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Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu ????????? Chennai Location of Tamil Nadu in India Country India District(s) 32 Established 1956-11-01 Capital Chennai Largest city Chennai Governor Surjit Singh Barnala Chief Minister M Karunanidhi Legislature (seats) Unicameral (235) Population Density 66,396,000 (7th) 511 /km 2 (1,323 /sq mi) Language(s) Tamil Time zone IST (UTC+5:30) Area 130,058 km² (50,216 sq mi) ISO 3166-2 IN-TN Footnotes Established in 1773; Madras State was formed in 1956 and renamed as Tamil Nadu on January 14, 1969 [1] Website tn.gov.in Seal of Tamil Nadu Coordinates: 13°05′N 80°16′E / 13.09°N 80.27°E / 13.09; 80.27 Tamil Nadu (Tamil: ????????? pronunciation , English: "Land of the Tamils", IPA: [t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ]) is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital is Chennai (formerly known as Madras) and is the largest city. Tamil Nadu lies in the southern- most part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by Puducherry (Pondicherry), Ker- ala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is bound by the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and Palakkad on the west, Bay of Bengal in the east, Gulf of Mannar, Palk Strait in the south east and In- dian Ocean in the south. For over 2500 years, the region has been the home of the last surviving classical civil- ization of the world, the Tamil civiliza- tion. [2][3][4] It is the homeland of Indian Tamils and their 2500 year old classical lan- guage Tamil. [5] Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area (about the size of Greece) and the seventh most populous state. [6] It is the fifth largest contributor to India’s GDP [7] and the most urbanised state in India. [8] The state has the highest number (10.56%) of business enterprises in India, [9] compared to the population share of about 6%. It is one of the foremost states in the country in terms of overall develop- ment. [10][11] It is home to many natural re- sources, grand Hindu temples of Dravidian architecture, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites and three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. [12][13] Tamil Nadu has lately emerged as the most Literate state in India as announced by HRD Ministry. [14] As per 2001 census Liter- acy Rate in Tamil Nadu is 73.45%. [15] History From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Tamil Nadu 1

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu?????????

ChennaiLocation of Tamil Nadu in India

Country IndiaDistrict(s) 32Established 1956-11-01†

Capital ChennaiLargest city ChennaiGovernor Surjit Singh BarnalaChief Minister M KarunanidhiLegislature (seats) Unicameral (235)Population• Density

66,396,000 (7th)• 511 /km2 (1,323 /sq mi)

Language(s) TamilTime zone IST (UTC+5:30)

Area 130,058 km² (50,216 sq mi)

ISO 3166-2 IN-TN

Footnotes† Established in 1773; Madras State was formed in 1956and renamed as Tamil Nadu on January 14, 1969[1]

Website tn.gov.in

Seal of Tamil Nadu

Coordinates: 13°05′N 80°16′E / 13.09°N80.27°E / 13.09; 80.27 Tamil Nadu (Tamil:????????? pronunciation , English: "Land ofthe Tamils", IPA: [t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ]) is one of the28 states of India. Its capital is Chennai(formerly known as Madras) and is thelargest city. Tamil Nadu lies in the southern-most part of the Indian Peninsula and isbordered by Puducherry (Pondicherry), Ker-ala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It isbound by the Eastern Ghats in the north, theNilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and Palakkad onthe west, Bay of Bengal in the east, Gulf ofMannar, Palk Strait in the south east and In-dian Ocean in the south.

For over 2500 years, the region has beenthe home of the last surviving classical civil-ization of the world, the Tamil civiliza-tion.[2][3][4] It is the homeland of IndianTamils and their 2500 year old classical lan-guage Tamil.[5] Tamil Nadu is the eleventhlargest state in India by area (about the sizeof Greece) and the seventh most populousstate.[6] It is the fifth largest contributor toIndia’s GDP[7] and the most urbanised statein India.[8] The state has the highest number(10.56%) of business enterprises in India,[9]compared to the population share of about6%. It is one of the foremost states in thecountry in terms of overall develop-ment.[10][11] It is home to many natural re-sources, grand Hindu temples of Dravidianarchitecture, hill stations, beach resorts,multi-religious pilgrimage sites and threeUNESCO World Heritage Sites.[12][13]

Tamil Nadu has lately emerged as themost Literate state in India as announced byHRD Ministry.[14] As per 2001 census Liter-acy Rate in Tamil Nadu is 73.45%.[15]

History

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The Brihadeeswarar temple at Thanjavur isone of the largest monolithic temple com-plexes in the world - a UNESCO World Herit-age Site.

PrehistoryTamil Nadu’s history dates back to pre-his-toric times and archaeological evidencepoints to this area being one of the longestcontinuous habitations in India. In Adichanal-lur, 24 km from Tirunelveli, archaeologistsfrom the Archaeological Survey of India un-earthed 169 clay urns containing humanskulls, skeletons and bones, plus husks andgrains of rice, charred rice and Neolithiccelts, giving evidence confirming them to beof the Neolithic period, 3800 years ago.[16]

The ASI archaeologists have proposed thatthe script used at that site is "very rudiment-ary" Tamil Brahmi.[17] Adichanallur has beenannounced as an archaeological site for fur-ther excavation and studies.[18] About 60% ofthe epigraphical inscriptions found by theASI in India have been from Tamil Nadu andmost of which are in Tamil language[19]

Chera RuleFrom early pre-historic times, Tamil Naduwas the home of the four Tamil kingdoms ofthe Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallavas. The

oldest extant literature, dated between 300BC and 600 BC mentions the exploits of thekings and the princes, and of the poets whoextolled them. Cherans, who spoke Tamil lan-guage ruled from the capital of Karur in thewest and traded extensively with West Asiankingdoms. An unknown dynasty calledKalabhras invaded and displaced the threeTamil kingdoms between the fourth and theseventh centuries CE. This is referred to asthe Dark Age in Tamil history. They wereeventually expelled by the Pallavas and thePandyas.

Pallava Rule

The Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram built bythe Pallavas - a UNESCO World HeritageSite.

Around 580 CE, the Pallavas, great templebuilders, emerged into prominence and dom-inated the south for another 150 years. Theyruled a vast portion of Tamil Nadu with Kan-chipuram as their capital. They subjugatedthe Cholas and reigned as far south as theKaveri River. Among the greatest Pallavarulers were Mahendravarman I and his sonNarasimhavarman I. Dravidian architecturereached its peak during the Pallava rule.

Pandya RulePallavas were replaced by the Pandyas in the8th century. Their capital Madurai was in thedeep south away from the coast. Tirunelveliwas their another important city which is theSouth India’s second largest producer of Riceafter Thanajavur. Nellaiappar temple,Tirunelveli and Meenakshi Amman Temple,Madurai are some of the best examples ofPandyan Temple architecture. NellaiapparTemple, Tirunelveli is the first largest Shivatemple in Tamil Nadu.

