Hubli

The name Hubballi comes from the term Hoovina Balli which means 'Flowering Creeper' in Kannada. Hubli is the anglicized version of Hubballi.

Rayara Hubli, also called 'Eleya Purvada Halli' or 'Purballi', was the old Hubli, where there is a Bhavani Shankara temple and Jain basati. Under Vijayanagara Rayas, Rayara Hubli grew as a commercial centre, famous for trade in cotton, saltpetre and iron. Under the rule of the Adilshahis, the British opened a factory here. The factory was looted by Shivaji in 1673. The Mughals conquered Rayara Hubli and it was then placed under the governance of the Nawab of Savanur, who built a new extension named Majidpura. Later, trader Basappa Shettar built new Hubli around the Durgadabail (fort maidan) part of Rayara Hubli.

Hubli's famous Moorusavira Matha is claimed to have been established by a Sharana of Basaveshwara's period. Hubli was conquered by the Marathas from the Nawab of Savanur in 1755-56. In the following years, Hubli was conquered by Hyder Ali, only to be recaptured by the Marathas in 1790. At this point in time, the old town was administered by a person named Phadke under the Peshwas and the new town was under the administration of the Sangli Patwardhan. The British took Old Hubli from the Peshwas in 1817. The new town, with 47 other villages, was handed over to the British by the Sangli Patwardhan in lieu of subsidy in 1820. Later in 1880, the British started the Railway workshop and with this, Hubli came to be reckoned as an industrial centre in this part of India.[5]

The impressive Chandramauleshwara temple in Unkal is from Chalukyan times. The Sufi shrine, Sayed Fathesha Wali, was visited by Tipu Sultan.[6]

Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) was constituted in 1962 by combining the two cities separated by a distance of 20 kilometres. The area covered by the corporation is 213  km² spread over 45 revenue villages and is the second-largest city corporation in Karnataka after Bengalooru. The population of the city as per the 1991 census was 700,000. The population of Hubli-Dharwad is 943,857 according to 2011 Census. Hubli Municipal Council was established under the Government of India Act of 1850, and the Dharwad Municipal Council first came into existence on 1 January 1856. Both were merged later.[9][9] The headquarters of HDMC is situated in Hubli, comprising 67 members covering four Vidhan Sabha Constituencies of Hubli-Dharwad.

Hubli is one of the commercial hubs of Karnataka. It has a wide cluster of industries and has more than a lakh small and medium industries.[10] The Government of India has set up a Software Technology Park of India on Pune–Bengaluru Road and Aryabhata Tech Park in Navanagar region of Hubli. The city is situated on the dividing line between Malnad and the Deccan plateau. Malnad is well known for its forests and forest-based industries and the other three sides are known for their agricultural products including cotton, groundnut and oil seeds, as well as manganese ore and granite.

The establishment of a new-generation diesel locomotive shed in the city by Indian Railways was another major boost for development of industries in this region, as it was first of its kind in Indian Railways history. The diesel locomotive shed at Hubli is the largest holder of EMD locomotives in India and was set up in 1880.[11]

The population of the twin cities as per provisional figures of Census 2011 is 943,857 and is urban.[14] Hubli-Dharwad's population increased by 22.99% between 1981 and 1991, from 527,108 to 648,298, and by 21.2% between 1991 and 2001. The municipality covers 213 km².

B.V. Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology

Hubballi, along with Dharwad, its twin city, is a major education centre in Karnataka, housing several educational institutions including one of the sixteen IITs:

• B.V.B. College of Engineering and Technology, set up in 1947.
• Indian Institute of Information Technology, Dharwad, set up in 2015.
• Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad, set up in 2017.
• Karnatak University, Dharwad, a major university in Karnataka, set up in 1949.
• Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubballi, set up in 1957, also houses one of the largest hospitals in India.
• Karnataka State Law University, Hubballi. All the law colleges in Karnataka are regulated from here.
• KLE Institute of Technology, set up in 2008.
• Research Center For DNA Diagnostics
• SDM College of Medical Sciences, set up in 2003.
• University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, set up in 1986.

• Sudha Murthy, founder and chairperson of Infosys Foundation
• Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder of Infosys
• Gururaj Deshpande, co-founder of Sycamore Networks, the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation
• Siddappa Kambli, a politician who played an important role in the Karnataka Ekikarna Movement
• Vivek Kulkarni, chairman of Brickwork India and founder MD of Brickwork Ratings
• Bhimsen Joshi, a Hindustani Classical Vocalist and Bharat Ratna awardee
• Gangubai Hangal, a Hindustani Classical Vocalist and Padma Vibhushan awardee
• Vijay Sankeshwar, Chairman and Managing Director of VRL Group

• Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, Hubli

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hubli.

• Hubli - Dharwad Municipal Corporation
• Hubli-Dharwad
• Hubli at Curlie