title: Yangon

text: The British captured Yangon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. After the war, the British moved the capital of British Burma from Moulmein (present-day Mawlamyine) to Yangon. Based on the design by army engineer Lt. Alexander Fraser, the British constructed a new city on a grid plan on delta land, bounded to the east by the Pazundaung Creek and to the south and west by the Yangon River. Yangon became the capital of all British-ruled Burma after the British had captured Upper Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. By the 1890s Yangon's increasing population and commerce gave birth to prosperous residential suburbs to the north of Royal Lake (Kandawgyi) and Inya Lake. The British also established hospitals including Rangoon General Hospital and colleges including Rangoon University.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon was the city where the British sent Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, to live in exile after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.


title: Yangon

text: Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings and traditional wooden architecture, was known as "the garden city of the East." By the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London.


title: Yangon

text: Before World War II, about 55% of Yangon's population of 500,000 was Indian or South Asian, and only about a third was Bamar (Burman). Karens, Chinese, Anglo-Burmese and others made up the rest.


title: Yangon

text: After World War I, Yangon became the center of the Burmese independence movement, with leftist Rangoon University students leading the way. Three nationwide strikes against British rule in 1920, 1936, and 1938 all began in Yangon. Yangon was under Japanese occupation (1942–45), and incurred heavy damage during World War II. The city was retaken by the Allies in May 1945. Yangon became the capital of the Union of Burma on 4 January 1948 when the country gained independence from British rule.


title: Yangon

text: Soon after Burma's independence in 1948, many colonial-era names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the military junta changed the city's English name to "Yangon", along with many other changes in English transliteration of Burmese names. (The changes have not been accepted by many Burmese who consider the junta unfit to make such changes, nor by many publications and news bureaus, including, most notably, the BBC and foreign nations including the United Kingdom and the United States.)


title: Yangon

text: Since independence, Yangon has expanded outwards. Successive governments have built satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa in the 1950s to Hlaingthaya, Shwepyitha and South Dagon in the 1980s. Today, Greater Yangon encompasses an area covering nearly .


title: Yangon

text: During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–88), Yangon's infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance and did not keep up with its increasing population. In the 1990s, the military government's more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the city's infrastructure. Some inner city residents were forcibly relocated to new satellite towns. Many colonial-period buildings were demolished to make way for high-rise hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls, leading the city government to place about 200 notable colonial-period buildings under the Yangon City Heritage List in 1996. Major building programs have resulted in six new bridges and five new highways linking the city to its industrial back country. Still, much of Yangon remains without basic municipal services such as 24-hour electricity and regular garbage collection.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon has become much more indigenous Burmese in its ethnic make-up since independence. After independence, many South Asians and Anglo-Burmese left. Many more South Asians were forced to leave during the 1960s by Ne Win's xenophobic government. Nevertheless, sizeable South Asian and Chinese communities still exist in Yangon. The Anglo-Burmese have effectively disappeared, having left the country or intermarried with other Burmese groups.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon was the centre of major anti-government protests in 1974, 1988 and 2007. In particular, the 8888 Uprising resulted in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of Burmese civilians, many of them in Yangoon where hundreds of thousands of people flooded into the streets of the former capital city. The Saffron Revolution saw mass shootings and the use of crematoria in Yangoon by the Burmese government to erase evidence of their crimes against monks, unarmed protesters, journalists and students.


title: Yangon

text: The city's streets saw bloodshed each time as protesters were gunned down by the government, most notably during the 1988, and the 2008 mass protests, which were both started in Yangon itself, signifying its importance as the cultural centre of Burma.


title: Yangon

text: In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Yangon. While the city had few human casualties, three-quarters of Yangon's industrial infrastructure was destroyed or damaged, with losses estimated at US$800 million.


title: Yangon

text: In November 2005, the military government designated Naypyidaw, north of Yangon, as the new administrative capital, and moved much of the government to the newly developed city. Yangon remains the largest city and the most important commercial, economic and cultural center of Myanmar.


title: Yangon

text: On 7 May 2005, a series of coordinated bombings occurred in the city of Yangon, Myanmar. Eleven people were killed in the attack, and one of the 162 people that were injured was a member of the LCMS mission team to Myanmar.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is located in Lower Burma (Myanmar) at the convergence of the Yangon and Bago Rivers about 30 km (19 mi) away from the Gulf of Martaban at 16°48' North, 96°09' East (16.8, 96.15). Its standard time zone is UTC/GMT +6:30 hours.


title: Yangon

text: 23 meters above sea level. Due to its location on the Irrawaddy Delta, intertidal flat ecosystems occur adjacent to the city.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon has a tropical monsoon climate (Am) under the Köppen climate classification system. The city features a lengthy wet season from May through October where a substantial amount of rainfall is received; and a dry season from November through April, where little rainfall is seen. It is primarily due to the heavy rainfall received during the rainy season that makes Yangon fall under the tropical monsoon climate category. During the course of year 1961 to 1990s, average temperatures show little variance, with average highs ranging from and average lows ranging from .


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is prone to tropical cyclones every time of the year. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis made landfall as a Category 4 cyclone, making it the worst cyclone on the country's record.


title: Yangon

text: Until the mid-1990s, Yangon remained largely constrained to its traditional peninsula setting between the Bago, Yangon, and Hlaing Rivers. People moved in, but little of the city moved out. Maps from 1944 show little development north of Inya Lake and areas that are now layered in cement and stacked with houses were then virtual backwaters. Since the late 1980s, however, the city began a rapid spread north to where Yangon International Airport now stands. But the result is a stretching tail on the city, with the downtown area well removed from its geographic centre. The city's area has steadily increased from in 1901 to in 1940 to in 1974, to in 1985, and to in 2008.


title: Yangon

text: Downtown Yangon is known for its leafy avenues and fin-de-siècle architecture. The former British colonial capital has the highest number of colonial period buildings in south-east Asia. Downtown Yangon is still mainly made up of decaying colonial buildings. The former High Court, the former Secretariat buildings, the former St. Paul's English High School and the Strand Hotel are excellent examples of the bygone era. Most downtown buildings from this era are four-story mix-use (residential and commercial) buildings with ceilings, allowing for the construction of mezzanines. Despite their less-than-perfect conditions, the buildings remain highly sought after and most expensive in the city's property market.


title: Yangon

text: In 1996, the Yangon City Development Committee created a Yangon City Heritage List of old buildings and structures in the city that cannot be modified or torn down without approval. In 2012, the city of Yangon imposed a 50-year moratorium on demolition of buildings older than 50 years. The Yangon Heritage Trust, an NGO started by Thant Myint-U, aims to create heritage areas in Downtown, and attract investors to renovate buildings for commercial use.


title: Yangon

text: A latter-day hallmark of Yangon is the eight-story apartment building. (In Yangon parlance, a building with no elevators (lifts) is called an apartment building and one with elevators is called a condominium. Condos which have to invest in a local power generator to ensure 24-hour electricity for the elevators are beyond the reach of most Yangonites.) Found throughout the city, eight-story apartment buildings provide inexpensive housing for many Yangonites. The apartments are usually eight stories high (including the ground floor) mainly because city regulations, until February 2008, required that all buildings higher than or eight stories to install lifts. The code calls for elevators in buildings higher than or six stories, likely ushering in the era of the six-story apartment building. Although most apartment buildings were built only within the last 20 years, they look much older and rundown due to shoddy construction and lack of proper maintenance.


title: Yangon

text: Unlike other major Asian cities, Yangon does not have any skyscrapers. Aside from a few high-rise hotels and office towers, most high-rise buildings (usually 10 stories and up) are "condos" scattered across prosperous neighborhoods north of downtown such as Bahan, Dagon, Kamayut and Mayangon.


title: Yangon

text: Older satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa, and South Okkalapa are lined mostly with one to two-story detached houses with access to the city's electricity grid. Newer satellite towns such as North Dagon and South Dagon are in a grid layout. The satellite towns—old or new—receive little or no municipal services.


title: Yangon

text: The east–west grid of central was laid out by British military engineers Fraser and Montgomerie after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The city was later developed by the Public Works Department and Bengal Corps of Engineers. The pattern of south to north roads is as follows: one broad wide broad road, two narrow streets, one mid-size street, two more narrow streets, and then another wide broad road. This order is repeated from west to east. The narrow streets are numbered; the medium and broad roads are named.


title: Yangon

text: For example, the Lanmadaw Road is followed by -wide 17th and 18th streets then the medium Sint-Oh-Dan Road, the 30-foot 19th and 20th streets, followed by another wide Latha Road, followed again by the two numbered small roads 21st and 22nd streets, and so on.


title: Yangon

text: The roads running parallel west to east were the Strand Road, Merchant Road, Maha Bandula (née Dalhousie) Road, Anawrahta (Fraser) Road, and Bogyoke Aung San (Montgomerie) Road.


title: Yangon

text: The largest and best maintained parks in Yangon are located around Shwedagon Pagoda. To the south-east of the gilded stupa is the most popular recreational area in the city – Kandawgyi Lake. The 150-acre (61-ha) lake is surrounded by the 110-acre (45-ha) Kandawgyi Nature Park, and the 69.25-acre (28-ha) Yangon Zoological Gardens, which consists of a zoo, an aquarium and an amusement park. West of the pagoda towards the former Hluttaw (Parliament) complex is the 130-acre (53-ha) People's Square and Park, the former parading ground on important national days when Yangon was the capital. A few miles north of the pagoda lies the 37-acre (15-ha) Inya Lake Park – a favourite hangout place of Yangon University students, and a well-known place of romance in Burmese popular culture.


