Uttar Pradesh
State of north India, bordered by Nepal and Uttarakhand to the northeast, with Madhya Pradesh to the south, Haryana, Delhi, and Rajasthan to the west, and Bihar in the east; area 243,288 sq km/93,934 sq mi; population (2001 est) 166,052,900. The capital is Lucknow. Economically the state is one of the least developed in India, with three-quarters of the population dependent on agriculture, much of it on a subsistence basis in very small holdings. Wheat, rice, millet, barley, sugar cane, groundnuts, peas, cotton, oilseed, potatoes and fruit are grown, and there is livestock raising and dairy farming. Silica, limestone, and coal are mined and industries, mostly on a small scale in centres such as Varanasi and Lucknow and based on the mineral and agricultural outputs, include the production of sugar, vegetable oil, textiles, leatherwork, cement, chemicals and handicrafts. As part of the Uttar Pradesh Reorganization Act, the region was split in November 2000 to form the new state of Uttaranchal, carved out of its northwest section.
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