About Himachal

Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is stretch over 21,495 sq mi (55,673 km²), and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet independent Region on the east. The literal meaning of Himachal Pradesh is Region of snow-white mountains.

It was originally part of Punjab, except the Siba State of Punjab Hills which was under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh until 1857. In 1950 Himachal was affirmed as a union territory but after the State of Himachal Pradesh Act 1971, Himachal emerged as the 18th state of the Indian Union. Himachal has many high-status boarding schools. Hima means snow in Sanskrit. It was named by one of the enormous Sanskrit scholars of Himachal Pradesh, Acharya Diwakar Datt Sharma

Himachal Pradesh has one of the highest per capita incomes of any state in India. Due to the abundance of recurrent rivers, Himachal also sells hydro electricity to other states such as Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan. The economy of the state is highly dependent on three sources: hydroelectric power, tourism and farming.

Hindus make up 95% of the state population, making it the most Hindu state (proportionally), in India. According to a 2005 clearness International survey, Himachal Pradesh is ranked the second-least corrupt state in the country after Kerala.

Districts

Himachal Pradesh is divided into 12 districts namely, Kangra, Hamirpur, Mandi, Bilaspur, Una, Chamba, Lahul and Spiti, Sirmaur, Kinnaur, Kullu, Solan and Shimla. The state capital is Shimla which was formerly British India's summer capital under the name Simla.

A district of Himachal Pradesh is an organizational geographical unit, headed by a Deputy Commissioner or District Magistrate, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service. The district magistrate or the deputy commissioner is assist by a number of officers belonging to Himachal Administrative Service and other Himachal state services. Each district is subdivided into Sub-Divisions, governed by a sub-divisional magistrate, and again into Blocks. Blocks consists of panchayats (village councils) and town municipality. A inspector of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service is entrusted with the dependability of maintaining law and order and related issues of the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Himachal Police Service and other Himachal Police officials.

Climate

Himachal is located in the western Himalayas. Covering an area of 55,673 kilometers (34,594 mi), Himachal Pradesh is a mountainous state with height ranging from about 350 metres (1,148 ft) to 7,000 metres (22,966 ft) above the sea level.

Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh.

The drainage system of Himachal is composed both of rivers and glaciers. Himalayan rivers criss-cross the entire mountain series. In fact the rivers are older than the mountain system. Himachal Pradesh provides water to both the Indus and Ganges basins. There is great variation in the climatic circumstances of Himachal due to extreme variation in elevation. The climate varies from hot and sub-humid tropical in the southern tracts to cold, alpine and glacial in the northern and eastern mountain ranges with more elevation. Broadly Himachal experience three seasons; hot weather season, cold weather season and rainy season. Winter lasts from late November  till mid March. 

Transport

Roads are the major mode of transport in the hilly terrains of Himachal Pradesh. The state has road system of 28,208 km (17,528 mi), including eight national highways (NH) that construct 1,234 km (767 mi) and 19 state highways with total length of 1,625 km. Regular bus services connect Shimla with Chandigarh, Kullu, Manali, Delhi, Mandi, Pathankot, Ambala, Chail and Dehradun. Local taxis are the main local transport here. District Hamirpur has got the highest road density in the country. Railway track is available only to a few places in Himachal Pradesh. The Pathankot–Jogindernagar line connects Punjab with Himachal Pradesh. The other railway tracks pass through Shimla, Solan and Una. Shimla is connected with Kalka by a narrow gauge railway line, which in turn is linked with the main cities in India. Himachal has two narrow gauge rail tracks. The Kalka-Shimla Railway track has a length of 96 kilometres. There are three domestic airports in the state—Shimla Airport, Bhuntar AirportKullu and Manali, and Gaggal Airport serving Kangra and Dharamsala. The air routes connect the state with Delhi and Chandigarh. There are no international airports in Himachal Pradesh. Deccan, Air India, MDLR has flights from Delhi, Chandigarh to Kullu and back. Jagson Airlines has flights from DelhiShimla.