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Chola EmpireSee also: Early Cholas, Medieval Cholas, andLater Cholas

Chola Empire under Rajendra Chola c. 1030C.E.

By the 9th century, under Rajaraja Chola andhis son Rajendra Chola, the Cholas rose as anotable power in south Asia. The Chola Em-pire stretched as far as Bengal. At its peak,the empire spanned almost 250 million acres(1,000,000 km2). Rajaraja Chola conqueredall of peninsular South India and parts of theSri Lanka. Rajendra Chola’s navies went evenfurther, occupying coastal Burma (now Myan-mar), the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lak-shadweep, Sumatra, Java, Malaya in SouthEast Asia and Pegu islands. He defeatedMahipala, the king of the Bengal, and to com-memorate his victory he built a new capitaland named it Gangaikonda Cholapuram.

The Cholas excelled in building magnifi-cent temples. Brihadeshwara Temple inThanjavur is a classical example of the mag-nificent architecture of the Chola kingdom.Brihadshwara temple is an UNESCO Herit-age Site under "Great Living CholaTemples."[20] Another example is theChidambaram Temple in the heart of thetemple town of Chidambaram.

Pandya Rule (Restored)With the decline of the Cholas towards theend of the 11th century, the Pandyas rose toprominence once again, under MaravarmanSundara Pandya.

Delhi SultanateThis restoration was short-lived as thePandya capital of Madurai itself was sackedby Alauddin Khilji troops from the north in

Thirumalai Nayak Mahal at Madurai.

1316. The invasion led to the establishmentof the Madurai Sultanate.

Vijayanagar EmpireThese northern invasions triggered the estab-lishment of Vijayanagara Empire in the Dec-can. It eventually conquered the entire Tamilcountry (c. 1370 CE). This empire lasted al-most three centuries.

Rule of NayaksAs the Vijayanagara Empire went into declineafter mid-16th century, the Nayak governors,who were appointed by the Vijayanagar king-dom to administer various territories of theempire, declared their independence. TheNayaks of Madurai and Nayaks of Thanjavurwere most prominent of them all in the 17thcentury. They reconstructed some of the old-est temples in the country such as theMeenakshi Temple.

Rule of Nizams and NawabsAround 1609, the Dutch established a settle-ment in Pulicat. In 1639, the British, underthe British East India Company, established asettlement further south, in present dayChennai.

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Fort Dansborg, built by the Danish, in Tran-quebar (now Tharangambadi).

The British exploited rivalries between theprovincial rulers to expand their sphere of in-fluence throughout the Nizam’s dominions.The British fought and reduced the Frenchdominions in India to Pondicherry. Nizamsbestowed tax revenue collection rights on theEast India Company by the end of 18th cen-tury. Some notable chieftains or Poligars whofought the British East India Company as itwas expanding were Maveeran SundaralingaKudumbanar , Veerapandya Kattabomman,Pulithevan and Dheeran Chinnamalai.

British EmpireIn early 19th century, East India Companyconsolidated most of southern India into theMadras Presidency coterminous with thedominions of Nizam of Hyderabad. Pudukkot-tai remained as a princely state under Britishsuzerainty.

IndependenceWhen India became independent in 1947,Madras Presidency became Madras State,comprising present day Tamil Nadu, coastalAndhra Pradesh up to Ganjam district inOrissa, northern Karnataka, and parts of Ker-ala. The state was subsequently split upalong linguistic lines. In 1968, Madras Statewas renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning Land ofTamil.

Geography and climateTamil Nadu covers an area of 130,058 squarekilometres (50,216 sq mi), and is the eleventhlargest state in India. The bordering statesare Kerala to the west, Karnataka to the

A semi-arid wasteland near Tirunelveli. Mon-soon clouds pour torrents of rain on lushforests that are only a few kilometers away inwindward-facing Kerala, but are preventedfrom reaching Tirunelveli by the Agas-thyamalai Range of the Western Ghats(background).

Topographic map of Tamil Nadu

northwest and Andhra Pradesh to the north.To the east is the Bay of Bengal. The south-ernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula is locatedin Tamil Nadu. At this point is the town ofKanyakumari which is the meeting point ofthe Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and theIndian Ocean. The western, southern and thenorth-western parts are hilly and rich in ve-getation. Tamil Nadu is the only state in Indiawhich has both the Western Ghats and theEastern Ghats and they both meet at the Nil-giri hills.[21] The Western Ghats dominate theentire western border with Kerala, effectivelyblocking much of the rain bearing clouds ofthe South West Monsoon from entering the

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Plains HillsMax. 43.0 °C (109.4 °F) 32.3 °C (90.1 °F)Min. 13.1 °C (55.6 °F) 3.0 °C (37.4 °F)

state. The Eastern parts are fertile coastalplains and the northern parts are a mix ofhills and plains. The central and the southcentral regions are arid plains and receiveless rainfall than the other regions.

Tamil Nadu has a coastline of about1,000 kilometres (600 mi) which forms about18% of the country’s coastline (third longest).Tamil Nadu’s coastline bore the brunt of the2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami when it hit India,which caused 7,793 direct deaths in thestate.[22] Tamil Nadu falls mostly in a regionof low seismic hazard with the exception ofthe western border areas that lie in a low tomoderate hazard zone; as per the 2002 Bur-eau of Indian Standards (BIS) map, TamilNadu falls in Zones II & III. Historically,parts of this region have experienced seismicactivity in the M5.0 range.[23]

Tamil Nadu is heavily dependent on mon-soon rains, and thereby is prone to droughtswhen the monsoons fail. The climate of thestate ranges from dry sub-humid to semi-ar-id. The state has three distinct periods ofrainfall: (1) Advancing monsoon period,South West monsoon (from June to Septem-ber), with strong southwest winds; (2) NorthEast monsoon (from October to December),with dominant northeast winds; and (3) Dryseason (from January to May). The normalannual rainfall of the state is about 945 mm(37.2 in)[24] of which 48% is through theNorth East monsoon, and 32% through theSouth West monsoon. Since the state is en-tirely dependent on rains for recharging itswater resources, monsoon failures lead toacute water scarcity and severe drought.[25]Tamil Nadu is classified into seven agro-cli-matic zones: north-east, north-west, west,southern, high rainfall, high altitude hilly,and Cauvery Delta (the most fertile agricul-tural zone). The table below shows the max-imum and minimum temperatures that thestate experiences in the plains and hills.[26]Tamil Nadu has a wide variety of mineralswith the most lignite (almost 90% of India’sreserves), magnesite (45%) and garnet (over40%) reserves in India, among others.[27]Tamil Nadu contributes 15% of the total saltproduction in the country. Forests cover over17% of the state’s geographical area with

several protected areas of Tamil Nadu includ-ing wildlife and bird sanctuaries.[28]

