Meda Water Edge

In 2006 the city officially changed its name to Bengaluru, although the old name was still widely used. The following year the Greater Bengaluru Municipal Corporation (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) was created, which superseded the city’s previous municipal government. At that time dozens of communities surrounding Bengaluru were absorbed into the new entity, greatly increasing the city’s size and making its population almost identical to that of its urban agglomeration.

Large-scale immigration to Bangalore began in the 1950s as the state invested heavily in the public sector and education. Employment opportunities were created for thousands of people in southern India, and Bangalore grew to become one of the largest cities in the country. For several decades the city’s economic growth was based largely on manufacturing industries. In the early 1990s, a combination of new national economic liberalization policies and the emergence of a strong education system in the city encouraged the development of an information and communications technology (ICT) sector and paved the way for its rapid development into both a national and a global ICT centre.

Prominent buildings include the legislative building Vidhana Soudha and the High Court building Attara Kacheri, which are situated across from one another. Also of note are the maharaja of Mysore’s palace, the Mysore Government Museum, and Tippu Sultan’s fort and palace. Notable local scenic spots are the Lalbagh (Lal Bagh) Botanical Garden (laid out in the 18th century), Cubbon Park (a garden with a lake, an aquarium, and a library), Hesaraghatta Lake, and Chamaraja Lake Reservoir. Nandi Hills (Nandigunda), a hill-station summer resort (61 km) north, is the site of two temples dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.

From the late 20th century the city became a centre of high-technology industry (notably ICT), and a number of large multinational technology corporations opened offices there. In addition, major domestic firms such as Infosys and Wipro established headquarters in the city. In 1998 an ICT park opened in what was then the suburb of Whitefield, about 10 miles (16 km) east of central Bengaluru. As a self-contained city with hundreds of technology, software, and telecommunications companies, the park became known as the Silicon Valley of India. It became a district of Greater Bengaluru in 2007. The rapid growth of ICT-related activities in the area, however-encouraged by continued government subsidies contributed to a decline in small and medium-scale manufacturing industries there.