title: Yangon

text: Hlawga National Park and Allied War Memorial at the outskirts of the city are popular day-trip destinations with tourists.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is administered by the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC). YCDC also coordinates urban planning. The city is made up of 33 townships and is part of Yangon Region. Yangon Region is divided into four districts, which overlap with the city's jurisdiction. The current mayor of Yangon is Maung Maung Soe. Each township is administered by a Township Development Committee, alongside local leaders who make decisions regarding city beautification and infrastructure. "Myo-thit" (lit. "New Towns", or satellite towns) are not within such jurisdictions.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon International Airport, located 12 miles (19 km) from the centre, is the country's main gateway for domestic and international air travel. The airport has three terminals, known as T1, T2 and T3 which is also known as Domestic. It has direct flights to major cities in Asia, such as Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Kolkata, and Dubai. Although domestic airlines offer service to about forty domestic locations, most flights are to tourist destinations such as Bagan, Mandalay, Heho and Ngapali, and to the capital Naypyidaw.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon Central Railway Station is the main terminus of Myanmar Railways' rail network whose reach covers Upper Myanmar (Naypyidaw, Mandalay, Shwebo), upcountry (Myitkyina), Shan hills (Taunggyi, Lashio) and the Taninthayi coast (Mawlamyine, Dawei).


title: Yangon

text: Yangon Circular Railway operates a 39-station commuter rail network that connects Yangon's satellite towns. The system is heavily used by the local populace, selling about 150,000 tickets daily. The popularity of the commuter line has jumped since the government reduced petrol subsidies in August 2007.


title: Yangon

text: In 2017 the government of Japan provided more than US$200 million in finance to assist with a range of works including developing and maintaining the Yangon circular railway line, purchasing new carriages and upgrading signalling.


title: Yangon

text: The Yangon Urban Mass Rapid Transit is a proposed rapid transit system, due to begin construction in 2022 and be complete by 2027.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon has a road network of all types (tar, concrete and dirt) in March 2011. Many of the roads are in poor condition and not wide enough to accommodate an increasing number of cars. The vast majority of Yangon residents cannot afford a car and rely on an extensive network of buses to get around. Over 300 public and private bus lines operate about 6,300 crowded buses around the city, carrying over 4.4 million passengers a day. All buses and 80% of the taxis in Yangon run on compressed natural gas (CNG), following the 2005 government decree to save money on imported petroleum. Highway buses to other cities depart from Dagon Ayeyar Highway Bus Terminal for Irrawaddy delta region and Aung Mingala Highway Bus Terminal for other parts of the country.


title: Yangon

text: Motor transportation in Yangon is highly expensive for most of its citizens. As the government allows only a few thousand cars to be imported each year in a country with over 50 million people, car prices in Yangon (and in Burma) are among the highest in the world. In July 2008, the two most popular cars in Yangon, 1986/87 Nissan Sunny Super Saloon and 1988 Toyota Corolla SE Limited, cost the equivalent of about US$20,000 and US$29,000 respectively. A sports utility vehicle, imported for the equivalent of around US$50,000, goes for US$250,000. Illegally imported unregistered cars are cheaper – typically about half the price of registered cars. Nonetheless, car usage in Yangon is on the rise, a sign of rising incomes for some, and already causes much traffic congestion in highway-less Yangon's streets. In 2011, Yangon had about 300,000 registered motor vehicles in addition to an unknown number of unregistered ones.


title: Yangon

text: Within Yangon city limits, it is illegal to drive trishaws, bicycles, and motorcycles. Since February 2010, pick-up truck bus lines have been forbidden to run in six townships of central Yangon, namely Latha, Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Botahtaung and Pazundaung Townships. In May 2003, a ban on using car horns was implemented in six townships of Downtown Yangon to reduce noise pollution. In April 2004, the car horn ban was expanded to cover the entire city.


title: Yangon

text: On 16 January 2017, as part of public transport reforms, city bus network system Yangon Bus Service (YBS) was created by the Yangon Region Transport Authority. YBS is claimed to be a disabled-friendly bus service and have a card payment system. Ride hailing services operated by private corporations such as Uber and Grab are also available in Yangon today.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon's four main passenger jetties, all located on or near downtown waterfront, mainly serve local ferries across the river to Dala and Thanlyin, and regional ferries to the Irrawaddy delta. The 22-mile (35 km) Twante Canal was the quickest route from Yangon to the Irrawaddy delta until the 1990s when roads between Yangon and the Irrawaddy Division became usable year-round. While passenger ferries to the delta are still used, those to Upper Burma via the Irrawaddy river are now limited mostly to tourist river cruises. In October 2017, a New Yangon Water Bus was launched.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is the most populous city by far in Myanmar. According to the 2014 census, the city had a population of 5.16 million. The city's population grew sharply after 1948 as many people (mainly, the indigenous Burmese) from other parts of the country moved into the newly built satellite towns of North Okkalapa, South Okkalapa, and Thaketa in the 1950s and East Dagon, North Dagon and South Dagon in the 1990s. Immigrants have founded their regional associations (such as Mandalay Association, Mawlamyaing Association, etc.) in Yangon for networking purposes. The government's decision to move the nation's administrative capital to Naypyidaw has drained an unknown number of civil servants away from Yangon.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. While Indians formed the slight majority prior to World War II, today, the majority of the population is of indigenous Bamar (Burman) descent. Large communities of Indians/South Asian Burmese and the Chinese Burmese exist, especially in the traditional downtown neighborhoods. A large number of Rakhine and Karen also live in the city.


title: Yangon

text: Burmese is the principal language of the city. English is by far the preferred second language of the educated class. In recent years, however, the prospect of overseas job opportunities has enticed some to study other languages: Mandarin Chinese is most popular, followed by Japanese, and French.


title: Yangon

text: The primary religions practised in Yangon are Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Shwedagon Pagoda is a famous religious landmark in the city.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is the country's hub for the movie, music, advertising, newspaper, and book publishing industries, and is the country's cultural center. All media is heavily regulated by the military government. Television broadcasting is off-limits to the private sector. All media content must first be approved by the government's media censor board, Press Scrutiny and Registration Division.


title: Yangon

text: Most television channels in the country are broadcast from Yangon. MRTV and Myawaddy TV are the two main channels, providing Burmese-language news and entertainment programs. Other special interest channels are MWD-1 and MWD-2, MITV, the English-language channel that targets overseas audiences via satellite and via internet, MRTV-4 and Channel 7 (Yangon) are with a focus on non-formal education programs and movies, and Movie 5, a pay-TV channel specializing in broadcasting foreign movies.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon has three radio stations. Myanmar Radio is the national radio service and broadcasts mostly in Burmese and in English during specific times. Pop culture-oriented Yangon City FM and Mandalay City FM radio stations specialize in Burmese and English pop music, entertainment programs, live celebrity interviews, etc. New radio channels such as Shwe FM and Pyinsawaddy FM can also be tuned with the city area.


title: Yangon

text: Nearly all print media and industries are based out of Yangon. All three national newspapers – two Burmese language dailies "Myanma Alin" () and "Kyemon" (), and the English language "The New Light of Myanmar" – are published by the government. Semi-governmental "The Myanmar Times" weekly, published in Burmese and in English, is mainly geared for Yangon's expatriate community. There are over 20 special interest journals and magazines covering sports, fashion, finance, crime, and literature (but never politics).


title: Yangon

text: Access to foreign media is extremely difficult. Satellite television in Yangon, and in Burma, is very expensive as the government imposes an annual registration fee of Ks.10,00,000/-, equivalent to around U$600/year. Certain foreign newspapers and periodicals such as the "Straits Times" can be found only in a few (mostly downtown) bookstores. Internet access in Yangon, which has the best telecommunication infrastructure in the country, is slow and erratic at best, and the Burmese government implements one of the world's most restrictive regimes of internet control. International text messaging and voice messaging was permitted only in August 2008.


title: Yangon

text: Common facilities taken for granted elsewhere are luxury prized items in Yangon and Burma. The price of a GSM mobile phone was about K1.1 million in August 2008. In 2007, the country of 55 million had only 775,000 phone lines (including 275,000 mobile phones), and 400,000 computers. Even in Yangon, which has the best infrastructure, the estimated telephone penetration rate was only 6% at the end of 2004, and the official waiting time for a telephone line was 3.6 years. Most people cannot afford a computer and have to use the city's numerous Internet cafes to access a heavily restricted internet, and a heavily censored local intranet. According to official statistics, in July 2010, the country had over 400,000 internet users, with the vast majority hailing from just two cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Although internet access was available in 42 cities across the country, the number of users outside the two main cities was just over 10,000.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon's property market is the most expensive in the country and beyond the reach of most Yangonites. Most rent outside the centre and few can afford to rent such apartments. (In 2008, rents for a typical apartments in the centre and vicinity range between K70,000 and K150,000 and those for high end condos between K200,000 and K500,000.)


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is home to pagoda festivals ("paya pwe"), held during dry-season months (November – March). The most famous of all, the Shwedagon Pagoda Festival in March, attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the country.


title: Yangon

text: Most of Yangon's larger hotels offer nightlife entertainment, geared towards tourists and the well-to-do Burmese. Some hotels offer traditional Burmese performing arts shows complete with a traditional Burmese orchestra. The pub scene in larger hotels is more or less the same as elsewhere in Asia. Other options include karaoke bars and pub restaurants in Yangon Chinatown.


title: Yangon

text: As the city has the best sporting facilities in the country, most national-level annual sporting tournaments such as track and field, football, volleyball, tennis and swimming are held in Yangon. The 40,000-seat Aung San Stadium and the 32,000-seat Thuwunna Stadium are the main venues for the popular annual State and Division football tournament. Until April 2009, the now-defunct Myanmar Premier League, consisted of 16 Yangon-based clubs, played all its matches in Yangon stadiums, and attracted little interest from the general public or commercial success despite the enormous popularity of football in Burma. Most Yangonites prefer watching European football on satellite TV. Teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City are among the favorite European teams among the Yangonites. It remains to be seen whether the Myanmar National League, the country's first professional football league, and its Yangon-based club Yangon United FC will attract a sufficient following in the country's most important media market.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is also home to annual the Myanmar Open golf tournament, and the Myanmar Open tennis tournament. The city hosted the 1961 and 1969 South East Asian Games. During colonial times, cricket was played mostly by British officials in the city. First-class cricket was played in the city in January 1927 when the touring Marylebone Cricket Club played Burma and the Rangoon Gymkhana. Two grounds were used to host these matches, the BAA Ground and the Gymkhana Ground. These matches mark the only time Burma and Rangoon Gymkhana have appeared in first-class cricket, and the only time first-class cricket has been played in Burma. After independence cricket all but died out in the country.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon has a growing population of skateboarders, as documented in the films Altered Focus: Burma and Youth of Yangon. German non-profit organization Make Life Skate Life has received permission from the Yangon City Development Committee to construct a concrete skatepark at Thakin Mya park in downtown. The park was completed in 2015 and is available free of charge to anyone in the city.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon is the country's main centre for trade, industry, real estate, media, entertainment and tourism. The city represents about one fifth of the national economy. According to official statistics for FY 2010–2011, the size of the economy of Yangon Region was 8.93 trillion kyats, or 23% of the national GDP.


