State-owned All India Radio has a local station and has FM channel 102.4 Vividh Bharati in Rajkot which transmits various programs of mass interest. Private FMs like Radio Mirchi 98.3FM, Red FM 93.5, Big 92.7 FM and 94.3 MY FM also serves people of Rajkot with excellent entertainment stuff + events.
Rajkot is connected to major Indian cities by Air, Railway and Road.
Roads and highways
Road network near Rajkot Gujarat India 2015
The Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) runs regular buses to and from Rajkot to other cities of Gujarat. More than 81000 people travel daily with GSRTC .Rajkot is very well connected with Gujarat State Highways and Rajkot is allocated the vehicle registration code GJ-3 by RTO. There are a number of private bus operators connecting city with other cities of Gujarat state and other states of India
Rail and Internal transport
Rajkot City has two railway stations, one is bigger and another is small. Bigger Railway Station is popularly known as Rajkot Junction Railway Station. Trains for the all the major cities of India are available from here. It is the more widely used railway station for passenger trains. Its elevation is 128 m above sea level. Its station code is “RJT”. The other and small railway station is known as Bhaktinagar (Station Code : BKNG) Railway Station, where only trains plying from Somnath, Veraval, Junagadh and Porbandar halt.
Rajkot Municipal Corporation has restored city bus services with Public Private Partnership in 2007. RMC and a private company is providing around 80 CNG buses under 15 to 20 routes in city and suburbs.
Recently Rajkot BRTS was launched on 1 October 2012. a new Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) with launching of the 10-km long Blue corridor and two AC buses which will be free for the first three months. The corridor is located in the west part of the city through the 150 ft ring road connecting Madhapar chokdi on the Jamangar road to Gondal chokdi on the Gondal road. The corridor will host 11 buses in further stage.
Rajkot BRTS Route :
The fully completed project in future will have two more corridors – green and red from Arvind Maniyar Nagar to Saurashtra University and Greenland Chowk to Saurashtra University respectively involving 157 buses in three colours. Rajkot thus becomes the second city in Gujarat to have BRTS after Ahmedabad. The city of Surat too is planning an ambitious BRTS project, construction of which is going on presently.
Rajkot has a large number of auto rickshaws, which operate around the clock within the city. Most of these are converted to CNG from petrol or diesel. Ola Cabs has started its operations here.
Aviation
Rajkot Airport[26] is conveniently located at a short distance from the city and can be easily accessed by cab and auto rickshaw services. There are multiple daily flights to Mumbai, served by Air India and Jet Airways. Air India started the Rajkot New Delhi flight from 15 February 2015.
Rajkot is governed by many government bodies, including Jilla Seva Sadan (Rajkot District Collector Offices), Rajkot Municipal Corporation, Rajkot Urban Development Authority and bodies like the Police Department of Gujarat and the Rajkot City Traffic Police Department, which work to maintain law and order in the city.
| Preceded by Mr. Janakbhai Kotak |
City Mayor June 2013– Present |
Succeeded by Dr. Jainam Uppadhyay |
| Preceded by Mr. Ajay Bhadu |
City Municipal Commissioner 2014– Present |
Succeeded by Mr. Vijay Nehra |
| Preceded by Mr. Mohan Jha |
City Police Commissioner February 2016– Present |
Succeeded by Mr. Anupam Singh Gehlot |
The city civic body has started a 24×7 call centre, the first of its kind in Gujarat and the second in the country to take care of all complaints relating to civic management. Citizens can now get all their complaints registered with the Rajkot Municipal Corporation by dialling a single number with an assurance that the problem would be addressed within 72 hours.
The city contributes to the economy of the state with heavy and small scale industries under the patronage of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) and Gujarat State Financial Corporation (GSFC). The economy of Rajkot got another shot in the arm with 280 million World Bank aid for development of infrastructure of the city. Many a renowned business houses made a beeline for grabbing the property market in the city, before it skyrockets. The plans are already in place to beautify and modernise the ancient city, including a Rock Garden, ala Chandigarh. Another 250 million project to rebuild the Kaiser-e-Hind, the only major bridge linking to the city, is already nearing completion.
Industry
Rajkot is famous for its jewellery market, silk embroidery and watch parts. The city hosts several small scale manufacturing industries. Some of the industrial products for which Rajkot is known include bearings, diesel engines, kitchen knives and other cutting appliances, watch parts (cases & bracelets), automotive parts, forging industry, casting industry, machine tools, share market and software development. The city is also home to some of the largest CNC machine and auto parts manufacturers in the country such as Jyoti CNC Automation Ltd. & Macpower CNC Machines Pvt. Ltd. and Atul Auto Ltd.