Governance andadministration

Top executives of Tamil NaduGovernor Surjit Singh

BarnalaChief Minister M. KarunanidhiChief Justice(Acting)

S. J. Mukhopadhaya

Director Generalof Police

K. P. Jain[29]

Chief Secretary K. S. Sripathi[30]

State Symbols of Tamil Nadu[31]

Animal Nilgiri Tahr

Bird Emerald Dove

Dance Bharathanattiyam

Flower Gloriosa Lily

Song Neerarum

Sport Kabaddi

Tree Palm Tree

The Governor is the Constitutional head ofthe state while the Chief Minister is the headof the government and the head of the coun-cil of ministers. The Chief Justice of theMadras High Court is the head of the judi-ciary. The present Governor, Chief Ministerand the Chief Justice (acting) are Surjit SinghBarnala, M. Karunanidhi and S. J. Mukho-padhaya respectively.[30][32][33] The majoradministrative units of the state constitutes39 Lok Sabha constituencies, 234 Assemblyconstituencies, 32 districts, 10 municipal

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corporations, 152[10] municipalities, 611town panchayats and 12,618 village panchay-ats. Chennai (formerly known as Madras) isthe state capital. It is the fourth largest cityin India and is also one of the five A1 Metro-politan cities of India.

Tamil Nadu had a bicameral legislatureuntil 1986, when it was replaced with a uni-cameral legislature, like most other states inIndia. The term length of the government is 5years, as is elsewhere in India. The presentgovernment run by the DMK led alliancecame to power in 2006 and comprises acouncil of 29 ministers, chaired by the ChiefMinister. Tamil Nadu legislative assembly ischaired by the speaker Mr. R Avudaiappanand is housed at the historical Fort St. Ge-orge in Chennai. The state had come underthe President’s rule on four occasions - firstfrom 1976 to 1977, next for a short period in1980, then from 1988 to 1989 and the latestin 1991. Tamil Nadu has 10 Municipal Cor-porations: Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai,Tiruchirapalli,Salem Tirunelveli,Erode, Tiru-pur, Vellore and Thoothukudi. There is a planto upgrade Tambaram and Ambattur as Mu-nicipal Corporations. The Corporation ofChennai, established in 1688, is the oldestMunicipal Corporation not only in India butalso in any commonwealth nations outsideUnited Kingdom.[34]

Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state ofE-Governance initiatives in India. A largepart of the government records like landownership records are digitised and all majoroffices of the state government like UrbanLocal Bodies — all the Corporations and Mu-nicipal Office activities — revenue collection,land registration offices, and transport of-fices have been computerised. Tamil Nadu isone of the states where law and order hasbeen maintained largely successfully.[35] TheTamil Nadu Police Force is over 140 yearsold. It is the fifth largest state police force inIndia and has the largest strength of womenpolice personnelin the country.[36] As of2003, the state had a total police populationratio of 1:668, higher than the national aver-age of 1:717.[37]

DistrictsThe 32 districts of Tamil Nadu are as listedbelow with the numbers corresponding tothose in the image at the right.1. Chennai District 17. Salem District

Districts of Tamil Nadu

2. CoimbatoreDistrict

3. Cuddalore District4. Dharmapuri

District5. Dindigul District6. Erode District7. Kanchipuram

District8. Kanyakumari

District9. Karur District

10. KrishnagiriDistrict

11. Madurai District12. Nagapattinam

District13. Namakkal District14. Perambalur

District15. Pudukkottai

District16. Ramanathapuram

District

18. SivagangaiDistrict

19. ThanjavurDistrict

20. The NilgirisDistrict

21. Theni District22. Thoothukudi

District23. Tiruchirapalli

District24. Tirunelveli

District25. Tiruvallur

District26. Tiruvannamalai

District27. Tiruvarur

District28. Vellore District29. Viluppuram

District30. Virudhunagar

District31. Ariyalur district32. Tirupur district

Ariyalur district, which was created in 2001from the Perambalur district, was restored asthe 31st district of Tamil Nadu on the 23rdNovember, 2007. The TN government has

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also announced that Tirupur will be the newheadquarters of the Tirupur district whichwill be formed by splitting the Coimbatoreand Erode district.[38]

PoliticsPre IndependencePrior to Indian independence Tamil Naduwas under British colonial rule as part of theMadras Presidency. The main party in TamilNadu at that time was the Congress Party.Regional parties have dominated state polit-ics since 1916. One of the earliest regionalparties was the South Indian Welfare Associ-ation, which was a forerunner to Dravidianparties in Tamil Nadu, was started in 1916.The party was called after its English organ,Justice Party, by it opponents and later thesame was adopted as its official name. Thereason for victory of the Justice Party in elec-tions was the non-participation of the Con-gress Party, demanding complete independ-ence of India. Freedom movement saw greatleaders like Subramania Bharathiar (Poetwho inspired freedom movement by his poet-ic skills), Subramania Siva, V O Chidham-daranar (Industrialist, who managed shipsunder the free India banner), Thirupur Ku-maran, Rajagopalachariar (Rajaji) andSathyamurthi to name a few.

E.V.Ramaswami Naicker popularly knownas EVR and also as Periyar, believed in agita-tional politics and he took the Justice Partyaway from its original path. The Justice Partywhich had a moribund existence underE.V.Ramaswami Naicker, died at last in 1944which he renamed the party DravidarKazhagam (DK for short) in 1944. DK was anon-political party which demanded the es-tablishment of an independent state calledDravida Nadu. However, due to the differ-ences between its two leaders Periyar andC.N. Annadurai, the party was split. An-nadurai left the party to form the DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The DMK de-cided to enter politics in 1956.

Dravidian PoliticsPoliticalAlliance

AssemblyElections

LokSabhaElections

DMK+ 163(69.6%)

39 (100%)

Present chief minister M.Karunanidhi(centre) with ex-chief ministers C. N. An-nadurai (left) and M. G. Ramachandran(right).