title: Yangon

text: The city is Lower Burma's main trading hub for all kinds of merchandise – from basic foodstuffs to used cars although commerce continues to be hampered by the city's severely underdeveloped banking industry and communication infrastructure. Bayinnaung Market is the largest wholesale center in the country for rice, beans and pulses, and other agricultural commodities. Much of the country's legal imports and exports go through Thilawa Port, the largest and busiest port in Burma. There is also a great deal of informal trade, especially in street markets that exist alongside street platforms of Downtown Yangon's townships. However, on 17 June 2011, the YCDC announced that street vendors, who had previously been allowed to legally open shop at 3  pm, would be prohibited from selling on the streets, and permitted to sell only in their townships of residence. Since 1 December 2009, high-density polyethylene plastic bags have been banned by city authorities.


title: Yangon

text: Manufacturing accounts for a sizeable share of employment. At least 14 light industrial zones ring Yangon, directly employing over 150,000 workers in 4,300 factories in early 2010. The city is the centre of country's garment industry which exported US$292 million in 2008/9 fiscal year. More than 80 percent of factory workers in Yangon work on a day-to-day basis. Most are young women between 15 and 27 years of age who come from the countryside in search of a better life. The manufacturing sector suffers from both structural problems (e.g. chronic power shortages) and political problems (e.g. economic sanctions). In 2008, Yangon's 2500 factories alone needed about 120 MW of power; yet, the entire city received only about 250 MW of the 530 MW needed. Chronic power shortages limit the factories' operating hours between 8 am and 6 pm.


title: Yangon

text: Construction is a major source of employment. The construction industry has been negatively affected by the move of state apparatus and civil servants to Naypyidaw, new regulations introduced in August 2009 requiring builders to provide at least 12 parking spaces in every new high-rise building, and the general poor business climate. As of January 2010, the number of new high-rise building starts approved in 2009–2010 was only 334, compared to 582 in 2008–2009.


title: Yangon

text: Tourism represents a major source of foreign currency for the city although by south-east Asian standards the number of foreign visitors to Yangon has always been quite low—about 250,000 before the Saffron Revolution in September 2007. The number of visitors dipped even further following the Saffron Revolution and Cyclone Nargis. The recent improvement in the country's political climate has attracted an increasing number of businessmen and tourists. Between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors that went through Yangon International in 2011. However, after years of underinvestment, Yangon's modest hotel infrastructure—only 3000 of the total 8000 hotel rooms in Yangon are "suitable for tourists"—is already bursting at seams, and will need to be expanded to handle additional visitors. As part of an urban development strategy, a hotel zone has been planned in Yangon's outskirts, encompassing government- and military-owned land in Mingaladon, Hlegu and Htaukkyant Townships.


title: Yangon

text: Yangon educational facilities has a very high number of qualified teachers but the state spending on education is among the lowest of the world. Around 2007 estimate by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies puts the spending for education at 0.5% of the national budget. The disparity in educational opportunities and achievement between rich and poor schools is quite stark even within the city. With little or no state support forthcoming, schools have to rely on forced "donations" and fees from parents for nearly everything – school maintenance to teachers' salaries, forcing many poor students to drop out.


title: Yangon

text: While many students in poor districts fail to reach high school, a handful of Yangon high schools in wealthier districts such as Dagon 1, Sanchaung 2, Kamayut 2, Bahan 2, Latha 2, and TTC provide the majority of students admitted to the most selective universities in the country, highlighting the extreme shallowness of talent pool in the country. The wealthy bypass the state education system altogether, sending their children to private English language instruction schools such as YIEC or more widely known as ISM, or abroad (typically Singapore or Australia) for university education. In 2014, international schools in Yangon cost at least US$8,000 a year.


title: Yangon

text: There are over 20 universities and colleges in the city. While Yangon University remains the best known (its main campus is a part of popular Burmese culture e.g. literature, music, film, etc.), the nation's oldest university is now mostly a graduate school, deprived of undergraduate studies. Following the 1988 nationwide uprising, the military government has repeatedly closed universities, and has dispersed most of the undergraduate student population to new universities in the suburbs such as Dagon University, the University of East Yangon and the University of West Yangon. Nonetheless, many of the country's most selective universities are still in Yangon. Students from around the country still have to come to study in Yangon as some subjects are offered only at its universities. The University of Medicine 1, University of Medicine 2, Yangon Technological University, University of Computer Studies and Myanmar Maritime University are the most selective in the country.


title: Yangon

text: The general state of health care in Yangon is poor. According to a 2007 estimate, the military government spends 0.4% of the national budget on health care, and 40% to 60% on defence. By the government's own figures, it spends 849 kyats (US$0.85) per person. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals including the flagship Yangon General Hospital lack many of the basic facilities and equipment.


title: Yangon

text: Wealthier Yangonites still have access to country's best medical facilities and internationally qualified doctors. Only Yangon and Mandalay have any sizeable number of doctors left as many Burmese doctors have emigrated. The well-to-do go to private clinics or hospitals like Pun Hlaing International Hospital and Bahosi Medical Clinic. Medical malpractice is widespread, even in private clinics and hospitals that serve the well-to-do. In 2009 and 2010, a spate of high-profile deaths brought out the severity of the problem, even for the relatively well off Yangonites. The wealthy do not rely on domestic hospitals and travel abroad, usually Bangkok or Singapore, for treatment.


title: Wilhelm scream

text: The Wilhelm scream is a stock sound effect that has been used in a number of films and TV series, beginning in 1951 with the film "Distant Drums". The scream is usually used when someone is shot, falls from a great height, or is thrown from an explosion. The sound is named after Private Wilhelm, a character in "The Charge at Feather River", a 1953 Western in which the character gets shot in the thigh with an arrow. This was its first use following its inclusion in the Warner Bros. stock sound library, although "The Charge at Feather River" is the third film to use the effect. The scream is believed to be voiced by actor Sheb Wooley.


title: Wilhelm scream

text: The Wilhelm scream originates from a series of sound effects recorded for the 1951 movie "Distant Drums". In a scene from the film, soldiers fleeing Seminole Indians are wading through a swamp in the Everglades, and one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The screams for that scene, and other scenes in the movie, were recorded later in a single take. The recording was entitled: "Man getting bit by an alligator, and he screams." The fifth take of the scream was used for the soldier in the alligator scene. That take, which later became known as the iconic "Wilhelm scream", is thought to have been voiced by actor Sheb Wooley (who also played the uncredited role of Pvt. Jessup in "Distant Drums"). As of late 2022, the scream has not been made available in any commercial sound effects library.


title: Wilhelm scream

text: Research by motion picture sound designer Ben Burtt suggests that Wooley, best known for his 1958 novelty song "The Purple People Eater", and his character of Indian scout Pete Nolan on the television series "Rawhide", is likely to have been the voice actor who originally performed the scream. This has been supported by an interview in 2005 with Linda Dotson, Wooley's widow. Burtt discovered records at Warner Bros. from the editor of "Distant Drums", including a short list of names of actors scheduled to record lines of dialogue for miscellaneous roles in the movie. Wooley was one of a few actors assembled for the recording of additional "pick-up" vocal elements for the film. Dotson confirmed Wooley's scream had been in many Westerns, adding, "He always used to joke about how he was so great about screaming and dying in films."


title: Wilhelm scream

text: The scream can be heard in the 1954 George Cukor film "A Star Is Born", in a scene in a studio projection room. Until the mid-1970's, the sound effect was used regularly, but only in Warner Bros. productions. These include: "Them!" (1954), "Land of the Pharaohs" (1955), "The Sea Chase" (1955), "Sergeant Rutledge" (1960), "PT 109" (1963), and "The Green Berets (1968). The Wilhelm scream became iconic in popular culture when Burtt, who had come across the original recording on a studio archive sound reel, incorporated it into the scene in "Star Wars" (1977) in which Luke Skywalker shoots a stormtrooper off a ledge. The effect is heard as the stormtrooper is falling. Burtt named the scream after Pvt. Wilhelm, and adopted it as his personal sound signature. Burtt also found use for the effect in "More American Graffiti" (1979); and over the next decade he incorporated it into other films that he worked on, such as "Willow" (1988). Other Burtt projects including several George Lucas or Steven Spielberg films. Notably, the rest of the "Star Wars" films, as well as the "Indiana Jones" movies included the effect. Filmaker Jon Favreau resurrected the scream for episode 1 of "The Book of Boba Fett", which is a spin-off of the "Star Wars" series "The Mandalorian".


title: Wilhelm scream

text: Other sound designers have picked up and used the sound effect. Inclusion of the sound in films became a tradition among a certain community of sound designers. Sound designer Gary Rydstrom included the effect in his 2006 directorial debut, the Pixar short film, "Lifted". The sound effect is heard in: "Reservoir Dogs" (1992), "" (2003), "Lethal Weapon 4" (1998), "" (2002), and "Transformers". The effect has appeared in several animated Disney and Pixar films, such as "The Incredibles", "Toy Story", and "Cars" franchises, and "A Goofy Movie" (1995). Weddington Productions—that employs such sound directors as Mark Mangini, David Whittaker, Steve Lee and George Simpson—and is owned by Burtt's friend and colleague, Richard Anderson, have used the effect in productions of "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), "Aladdin" (1992), "The Fifth Element" (1997), "The Majestic" (2001), "Just Visiting" (2001), "A Man Apart" (2003), and "Tears of the Sun" (2003). Director Joe Dante, beginning with his first major film, "Hollywood Boulevard" (1976), included it in his later films: "Explorers" (1985), "Gremlins 2" (1990), "The Second Civil War" (1997), "Matinee" (1993), and "" (2003).


title: Wilhelm scream

text: The Wilhelm scream has made its way into television series, such as "Maverick", "Game of Thrones", "Breaking Bad", "", "Lizzie McGuire", "The Fairly OddParents", "The Simpsons", "The X-Files", "Angel", "Futurama", "Invader Zim", "The Shield", "Sons of Anarchy", "The Powerpuff Girls", "", "The Venture Bros.", "Family Guy", "American Dad!", "The Cleveland Show", "Danny Phantom", "Stargate Atlantis", and the "Regular Show".


title: Wilhelm scream

text: Video games have made use of the scream, as it is heard in video games such as "Red Dead Redemption" (during gunfights), "The First Templar", "Rayman Origins", "Grand Theft Auto V", "The Witcher 3", "Midnight Club", "Star Wars Battlefront II", and more.


