%

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, 1.7% Jains, 0.67%

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

, 0.67%

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

s and 0.17%

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

Language

The Khariboli dialect is the native tongue of the city which resembles the Haryanvi dialect of adjoining

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. The official languages of Hindi, Urdu and English are also widely understood.

Economy

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

and Muzaffarnagar jaggery production are important industries in the district. As a result of the farming activities around, the city is an important hub of

jaggery Jaggery is a List of unrefined sweeteners, traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice, cane jui ...

trading business. Muzaffarnagar is an industrial city with

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

being the major industries. District Muzaffarnagar has 8 sugar mills. More than 40% of the region's population is engaged in agriculture. According to Economic Research firm ''Indicus Analytics'', Muzaffarnagar has the highest agricultural GDP in Uttar Pradesh, as well as UP's largest granary.

Healthcare

Muzaffaranagar has both public and private healthcare system. The District hospital is the major government hospital in the city along with several general practitioners in the city. The city is also catered by a private medical college ( Muzaffarnagar Medical College) on the outskirts of the city.

Transportation

Muzaffarnagar connected by road and railway networks. The

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in Western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziaba ...

- Saharanpur line passes through the city.

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

provides connections to

, Western Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

, and other parts of the country. Dehradun Shatabdi Express and Dehradun Jan Shatabdi Express trains pass through and halt at the Muzaffarnagar station. The National Highway - 58 (NH-58) passes through Muzaffarnagar city. This highway provides connections towards Delhi on the southern direction and upper reaches of the Himalayas in the

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

state in the northern direction. The highway is the backbone of road transportation for the Muzaffarnagar city as well as the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. Cities and areas of Hardwar, Rishikesh, Dehradun as well as Badrinath and

Kedarnath Kedarnath is a town and Nagar Panchayat in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, India, known primarily for the Kedarnath Temple. It is approximately 86.5 kilometres from Rudraprayag, the district headquarters. Kedarnath is the most remote ...

are served by this highway. City transportation mostly consists of tricycles and 3-wheeled vehicles, rickshaws. An international airport, Muzaffarnagar International Airport, was proposed in the city in order to reduce the traffic at the

Indira Gandhi International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving New Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of ,

, however, the same was transferred to the Jewar Airport.

Environmental concerns

Muzaffarnagar lies approximately halfway on the road from Delhi to Uttarakhand

Rishikesh Rishikesh, also spelt as Hrishikesh, is a city near Dehradun in the Indian state Uttarakhand. The northern part of Rishikesh is in the Dehradun district while the southern part is in the Tehri Garhwal district. It is situated on the right bank ...

(the NH-58). As a result, many roadside resorts and eateries have sprung up on the highway near the city. Especially, the town of Khatauli is famed for its canal side forest park named "Cheetal". Once visited for the sight of

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and

rabbits Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated form ...

and other wild animals, the Cheetal is now encroached by privately owned dhabas and resorts thus sidelining the animals.

Notable people

* Kapil Dev Agarwal, politician, MLA from Muzaffarnagar City and state minister in Uttar Pradesh Government. * Gourav Baliyan, wrestler * Rajpal Singh Baliyan, political figure, MLA from Budhana Assembly Seat. * Sanjeev Balyan, politician, former Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries * Kartar Singh Bhadana, political figure * Kamna Chandra, Haryana film writer * Sumit Jain, entrepreneur, co-founder & CEO Opentalk.to , co-founder and ex-CEO of Commonfloor.com * Divya Kakran, wrestler * Swami Kalyandev (1876–2004), an

ascetic Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...

in the fields of education and social reform, awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

by the Indian government * Amir Alam Khan, former M.P. and Uttar Pradesh minister, chairman of Bharat groups of colleges *

Liaquat Ali Khan Liaquat Ali Khan (1 October 189516 October 1951) was a Pakistani lawyer, politician and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Pakistan The prime minister of Pakistan (, Roman Urdu, romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the he ...

, first Prime Minister of Pakistan (once lived in Muzaffarnagar) * Nawazish Alam Khan, former MLA from Bhudana Vidhansabha * Nishu Kumar, Indian professional football player, plays as full back at

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Blasters, is an Indian association football, professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in Indi ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. * Harendra Singh Malik, Lok Sabha MP from Muzaffarnagar constituency * Pankaj Kumar Malik, political figure, MLA from Charthawal Assembly Seat. * Alam Muzaffarnagari, Indian Urdu writer * Mithlesh Pal, political figure, MLA from Meerapur(Muzaffarnagar) Assembly Seat falls in Bijnor constituency. * Vishnu Prabhakar, novelist, writer, journalist *

Sultan Rahi Sultan Rahi (; June 24, 1938 – January 9, 1996) was a Pakistani actor, producer and screenwriter. He established himself as one of the leading and most successful actors of Pakistani and Punjabi cinema, and received a reputation as Pakistan' ...

, Pakistani actor * Kadir Rana, politician, former Lok Sabha MP from Muzaffarnagar constituency * Shahnawaz Rana, politician, former M.L.A from Bijnor constituency, Uttar pradesh * Sumit Rathi, Indian football player, plays for ATK and Indian U-17 Football Team * Rajpal Singh Saini, political figure *

Nawazuddin Siddiqui Nawazuddin Siddiqui (; born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a National Film Award, an IIFA Award, and two Filmfare Awards, as well as a nomination for an ...

, Bollywood actor * Narain Singh, Gurjar leader and deputy chief minister of UP * Brahma Singh, scientist and agriculturist; awarded the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

by the Indian government. * Shaukat Thanvi, Pakistani author who wrote Qazi G * Rakesh Tikait, Farmer leader * A. M. Turaz, Indian poet, lyricist, and script writer

References

External links

Muzaffarnagar Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muzaffarnagar Cities and towns in Muzaffarnagar district Cities in Uttar Pradesh