Rajendra Nagar, Delhi

Old Rajendra Nagar Delhi

Rajendra Nagar (often spelled unofficially as 'Rajender Nagar' or 'Rajinder Nagar'^[1]) is a residential colony in West Delhi Delhi, India. The name comes from Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first president of India. It is bordered by the Central Ridge Protected Forest on the east and south, IARI on the west, and Karol Bagh on the north. It is a constituency in the Legislative Assembly of Delhi. The current Councillor for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is Mr. Rajesh Bhatia of the Bhartiya Janata Party.^[2] Vijender Garg is an MLA from Rajendra nagar of AAP (Aam Admi Party) who won with wooping margin of 20,051 votes, defeating two major party canditates from BJP and Congress in recent 2015 Concluded Election.^[3]

Overview

Like most of the colonies developed in the 1950s, Rajendra Nagar was primarily a Punjabi refugee colony which came up during the years after the partition of India in 1947, when several such residential neighbourhoods sprang up in the New Delhi area, including other examples such as Lajpat Nagar and Patel Nagar.

Rajender Nagar benefits from links with the Delhi metro. Shankar road divides the Rajendra Nagar into New and Old Rajendra Nagar. Old Rajendra Nagar touches Karol Bagh, which is famous for shopping, eating food. New Rajendra Nagar is between Old Rajendra Nagar and Ridge. Locality is very beautiful with lots of parks in New Rajendra Nagar. Central park in New Rajendra Nagar is called Nehru Park. Morning sees lots of people going for walks, summer sees yoga sessions followed by older generation sitting around benches for discussions. Afternoon sees lots of kids playing on the swings. It is one of the best Punjabi colony of Delhi

The first president for New Rajendra Nagar was late Manohar Lal Batra, retired DSP. He worked for the community. After that presently, the current president is Mrs. Asha Gandhi, who does a lot of good work for the community.

New Rajendra Nagar also has a central library, schools established in partition for needy namely D. I. Khan, Bhartiya Vidya Mandir as well as some good schools are Manav Sthali, J.D. Tytler.

Coaching industry

Rajendra Nagar is also home to many coaching institutes. It is one of the two education hubs in Delhi for government job aspirants (the other being Mukherjee Nagar). However, the striking difference between these two locations is the demographics of students. While, majority of student-population in Rajendra Nagar comprises those preparing for exams conducted by UPSC (and usually in English medium), Mukherjee Nagar is dominated by a mix of students preparing (i) either for exams conducted by SSC (like CGL and CHSL) (ii) or for civil services exams in Hindi medium. The coaching culture has also boomed the broker's share in finding PGs for students. Most notable coachings in Rajendra Nagar are Vajiram

and Ravi, Vision IAS and Unique. These are spread between Karol bagh metro station and Old Rajendra Nagar. The streets are also filled with book stores, an associated business along with coaching industry.

Notable people

Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan was born here in 1965 at the Talwar Nursing Home, and lived here for more than two decades while studying in Hansraj College and acting in TV series Fauji (1988), Circus (1989) and Dil Darya, before moving to Mumbai in 1991 to pursue a career in films.^[4] Bollywood singer Jaspinder Narula was born and raised here; her father Swaran Singh Narula being a music director in Bollywood. Shakti Kapoor, Bollywood star, was also born and raised here.

Other known residents included Dilip Kumar, the Bollywood star who lived here for some years, Balraj Madhok a politician of the 1960s, Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja, actress Divya Dutta and documentary film maker Avijit Mukul Kishore. The former Sikh Empire family home was in Rajender Nagar during the 1970s and 1980s. Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir and noted nutritionist Dr. Rasmi Avula are current residents.

Noted politician Bansi Lal Mehta who was responsible for giving the hand sign to Indian National Congress stays in Rajendra Park. Noted Criminal Lawyer, Siddharth Mehta is also a resident of this colony. This colony is also home to Kudos Ayurvedic, a renowned Ayurvedic manufacturer.

References

External links

• Rajendra Nagar, Delhi location