The 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Massachusetts. Republican former state representative Geoff Diehl, Democratic state attorney general Maura Healey, and Libertarian Kevin Reed sought to succeed incumbent Republican governor Charlie Baker, who did not seek re-election after two terms. The race was one of six Republican-held governorships up for election in 2022 in a state carried by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and the only race in which the incumbent was retiring despite being eligible for reelection.


title: 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

text: Primary elections were held on September 6, with Diehl and Healey winning against minimal opposition. Due to Massachusetts's strong liberal lean and Diehl's conservative political views, Healey was widely expected to win the election. The election was called for the Democrat shortly after polls closed, with Healey becoming the first woman ever elected governor of Massachusetts and the first openly lesbian governor to take office in United States history.


text: In addition, with the election of Kim Driscoll as lieutenant governor, Massachusetts became one of the first two states to simultaneously elect women as governor and lieutenant governor, with Arkansas simultaneously doing the same. Taking 63.5% of the vote, Healey's performance was the strongest of any Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the state since Michael Dukakis in 1986, the best performance in history for a non-incumbent Democrat, and the best performance for any non-incumbent since Channing Cox in 1920. Healey also made history by receiving over 1.5 million votes, the most ever received by a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Massachusetts history.


text: Additionally, this election constituted the largest shift by partisan margin of any 2022 gubernatorial election, swinging from a 33.5 point margin of victory for the Republican in 2018 to a 29.1 point margin for the Democrat in 2022. Additionally, every county in the state flipped from Republican to Democratic, a feat which had not occurred in any gubernatorial election since Wyoming's in 2010.


title: Wolf Alice

text: Wolf Alice are an English rock band from London, England. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo comprising singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012.


title: Wolf Alice

text: Wolf Alice played their first gig at Highbury Garage, December 2010 supporting April in the Shade, after Rowsell and Oddie met the band at an open mic at the Hope and Anchor, Islington. They released their debut single "Fluffy" in February 2013 and followed it with "Bros" in May. They released their debut EP "Blush" in October, and its follow-up "Creature Songs" in May 2014. In February 2015, the band released the lead single "Giant Peach" from their debut album "My Love Is Cool", which was released in June 2015. It includes their 2014 single "Moaning Lisa Smile", which peaked at number nine on US "Billboard"s Alternative Songs chart in August 2015, and was nominated for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.


title: Wolf Alice

text: The band released their second studio album "Visions of a Life" in September 2017. It debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, and received universal acclaim from music critics. Ranked as one of the year's best albums by multiple publications, the album won the 2018 Mercury Prize. The band released their third studio album "Blue Weekend" in June 2021. Wolf Alice won the 2022 Brit Award for British Group.


title: Wolf Alice

text: Wolf Alice were formed in 2010 and began as an acoustic duo between Ellie Rowsell and Joff Oddie. Their name came from a short story by Angela Carter. Eventually deciding to add electric elements to their sound, they recruited Rowsell's childhood friend Sadie Cleary to play bass and Oddie's friend James DC to be their drummer. They self-released an EP called "Wolf Alice" that year, featuring three songs: "Every Cloud", "Wednesday", and "Destroy Me".


title: Wolf Alice

text: When James DC broke his wrist in 2012, Joel Amey joined the band as a temporary replacement drummer, but later became a permanent member. In that same year, Cleary left to focus on her studies. Theo Ellis was then recruited as their bassist in late 2012. They released the song "Leaving You" online on SoundCloud as a free download which gained airplay from BBC Radio 1 and featured in "NME"s 'Radar' section. After the song was released, they toured with Peace, and recorded a session for Huw Stephens' Radio 1 show in January. They released their first physical single "Fluffy" in February 2013 on the Chess Club label.


title: Wolf Alice

text: Wolf Alice released their second single "Bros" in May on Chess Club Records. "Bros" is one of the first songs that Rowsell wrote, which the band played in their early stages, leading to a tour where the band were supported by bands such as Dressed Like Wolves and Dead New Blood. In October 2013, Wolf Alice released their first official EP called "Blush", which was preceded by the release of "She".


title: Wolf Alice

text: In December 2013, they were chosen as the single most blogged about artist in the UK in that year by BBC Radio 6 Music. In 2014, they signed to Dirty Hit and released their second EP "Creature Songs" in May. In December 2014, the band were named "Best Breakthrough Artist" at the UK Festival Awards.


title: Wolf Alice

text: In late February 2015, Wolf Alice announced their debut album "My Love Is Cool", and released the first single from the album, "Giant Peach". In April, they released a reworked version of the fan favourite "Bros" as the second single from their debut album. On 10 June, the band shared a new track, "You're a Germ". "My Love Is Cool" was released on 22 June, debuting at number two on the UK Albums Chart and receiving highly positive reviews. Later that year, they released "You're a Germ" and "Freazy" as singles, as well as "Lisbon" in 2016. Later in 2016, they toured as a support act for The 1975's tour in the US.


title: Wolf Alice

text: Filmmaker Michael Winterbottom followed Wolf Alice as they toured in support of "My Love Is Cool". He filmed the band and also inserted two actors among them, playing members of the road crew, with a fictional love story developing as they moved from gig to gig. The resulting docudrama film, "On the Road", was released in October 2016. According to "Deadspin", "In the documentary, Winterbottom captures 16 different gigs and daily life backstage from the point of view of a new member of their crew."


title: Wolf Alice

text: In June 2017, Wolf Alice released the lead single "Yuk Foo" off their second studio album, "Visions of a Life". They released three more singles, "Don't Delete the Kisses", "Beautifully Unconventional", and "Heavenward", before the release of their album on 28 September. In 2018, they also released "Formidable Cool", "Sadboy" and "Space & Time" as singles from the album.


title: Wolf Alice

text: The band toured throughout 2018, including dates supporting Foo Fighters during their Concrete and Gold Tour and Queens of the Stone Age as part of their Villains World Tour. They also supported Liam Gallagher at his concert at Finsbury Park on 29 June 2018.


title: Wolf Alice

text: On 15 February 2021, the band's website was updated to show a looping video of an eye, with the heading "The Last Man on Earth". On 22 February 2021, the band announced that their single "The Last Man on Earth" would be released on 24 February 2021, and would debut on Annie Mac's show on BBC Radio 1. The release of the single was backed by the announcement of their third studio album, "Blue Weekend", which was released on 4 June 2021. The second single from the album, "Smile", was released on 20 April 2021.


title: Wolf Alice

text: "Blue Weekend" received widespread critical acclaim, and was nominated for the 2021 Mercury Prize. On release, music publication The Forty-Five called "Blue Weekend" "a ballsy idyll of feeling: the sound of a band satisfying themselves rather than proving themselves, and completely filling the space they’ve carved out over the years."


title: Wolf Alice

text: On October 29th 2021, the band released "Blue Weekend: Tour Deluxe" which includes four live versions of tracks from the album ('Smile', 'How Can I Make it OK', 'Safe From Heartbreak', and 'The Last Man on Earth') as well as a live cover of 'Bobby' by Alex G.


title: Wolf Alice

text: On 5 May 2022, the band released a lullaby version of "The Last Man on Earth" as a single and announced "Blue Lullaby", an EP featuring reworked lullaby versions of five tracks from "Blue Weekend", which was subsequently released on 24 June 2022. During the summer of 2022, the band played 17 shows supporting Harry Styles' Love On Tour, the first date in Hamburg on the 26th of June and the last show in Lisbon on the 31st of July.


title: Wolf Alice

text: While the group's early material was folk-tinged pop, they became more rock-oriented after the rhythm section joined. Generally, the band's musical style has been described as alternative rock, indie rock, and shoegaze, with elements of dream pop, folk, grunge, pop, and electronic. "Clash" described the band as "the lovechild of folk and grunge". The "Fluffy" single saw the band compared to Elastica and Hole, while the single's B-side, "White Leather", saw comparisons to The xx. Kitty Empire, writing in "The Observer", described their sound as "an engaging strain of off-kilter indie rock". The band describe their music as "rocky pop". "The Telegraph" declare Wolf Alice's debut album as 'feral and sophisticated' in review.


title: Wolf Alice

text: In interviews, the band has cited their liking for The Vines, the Beatles, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Blur, and Courtney Love.