AIADMK+ 69 (29.4%) 0 (0%)Independent/Other

2 (0.8%) 0 (0%)

Source: Indian Elections / Election Commis-sion of India.[39][40]In the 19th century, western scholars dis-covered that the Dravidian languages thatdominate the south of India formed a differ-ent linguistic group to that of the Indo-Aryanlanguages that are predominant in the northof the country. They also classified Indiansinto distinct Aryan and Dravidian races. Itwas proposed that the generally darker-skinned Dravidians constituted a distinctrace. This concept has affected thinking inIndia about racial and regional differencesand had an impact on aspects of Tamil na-tionalism, which has appropriated the claimthat Dravidians are the earliest inhabitants ofIndia, and the Aryan population were op-pressive interlopers from whom Dravidiansshould liberate themselves.[41]

Re-organisation of Indian states accordingto linguistic and ethnic basis has moderatedTamil nationalism, especially the demand forseparation from the Indian Union. The Anti-Hindi agitations in mid-1960s made the DMKmore popular and a more powerful politicalforce in the state. The DMK routed the Con-gress Party in the 1967 elections and tookcontrol of the state government, ending Con-gress’ stronghold in Tamil Nadu. C.N.

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Tamil Other languages TotalHindu 81% 7%1 88%Christian 4% 1%2 5%Muslim 3% 2%3 5%Other religions 1% 1% 2%Total 89% 11% 100%Note 1: mainly TeluguNote 2: mainly MalayalamNote 3: mainly Urdu

Annadurai became the DMK’s first ChiefMinister.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi took over as ChiefMinister and party leader after Annadurai’sdeath in 1969. Karunanidhi’s leadership wassoon challenged by M.G. Ramachandran,popularly known as MGR. In 1972, he splitfrom DMK and formed the Anna DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) and later re-named the party as All India Anna DravidMunnetra Kazhagam. He was the Chief Min-ister of the state from 1977 until his death in1987. After the death of MGR and the defeatof AIADMK in the 1989 assembly polls, J. Jay-alalithaa took control of the party. She waselected as the General Secretary of the uni-fied AIADMK. There have been several splitsin both the DMK and the AIADMK, but since1967 one of those two parties has held powerin the state. The rise of Congress Party, Vi-jayakanth’s DMDK and Dr. Ramdoss’s PMKin the recent years has ensured that no singleparty is in majority to run a government andthereby giving rise to coalition politics.

Demographics andReligionTamil Nadu is the seventh most populousstate in India with a population of66,396,000,[43] as of July 1, 2008 (approxim-ately 5.79% of India’s population). It is the el-eventh most densely populated state in India.In 2008, its population density was 511 per-sons per square kilometre,[43] having in-creased from 429 in 1991, significantly high-er than the Indian average of 324 personsper square kilometre.[44] 44% of the state’spopulation live in urban areas, the highest inIndia.[45]

Tamil Nadu’s population grew by 11.19%between 1991 and 2001, the second lowestrate for that period (after Kerala) amongst

populous states (states whose population ex-ceeded 20 million in 2001). Its decadal rateof population growth has declined in everydecade since 1971, one of only three popu-lous states (along with Kerala and Orissa) toshow this trend. The state has registered thelowest fertiliy rate along with AndhraPradesh and Goa in India in year 2005-06with 1.8 children born for each woman, lowerthan required for population sustainabil-ity.[46] According to National Family HealthSurvey-3 (NFHS-3), Tamil Nadu registered afertility rate of 1.8, the lowest in India in year2005-2006.[47][48]

Education and socialdevelopment

The main entrance of IIT Madras, showing itslogo and its motto.

Tamil Nadu has performed reasonably well interms of literacy growth during the decade1991-2001. The state’s literacy rate in-creased from 62.66% in 1991 to 73.47% in2001.[44] which is above the national aver-age. A survey conducted by the Industry bodyAssocham ranks Tamil Nadu top among Indi-an states with about 100% Gross Enrollment

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Ratio (GER) in primary and upper primaryeducation.[49]

Tamil Nadu has 19 universities,[50] 250engineering colleges[51] and 1150 arts col-lege, 2550 schools and 5000 hospitals. Someof the reputed institutes include University ofMadras, IIT Madras, Anna University in-cludes MIT Chennai , SVCE, NIT Tiruchi,Madras Medical College and Tamil NaduAgricultural University. The Indian Instituteof Management is scheduled to open inTrichy by 2009-2010.[52] Tamil Nadu pro-duces the highest number of engineeringgraduates in India (around 30,000) everyyear which attracts many software compan-ies to set up their shop in south India.

India has a human development index cal-culated as 0.619, while the corresponding fig-ure for Tamil Nadu is 0.736, placing it amongthe top states in the country.[53][54] The lifeexpectancy at birth for males is 65.2 yearsand for females it is 67.6 years.[55] However,it has a number of challenges, significantly,the poverty is high, especially in the ruralareas. As of 2004-2005, the poverty line wasset at Rs. 351.86/month for rural areas andRs. 547.42/month for urban areas.[56]Poverty in the state dropped from 51.7% in1983 to 21.1% in 2001[57] For the period2004-2005, the Trend in Incidence of Povertyin the state was 22.5% compared with the na-tional figure of 27.5%.[58] The World Bank iscurrently assisting the state in reducingpoverty[59] High drop-out and low completionof secondary schools continue to hinder thequality of training in the population. Otherproblems include class, gender, inter-districtand urban-rural disparities.

The Dravidian movement, which cham-pioned the causes of educating the peopleand eradicating superstitions, began in TamilNadu. In addition, it aimes to uplift the so-cially repressed Dravidian people and drewconsiderable support from the middle classesfor their efforts in this matter. The movementwas committed to social justice which led tothe expansion of reservations for the de-prived communities. Tamil Nadu now has a69% reservation in educational institutions,the highest among all Indian states.[60]

The Mid-day Meal Scheme program inTamil Nadu, initiated by Kamaraj, was expan-ded considerably during the rule of theAIADMK in 1983. It feeds over a fifth of thestate’s population. Despite this, the state isamong the 12 states in India that have

alarming level of hunger according to the2008 Global Hunger Index.[61][62]

CultureTamil Nadu has a long tradition of venerableculture. Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tra-dition of literature, music and dance whichcontinue to flourish today. Unique culturalfeatures like Bharatanatyam (dance), Tanjorepainting, and Tamil architecture were de-veloped and continue to be practised in TamilNadu.

Language and LiteratureTamil is the official language of Tamil Naduwhich was the first language to be declaredas classical language of India, the other be-ing Sanskrit.Tamil is also one of the officiallanguages of India.[63] Most of the olderworks are in verse form, and prose gainedpopularity later. All through history, Tamil lit-erature has sought to inform and inspire,educate and entertain. Tamil poetry has uni-versal appeal as evidenced by manyexamples.????????? ?????????????? ??????????????????????????????? ????? ?????’The mark of wisdom is to discern the truthFrom whatever source it is heard.’- (Tirukkural - 423)

Tirukkural which was written nearly two mil-lennia ago portrays a universal outlook. Thisis evident as the author, Thiruvalluvar, doesnot mention his religion, land, or the audi-ence for his work. He is portrayed as a holysaint of Tamil Nadu today. There is an evid-ential history that the kings of olden daysrolled out Tamil Sangam (Tamil organisation)to develop literature works in Tamil. TheSangam headquartered in Madurai gener-ated a large amount of notable literaryworks. The first Tamil printing press was es-tablished at Tarangambadi by the Danishmissionaries.

