Pune, previously called Poona, is the second largest city (after Bombay/Mumbai) in the state of Maharashtra, India. According to the 2001 census provisional results, it had - according to official statistics - a population of 3.755 million in 2001. This figure includes the people residing in the city of Pimpri-Chinchwad which has historically been considered as a part of Pune. The real population of the combined metropolitan area should be between 4.5 to 5 million in 2004. Marathi is the language of the majority of the people residing here and they call themselves 'Punekar'. 'kar' is a marathi language suffix used to denote a person of a village or a city. This being a metropolitan city with many English literate people, 'Puneites' is also a term commonly used to describe the people of this city, particularly in English dailies.
It has many institutions of higher education, including the University of Pune, several colleges of engineering, IUCAA (Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics), TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research), NCL (National Chemical Laboratory) and the Armed Forces Medical College. The National Defense Academy, which trains officers of India's armed forces is located at Khadakvasla, on the outskirts of Pune.
Students from all over India come to Pune for higher education, particularly engineering and management. Pune is rapidly becoming a major centre of Information Technology in India.Pune is also a big one India's biggest education centres.With numerous engineering and management Institutes and was once called "Oxford of the East" by Jawaharlal Nehru.