The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: "Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan") is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, headquartered in Delhi, India. It was formed in 1958 by the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production of the Indian Ordnance Factories with the Defence Science Organisation. Subsequently, Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS) was constituted in 1979 as a service of Group 'A' Officers / Scientists directly under the administrative control of Ministry of Defence.


title: Defence Research and Development Organisation

text: With a network of 52 laboratories that are engaged in developing defence technologies covering various fields like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, land combat engineering, life sciences, materials, missiles, and naval systems, DRDO is India's largest and most diverse research organization. The organisation includes around 5,000 scientists belonging to the DRDS and about 25,000 other subordinate scientific, technical, and supporting personnel.


text: The DRDO was established in 1958 by combining the Defense Science Organization and some of the technical development establishments. A separate Department of Defense Research and Development was formed in 1980, which later administered DRDO and its almost 30 laboratories and establishments (there were almost 52 labs before merging). Most of the time, the Defense Research and Development Organization was treated as if it were a vendor and the Army Headquarters or the Air Force Headquarters were the customers. Because the Army and the Air Force themselves did not have any design or construction responsibility, they tended to treat the designer or Indian industry at par with their corresponding designer in the world market. If they could get a MiG-21 from the world market, they wanted a MiG-21 from DRDO.


text: DRDO started its first major project in surface-to-air missiles (SAM) known as Project Indigo in the 1960s. Indigo was discontinued in later years without achieving full success. Project Indigo led to Project Devil, along with Project Valiant, to develop short-range SAM and ICBM in the 1970s. Project Devil itself led to the later development of the Prithvi missile under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) in the 1980s. IGMDP was an Indian Ministry of Defence programme between the early 1980s and 2007 for the development of a comprehensive range of missiles, including the Agni missile, Prithvi ballistic missile, Akash missile, Trishul missile and Nag Missile. In 2010, defence minister A. K. Antony ordered the restructuring of the DRDO to give 'a major boost to defence research in the country and to ensure effective participation of the private sector in defence technology'. The key measures to make DRDO effective in its functioning include the establishment of a Defence Technology Commission with the defence minister as its chairman. The programmes which were largely managed by DRDO have seen considerable success with many of the systems seeing rapid deployment as well as yielding significant technological benefits. Since its establishment, DRDO has created other major systems and critical technologies such as aircraft avionics, UAVs, small arms, artillery systems, EW Systems, tanks and armoured vehicles, sonar systems, command and control systems and missile systems.


text: As part of rationalization plan, Defence Terrain Research Laboratory (DTRL) was merged with Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) which is renamed into Defence Geological Research Establishment (DGRE). As of 2020, Advanced Numerical Research and Analysis Group (ANURAG) and Laser Science and Technology Center (LASTEC) are no longer functional as independent entities. The staffs are relocated at various DRDO labs in Hyderabad. DRDO is planning to build a new research lab in Lucknow.


text: India domestically produces only 45% to 50% of defence products it uses, and the rest are imported. To become technology research and production leader, reduce reliance on the imports and increase self-reliance, DRDO Chief called for more collaboration with the industry, private sector, research and education institutes including IITs and NITs. India's military–industrial complex has had little success and only recently private sector was allowed to enter the defence production. To expedite the development cycle of new technologies and to better fit the end user requirements, army has asked DRDO to take more army staff on deputation to be part of DRDO technology development project teams.


text: Indian forces are using numerous indigenous technologies produced by the DRDO, including Varunastra, Maareech, Ushus, TAL by navy; Electronic Warfare Technologies, radars, composite materials for LCA, AEW&C, Astra, LCA Tejas by airforce; and ASAT, BrahMos, ASTRA, Nag missile, SAAW, Arjun MBT Mk 1A, 46-metre Modular Bridge, MPR, LLTR Ashwin by the army. In September 2019, DRDO formulated the ""DRDO Policy and Procedures for Transfer of Technology"" and released information on ""DRDO-Industry Partnership: Synergy and Growth and DRDO Products with Potential for Export"".


text: During the Vibrant Goa Global Expo and Summit 2019 in October, DRDO signed technology transfer contracts with 16 Indian companies, including 3 startups, to produce products for the use by Indian Armed Forces. This included high shelf life, high nutrition, ready-to-eat on-the-go food products to be consumed in the difficult terrain and bad weather. DRDO and ISRO have agreed to collaborate in India's crewed orbital spacecraft project called Gaganyaan during which DRDOs various laboratories will tailor their defence capabilities to suit the needs of ISRO's human space mission with critical human-centric systems and technologies like space grade food, crew healthcare, radiation measurement and protection, parachutes for the safe recovery of the crew module and fire suppression system etc. Kalyani Group is developing the DRDO Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS).


text: DRDO with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) under Advance Assessment Technology and Commercialisation Programme is helping Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) to keep Dal Lake clean by providing low cost Biodigesters for the treatment of human excreta, animal waste disposal, grey water and kitchen waste release that works fine in ambient as well as sub zero temperature which are also supplied to Indian Railways.


text: Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) which works in the field of chemical weapon, biological agent detection and research is helping Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in augmenting diagnostic capability for COVID–19 outbreak. It has created special hand sanitiser formulation and diagnostic kits following WHO standards and guidelines that are supplied in large numbers to civilian and defence officials. Medical staff all over India dealing with Coronavirus contamination are using protective waterproof clothing with special sealant used in submarine applications developed by Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) for CBRN defense that is made up of high strength polyester coated with breathable polymer. The clothing underwent successful trials at the South India Textile Research Association and exceeds the criteria of currently available suits in the market. The suit is washable, passed all critical CBRN and ASTM standards and is now manufactured by two private players, Venus Industries from Mumbai and IMTEC from Kolkata. Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (DEBEL) developed causality evacuation bag for COVID-19 infected patients that can withstand Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) environments and is protected against blood and viral penetration. The bag is made up of durable water repellent nonwoven fabric. It is rigid cylindrical in shape with air and water proof zippers and ventilators. Already ordered 500 in numbers, DRDO will now transfer the technology to private sector for manufacturing.


text: Under Society for Biomedical Technology (SBMT) programme, DEBEL has developed five-layer nanomesh based N99 masks and is collaborating with startup company Scanray Tech for the production of ventilators using current available technologies with Indian made parts due to unavailability of imports. It is also working on a new multiplexed ventilator technology that will be able to support several infected individuals on a single ventilator. The prototype development stage is complete and the initial model is now undergoing various improvements suggested by a team of medical researchers and doctors. The technology will finally be transferred to Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra, Hyundai Motor India, Honda Cars India and Maruti Suzuki for immediate mass production. DRDO signed agreement with Indian Telephone Industries Limited for tech transfer on low cost multiplexed ventilator technology with 80% to 90% of components are now make in India.


text: DRDO as of 11 April 2020 transferred technologies to 30 major companies to manufacture various non-medicine products against the COVID-19 pandemic which includes ventilator, sanitiser, personal protective equipment, face shield and isolation shelter. The technology for the newly developed multiplexed ventilator came from on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS) developed for HAL Tejas. Private sector players like Raksha Polycoats and Accurate Savan Defence are now producing protective clothing, isolation shelters based on DRDO tech developed for high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) bags, submarine escape suit and satellite recovery systems. Hyderabad based jewellary making startup iMake with Modern Manufacturers and Kirat Mechanical Engineering from Chandigarh, Wipro 3D from Bengaluru and Global Healthcare from Delhi are 3D printing visor-based face shields which is an offshoot of the tech developed for high-altitude military parachuting. Setco from Mumbai is producing sealants developed for submarines of Indian Navy at DRDO labs for personal protection equipments.


text: Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) developed product called Aerosol Containment Box for enclosure of intubation procedure made with Poly(methyl methacrylate). It is cubical in shape designed for both adults and minors that covers the COVID-19 infected patients during medical examination and treatment from head to chest to stop the transmission of droplets containing the virus to others. Employees' State Insurance Corporation Medical College, Hyderabad helped RCI in prototype development while Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research helped in testing, validation and acceptance of product for medical use. The technology is now transferred to private industries located in Chandigardh and Hyderabad for mass manufacturing. RCI at DRDO Missile Complex, Hyderabad is now supplying technology of brushless DC motors (BLDC) used for missile actuators and high response solenoid valves used in missile control for ventilator pumps that validated the prototype testing stages.


text: Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) developed two sanitising equipments of 50 litres tank capacity consists of portable backpack type that covers an area of 300 metres while another trolley mounted for large area sanitisation of up to 3000 metres by spraying 1% hypochlorite solution.


text: Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE) developed portable disinfection chamber and special face protection mask for health professionals combating COVID-19 outbreak in India. The personnel decontamination system is equipped with sanitiser and soap dispenser. The full-body decontamination starts using for pedal with an electrically operated pump creating disinfectant mist of 700-litre of hypo sodium chloride. The system takes 25 seconds for full decontamination with automatic shut-off procedure and can decontaminate 650 personnels until next refill. The face mask developed for COVID-19 patients uses the A4 size Over-Head Projection (OHP) film for protection and light weight materials for long duration comfortable use. VRDE developed full-body decontamination chamber was designed and validated within 4 days with All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi became the first premier institution to use it. The mass manufacturing of the portable decontamination chamber is now done by Dass Hitachi Limited.


text: As part of Make In India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, DRDO under Development cum Production Partner programme (DCPP) allowed handholding of domestic private sector industries to improve their development and production cycle of complex defence systems.


text: VL-SRSAM (Vertical Launch - Short Range Surface to Air Missile) and Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) became some of the successful projects of this programme.


text: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on 17 December 2021, secured order for manufacturing, assembly, integration, testing and supply of DRDO Abhyas from Aeronautical Development Establishment. The order will be completed under Development-cum-Production Partner (DcPP) with a private sector industry.


text: On 16 December 2021, Ashok Leyland signed partnership agreement with Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) to develop 600 hp engine for Future Combat Vehicle Programme. Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE) on 27 December 2021 transferred technologies for developing border surveillance system to Indian private sector company Paras Defence and Space. The system consists of radar, electro-optical sensors mounted on pan tilt platform. On 28 December 2021, Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS) transferred technology to manufacture extreme cold weather clothing system to RHD Business Services, SBNX Innovation, Shiva Texyarn Limited, Kusumgar Corporates and Ginni Filaments Limited.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar (; ; ; ; ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it is the largest city. Peshawar is primarily populated by Pashtuns, who comprise the second-largest ethnic group in the country. Situated in the Valley of Peshawar, a broad area situated east of the historic Khyber Pass, Peshawar's recorded history dates back to at least 539 BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in South Asia. Peshawer is among the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the country.


