Gurgaon district
Gurgaon district, officially known as Gurugram district, is one of the 22 districts of Haryana in northern India. The city of Gurgaon is the administrative headquarters of the district. The population is 1,514,432. It is one of the southern districts of Haryana. On its north, it is bounded by the district of Jhajjar and the Union Territory of Delhi. Faridabad district lies to its east. On its south, lie the districts of Palwal and Nuh. To its west lies Rewari district. History. According to Mahabharata (900 BCE), the area was granted by the eldest Pandava king, Yudhishthira, to  their teacher, Dronacharya. Later, it passed into the hands of the Maurya empire and to invaders like the Parthians and the Kushan, and the Yaudheya (after they expelled Kushanas from the area between Yamuna and Satluj). Yodheyas was subjugated by king Rudradaman I of the Indo-Scythians and later by the Gupta Empire and then by Hunas, who were in turn overthrown by Yashodharman of Mpopjopoppopp09 andsaur and then by Yashovarman of Kannauj. The area was also ruled by Harsha (590 - 467 CE) and Gurjara-Pratihara (mid 7th century CE to 11th century). The Tomara dynasty, who founded Dhillika in  736 CE, who were earlier tributaries of Partiharas, overthrew Partiharas. Tomaras were defeated by who were in turn were overthrown in 1156 CE by king "Visaladeva Chauhan" of Chauhan Dynasty. After the defeat, Prithviraj Chauhan conquered the area of Gurgaon, Nuh, Bhiwani and Rewari in 1182 CE. Following the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan in his turn in 1192 CE, the area came under Qutb al-Din Aibak (1206 CE) of Delhi Sultanate who defeated and killed Prithviraj's son Hemraj who had invaded Mewat area from Alwar. Meo - who were all Hindus during those times - killed "Sayyid Wajih-ud-din  who had been sent to subjugate the Meos. They were later suppressed by a nephew of Aibak called Miran Hussain Jang". Many Meo converted to Islam, some in forced conversions. Those Meo who remained Hindus were forced to pay Islamic religious tax, Jizya. In 1249 CE, Balban killed 2000 rebellious Meos. Meo rebels took away large numbers of camels from Balban's army in 1257-58 CE. In 1260 CE, Balban retaliated by overrunning the area and killing 250 Meo prisoners and slaughtering 12,000 women, children and surviving men. At the time of the invasion of Timur in 1398 CE , "Sambar Pal", titled "Bahadur Nahar", of the Hindu Jadu gotra, was the prominent king of the area who constructed the fort called "Kotla Bahadur Nahar" near Kotla lake at the village of Kotla, Nuh. Sambar Pal was converted to Islam with the new name "Raja Nahar Khan" and became the founder of the Khanzada Rajputs after submitting to Timur. In 1421 CE, Khizr Khan, the Sayyid dynasty king of Delhi, defeated Bahadur Nahar's converted son "Jalal Khan" of Mewat and Kotla fort. When, in 1425, converted grandsons of Bahadur Nahar named Jalal Khan and Abdul Qadir (Jallu and Qaddu ) revolted, they were defeated by Sultan of Delhi Mubarak Shah ( 1421– 1434 CE), who overran Mewat and killed Qaddu. Jallu continued the native Mewati rebellion against the Delhi sultanate. In 1527, Hasan Khan Mewati, a descendant of Sambar Pal, sided with Rajput king Rana Sanga and they were defeated by Babur at the Battle of Khanwa where "Hassan Khan Mewati" was killed by Mughals, and his son "Naher Khan II", ruled Mewat as a vassal of the Mughals. Aurangzeb sent Jai Singh I to crush the revolting Khanzada Mewati chief "Ikram Khan". After the death of Aurangzeb, Bahadurgarh and Farrukhnagar  in the north were under the Baloch nawabs who were granted jagir in 1713 CE by the Mughal king Farrukhsiyar. The central area of Badshapur was under Hindu Tomar Jat king "Hathi Singh Kuntal" and south. including Nuh. were under another Jat king of Bharatpur State, Maharaja Suraj Mal. During Maratha Empire the area was conquered by their French generals in the late 18th century and they granted Farukhnagar to George Thomas and Jharsa (Badshahpur) to Begum Samru. Southern areas, including Nuh, stayed under the Bharatpur king and their vassal relatives, one of whom was Nahar Singh. Geography. This district  contains many small hill ranges which are part of the Aravali and Mangar Bani ranges. Demography. According to the 2011 census Gurgaon district has a population of 1,514,432, roughly equal to the nation of Gabon or the US state of Hawaii. This gives it a ranking of 328th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 73.93%. Gurgaon has a sex ratio of 853 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 84.4%. At the time of the 2011 Census of  India, 91.91% of the population in the district spoke Hindi, 2.35% Punjabi, 2.20% Bengali, 0.49% Maithili and 0.40% Odia as their first language. Gurgaon is a Yadav (also use title Rao) and Meo dominated district. Political and administrative divisions. Assembly constituencies. There are 4 Haryana Vidhan Sabha constituencies located in this district: Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi and Badshahpur. All 4 of these are part of Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency. Sub-Divisions. The Gurgaon district is headed by an IAS officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner (DC) who is the chief executive officer of the district. The district is divided into  4 sub-divisions, each headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM): Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi and Badshahpur Revenue tehsils. The above 4 sub-divisions are divided into 5 revenue tehsils, namely, Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi, Farrukhnagar & Manesar and 4 revenue sub-tehsils namely Wazirabad, Badshahpur, Kadipur and Garhi Harsaru. Gurgaon district also comprises 4 Rural development blocks - Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi and Farrukhnagar. Economy. A