During the Indian freedom struggle, manyTamil poets and writers provoked nationalspirit, social equity and secularist thoughtsamong the common man, notably Subraman-ya Bharathy. Even today, Tamil Nadu is hometo creative writers like Bharathidasan,Jayakanthan, Jayamohan, Sujatha, IndiraParthasarathy.

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English Language is also widely spokenacross Tamil Nadu in Educational institutionsand by white collar professionals. Famouscarnatic music composer & poet Thyagayyais from Tamil Nadu.

Religions

With Hindus forming over 90% of the popula-tion, Hindu temples are ubiquitous in TamilNadu earning it the sobriquet ’The Land ofTemples’. Shown here is the Meenakshi Am-man Temple complex in Madurai, which isone of the grandest temples in the country.

Tamil Nadu was the home of several Hindumovements not in the usual mainstream.About 90% people follow Hinduism. These in-clude Shankara’s Advaita, Ramanuja’sVishistadvaita, Alwar Sri Vaishnavism, Nay-anar Shaivism, Several important HinduTamil figures became important figures forHinduism as a whole (e.g.Ramanuja.) In mod-ern times, worldwide important figures forHinduism were Ramana Maharishi and SriSri Ravi Shankar. Other saints known morelocally to Hindus within India are Raghav-endra Swami the Dvaita Vaishnava, Parama-hamsa Sri Nithyananda or the NithyanandaFoundation, Sivananda the expert of yogaand Vedanta.

Main god for tamil peoples Murugan, oth-er Popular forms of God include Vishnuand,Shiva, although many other forms are alsoworshiped. These other forms of God includeRama, Krishna, Ganesh, Paravati, Surya, andothers. There is even a temple dedicated tothe form of Hanuman and Ganesh in oneform - Adianta Prabhu.[64] The governmentemblem of Tamil Nadu contained the popularHindu temple of Srivilliputhur.

Christians and Muslims form roughly over8% of the population. Christians are mainly

concentrated in the southern districts of Kan-yakumari, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli. St.Thomas Mount in Chennai, the place whereSt. Thomas, one of the disciples of JesusChrist, was believed to have been mar-tyred,[65] is an important pilgrimage site forIndian Christians. The Santhome Basilica,supposedly built atop the tomb ofSt. Thomas, and the Vailankanni Basilica ofOur Lady of Good Health — revered churchesby India’s Roman Catholics — are good ex-amples of majestic church architectures inTamil Nadu. The Church of South India isheadquartered in Chennai.

Muslims are mainly concentrated in areassuch as Kayalpatnam, Keelakarai, Ambur,Vaniyambadi, Madurai, Nagore and Melap-alayam, with the state capital Chennai alsohome to a good number of Muslims. In Chen-nai, the most popular areas with Muslim pop-ulation include Triplicane, Royapettah, IceHouse, Adam Market, Zam Bazaar, EllisRoad, Supari Gunta - part of three importantAssembly Constituencies, Chepauk, Trip-licane & Thousand Lights. Among Muslims,97.5% are Tamil speaking Sunni and the restare Urdu speakers. All Tamil Muslims areSunnis, who adhere to either Hanafi or Shafischools of thought. Erwadi in Ramanath-apuram district and Nagore in Nagapattinamdistrict are important pilgrimage site forMuslims, while the Thousand Lights Mosquein Chennai is one of the largest mosques inthe country. Karpudaiyar masjid in Kayalpat-nam is the oldest mosque in Tamil Nadu.

FestivalsPongal, also called as Tamizhar Thirunaal(festival of Tamils) or Makara Sankranti else-where in India, a four-day harvest festival isone of the most celebrated festival of TamilNadu. The Tamil language saying Thai Pir-andhal Vazhi Pirakkum — literally meaning,the birth of the month of Thai will pave wayfor new opportunities — is often quoted withreference to this festival. The first day, BhogiPongal, is celebrated by throwing away anddestroying old clothes and materials by set-ting them on fire to mark the end of the oldand emergence of the new. The second day,Surya Pongal, is the main day which falls onthe first day of the tenth Tamil month Thai(January 14 or January 15 in western calen-dar). The third day, Maattu Pongal, is meantto offer thanks to the cattle, as they provide

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milk and are used to plough the lands. Jal-likattu, a bull taming contest, marks the mainevent of this day. During this final day, Kaan-um Pongal — the word "kanum", means ’toview’ in Tamil — youths used to gather atriver banks to view and select their future lifepartners, but that practice has declined.

The first month in the Tamil calendar isChitterai and the first day of this month inmid-April is celebrated as Tamil New Year.Thiruvalluvar Calendar is 31 years ahead ofGregorian Calendar, that is 2000A.D. inGregorian calendar is represented as 2031 inThiruvalluvar Calendar. Aadi Perukku is cel-ebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil monthAadi, which celebrates the rising of the waterlevel in the river Cauvery. Apart from thesemajor festivals, in every village and town ofTamil Nadu, the inhabitants celebrate fest-ivals for the local gods once a year and thetime varies from place to place. Most of thesefestivals are related to the goddess Maar-iyamman, the mother goddess of rain.

Additional major Hindu festivals includingDeepavali ( Death of Narakasura, AyudhaPoojai, Saraswathi Poojai (Dasara), KrishnaJayanthi and Vinayaka Chathurthi are celeb-rated widely. The Ayyavazhi Festival AyyaVaikunda Avataram is celebrated by theAyyavazhi followers throughout thestate,[66][67][68] grandly in the southern dis-tricts.[69][70][71][72] In addition, Christmas,Eid ul-Fitr, Easter and Bakrid are celebratedby Christians and Muslims in the state.

MusicSee also: Ancient Tamil musicThe Kings of the olden days created sangamsfor Iyal Isai Nadagam (Literature, Music andDrama). Music plays a major role in sangams.Music in Tamil Nadu had different forms. Invillages where farming was the primarywork, the ladies who work in the fields usedto sing kulavai songs. Odhuvars, Sthanikarsor Kattalaiyars offer short musical pro-grammes in the temples by singing the devo-tional Thevaram songs. In sharp contrastwith the restrained and intellectual nature ofcarnatic music, Tamil folk music tends to bemuch more exuberant. Popular forms ofTamil folk music include the Villuppāṭṭu, aform of music performed with a bow, and theNāṭṭuppur̲appāṭṭu, ballads that convey folk-lore and folk history. Some of the leadingTamil folk artists in the early 21st century

are Pushpuvanam Kuppuswamy, DrNavaneethakrishnan, Chinnaponnu, Paravaimuniammal etc.