title: Peshawar

text: The area encompassing modern-day Peshawar is mentioned in Vedic scriptures; it served as the capital of the Kushan Empire during the rule of Kanishka and was home to the Kanishka Stupa, which was among the tallest buildings in the ancient world. Peshawar was then ruled by the Hephthalites, followed by the Hindu Shahis, before the arrival of a variety of Muslim empires. The city was an important trading centre of the Mughal Empire before becoming part of the Durrani Empire in 1747, after which it served as the Durrani winter capital from 1776 until the capture of the city by the Sikh Empire in 1823. In 1849, the city was captured by the East India Company and subsequently became part of British Raj, under whose rule it remained until the partition of British India and subsequent independence of Pakistan in 1947.


title: Peshawar

text: The modern name of the city "Peshawar" is possibly derived from the [reconstructed] Sanskrit word "Purushapura" ( "Puruṣapura", meaning "City of Men" or “City of Purusha"). It was named so by Mughal Emperor Akbar from its old name "Parashawar", the meaning of which Akbar didn't understand. The ruler of the city during its founding may have been a Hindu raja (king) named Purush; the word "pur" means "city" in Sanskrit. Sanskrit, written in the Kharosthi script, was the literary language employed by the Buddhist kingdoms which ruled over the area during its earliest recorded period. The city's name may also be derived from the Sanskrit name for "City of Flowers," "Poshapura," a name found in an ancient Kharosthi inscription that may refer to Peshawar"."


title: Peshawar

text: Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang's 7th century account of a city in Gandhara called the city "Po-la-sha-pu-lo" (Chinese: 布路沙布邏, "bùlùshābùló")"," and an earlier 5th century account by Fa-Hien records the city's name as "Fou-lou-sha" (Chinese: 弗樓沙, "fùlóshā")"," the Chinese equivalent of the Sanskrit name of the city, Purushapura. An ancient inscription from the Shapur era identifies a city in the Gandhara valley by the name "pskbvr," which may be a reference to Peshawar.


title: Peshawar

text: The Arab historian and geographer Al-Masudi noted that by the mid 10th century, the city was known as "Parashāwar". The name was noted to be "Purshawar" and "Purushavar" by Al-Biruni.


title: Peshawar

text: The city began to be known as "Peshāwar" by the era of Emperor Akbar. The current name is said by some to have been based upon the Persian for "frontier town" or, more literally, "forward city," though transcription errors and linguistic shifts may account for the city's new name. One theory suggests that the city's name is derived from the Persian name "Pesh Awardan", meaning "place of first arrival" or "frontier city," as Peshawar was the first city in the Indian subcontinent after crossing the Khyber Pass. Akbar's bibliographer, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, lists the city's name as both "Parashāwar", transcribed in Persian as , and "Peshāwar" ().


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar was founded as the city of "Puruṣapura", on the Gandhara Plains in the broad Valley of Peshawar in 100 CE. It may have been named after a Hindu raja who ruled the city who was known as Purush. The city likely first existed as a small village in the 5th century BCE, within the cultural sphere of ancient India. Puruṣapura was founded near the ancient Gandharan capital city of Pushkalavati, near present-day Charsadda.


title: Peshawar

text: In the winter of 327–26 BCE, Alexander the Great subdued the Valley of Peshawar during his invasion of the Indus Valley, as well as the nearby Swat and Buner valleys. Following Alexander's conquest, the Valley of Peshawar came under the suzerainty of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire. A locally-made vase fragment that was found in Peshawar depicts a scene from Sophocles' play "Antigone".


title: Peshawar

text: Following the Seleucid–Mauryan war, the region was ceded to the Mauryan Empire in 303 BCE. Around 300 BCE, the Greek diplomat and historian Megasthenes noted that Purushapura (ancient Peshawar) was the western terminus of a Mauryan road that connected the city to the empire's capital at "Pataliputra", near the city of Patna in the modern-day Indian state of Bihar.


title: Peshawar

text: As Mauryan power declined, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom based in modern Afghanistan declared its independence from the Seleucid Empire, and quickly seized ancient Peshawar around 190 BCE. The city was then captured by Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. Gondophares established the nearby "Takht-i-Bahi" monastery in 46 CE.


title: Peshawar

text: In the first century of the Common era, Purushapura came under control of Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan Empire. The city was made the empire's winter capital. The Kushan's summer capital at "Kapisi" (modern Bagram, Afghanistan was seen as the secondary capital of the empire, while Puruṣapura was considered to be the empire's primary capital. Ancient Peshawar's population was estimated to be 120,000, which would make it the seventh-most populous city in the world at the time. As a devout Buddhist, the emperor built the grand "Kanishka Mahavihara" monastery. After his death, the magnificent Kanishka stupa was built in Peshawar to house Buddhist relics. The golden age of Kushan empire in Peshawar ended in 232 CE with the death of the last great Kushan king, Vasudeva I.


title: Peshawar

text: Around 260 CE, the armies of the Sasanid Emperor Shapur I launched an attack against Peshawar, and severely damage Buddhist monuments and monasteries throughout the Valley of Peshawar. Shapur's campaign also resulted in damage to the city's monumental stupa and monastery. The Kushans were made subordinate to the Sasanids and their power rapidly dwindled, as the Sasanids blocked lucrative trade routes westward out of the city.


title: Peshawar

text: Kushan Emperor Kanishka III was able to temporarily reestablish control over the entire Valley of Peshawar after Shapur's invasion, but the city was then captured by the Central Asian Kidarite kingdom in the early 400s CE.


title: Peshawar

text: The White Huns devastated ancient Peshawar in the 460s CE, and ravaged the entire region of Gandhara, destroying its numerous monasteries. The Kanishka stupa was rebuilt during the White Hun era with the construction of a tall wooden superstructure, built atop a stone base, and crowned with a 13-layer copper-gilded "chatra." In the 400s CE, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim "Faxian" visited the structure and described it as "the highest of all the towers" in the "terrestrial world", which ancient travelers claimed was up to tall, though modern estimates suggest a height of .


title: Peshawar

text: In 520 CE the Chinese monk Song Yun visited Gandhara and ancient Peshawar during the White Hun era, and noted that it was in conflict with nearby "Kapisa". The Chinese monk and traveler Xuanzang visited ancient Peshawar around 630 CE, after "Kapisa" victory, and expressed lament that the city and its great Buddhist monuments had decayed to ruin—although some monks studying Hinayana Buddhism continued to study at the monastery's ruins. Xuanzang estimated that only about 1,000 families continued in a small quarter among the ruins of the former grand capital.


title: Peshawar

text: Until the mid 7th century, the residents of ancient Peshawar had a ruling elite of Central Asian Scythian descent, who were then displaced by the Hindu Shahis of Kabul.


title: Peshawar

text: Islam is believed to have been first introduced to the Buddhist, Hindu and other indigenous inhabitants of Puruṣapura in the later 7th century.


title: Peshawar

text: As the first Pashtun tribe to settle the region, the Dilazak Pashtuns began settling in the Valley of Peshawar, and are believed to have settled regions up to the Indus River by the 11th century. The Arab historian and geographer Al-Masudi noted that by the mid 10th century, the city had become known as "Parashāwar".


title: Peshawar

text: In 986–87 CE, Peshawar's first encounter with Muslim armies occurred when Sabuktigin invaded the area and fought the Hindu Shahis under their king, Anandpal.


title: Peshawar

text: On 28 November 1001, Sabuktigin's son Mahmud Ghazni decisively defeated the army of Raja Jayapala, son of Anandpal, at the Battle of Peshawar, and established rule of the Ghaznavid Empire in the Peshawar region.


title: Peshawar

text: During the Ghaznavid era, Peshawar served as an important stop between the Afghan plateau, and the Ghaznavid garrison city of Lahore. During the 10th–12th century, Peshawar served as a headquarters for Hindu Nath Panthi Yogis, who in turn are believed to have extensively interacted with Muslim Sufi mystics.


title: Peshawar

text: In 1179–80, Muhammad Ghori captured Peshawar, though the city was then destroyed in the early 1200s at the hands of the Mongols. Peshawar was an important regional centre under the Lodi dynasty of Delhi Sultanate.


title: Peshawar

text: The Ghoryakhel Pashtuns Khalil, Muhmands, Daudzai, Chamkani tribes and some Khashi "Khel" Pashtuns, ancestors of modern-day Yusufzai and Gigyani Pashtuns, began settling rural regions around Peshawar in the late 15th and 16th centuries. The Ghoryakhel and Khashi "Khel" tribe pushed the Dilazak Pashtun tribes east of the Indus River following a battle in 1515 near the city of Mardan.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar remained an important centre on trade routes between India and Central Asia. The Peshawar region was a cosmopolitan region in which goods, peoples, and ideas would pass along trade routes. Its importance as a trade centre is highlighted by the destruction of over one thousand camel-loads of merchandise following an accidental fire at Bala Hissar fort in 1586. Mughal rule in the area was tenuous, as Mughal suzerainty was only firmly exercised in the Peshawar valley, while the neighbouring valley of Swat was under Mughal rule only during the reign of Akbar.


title: Peshawar

text: In July 1526, Emperor Babur captured Peshawar from Daulat Khan Lodi. During Babur's rule, the city was known as "Begram", and he rebuilt the city's fort. Babur used the city as a base for expeditions to other nearby towns in Pashtunistan.


title: Peshawar

text: Under the reign of Babur's son, Humayun, direct Mughal rule over the city was briefly challenged with the rise of the Pashtun king, Sher Shah Suri, who began construction of the famous Grand Trunk Road in the 16th century. Peshawar was an important trading centre on Sher Shah Suri's Grand Trunk Road. During Akbar's rule, the name of the city changed from "Begram" to "Peshawar". In 1586, Pashtuns rose against Mughal rule during the Roshani Revolt under the leadership of Bayazid Pir Roshan, founder of the egalitarian Roshani movement, who assembled Pashtun armies in an attempted rebellion against the Mughals. The Roshani followers laid siege to the city until 1587.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar was bestowed with its own set of "Shalimar Gardens" during the reign of Shah Jahan, which no longer exist.


