10 + Surprising Facts About Delhi

In this episode of FTD Facts, we're exploring Delhi, India. So let's just jump right into it. This video has been requested by a lot of you guys. People like Abhinav Nambiar, Pak Media on India, Agram Singh, clearly, Ashwath Bender, and Sanuj Bhatia. So welcome to another episode of FTD Facts. My name is Leroy Kenton. This is a channel where we give you facts about everything and everything. And in this case, we're exploring Delhi, India. Delhi is a National Capital Territory of India, and it's divided up into 11 districts. Now, these districts are meant just for revenue collection as well as administrative purposes. Back in January of 1997, originally, there were just nine districts. And then prior to that, there was only one district that governed the whole of Delhi. Later on, in September of 2012, two more districts were added. And those were the Southeast District and the Shadara District. Now, if you're curious of what all the 11 divisions of Delhi, India are, let me list some off for you. We have New Delhi, there's North Delhi, there's Northwest Delhi, there's West Delhi, Southwest Delhi, South Delhi, Southeast Delhi, Central Delhi, Northeast Delhi, East Delhi, and Shadara. What? You couldn't just have Delhi in your name? Why do you have to go break the trend like that? What's the matter with you? But anyways, I just want to real quickly clear up a misconception that many people have about Delhi, India. But seriously, this doesn't just get confusing for the people that live outside of India, but also for people that live in India as well. When you think of New Delhi and Delhi, many people associate them with being the same place. But in actuality, they're two different places. New Delhi, which is India's capital, is a territory in Delhi. New Delhi is where they have the seat of government in India. So although many people may use New Delhi and Delhi interchangeably, which is understandable, Delhi on a whole is actually the entire national capital territory in India. And the city of New Delhi only forms a portion of Delhi. And since we're talking about capital cities, let me just ask you, do you live in the capital city of your country? If so, let me know what city that is down below in the comments section. Now, as we continue with the facts, let's talk about Kolkata. Kolkata, previously called Calcutta, was the capital of India during the British rule until December 1911. And Delhi had served as a political and financial center throughout India's history. During the early 1900s, there was a proposal that was made to the British government to shift the capital of the British Indian Empire from Kolkata that was on the east coast all the way to Delhi that was in the north. The government ended up agreeing with this move because it just made more sense to govern India from the north. Since India has achieved independence, Delhi has now prospered as the capital of modern India. The population continues to grow as well as there is rapid economic expansion. Now, although Delhi is continuing to prosper, there are some downsides to this rapid growth. There's a lot of pressure on the city's infrastructure as well as there's a ton of overcrowding. You have to deal with traffic. There's also housing issues. You know, there's a lot of people that want housing and they have to continue to keep up with the demand. And on top of that, we have the pollution issue. Now, I'm going to touch on pollution a little bit later in this episode, but here's a little interesting fact about Delhi. In New Delhi specifically, there is an international museum of toilets. When you enter the museum, you can see a collection of pictures as well as facts and objects that detail the historical evolution of toilets all the way from the year 2500 BC to the current date. And check out Kari Bali. This is a street in Delhi, India, known for its wholesale grocery as well as it's the largest wholesale spice market in Asia. They sell all sorts of spices, nuts and herbs. You can get food products like rice and tea. And this market has been operating since the 17th century. One of the major attractions to see in Delhi is the Lotus Temple. This magnificent structure right here. The Lotus Temple is a Baha'i house of worship. Now, this temple was built in the shape of the lotus flower and is one of the major Baha'i temples built around the world. There's currently nine of them that exist. The Lotus Temple was completed back in 1986. It's made up of pure white marble. And the architect named Foribur Savda chose the lotus flower as the symbol that's Followers of all types of faiths and religions are welcome at the Lotus Temple to pray or meditate. And of course, sometimes the Baha'i houses of worship are places of the people of the Baha'i faith to go and worship. Now, touching a little bit more on the pollution issue in Delhi. Back in May 2014, New Delhi was announced as the most polluted city in the world by the World Health Organization. In 2016, however, the WHO downgraded Delhi to the 11th worst in terms of urban air pollution. According to estimates, the air pollution causes over 10,500 deaths per year in Delhi. So it is a pretty huge problem. However, Delhi is aiming to do their part in becoming more green. Most of the public transit system in Delhi runs on what is called compressed natural gas or CNG. Delhi also has the largest amount of CNG buses in the world. And just to explain, compressed natural gas is used to take the place of gasoline, propane, and diesel. And what makes natural gas so different is that it is a lot safer than other fuels in the event of a leak. This is because natural gas is a lot lighter than air. So if there is a leak, the gas particles can disperse a lot quicker. So it's not just congested into one place causing a lot of pollution that people are going to be breathing in. So those were some of the facts introducing you to Delhi, India. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to hit that like button. And if you want more facts in regards to South Asia specifically, you can hop over to our new channel. We just launched it. It's FTD Facts Hindi. The link is down below. That channel is going to be focusing on the South Asian culture as well as issues that South Asians face around the world. We'll have top 5 and top 10 lists, music and movie reviews, interviews, you name it. As well as we want to hear your feedback on the channel. So hop over there now to FTD Facts Hindi. The link is down below. Subscribe. Let us know your feedback. Check out some of the videos. And thank you so much for being a part of the FTD Facts community. We now have two channels. Now we've just explored Delhi, the city and region that has shown very clear signs of striving for a better tomorrow. Not just for the people of India, but for the rest of the world. Throughout history, Delhi has been overthrown and rebuilt on several occasions. But now it's sitting as a capital district of modern India. With great plans on building new infrastructure, I dare anyone to try and stop Delhi in the future.