Carnatic music is the classical music ofSouthern India. The basic form is a mono-phonic song with improvised variations.There are 72 basic scales on the octave, anda rich variety of melodic motion. Both melod-ic and rhythmic structures are varied andcompelling. This is one of the world’s oldest& richest musical traditions. Carnatic musicabounds in structured compositions in thedifferent ragas. These are songs composedby great artists and handed down throughgenerations of disciples. Three saint com-posers of the nineteenth century, Tyagaraja,Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri,have composed thousands of songs that re-main favourites among musicians and audi-ences. The composers belonging to the TamilTrinity of Muthu Thandavar (?1560 - ?1640CE), Arunachala Kavi (1712-1779) and Mar-imutthu Pillai (1717-1787) composed hun-dreds of devotional songs in Tamil andhelped in the evolution of Carnatic music.Today, Tamil Nadu has hundreds of notablecarnatic singers who spread this music allover the world. M. S. Subbulakshmi, arenowned carnatic singer, had the honour ofsinging a song in the UN Security Council.

In terms of modern music (light, film, pop,etc.), the music of Tamil Nadu is praised veryhighly. Ilaiyaraaja was the most prominentcomposer of film music in Tamil cinema dur-ing the late 1970s and 1980s. His work high-lighted Tamil folk lyricism and introducedbroader Western musical sensibilities to theSouth Indian musical mainstream. TamilNadu is also the home of Oscar Winner A.R.Rahman who is recognised worldwide andhas composed film music in Tamil, Hindifilms, English and Chinese films .

Arts and danceTamils have a large number of folk dances.These are performed for every possible occa-sion, to celebrate the arrival of seasons, birthof a child, weddings and festivals. Tamildance is closely intertwined with the Tamiltheatrical tradition. The most celebrated ofthese is karakattam. In its religious form, thedance is performed in front of an image ofthe goddess Mariamman. The dancer bearson his or her head a brass pot filled with un-cooked rice, decorated with flowers and

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A Bharatanatyam dancer

surrounded by a bamboo frame, and tumblesand leaps to the rhythm of a song withoutspilling a grain. Karakattam is usually per-formed to a special type of song known astemmanguppāṭṭu or thevar pāṭṭu, a folk songin the mode of a lover speaking to his be-loved, to the accompaniment of anadaswaram and melam. Other Tamil folkdances include mayilāṭṭam, where the dan-cers tie a string of peacock feathers aroundtheir waist; ōyilāttam, danced in a circlewhile waving small pieces of cloth of variouscolours; poykkāl kuthiraiyaaṭṭam, where thedancers use dummy horses; mān̲āṭṭam,where the dancers imitate the graceful leap-ing of deer; par̲aiyāṭṭam, a dance to thesound of rhythmical drumbeats, and thīp-pandāṭṭam, a dance involving playing withburning wooden torches.

Bharatanatyam is a classical dance formoriginating from Tamil Nadu. Bharatanatyamis thought to have been created by BharataMuni, a Hindu sage, who wrote the NatyaShastra, the most important ancient treatiseon classical Indian dance. In ancient times itwas performed in Hindu temples by Deva-dasis. In this form, it as also been called sadiror chinna melam. Many of the ancient sculp-tures in Hindu temples are based on BharataNatyam dance postures. Bharatanatyam is atraditional dance-form known for its grace,

purity, tenderness, and sculpturesque poses.It continues to be a popular and widely per-formed dance style at present times and ispractised by male and female dancers allover India. Therukoothhu (street dance) is afolk tradition of dance-drama.

Film industryTamil Nadu is also home to the Tamil film in-dustry, the second largest film industry in In-dia after Hindi films. It is based in Chennai inKodambakkam, the section of Chennai thathouses cinema-related facilities, hence theportmanteau Kollywood.

Cuisine

Chettinad cuisine. Food is typically served onbanana leaves.

Traditionally Tamil dishes are served on a ba-nana leaf instead of a plate and eaten withthe right hand. Rice is the staple food ofTamils and accompanied with various saucesalong with meat and/ or vegetarian dishes.

Traditional Tamil cuisine includes Dosai,Idly, Vadai, Pongal and Uthappam. Thesedishes are served along with Sambar, Rasam,Kootu, Aviyal, Chatni and Poriyal. Tradition-ally prepared Filter Coffee is quite famous,which is unique in taste.

The Chettinad region is famous for itsspicy non-vegetarian cuisine, whileTirunelveli is famous for its unique wheathalwa. The fast food culture is witnessing asteady growth in Tamil Nadu in recent years.

EconomyMacro-economic trendTamil Nadu’s gross state domestic productfor 2007 is estimated at 275,000 crores (70billion USD) in current prices.[73][74] The

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Per Capita Income of Tamil Nadu and India

state experienced a GDP growth rate of12.1% for this period.[49] Possessing thethird largest economy (2007-2008) amongstates in India,[75] Tamil Nadu is also themost industrialised state in India.[76] The percapita income for the period 2007 - 2008 forthe state was Rs.43,000 ranking secondamong the South Indian states.[77] It ranksthird in foreign direct investment approvals(cumulative 1991-2002) of Rs.225,826 million($5,000 million), next only to Maharashtra(Rs.366,024 million ($8,100 million)) and Del-hi (Rs.303,038 million ($6,700 million)) andthe State’s FDI investment constitutes 9.12%of the total FDI in the country.[78] TamilNadu was the winner of fDimagazine’s AsianRegion of the Future award 2005/06 in termsof FDIs, surpassing Australia’s New SouthWales.[79] Chennai was ranked the top met-ropolitan city to invest in Asia Pacific andTamil Nadu was ranked 9th region to investin 2008.[80] Unlike many other states, theeconomic resources are quite spread out,rather than concentrated in a small industri-alised area. The overall unemployment is rel-atively low with 2.8% rural and 4.8% urbanfrom CSI.[81] The graph at right shows howthe Per capita income of Tamil Nadu hasgrown steadily keeping above the nationalaverage.[82]

Gross State Domestic Product in Rs.Crores and Current Prices[83]

Year GSDP Change Share ofIndia

1994 -95

68,66619.32%

7.49%

1996 -97

89,23729.96%

7.18%

1998 -99

118,20932.47%

7.40%

2000 -01

141,10019.36%

7.33%

2002 -03

155,09909.92%

6.85%

2004 -05

188,92121.81%

6.61%

According to the 2001 Census, Tamil Naduhas the highest level of urbanisation(43.86%) in India, accounting for 6% of In-dia’s total population and 9.6% of the urbanpopulation.[84] and is the most urbanizedstate in India.[8] Services contributes to 45%of the economic activity in the state, followedby manufacturing at 34% and agriculture at21%. Government is the major investor in thestate with 51% of total investments, followedby private Indian investors at 29.9% and for-eign private investors at 14.9%. Tamil Naduhas a network of about 110 industrial parksand estates offering developed plots withsupporting infrastructure.[85] Also, the stategovernment is promoting other industrialparks like Rubber Park, Apparel Parks, Flori-culture Park, TICEL Park for Biotechno-logy,[86] Siruseri IT Park, and Agro ExportZones among others.

