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The Chauhan king Prithviraj III was defeated in 1192 by the Afghan invader Muhammad Ghori who made a concerted effort to conquer northern India. By 1200, Hindu resistance had begun to crumble. Muslim dominance in India was to last for the next six centuries. On the death of Muhammad in 1206, the Turkic slave-general, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, broke away from the Ghurid Dynasty and became the first Sultan of Delhi. He began construction of the Qutb Minar and Quwwat-al-Islam (might of Islam) mosque, the earliest extant mosque in India. Qutb-ud-din faced widespread Hindu rebellions and it was his successor, Iltutmish (1211–36), who consolidated the Muslim conquest of northern India. |
The city’s electricity consumption is about 1,265 kWh per capita, but actual demand is higher. In Delhi power distribution is managed by Tata Power Distribution and BSES Rajdhani since 2002. The Delhi Fire Service runs 43 fire stations that attend about 15,000 fire and rescue calls per year. The state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and private enterprises Vodafone, Airtel, Idea cellular, Reliance Infocomm, Aircel and Tata Indicom provide telephone and cell phone service to the city. Cellular coverage is available in GSM, CDMA and 3G. |
The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 declared the Union Territory of Delhi to be formally known as the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Act gave Delhi its own legislative assembly along Civil lines, though with limited powers. In December 2001, the Parliament of India building in New Delhi was attacked by armed militants, killing six security personnel. India suspected Pakistan-based militant groups were behind the attack, which caused a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries. There were further terrorist attacks in Delhi in October 2005 and September 2008, resulting in the deaths of 62 and 30 civilians respectively. |
The Delhi Flying Club, established in 1928 with two de Havilland Moth aircraft named Delhi and Roshanara, was based at Safdarjung Airport which started operations in 1929, when it was the Delhi’s only airport and the second in India. The airport functioned until 2001, however in January 2002 the government closed the airport for flying activities because of security concerns following the New York attacks in September 2001. Since then, the club only carries out aircraft maintenance courses, and is used for helicopter rides to Indira Gandhi International Airport for VIP including the president and the prime minister. |
The Delhi metropolitan area lies within the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), which has five local municipal corporations; North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, East Delhi Municipal Corporation, NDMC and DCB. The former MCD was divided into three smaller Municipal Corporations – North Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi. According to the 2011 census, MCD is among the largest municipal bodies in the world, providing civic services to about 11 million people. |
The Delhi Transport Corporation operates the world’s largest fleet of compressed natural gas buses, totaling 9,000. |
The fast living habits of Delhi’s people has motivated the growth of street food outlets.:41 A trend of dining at local dhabas is popular among the residents. High profile restaurants have gained popularity in recent years, among the popular restaurants are the Karim Hotel, the Punjab Grill and Bukhara. The Gali Paranthe Wali (the street of fried bread) is a street in Chandni Chowk particularly for food eateries since the 1870s, almost the entire street is occupied by fast food stalls or street vendors who regularly. It has become almost a tradition that almost every prime minister of India has visited the street to eat paratha at least once, and other Indian cuisines are available here.:40–50 |
The Indian National Congress formed all the governments in Delhi until the 1990s, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Madan Lal Khurana, came to power. Since 1998 however, the Congress has retained power in Delhi, with the current Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in her 3rd term. The city’s transport services are run by the Delhi government and the police are directly controlled by the Central Government. |
The Indira Gandhi International Airport is the busiest airport in South Asia . Shown here is Terminal 1D of the airport. |