History
The District takes it's name from Kapurthala town which is its headquarters and was formerly the capital of the princely state. The ruling Ahluwalia family of the erstwhile princely state of Kapurthala traces its origin to the Rajput House of Jaisalmer. The family derives its title of Ahluwalia from village Ahlu near Lahore (now in Pakistan) founded by Sadhu Singh , an enterprising member of this family.
However , the real founder of the Family was Nawab Jassa Singh who took a leading part in the Sikh struggle against the Mughal governor in Punjab. In 1748, he killed the governor of Amritsar seizing a large portion of the District .He then extended his conquest to the Beas and defeated the governor of Jalandhar doab. His subsequent victorious march was halted in 1762. After the return of Ahmed Shah to Kabul, the Sikhs chiefs under the leadership of Jassa Singh defeated Zain Khan in 1764 whom Ahmed Shah appointed as governor . He contributed most to consolidate the position of the Sikhs before Maharaja Ranjit Singh came on the scene. Jassa Singh died in 1783 . He had made Kapurthala his capital. His illustrious successor Fateh Singh was responsible for including the areas of Phagwara and Banga in his territory.
The last ruler of the family was Jagatjit Singh. His contribution in the field of industry was particularly noteworthy and many institutions and industries installed in his time bear his name . During the post-independence period , Banga Subtehsil was transferred to Hoshiarpur District and four Bastis, Basti Nau, Basti Sheikh, Basti Kotlaan and Kot Sadiq were transferred to Jalandhar District in June ,1950. as a result of the merger of PEPSU with Punjab in 1965. The District has been transferred to Jalandhar division for convenience of administration.
The present royal family of Kapurthala is descended from Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, a contemporary of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah, who by his intelligence and bravery made himself the leading Sikh of his day. At one time it held possessions on both sides of the Sutlej, and also in the Bari Doab. The cis-Sutlej estates and scattered tracts in the Bari Doab were forfeited owing to the hostility of the chief in the First Sikh War; but the latter were afterwards restored in recognition of the loyalty of Raja Randhir Singh during the mutiny of 1857, when he led a contingent to Oudh which did good service. He also received a grant of land in Oudh, 700 m² in extent, yielding a gross rental of 89,000. In Oudh, however, he exercises no sovereign powers, occupying only the status of a large landholder, with the title of Raja-i-Rajagan.
Maharaja Sir Jagatjit Singh, Bahadur, Maharaja of Kapurthala, GCSI , GCIE , GBE
Raja Sir Jagatjit Singh, K.C.S.I., was born in 1872, succeeded his father in 1877, and attained his majority in 1890. During the Tirah expedition of 1897-98 the Kapurthala imperial service infantry took a prominent part. The territory is crossed by the railway from Jalandhar to Amritsar. The state has a large export trade in wheat, sugar, and cotton. The hand-painted cloths and metal-work of Phagwara are well known. The town of Kapurthala is approximately 20 Kilometers from Jalandhar.
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Major Industries
The people of this region are mainly involved in agriculture and its allied activities.
The industrial set up in district has history back to its rulers. Maharaja Jagatjit
Singh had devoted particular attention to promote Industrial development. The Maharaja
had set up various industrial units including Sugar Mills at Phagwara, Hamira, Chemical,
Steel and Leather Factories at various parts of State. One of the biggest Distilleries
in India was setup at Hamira during his regime.
Phagwara is more industrially developed
now Rail Coach factory is in Kapurthala town. Rail Coach Factory, the second Coach
Factory owned by Indian Railways and third in the country was set up in 1986 at Kapurthala
Kapurthala
is very famous for its Rice Thrashing Mills/Rice Shellars Industry. It has about
80 rice shellars in District. It is largest number of rice Shellers in any district.The
Punjab Government is giving earnest attention to industrial development in the small-scale
as well as medium and large-scale. In order to facilitate the development of more
industries, the State Government started a number of schemes to attract more entrepreneurs
to set up industries. Besides, the Director of Industries, Punjab, offers technical
guidance to help new entrepreneurs to select suitable industries. The directorate
maintains a list of industries which have scope of development in the State. In some
cases, feasibility reports are also available. In any event, the consultancy organization
of Punjab Small Industries Corporation renders adequate help in preparing feasibility
studies for any specified industry flagship company.
RCF Kapurthala
The second Coach Factory owned by Indian Railways and third in the country was set
up in 1986 at Kapurthala to boost the economy of the state and to augment the existing
coach manufacturing capacity of Indian Railways. An area of 335 acres was acquired
for the factory 843 acres for small colony. Today, within a short span of 13 years
since the laying of rail coach factory the whole area of 4.76 Sq. Kms. has been turned
into a paradise on earth. These thirteen years have been very eventful both for RCF,
the people of Punjab and to Indian Railways as a whole. Set up with an investment
of Rs.400 crores, RCF have turned out 10,000th Coach on 22nd July,2000, thus, contributing
to more than 30% of total passenger coaches (Broad Gauge) in service on Indian Railways.