Annual Plan outlays have increased by arecord 75% from Rs.52,000 million ($1,100million) in 2001-2 to Rs.91,000 million($2,000 million) in 2005-6. Based on URP -Consumption for the period 2004 - 2005, per-centage of the state’s population BelowPoverty Line was 27.5%.[56]

Agriculture and Irrigation

Paddy fields in Theni District across thebackdrop of the Western Ghats.

Tamil Nadu has historically been one of theagricultural states;its advances in other fieldslaunched the state into competition with oth-er states. Even so, Tamil Nadu is a leadingproducer of agricultural products in India. At

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present, Tamil Nadu is India’s fourth biggestproducer of Rice, next to West Bengal,Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and UttarPradesh.[87] The Cauvery delta region of thecomposite Thanjavur district is known as theRice Bowl of South India. Next to Thanjavur,is the Tirunelveli which is the second largestproducer of Rice due to the undrainable riverThamirabarani. Tamil Nadu accounts fornearly 6% of the area under fruits and 4% ofthe area under vegetables in the country. Interms of production, the State’s share isnearly 10% in fruits and 6% in vegetables.[88]Tamil Nadu is also a leading state in the pro-duction of flowers. The total production ofhorticultural crops is 99.47 Lakhs during2003-04. The main flowers grown in TamilNadu are Jasmine, Mullai, Chrysanthemum,Marigold and Rose. Mango and Banana arethe leading fruit crops in Tamil Nadu ac-counting for over 84% of the area under fruitand over 87% of the total fruit production.Off-season production of mango and round-the-year production of grapes is unique toTamil Nadu. The main vegetables grown aretapioca, tomato, onion, brinjal and drumstick.

Vegetable plantation in Nilgiris district.

The state is the largest producer of bana-nas,[89] flowers,[90] tapioca,[90] the secondlargest producer of mango,[90] coffee,[91] nat-ural rubber,[92] coconut,[93] groundnut andthe third largest producer of sapota,[90]Tea[94] and Sugarcane.[95] Tamil Nadu is alsoa leading producer of spices, kambu, corn,rye and oil seeds.[96][97] The main spicesgrown are chillies, coriander, tamarind, tur-meric and curry leaves. Tamil Nadu’s sugar-cane yield per hectare is the highest in In-dia.[95] A host of sugar companies have theiroperations here including EID Parry I Ltd.,Thiru Arooran Sugars Ltd., Sakthi SugarsLtd., Bannari Amman Sugars Ltd. andRajshree sugars Ltd. The state has 17,000

hectares of land under oil palm cultivation,the second highest in India.[98] Currently,Tamil Nadu is the only state to have a formalbio-diesel policy using jatropha plant cropsand to distribute wasteland to the poor farm-ers for planting.[99]

Tamil Nadu is the home to Dr M.S. Swam-inathan, known as the "father of the GreenRevolution" in India.[100] Tamil Nadu Agricul-tural University with its seven colleges andthirty two research stations spread over theentire state contributes to evolving new cropvarieties and technologies and disseminatingthrough various extension agencies. The netsown area is 36% of the total geographicarea (National average of 46%). The grosscropped area is 53,200 km² with a croppingintensity of 119. Irrigation covers 46% of thecropped area and the remaining 54% is rain-fed. Tamil Nadu’s agriculture is heavily de-pendent on river water and monsoon rains.

Mathur Aqueduct is one of the largest in Asiaand irrigates portions of Kanyakumari dis-trict.[101]

The perennial rivers are Palar, CheyyarRiver, Ponnaiyar, Kaveri, Meyar, Bhavani,Amaravati, Vaigai, Chittar River &Tamaraparani. Non-perennial rivers includethe Vellar, Noyal, Suruli, Gundar, Vaipar, Val-parai and Varshali. Canals, tanks and wellsform the sources of Irrigation for farmers inthe state. As of 2005-2006, the state had2395 canals with a length of 9,747 km,40,319 tanks, 670 ordinary governmentwells, 1,620,705 ordinary private wells and290,611 tube wells.

Irrigated Agriculture Modernization andWater-bodies Restoration and Management(IAMWARM) project is a World Bank aidedproject being implemented in Tamil Nadu ata cost of INR 2500 crores. Duration of theproject April 1 2007 to March 31 2013. Themain aim of the project is to restore the exist-ing 40319 tanks to save water to their full

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Cattle Buffalos Sheep Goats Pigs Horses &ponies

Donkeys Totallivestock

Totalpoultry

9141 1658 5593 8177 321 25 26 15800 86591

capacity as it was created by ancient fore-fathers of tamilnadu some 2000 years be-fore.[102][103]

Livestock, poultry and fisheriesAmong states in India, Tamil Nadu is one ofthe leaders in livestock, poultry and fisheriesproduction. The table below gives the data onthe total number of livestock and poultry in2003 (All figures in thousands).[104]As per this data, Tamil Nadu had the secondlargest number of poultry amongst all thestates and accounted for 17.7% of the totalpoultry population in India. The town of Na-makkal is also known as the poultry hub cur-rently it produces about 3 crore eggs a day.In 2003 - 2004, Tamil Nadu had produced37,836 lakhs of eggs, which was the secondhighest figure among all the states in India,and represented 9.37% of the total egg pro-duction in the country.[105] In 2003-2004,Tamil Nadu had produced 4,752,000 tonnesof milk, with a per capita availability of 198grams/day, much lesser than the all-India fig-ure of 231 grams/day.[106][107][108] During2002-2003, the state had produced609,000 kg of wool.[109] The total fodder pro-duced in the state during 2002-2003 was31,929,000 tonnes, out of which 21,429,000tonnes was dry fodder and 10,500,000 tonneswas green fodder.[110] The total number ofvertinary institutions in the state in 2006 was1854.[111] With the third longest coastline inIndia, Tamil Nadu is also among the leadersin fisheries and in the production and exportsof related products. For the year 2005-2006,total inland fish catchment was 155,944tonnes and marine fish catchment stood at389,714 tonnes.[112] For the same period, thetotal fish and fishery products exported bythe state was 72,418 tonnes which was val-ued at Rs. 19.96 billion. This figure represen-ted 27.54% of the total value of fish and fish-ery products exported by India for that peri-od.[113]