title: Peshawar

text: Emperor Aurangzeb's Governor of Kabul, Mohabbat Khan bin Ali Mardan Khan used Peshawar as his winter capital during the 17th century, and bestowed the city with its famous Mohabbat Khan Mosque in 1630.


title: Peshawar

text: Yusufzai tribes rose against Mughal rule during the Yusufzai Revolt of 1667, and engaged in pitched-battles with Mughal battalions nearby Attock. Afridi tribes resisted Mughal rule during the Afridi Revolt of the 1670s. The Afridis massacred a Mughal battalion in the nearby Khyber Pass in 1672 and shut the pass to lucrative trade routes. Mughal armies led by Emperor Aurangzeb himself regained control of the entire area in 1674.


title: Peshawar

text: Following Aurangzeb's death in 1707, his son Bahadur Shah I, former Governor of Peshawar and Kabul, was selected to be the Mughal Emperor. As Mughal power declined following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb, the empire's defenses were weakened.


title: Peshawar

text: On 18 November 1738, Peshawar was captured from the Mughal governor Nawab Nasir Khan by the Afsharid armies during the Persian invasion of the Mughal Empire under Nader Shah.


title: Peshawar

text: In 1747, Peshawar was taken by Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire. Under the reign of his son Timur Shah, the Mughal practice of using Kabul as a summer capital and Peshawar as a winter capital was reintroduced, with the practice maintained until the Sikh invasion. Peshawar's Bala Hissar Fort served as the residence of Afghan kings during their winter stay in Peshawar, and it was noted to be the main centre of trade between Bukhara and India by British explorer William Moorcroft during the late 1700s. Peshawar was at the centre of a productive agricultural region that provided much of north India's dried fruit.


title: Peshawar

text: Timur Shah's grandson, Mahmud Shah Durrani, became king, and quickly seized Peshawar from his half-brother, Shah Shujah Durrani. Shah Shujah was then himself proclaimed king in 1803, and recaptured Peshawar while Mahmud Shah was imprisoned at Bala Hissar fort until his eventual escape. In 1809, the British sent an emissary to the court of Shah Shujah in Peshawar, marking the first diplomatic meeting between the British and Afghans. His half-brother Mahmud Shah then allied himself with the "Barakzai" Pashtuns, and captured Peshawar once again and reigned until the Battle of Nowshera in March 1823.


title: Peshawar

text: The Capture of Peshawar took place in spring of 1758 when Maratha Empire in alliance with the Sikhs, defeated the Durrani Empire. The Marathas and the Sikhs were victorious in battle and Peshawar was captured thereafter. Before that, the fort of Peshawar was being guarded by Durrani troops under Timur Shah Durrani and Jahan Khan. When Raghunathrao, Malhar Rao Holkar and Sikh alliance of Charat Singh and Jassa Singh Ahluwalia left Peshawar, Tukoji Rao Holkar was appointed as the representative in this area of the sub-continent. Tukoji Rao Holkar along with Sardar Santajirao Wable and Khandoji Kadam defeated the Afghan garrison.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar was captured on 8 May 1758 by the Maratha Empire, in alliance with the Sikhs, from the Durrani Empire. The Marathas and Sikhs were victorious in the campaign in the province and Peshawar was captured. After being defeated by the army of Marathas and Sikhs, Durranis with Jahan Khan and Timur Shah Durrani left the fort and fled to Afghanistan meanwhile Marathas captured and took control of the fort. The Marathas' victory extended their rule to the Afghan border, about 2000 km from Pune.


title: Peshawar

text: Ranjit Singh invaded Peshawar in 1818 but handed its rule to Peshawar Sardars as vassals. Following the Sikh victory against Azim Khan at the Battle of Nowshera in March 1823, Ranjit Singh captured Peshawar again and reinstated Yar Mohammed as the governor. By 1830, Peshawar's economy was noted by Scottish explorer Alexander Burnes to have sharply declined, with Ranjit Singh's forces having destroyed the city's palace and agricultural fields.


title: Peshawar

text: Much of Peshawar's caravan trade from Kabul ceased on account of skirmishes between Afghan and Sikh forces, as well as a punitive tax levied on merchants by Ranjit Singh's forces. Singh's government also required Peshawar to forfeit much of its leftover agricultural output to the Sikhs as tribute, while agriculture was further decimated by a collapse of the dried fruit market in north India. Singh appointed Neapolitan mercenary Paolo Avitabile as administrator of Peshawar, who is remembered for having unleashed a reign of terror. His time in Peshawar is known as a time of "gallows and gibbets". The city's famous Mahabat Khan, built in 1630 in the Jeweler's Bazaar, was badly damaged and desecrated by the Sikh conquerors.


title: Peshawar

text: The Sikh Empire formally annexed Peshawar in 1834 following advances from the armies of Hari Singh Nalwa—bringing the city under direct control of the Sikh Empire's "Lahore Durbar". An 1835 attempt by Dost Muhammad Khan to re-occupy the city failed when his army refused to engage in combat with the Dal Khalsa. Sikh settlers from Punjab were settled in the city during Sikh rule. The city's only remaining Gurdwaras were built by Hari Singh Nalwa to accommodate the newly-settle Sikhs. The Sikhs also rebuilt the Bala Hissar fort during their occupation of the city.


title: Peshawar

text: Following the defeat of the Sikhs in the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1845-46 and the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, some of their territories were captured by the British East India Company. The British re-established stability in the wake of ruinous Sikh rule. During the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the 4,000 members of the native garrison were disarmed without bloodshed; the absence of conflict during the rebellion meant that Peshawar was not affected by the widespread devastation that was experienced throughout the rest of British India and local chieftains sided with the British after the incident.


title: Peshawar

text: The British laid out the vast Peshawar Cantonment to the west of the city in 1868, and made the city its frontier headquarters. Additionally, several projects were initiated in Peshawar, including linkage of the city by railway to the rest of British India and renovation of the Mohabbat Khan mosque that had been desecrated by the Sikhs. British suzerainty over regions west of Peshawar was cemented in 1893 by Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of the British Indian government, who collaboratively demarcated the border between British controlled territories in India and Afghanistan.


title: Peshawar

text: The British built Cunningham clock tower in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and in 1906 built the Victoria Hall (now home of the Peshawar Museum) in memory of Queen Victoria. The British introduced Western-style education into Peshawar with the establishment of Edwardes College and Islamia College in 1901 and 1913, along with several schools run by the Anglican Church. For better administration of the region, Peshawar and the adjoining districts were separated from the Punjab Province in 1901, after which Peshawar became capital of the new province.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar emerged as a centre for both Hindko and Pashtun intellectuals during the British era. Hindko speakers, also referred to as "xāryān" ("city dwellers" in Pashto), were responsible for the dominant culture for most of the time that Peshawar was under British rule. Peshawar was also home to a non-violent resistance movement led by Ghaffar Khan, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. In April 1930, Khan, leading a large group of his followers, protested in Qissa Khwani Bazaar against discriminatory laws that had been enacted by the colonial government; hundreds were killed when a detachment of the British Indian Army opened fire on the demonstrators.


title: Peshawar

text: In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly created state of Pakistan, and emerged as a cultural centre in the country's northwest. The partition of India saw the departure of many Hindko-speaking Hindus and Sikhs who held key positions in the economy of Peshawar. The University of Peshawar was established in the city in 1950, and augmented by the amalgamation of nearby British-era institutions into the university. Until the mid-1950s, Peshawar was enclosed within a city wall and sixteen gates. In the 1960s, Peshawar was a base for a CIA operation to spy on the Soviet Union, with the 1960 U-2 incident resulting in an aircraft shot down by the Soviets that flew from Peshawar. From the 1960s until the late 1970s, Peshawar was a major stop on the famous Hippie trail.


title: Peshawar

text: During the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s, Peshawar served as a political centre for the CIA and the Inter-Services Intelligence-trained mujahideen groups based in the camps of Afghan refugees. It also served as the primary destination for large numbers of Afghan refugees. By 1980, 100,000 refugees a month were entering the province, with 25% of all refugees living in Peshawar district in 1981. The arrival of large numbers of Afghan refugees strained Peshawar's infrastructure, and drastically altered the city's demography.


title: Peshawar

text: Like much of northwest Pakistan, Peshawar has been severely affected by violence from the attacks by the terrorist group, Tehrik-i-Taliban. Local poets' shrines have been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban, a suicide bomb attack targeted the historic All Saints Church in 2013, and most notably the 2014 Peshawar school massacre in which Taliban militants killed 132 school children.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar suffered 111 acts of terror in 2010, which had declined to 18 in 2014, before the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which further reduced acts of violence throughout Pakistan. More civilians died in acts of violence in 2014 compared to 2010 – largely a result of the Peshawar school massacre. A large attack on a Shiite mosque in the city killed dozens and injured 200 people.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar is located in the broad Valley of Peshawar, which is surrounded by mountain ranges on three sides, with the fourth opening to the Punjab plains. The city is located in the generally level base of the valley, known as the Gandhara Plains.


title: Peshawar

text: With an influence from the local steppe climate, Peshawar features a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen "BSh"), with very hot, prolonged summers and brief, mild to cool winters. Winter in Peshawar starts in November and ends in late March, though it sometimes extends into mid-April, while the summer months are from mid-May to mid-September. The mean maximum summer temperature surpasses during the hottest month, and the mean minimum temperature is . The mean minimum temperature during the coolest month is , while the maximum is .


