Sikar

Sikar is a city and municipal council in the Sikar district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Sikar district. It is largest city of the Shekhawati region, which consists of Sikar, Churu and Jhunjhunu. After Kota, Sikar is one of the major coaching hubs in the country for competitive examination preparations and has a number of engineering and medical coaching institutes.

Sikar is also a major hub for agricultural trade, given it is surrounded by large plains areas west of the Aravalli range. It is also a major rail and road junction.

Sikar is a historical city and contains many old havelis. It is 115 km away from Jaipur, 320 km from Jodhpur, 215 km from Bikaner, and 280 km from New Delhi.

Sikar district is also popular for Khatu Shyam Temple, situated in the town of Khatoo, 16 km from Reengus town and 45 km from Sikar city.

History
Sikar had been the biggest Thikana (Estate) of the Jaipur state. Previously Sikar was known as Shekhawati Pradesh. It was the capital of Thikana Sikar. Sikar is surrounded by fortified walls consisting of seven "Pols" (gates). These historic gates are named: Bawari Gate, Fatehpuri Gate, Nani Gate, Surajpole Gate, Dujod Gate Old, Dujod Gate New, and Chandpole Gate. Shekhawat Rajputs were rulers of this region.

Geography
Sikar city is the district headquarters of Rajasthan's Sikar district, which is situated in the eastern part of Rajasthan. It is the sixth most populous city of Rajasthan. It is located a t27.62°N, 75.15°W. It has an average elevation of 427 m.

Demographics
Sikar City had a population of about 237,579 people according to the census of 2011. As per provisional reports of Census India, the population of Sikar in 2011 is 237,579; of which there are approximately 123,156 males and 114,423 females. The sex ratio of Sikar City is 929 females per 1000 males. Regarding education, total literates in Sikar city are 158,413 of which 91,403 are males while 67,010 are females. The average literacy rate of Sikar City is 77.13, male and female literacy status is 86.29 and 67.37, respectively. The total population of children (0-6) in Sikar City is about 32,189, consisting of 17,236 boys and 14,953 girls. The child sex ratio of girls is 868 per 1000 boys.

Places of interest
Being a City in Rajasthan with rich cultural backdrop, Sikar has many havelis, some of which are centuries old. Other than its havelis, Sikar is also famous for its ancient forts made before and during the British rule in India. It also contains the village of Charanwas.

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Administration
The Collector and District Magistrate (DM) of Sikar is Shree Saurabh Swami and Superintendent of Police is Shri Anil Paris Deshmukh

Sikar city is governed by a Municipal Council, which comes under the Sikar Urban Agglomeration. The new municipal council building is built in Shekhawati style like a mahal or haveli. Sikar city is divided into 60 wards. Although Sikar city has a population of 237,579 (in 2011), its urban/metropolitan population is 244,563 (in 2011). The Sikar metropolitan area includes Chandrapura (Rural), Radhakrishnpura, Samarthpura, Shivsinghpura and Sikar city. The current Member of Parliament from Sikar is Swami Subhedanand Saraswati elected in May 2014 and continue in May 2019

Education
Sikar and Jhunjhunu, collectively known as the twin cities, now account for 15% of the educational institutions in the state, signifying the Shekhawati region's rise as a prominent education hub in Rajasthan. Despite a history of poor educational performance, the scenario changed in 2001 when the government relaxed regulations, allowing private entities to establish institutes in these cities. Sikar leads the districts in school education performance, as per the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) by the Union Ministry of Education. Following closely are Jhunjhunu and Jaipur, all securing a place in the 'Utkarsh' category, achieving scores ranging from 81 to 90 percent on a scale of 100. Notably, Jhunjhunu excelled with the highest score (236 out of 290) in learning outcomes.

Sikar is fast growing into NEET and JEE coaching hub of Rajasthan. Survey by Sikar Shiskha Nagari ranks coaching institutes in Sikar as per their performance.

Schools

 * Bharat Bharati Vidyashram School
 * Nav Prerna School

Notable Persons

 * 1) Himani Shah - Princess of Sikar (now Former Crown Princess of Nepal)


 * 1) Jamnalal Bajaj- He was an industrialist and freedom fighter
 * 2) Dinesh Kumar - Professor and dean at Central University of Gujarat
 * 3) Mahadeo Singh Khandela - politician from Indian National Congress
 * 4) Banshidhar Bajiya - politician and former Member of Legislative Assembly from Khandela constituenc

Rail
Sikar Junction railway station comes within the territory of the North Western Railway. Sikar City is connected to Jhunjhunu, Rewari, Delhi, Churu, Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar, Hisar, Jaipur, Kota, Ajmer, Udaipur, Abu Road, Indore, Ahmedabad and Mumbai, Mathura, PrayagrajAlwar. New lines proposed since 2010 are Sikar to Nokha via Sujangarh and Sikar to Neem-Ka-Thana via Udaipurwati.

Road
Sikar is well connected by roads from all the major cities of Rajasthan and nearby states. A four-lane national highway NH-52 passes through the city. NH-52 connects Sikar with Jaipur and Bikaner. The western freight corridor also pass through Ringas of Sikar, as a main project of the central government. Kotputali Kuchaman Mega Highway also passes through Sikar. Jhunjhunu-Jaipur state highway is also passes through Sikar.

Airport
The nearest airport to Sikar City is Jaipur International Airport, which operates daily flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Indore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Guwahati, Kolkata, Udaipur, Dubai, Sharjah, and Muscat. A new airport is proposed at Shahpura (a town in Jaipur district) that is very close to Sikar. A small air strip at Tarpura village is also available for the landing of small private planes against payment.

Education
Sikar has made significant strides in the field of education in recent years. Sikar is also home to many coaching institutes that prepare students for competitive exams such as the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), and the Civil Services Examination.

Most notably, the government recently established Medical College in Sikar.

This newfound stature and renown has led the media to dub Sikar as the "Education City of Rajasthan"