Rajkot is well known throughout the world for its casting and forging industries. Over the last few years, it has started to play an increasingly important role in the complex supply chains of many global engineering companies that make products such as electric motors, automobiles, machine tools, bearings, shafts etc.
There are about 500 foundry units in Rajkot. The cluster came up mainly to cater to the casting requirements of the local diesel engine industry. The geographical spread of the cluster includes Aji Vasahat, Gondal Road, Bhavanagar Road areas, Shapar, Veraval and Metoda. The majority of foundry units in Rajkot produce grey iron castings for the domestic market. A very small percentage (about 2%) of the foundry units export castings such as electric motor castings, automobile castings etc. There are some biggest gear manufacturing companies in Rajkot such as Synnova Gears and Transmission Pvt. Ltd. , Mahindra Gears etc.
Rajkot is also famous for its gold purity and has one of the largest gold markets in India.
Rajkot is also growing up in Software Industries and ITeS. There are many SOHO companies working in Web Development along with many new multinational call centres and software companies setting up their operations and development centres in Rajkot.
Rajkot’s sister city Morbi is also a manufacturing hub for ceramics industry, wall clocks industry and electrical accessories. The city is a home to large industries such as Ajanta Clock, Samay Group, ORPAT Group, Sonera Industries, Rickon Quartz etc.
In the near future, the government of Gujarat will allocate large land areas for the development of Special Economic Zone which will be parted in three different areas and will include industries such as Software, Auto-Mobiles, etc. As per recent market reviews, Rajkot is becoming Asia’s biggest Auto-Mobile Zone.
Rajkot is also famous for its textile printing units which produce cotton salwar suits and cotton print and silk sarees.
Rajkot was formerly the leading centre in India in the field of diesel engine and submersible pumps. Submersible pumps are still manufactured in the city and marketed throughout India, with some of the larger manufacturers also exporting them.
Rajkot is also home to some of India’s leading snacks manufacturers such as Balaji Wafers Pvt Ltd, Gopal Snacks Pvt Ltd and is home to one of India’s leading share broker Marwadi Shares & Finance Ltd.
Garba, is popular among both, men and women and is performed during the festival of Navratri. The dance starts before midnight and continues until dawn. Mata Ambe, who rides a Lion, has a special reverential status with any highly religious Gujarati. The ‘Janmastami Mela’ is organised for five days at the Race Course grounds to celebrate Janmastami. Diwali is one of the most important festival and is usually a week long holiday. Rajkot Municipal Corporation arranges the annual Fireworks Show for the citizens of Rajkot during the Diwali festival. The festival of Eid is also celebrated by the Muslim population. Holi is also celebrated with frolic and is widely enjoyed by most of the city folk. People also celebrate Uttarayan (Makar Sankranti) on 14 January by flying kites from their terraces.
About Festivals
Cricket is the most famous sport in the city. One-day internationals, domestic tournaments such as the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy and many inter-school and collegiate tournaments are played at the Madhavrao Sindhia Cricket Ground. The newly constructed 2nd International Cricket Stadium situated in Rajkot, Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, formerly known as Khandheri Cricket Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Khandheri, about 15 kilometres outside Rajkot, India. The Stadium has a capacity of 28,000 to 32,000 spectators. In this cricket stadium Day/Night matches can now also be played. The stadium hosted its 1st International Cricket Match played on 11 January 2013 between India and England. The stadium will part of a larger sports complex that will include venues for other sports such as badminton, basketball, and volleyball. It will host Saurashtra Cricket Association matches along with Madhavrao Sindhia Cricket Ground. Rajkot has produced cricketers such as K S Ranjitsinhji, Karsan Ghavri and Cheteshwar Pujara who have been members of the Indian cricket team. Rajkot has many other cricket grounds around city, including Railway Cricket Ground and Rajkumar College South Ground. Apart from cricket, other sports such as hockey, association football, volleyball, badminton, tennis, table-tennis, chess, swimming and squash are rapidly growing popular in the city. There has been a significant increase in recent years in the number of private sports clubs, gymkhanas and gymnasiums. Kathiawar gymkhana, indoor stadium and swimming pools of Rajkot Municipal Corporation are major sports clubs in city. Recently, the Gujarat Hockey Team (Under 14) was assembled with all 16 players coming from Rajkot.A new modernised cricket ground is even under construction at the outskirts. There are numerous swimming pools too. Rajkot Municipal Corporation also owns a 9 hole golf course at Ishwaria. It is maintained by Green Meadows Golf Club
In 2016 & 2017, a franchise from Rajkot will play in Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by Intex Technologies.