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar is not a monsoon region, unlike other parts of Pakistan; however, rainfall occurs in both winter and summer. Due to western disturbances, the winter rainfall shows a higher record between the months of February and April. The highest amount of winter rainfall, measuring , was recorded in February 2007, while the highest summer rainfall of was recorded in July 2010; during this month, a record-breaking rainfall level of fell within a 24-hour period on 29 July 2010—the previous record was of rain, recorded in April 2009. The average winter rainfall levels are higher than those of summer. Based on a 30-year record, the average annual precipitation level was recorded as and the highest annual rainfall level of was recorded in 2003. Wind speeds vary during the year, from in December to in June. The relative humidity varies from 46% in June to 76% in August. The highest temperature of was recorded on 18 June 1995, while the lowest occurred on 7 January 1970.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawer's urban typology is similar to other ancient cities in South Asia, such as Lahore, Multan and Delhi - all of which were founded near a major river, and included an old walled city, as well as a royal citadel.


title: Peshawar

text: Historically, the old city of Peshawar was a heavily guarded citadel that consisted of high walls. In the 21st century, only remnants of the walls remain, but the houses and havelis continue to be structures of significance. Most of the houses are constructed of unbaked bricks, with the incorporation of wooden structures for protection against earthquakes, with many composed of wooden doors and latticed wooden balconies. Numerous examples of the city's old architecture can still be seen in areas such as Sethi Mohallah. In the old city, located in inner-Peshawar, many historic monuments and bazaars exist in the 21st century, including the Mohabbat Khan Mosque, Kotla Mohsin Khan, Chowk Yadgar and the Qissa Khawani Bazaar. Due to the damage caused by rapid growth and development, the old walled city has been identified as an area that urgently requires restoration and protection.


title: Peshawar

text: The walled city was surrounded by several main gates that served as the main entry points into the city — in January 2012, an announcement was made that the government plans to address the damage that has left the gates largely non-existent over time, with all of the gates targeted for restoration.


title: Peshawar

text: The population of Peshawar district in 1998 was 2,026,851. The city's annual growth rate is estimated at 3.29% per year, and the 2016 population of Peshawar district is estimated to be 3,405,414. With a population of 1,970,042 according to the 2017 census, Peshawar is the sixth-largest city of Pakistan. and the largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with a population five times higher than the second-largest city in the province.


title: Peshawar

text: The primary native languages spoken in Peshawar are Pashto and Hindko, though English is used in the city's educational institutions, while Urdu is understood throughout the city.


title: Peshawar

text: The district of Peshawar is overwhelmingly Pashto-speaking, though the Hindko-speaking minority is concentrated in Peshawar's old city, Hindko speakers in Peshawar increasingly assimilate elements of Pashto and Urdu into their speech.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar is overwhelmingly Muslim, with Muslims making up 98.5% of the city's population in the 1998 census. Christians make up the second largest religious group with around 20,000 adherents, while over 7,000 members of the Ahmadiyya Community live in Peshawar. Hindus and Sikhs are also found in the city − though most of the city's Hindu and Sikh community migrated "en masse" to India following the Partition of British India in 1947.


title: Peshawar

text: Though the city's Sikh population drastically declined after Partition, the Sikh community has been bolstered in Peshawar by the arrival of approximately 4,000 Sikh refugees from conflict in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; In 2008, the largest Sikh population in Pakistan was located in Peshawar. Sikhs in Peshawar self-identify as Pashtuns and speak Pashto as their mother tongue. There was a small, but, thriving Jewish community until the late 1940s. After the partition and the emergence of the State of Israel, Jews left for Israel.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar has hosted Afghan refugees since the start of the Afghan civil war in 1978, though the rate of migration drastically increased following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. By 1980, 100,000 refugees a month were entering the province, with 25% of all refugees living in Peshawar district in 1981. The arrival of large numbers of Afghan refugees strained Peshawar's infrastructure, and drastically altered the city's demography. During the 1988 national elections, an estimated 100,000 Afghans refugees were illegally registered to vote in Peshawar.


title: Peshawar

text: With the influx of Afghan refugees into Peshawar, the city became a hub for Afghan musicians and artists, as well as a major centre of Pashto literature. Some Afghan refugees have established successful businesses in Peshawar, and play an important role in the city's economy.


title: Peshawar

text: In recent years, Peshawar district hosts up to 20% of all Afghan refugees in Pakistan. In 2005, Peshawar district was home to 611,501 Afghan refugees — who constituted 19.7% of the district's total population. Peshawar's immediate environs were home to large Afghan refugee camps, with Jalozai camp hosting up to 300,000 refugees in 2001 – making it the largest refugee camp in Asia at the time.


title: Peshawar

text: Afghan refugees began to be frequently accused of involvement with terrorist attacks that occurred during Pakistan's war against radical Islamists. By 2015 the Pakistani government adopted a policy to repatriate Afghan refugees, including many who had spent their entire life in Pakistan. The policy of repatriation was also encouraged by the government of Afghanistan, though many refugees had not registered themselves in Pakistan. Unregistered refugees returning to Afghanistan without their old Afghan identification documents now have no official status in Afghanistan either.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar's economic importance has historically been linked to its privileged position at the entrance to the Khyber Pass – the ancient travel route by which most trade between Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent passed. Peshawar's economy also benefited from tourism in the mid-20th century, as the city formed a crucial part of the Hippie trail.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar's estimated monthly per capita income was ₨55,246 in 2015, compared to ₨117,924 in Islamabad, and ₨66,359 in Karachi. Peshawar's surrounding region is also relatively poor − Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's cities on average have an urban per capita income that is 20% less than Pakistan's national average for urban residents.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar was noted by the World Bank in 2014 to be at the helm of a nationwide movement to create an ecosystem for entrepreneurship, freelance jobs, and technology. The city has been host to the World Bank assisted Digital Youth Summit — an annual event to connect the city and province's youths to opportunities in the digital economy. The 2017 event hosted 100 speakers including several international speakers, and approximately 3,000 delegates in attendance.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar's Industrial Estate on Jamrud Road is an industrial zone established in the 1960s on 868 acres. The industrial estate hosts furniture, marble industries, and food processing industries, though many of its plots remain underutilized. The Hayatabad Industrial Estate hosts 646 industrial units in Peshawar's western suburbs, though several of the units are no longer in use. As part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, 4 special economic zones are to be established in the province, with roads, electricity, gas, water, and security to be provided by the government. The nearby Hattar SEZ is envisioned to provide employment to 30,000 people, and is being developed at a cost of approximately $200 million with completion expected in 2017.


title: Peshawar

text: As a result of large numbers of displaced persons in the city, only 12% of Peshawar's residents were employed in the formalized economy in 2012. Approximately 41% of residents in 2012 were employed in personal services, while 55% of Afghan refugees in the city in 2012 were daily wage earners. By 2016, Pakistan adopted a policy to repatriate Afghan refugees.


title: Peshawar

text: Wages for unskilled workers in Peshawar grew on average 9.1% per year between 2002 and 2008. Following the outbreak of widespread Islamist violence in 2007, wages rose only 1.5% between 2008 and 2014. Real wages dropped for some skilled craftsmen during the period between 2008 and 2014.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar's economy has been negatively impacted by political instability since 1979 resulting from the War in Afghanistan and subsequent strain on Peshawar's infrastructure from the influx of refugees. The poor security environment resulting from Islamist violence also impacted the city's economy. With the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in 2014, the country's security environment has drastically improved.


title: Peshawar

text: The metropolitan economy suffers from poor infrastructure. The city's economy has also been adversely impacted by shortages of electricity and natural gas. The $54 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor will generate over 10,000 MW by 2018 – greater than the current electricity deficit of approximately 4,500 MW. Peshawar will also be linked to ports in Karachi by uninterrupted motorway access, while passenger and freight railway tracks will be upgraded between Peshawar and Karachi.


title: Peshawar

text: Poor transportation is estimated to cause a loss of 4–6% of the Pakistani GDP. Peshawar for decades has suffered from chaotic, mismanaged, and inadequate public transportation and the poor public transportation also has been detrimental to the city's economy. Therefore, the government has since a new rapid bus service called BRT Peshawar covering the entire Peshawar.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar's east–west growth axis is centred on the historic Grand Trunk Road that connects Peshawar to Islamabad and Lahore. The road is roughly paralleled by the M-1 Motorway between Peshawar and Islamabad, while the M-2 Motorway provides an alternate route to Lahore from Islamabad. The Grand Trunk Road also provides access to the Afghan border via the Khyber Pass, with onwards connections to Kabul and Central Asia via the Salang Pass.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar is to be completely encircled by the Peshawar Ring Road in order to divert traffic away from the city's congested centre. The road is currently under construction, with some portions open to traffic.


title: Peshawar

text: The Karakoram Highway provides access between the Peshawar region and western China, and an alternate route to Central Asia via Kashgar in the Chinese region of Xinjiang.


title: Peshawar

text: The Indus Highway provides access to points south of Peshawar, with a terminus in the southern port city of Karachi via Dera Ismail Khan and northern Sindh. The Kohat Tunnel south of Peshawar provides access to the city of Kohat along the Indus Highway.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar is connected to Islamabad and Rawalpindi by the 155 kilometre long M-1 Motorway. The motorway also links Peshawar to major cities in the province, such as Charsadda and Mardan. The M-1 motorway continues onwards to Lahore as part of the M-2 motorway.


title: Peshawar

text: Pakistan's motorway network links Peshawar to Faisalabad by the M-4 Motorway, while a new motorway network to Karachi is being built as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.


title: Peshawar

text: The Hazara Motorway is being constructed as part of CPEC, and is providing control-access motorway travel all the way to Mansehra and Thakot via the M-1 and Hazara Motorways.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar Cantonment railway station serves as the terminus for Pakistan's -long Main Line-1 railway that connects the city to the port city of Karachi and passes through the Peshawar City railway station. The Peshawar to Karachi route is served by the "Awam Express", "Khushhal Khan Khattak Express", and the "Khyber Mail" services.


title: Peshawar

text: The entire Main Line-1 railway track between Karachi and Peshawar is to be overhauled at a cost of $3.65 billion for the first phase of the project, with completion by 2021. Upgrading the railway line will permit train travel at speeds of 160 kilometres per hour, versus the average speed currently possible on existing tracks.


title: Peshawar

text: Peshawar was also once the terminus of the "Khyber Train Safari", a tourist-oriented train that provided rail access to Landi Kotal. The service was discontinued as the security situation west of Peshawar deteriorated with the beginning of the region's Taliban insurgency.