large number of industries and offices have been established in Gurgaon city, Manesar and Sohna Road. Cyber City on NH8 is a popular location where most Multi National Companies (MNC) have taken large office spaces. All Special Economic  Zones (SEZ)s in Haryana state are in Gurgaon, except Sonipat Ecology. Wildlife Safari. Gurugram Leopard and Deer Safari, also Gurugram Wildlife Safari, will be established as an urban forest for Gurgaon city on 1,000 acres land in Aravall's foothills across several villages such as Gairatpur Bas, Sakatpur, and Sikhohpur. It will include construction of a greenfield 10-acre lake at the existing natural depression at Gairatpur Bas. Forests will be rejuvenated by plantiong the native trees. Safari will be developed, along the lines of Etawah Safari Park, in compliance of The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC ) regulations and guidelines. Safari and lake will support the wildlife, resident and migratory birds, tourist facilities such as boat rides and picnic spots. "Gairatpur Bas lake:" Lake near Gairatpur Bas (on the Delhi–Gurgaon Expressway NH-48) will be in the natural depression which drains into Badshahpur drain and finally into Najafgarh drain (tail end of Sahibi River before it confluences with Yamuna on western gate of Delhi's Red Fort). Gairatpur Bas lake will collect the rainwater from Aravallis. Haryana Forests Department (HFD) has also been laying pipelines and making channels in the Aravallis around Gairatpur Bas depression to direct  rainwater to the lake during rains. To make it perennial the treated water from Gurgaon's Behrampur Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Sector 72 will be supplied by a 3.5 km long pipe. Behrampur STP treats 17 cr ltr/day water, of which only 90 lakh ltr was in use, and remaining 16 cr ltr/day water was available for rejuvenating the wetlands of Aravali in Gurgaon and NCR. "Significance - biodiversity and wetlands:" This area is rich in biodiversity, falls within the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor stretching from Sariska Tiger Reserve to Delhi, has several nearby wildlife areas such  as Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, Mangar Bani, Aravali Biodiversity Park, etc. There are several wetlands in Aravallis in this area, some of those formed in the abandoned open pit mines in and around the area and have significance for the migratory birds, including Damdama Lake, Badkhal Lake, 10th century ancient Surajkund reservoir and Anangpur Dam. Locals frequently spot the leopards around Gairatpur Bas, who rarely enter human habitations. According to the Haryana's Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, there were nearly 100 leopards, including 18 cubs, in the Delhi-Gurugaon-Faridabad Aravalli Forests (South Delhi Ridge) in Sept 2019 . Earlier in June 2019, Haryana Forests Dept had engaged Wildlife Institute of India (WII), at cost of INR 40 lakh, to conduct leopard census both in Aravalli and Shivalik areas of Haryana, as 2016 survey was held only in Shivalik hills. "Funds:" In Sept 2019, Haryana's Forests Minister had announced that they will allocate INR 300 cr for the project. "Concerns:" Activists have raised concerns that there is lack of transparency in the plan. Activists and locals also have concerns about the freedom of leopards. If Safari has any barricades it will confine the movement of free ranging leopards , they must not be placed in any enclosures as they are ""already facing a threat of losing their territory because of the ruin the Aravalli forest has been facing over the past two to three decades."" "Conservation:" Haryana's Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, assured that ""Once the DPR is ready, we will be in a better position to comment what kind of safari it will be. We will not disturb the natural movement, feeding and breeding of leopards. We are working in consultation with wildlife experts of the country and under the guidance of the ministry of environment  and forest."" Since [Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has developed similar leopard safari near Jamnagar in Gujarat under Corporate social responsibility (CSR), there are suggestions to engage RIL for their partnership, expertise and CSR funding in public–private partnership (PPP) mode to set up similar sections such as the ""Forest of India"", ""Frog House"", ""Insect Life"", ""Dragon’s Land"", ""Exotic Island"", ""Wild Trail of Haryana"" and ""‘Aquatic Kingdom"" and many more. "Current status:" As of August 2019 was that the GDMA will lay the water pipe by March 2020 provided DPR is approved by the GoH. By October 2019, forests officials  had surveyed the area and sent two separate Detailed Project Reports (DPR) to Government of Haryana (GoH) for approval - once each for the wildlifie safari by forests department and for water pipeline by PHED Haryana and GDMA (Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority). Wetland, flooding and water conservation. Gurgaon area has several natural lakes formed by the streams draining the Aravali hills in the area. To avoid the flooding various check dams, called "bund" or "bundh", were built. Deforestation, ruined state of some of the check dams and obstruction to the ephemeral streams due to random urbanisation and encroachments have led to  flooding. This can be prevented by rejuvenating the johads (lakes) and existing check dams and also by constructing new check dams and artificial lakes. Following must be developed to prevent flooding and enable groundwater recharge, water for wildlife which includes leopards of Haryana, eco tourism and boating, etc. Deforestation and illegal encroachments. Due to the rapid urbanisation in and around Gurgaon, there is rampant illegal deforestation and encroachments by people in violation of rules, often in cahoots with corrupt officials.