Cycling is a fast growing sport in Rajkot. Members of “Rajkot Cycle Club” regularly ride BRMs which are timed events which stretch from 200 km to 1200 km
About Sports
Awards
Best LAW and Order city – 2013
Performing Arts
Rajkot is a major regional centre for the arts, with many venues for the performing arts in the city. Hemu Gadhvi Natyagraha,one of the first non-profit regional theatres, is rich with history and dedicated to the Gujarati Play.
Music
Rajkot has its own native music genre, called Dayro, which is used to convey folk stories and sayings. Rajkot also inherited Kathiyawadi folk music.The city also has various orchestra groups, which perform professionally. They mainly perform the music albums from Bollywood.
Rajkot has many historical landmarks and places to visit. The Jubilee Garden is a large, open park in the centre of the city featuring many monuments from colonial times. Located prominently in the centre of the garden is the Connaught Hall. Other notable points of interest near the garden include the historic Mohandas Gandhi High School, Kaba Gandhi No Delo (Mohandas Gandhi’s childhood residence), Rashtriya Shala, Watson Museum,Rotary Dolls Museum, Lang Library , Rotary Midtown Library and Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
The Rotary Dolls Museum has a collection of more than 1,400 dolls from all over the world.
The Lang Library and the G.T. Sheth Library collect thousands of documents and books covering every period in Rajkot and Saurashtra (region) history. Rajkot has many other public libraries with many branches throughout the city. It includes Rotary Midtown of Rajkot City Library and many more.
Other points of interest in Rajkot include Gebanshah Pir Dargah, Hashanshah Pir Dargah, Turkibapu’s Dargah, Swaminarayan Gurukul, Masonic Hall, Jam Tower, Race Course, Aji DamRamkrishna Ashram, Shri Ranchhoddas Ashram, Swaminarayan Temple,
Watson Museum And Library: The Watson Museum today has a collection of human history and culture. Its collection has precious objects of colonial period of India and History of Rajkot. Located in the pleasant Jubilee Garden, the museum is a good introduction to Saurashtra’s cultural heritage. Rajkot Memon Boarding is headquarters of Muslim activities before 1947. Saurashtra Muslim league held many Muslim convention at Rajkot Memon boarding ground.
Located at a short distance from the city, The Trimandir, a non sectarian temple offers a pleasant and soothing environment. It is widely popular among pilgrims.
The people in Rajkot are predominantly vegetarians and are vehemently against any form of hunting. The women of Rajkot are fond of jewellery. Large chains, pendants and other heavy gold jewellery are a common sight during marriages, festivals and functions. The attire changes with the season and festivals. The ladies normally wear the Gujarati type of the Sari and men can be seen in flowing Kurtas and formal wear (shirts and trousers).
Rajkot is multicultural. One can find many languages, like Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, English, Sindhi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi. However, only Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, and English are well understood. Rajkot is the part of Kathiyawad. Because of this people of Rajkot are also known as Kathiyawadi.
Rajkot is frequently referred to as “Rangilu Rajkot” (રંગીલુ રાજકોટ) meaning colourful Rajkot
As of the 2011 India census, Rajkot recorded a total population of 1,390,640. Rajkot city has an average literacy rate of 82.20%, higher than the national average.The population is 52.43% male and 47.47% female. Most of the population is Hindu with a Muslim minority.
- Population growth through the years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1891 |
29,200 |
| 1941 |
66,400 |
| 1951 |
132,100 |
| 1961 |
193,500 |
| 1968 |
270,800 |
| 1971 |
302,000 |
| 1981 |
444,200 |
| 1991 |
654,500 |
| 2001 |
1,003,015 |
| 2011 |
1,390,640 |
| 2013 |
1,560,000 |
| Religions in Rajkot (2011) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinduism | 89.90% | |||
| Islam | 7.68% | |||
| Jainism | 1.90% | |||
| Christianity | 0.27% | |||
| Others♦ | 0.24% | |||
| Distribution of religions | ||||
| Population Growth of Rajkot | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1891 | 29,200 |
—
|
|
| 1941 | 66,400 |
—
|
|
| 1951 | 132,100 | 98.9% | |
| 1961 | 193,500 | 46.5% | |
| 1971 | 302,000 | 56.1% | |
| 1981 | 444,200 | 47.1% | |
| 1991 | 654,500 | 47.3% | |
| 2001 | 1,003,015 | 53.2% | |
| 2011 | 1,390,640 | 38.6% | |
RAJKOT CITY 