New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India and forms part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). It houses the central institutions of the Indian government, including the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the presidential residence), the Sansad Bhavan (Parliament House), and the Supreme Court. As a municipality within the NCT, New Delhi is governed by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which primarily administers the area known as Lutyens' Delhi along with some neighboring zones. This municipal territory also corresponds to a larger administrative division called the New Delhi district.

While people often use "Delhi" and "New Delhi" interchangeably to refer to the entire NCT, they are actually separate entities. The municipality and district of New Delhi occupy only a small portion of the sprawling megacity of Delhi. Beyond that, the National Capital Region is an even broader zone, encompassing the entire NCT plus nearby districts in two adjoining states that form a continuous urban sprawl—including cities like Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Meerut, YEIDA City, Gurgaon, and Faridabad.

The foundation stone for New Delhi, located south of central Delhi, was laid by King George V during the Delhi Durbar of 1911. The city was designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, and it was officially inaugurated on 13 February 1931 by Viceroy and Governor-General Irwin.

History

Establishment

Under British rule, Calcutta served as India's capital until December 1911. However, Calcutta had become a hotbed of nationalist movements since the late 1800s. The partition of Bengal by Viceroy Curzon sparked a surge in political and religious activism, including assassinations of British officials in the city. Widespread anti-colonial sentiment led to a complete boycott of British goods, forcing the colonial government to reunite Bengal and promptly move the capital to New Delhi.

Old Delhi had been the political center for several medieval Indian empires and the Delhi Sultanate, most notably the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857. In the early 1900s, the British administration considered shifting the capital of British India (as the country was then officially called) from Calcutta on the east coast to Delhi. The government believed it would be logistically easier to rule India from Delhi, which lies in the northern part of the country. Land for the new city was acquired under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894.

At the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, George V laid the foundation stone for the viceroy's residence at Coronation Park, Kingsway Camp, and announced that the capital of the Raj would move from Calcutta to Delhi. Three days later, George V and his wife, Queen Mary, laid the foundation stone of New Delhi at Kingsway Camp. Large portions of the city were planned by Edwin Lutyens, who first visited Delhi in 1912, and Herbert Baker, both prominent 20th-century British architects.

The construction contract went to Sobha Singh. The original plan placed the city in Tughlaqabad, inside the Tughlaqabad Fort, but this was abandoned due to the Delhi-Calcutta trunk railway line passing through the fort. Actual construction began after World War I and finished by 1931. Gardening and plantation planning were overseen by A.E.P. Griessen and later William Mustoe.

The city, later called "Lutyens' Delhi," was inaugurated in ceremonies starting on 10 February 1931 by Viceroy Irwin. Lutyens designed the central administrative area to reflect Britain's imperial ambitions.

Lutyens soon considered other locations. The Delhi Town Planning Committee, formed to plan the new imperial capital—with George Swinton as chairman and John A. Brodie and Lutyens as members—submitted reports for both northern and southern sites. The Viceroy rejected the northern option because the cost of acquiring the necessary properties was too high. The central axis of New Delhi, which today faces east at India Gate, was originally intended to be a north-south axis linking the Viceroy's House at one end with Paharganj at the other.

However, due to space limitations and many heritage sites on the north side, the committee chose the southern site. A location atop Raisina Hill, formerly the Raisina Village, was selected for the Rashtrapati Bhavan (then the Viceroy's House). This hill was chosen because it sat directly opposite the Dinapanah citadel, believed to be the site of Indraprastha, the ancient region of Delhi. The foundation stone was later moved from the 1911–1912 Delhi Durbar site (where the Coronation Pillar stood) and embedded in the walls of the Secretariat's forecourt.

Rajpath, originally called King's Way, ran from India Gate to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Secretariat building—two blocks flanking the Rashtrapati Bhavan that house Indian government ministries—and the Parliament House, both designed by Baker, are located on Sansad Marg, parallel to Rajpath.

To the south, land up to Safdarjung's Tomb was acquired to create what is now known as Lutyens' Bungalow Zone. Before construction could begin on the rocky ridge of Raisina Hill, a circular railway line around the Council House (now Parliament House), called the Imperial Delhi Railway, was built to transport construction materials and workers for the next twenty years. A final obstacle was the Agra-Delhi railway line, which cut directly through the site planned for the hexagonal All-India War Memorial (India Gate) and Kingsway (Rajpath). This was problematic because the Old Delhi Railway Station served the entire city at that time.