Gujarat

History
The ancient history of Gujarat was enriched by their commercial activities. There is a clear historical evidence of trade and commerce ties with Sumer in the Persian Gulf during the time period of 1000 to 750 BC. There was a succession of Hindu/Buddhist states such as the Gupta Empire, Rashtrakuta Empire, Pala Empire and Gurjara-Pratihara Empire as well as local dynasties such as the Maitrakas and then the Solankis. The 11th century history of Gujarat saw the emergence of the Muslims in the political arena of the state. The state gujarat was established in 1st May 1960.

Geography
Gujarat borders with Pakistan to the north-west, bounded by the Arabian Sea to the southwest, the state of Rajasthan to the northeast, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and by Maharashtra, Union territories of Diu, Daman, Dadra and Nagar Haveli to the south. Historically, the North was known as Anarta, the Kathiawad peninsula, “Saurastra”, and the South as “Lata”. Gujarat was also known as Pratichya and Varuna. The Arabian Sea makes up the state’s western coast. The capital, Gandhinagar is a planned city. Gujarat has an area of 75,686 sq mi (196,077 km) with the longest coast line 1600 km, dotted with 41 ports; 1 major, 11 intermediate and 29 minor ports.

Economy
Gujarat has some of the largest businesses in India. Major agricultural produce of the state include cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), dates, sugar cane, milk and milk products. Industrial products include cement and petrol.

Gujarat’s Contribution to India:

• 17% of Fixed Capital Investment
• 16% of Industrial output
• 22% of India’s exports
• 16% of Value of Output
• 12% of Net Manufacturing Value
• 10% of Factories
• 98% of Soda Ash production
• 80% of Diamond Export
• 78% of Salt production
• 62% of Petrochemical production
• 53% of Crude Oil (Onshore)
• 51% of Chemical products
• 37% of Groundnut production
• 35% of Cargo Handling
• 31% of Cotton production
• 30% of Natural Gas (Onshore)
• 10% of Mineral production
• 25% of Textile production
• 35% of Pharmaceutical products
• Longest shoreline — 1,670 kilometres (1,040 mi)

The world’s largest shipbreaking yard is in Gujarat near Bhavnagar at Alang. Reliance Industries Limited founded by Dhirubhai Ambani, operates the oil refinery at Jamnagar, which is the world’s largest grass-roots refineries. Gujarat is the only state in India to have State Wide Gas Grid of 2,200 km. 87.9% of the total roads in the state are asphalt surfaced. 98.86% village connectivity with all-weather roads, the highest in India. 100% of Gujarat’s 18,000 villages have electricity connection for 24hr power through the Jyotigram Yojana. Gujarat ranks first nationwide in gas-based thermal electricity generation with national market share of over 8% and second nationwide in nuclear electricity generation with national market share of over 1%.

Gujarat has largest OFC network of more than 50,000 km. The state owned Wide Area Network is the largest IP-based ICT network in Asia Pacific Region and second largest in the world, connecting 26 districts and 225 talukas through 12,000 nodes. There are more than 900,000 internet users and all villages are connected with broadband internet. The state registered 12.8% agriculture growth in the last five years against the national average of 2%. Over 20% of the S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Gujarat.

Source: Wikipedia [Gujarat]