About 23 types of coaches are being turned out every year. Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala
JCT,
Phagwara
Textile unit of JCT - a flagship company of Thapar group - was incorporated in the year 1946 at Phagwara and went into commercial production in the year 1951. JCT’s Textile division consists of two composite textile mills and its second unit is located in Shri Ganga Nagar in Rajasthan. The synthetic filament division has nylon and polyester filament manufacturing plant and polyester stable fibber plant at Chohal, Hoshiarpur and colour picture television tubes unit at Mohali and Baroda are the other divisions of JCT. The Textile Division at Phagwara employs more than 700 workmen and gives indirect employment to lacs of people. It has a consistent record of account of excellent relations with the workmen which is mainly on account of its following the modern concept of its mite to the physical health of society as well byway of international players in the game of Football. Its Football team has won many prestigious tournaments and brought laurels to the State of Punjab.JCT is synonymous with quality. With stringent quality controls at every stage of the production process, it is no wonder that the textile division of JCT is the first in the industry to be accredited with the ISO 9002 certification.
Jagatjit Industries Ltd.
Jagatjit Industries Limited (JIL) was set up by Mr. L.P.
Jaiswal in the year 1944 in the erstwhile State of Kapurthala under the patronage
of His Highness Sir Jagatjit Singh, the then Maharaja of Kapurthala. The company
is quoted on the stock exchanges in India. Jagatjit Industries Ltd; manufactures
and markets Alcoholic Beverages, Malt, Malt Extract, malted Milk foods, Milk Powder,
Ghee, Dairy products, Glass and Plastic containers. Alcoholic Beverage is its main
business. The Company’s brand "ARISTOCRAT" is ranked amongst the first 10 fastest
growing brands internationally.
Jagatjit has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Brown-Forman Corporation of USA to bring in India premium alcoholic beverages. Brown-Forman is a fortune 500 company and is the market leader of international repute with a portfolio of brands such as SOUTHERN COMFORT, EARLY TIMES and JACK DANIELS .The joint venture company has successfully introduced SOUTHERN COMFORT and other brands to follow.
Jagatjit is one of the major players in the Alcoholic Beverages business in the country with regular and premium brands like Aristocrat and Binnies.
Oswal Agro Mills Ltd
This Sugar Unit- formerly known as Jagatjit Sugar Mills Co.
Ltd.- was set up in 1932with initial crushing capacity of 400 tones per day and is
first crushing season was started in 1932-33. Finding this crushing capacity non
viable, the same was increased to 1000 tones per day gradually in August 1987 this
mill was taken over by Oswal Group under its Chairman Mr. Abhey Oswal. The crushing
capacity of the Mill was further increased by the new management to 4500 tonnes of
sugarcane per day. There are about 900 employees on the rolls of the company during
the season while there are about 450 employees during the off season.
SSK Industries
SSK was founded in 1935 and is today India's oldest and most experienced
in the field of Electrical wiring accessories. It's extraordinary range includes
Board Mounting Switches, Ceiling accessories, Plate Switches, Modular Switches, Switchgears,
MCB distribution boxes, Industrial plugs and sockets, connectors, mobile and fixed
power distribution systems and LT panels. All its products and not only conform to
ISI specifications but go way beyond in meeting even more stringent standards.
Phone and Communication
Kapurthala is connected to world through very good Landline and Wireless communication network.
There are various land line and Wireless Phone service providers like BSNL,Airtel,Spice,Hutch,Reliance and Vodaphone .Most of the mobile (cell phone) services have good range in all the areas.
Weather Conditions
The climate of this district is on the whole dry except during the brief south-west monsoon season. The year may be divided into four seasons. The cold season is from the middle of November to early part of March. The succeeding period upto the end of June in the summer season, July, August and first half of September constitute the South-West monsoon season. The period from middle September to the middle of November is the post monsoon or transition period.
The summer season sets in April and lasts up to end of June, to be taken over by the rainy season (during which time it becomes hot and humid). The rainy season sets in the beginning of July and lasts up till September's end. The winter season starts after the rains are over from October and lasts up until March's end. May and June are the hottest months of the year in Kapurthala (during which time mercury is known to cross 45 °C).
Banks in Kapurthala
Most of the banks in Kapurthala provide Automated teller machine facility for the
convenience of the customers. Through the ATM facility the customers can withdraw
money 24 hours. Some of the banks also offer credit card and debit card facility.
The Banks also provide loan to the agriculturists and landless agricultural laborers
who need money. Internet banking is another facility catered by the banks, which
has made the whole process of banking very convenient. Some of the banks have introduced
core banking which has resulted in the operation of banking process easier all over
India.