IndustryTamil Nadu is a highly industrialised state.Many heavy engineering and manufacturing-based companies are centred in and around

Hyundai’s manufacturing plant at Irungat-tukottai near Sriperumbudur.

the suburbs of Chennai (nicknamed, "TheDetroit of Asia"). Chennai has been able toget a large number of investments due to acombination of infrastructure (ports, road,power), investment climate, low cost andgood availability of man power.[114] Chennaihas the presence of global vehicle manufac-turing giants like Ford, Renault-Nissan,Caterpillar, Hyundai, Michelin, Komatsu,BMW, and Mitsubishi as well as domesticheavyweights like MRF, TI Cycles, AshokLeyland, Royal Enfield, Mahindra &Mahindra(JV with Renault-Nissan to produceLogan brand of cars), TAFE Tractors, andTVS.It also has a railway coach factory,ICF(Integral Coach Factory). Recently in anequal joint venture agreement, Renault andNissan have decided to invest Rs. 4,500 crore($1,140 million) to set up an integratedgreenfield automotive facility at Oragadamnear Chennai. The plant will have an in-stalled capacity of four lakh vehicles annuallyby 2010. Daimler has chosen Chennai for es-tablishing a truck manufacturing plant inOragadam with an investment of Rs 4,400crores ($1,100 million).[115] Signet Solar is inthe process of setting up a manufacturingplant for 300 MW of thin-film photo-voltaicmodules in a project worth an estimated$500 million.[116] Sterlite Industries havetheir copper smelter (in Tuticorin) and alu-minium (in Mettur) factories here. A largenumber of textile mills and engineering in-dustries are present around the city of

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Coimbatore. Coimbatore is the headquartersfor Pricol, LMW, ELGI, Roots industries, andShanti gears. Coimbatore is known for itsmotor pump industries like Texmo, Deccanpumps and CRI pumps. Karur is known for itsbus body building industries. Truck bodiesare built in Tiruchengode and Namakkal nearSalem.

Over 11.2% of the S&P CNX 500 conglom-erates have corporate offices in Tamil Nadu.The Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant, EnnoreThermal Plant, Neyveli Lignite Power Plant,many hydroelectric plants including Metturand the Narimanam Natural Gas Plants aremajor sources of Tamil Nadu’s electricity. Itis presently adding the Koodankulam NuclearPower Plant to its energy grid. Tamil Nadusources[117] a significant proportion of itspower needs from renewable sources withwind power installed capacity at over 3600MW[118] or over 40% of the maximum peakdemand. As of 2005, Tamil Nadu is one of thefew Indian states with surplus power electri-city, enabling the electrical authority to sell itto neighbouring states of Andra Pradesh &Karnataka. Tamil Nadu ranks first nationwidein diesel-based thermal electricity generationwith national market share of over 34%.

The textile industry plays a significant rolein the Indian economy by providing directemployment to an estimated 35 millionpeople, and thereby contributing 4% of GDPand 35% of Gross Export Earnings. The tex-tile sector contributes to 14% of the manufac-turing sector. There are a lot of Textile millslocated in Coimbatore. The city of Tirupur, inTamil Nadu is the country’s largest exporterof knit wears[119] and sometimes karur totiruppur area referred to as Textile valley ofIndia.[120] In 2004, the export turnover fromthe town was more than Rs. 50,000 million($1,000 million). Some 7,000 garment unitsin the town provides employment opportunityto 7,50,000 people. 56% of India’s total knit-wear exports come from Tirupur. The ExportImport Policy of 2002-2007 acknowledgesTirupur for its contribution to the exportefforts.

The home textile capital of India - city ofKarur generates around (35,500 million)$750 million a year in foreign exchange andgive the opportunity to 3,50,000 peoples forwork.Over 60% of total India’s exports comefrom karur. The Karur exports of Home-Tex-tile products such as bed linens, kitchen

linens, toilet linens, table linens and wallhangings.

Erode is also the major inland textile hubof India especially for woven garments &sarees. Madurai and Kanchipuram are fam-ous for their handloom and silk saris.

Wind turbines at Muppandal in NagercoilKanyakumari District. In the background arehills of the Western Ghats.

Electronics manufacturing is a growing in-dustry in Tamil Nadu. Companies like Nokia,Flextronics, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, Fox-conn, Samsung, Cisco, Moser Baer and Dellhave chosen Chennai as their South Asianmanufacturing hub. Products manufacturedinclude circuit boards and cellular phonehandsets.[121] Ericsson also has a Researchand Development facility in Chennai.[122] BigEPC companies have set up their Engineer-ing centres which include Saipem, Technip,Foster Wheeler, Mott Macdonald, Petrofacand Tecnimont ICB. The Austrian companyAustrian Energy and Environment also havea design office here besides local giant ECC{Larsen & Toubro}. Sanmina-SCI is thelatest company to invest in Tamil Nadu tocreate a state of the art manufacturing facil-ity.[123] Nokia Siemens Networks has de-cided to build a manufacturing plant for wire-less network equipment in Tamil Nadu.[124]Moser Baer has decided on setting up a facil-ity to manufacture silicon-based photovoltaicthin film modules and allied products with aninvestment of $500 million.[125]

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, a globalelectrical equipment manufacturing publicsector company, has manufacturing plants atTiruchirapalli and Ranipet. The constructionindustry also saw new entrants like BGR En-ergy systems ltd, Consolidated constructionconsortium.

The state government owns the TamilNadu Newsprint and Papers (TNPL),[126] theworld’s biggest bagasse based Paper mills inKarur, as well as the world’s sixth largestmanufacturer of watches together with TATAat hosur, under the brand name of"Titan".[127] 55% of all wind-generated

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electricity in India is created by windmills inTamil Nadu. Renowned Danish wind powercompany NEG Micon has established its man-ufacturing unit in Chennai.[128]

Tamil Nadu is a leading producer of Ce-ment in India. It is the home of leading ce-ment brands in the country such as ChettinadCements (in Karur), Dalmia Cements (in Ariy-alur), Ramco cements (Madras Cement Ltd),India cements (in Sankari, Ariyalur), Grasimetc. Big companies like MICO and Cognizantsolutions have set up their design officeshere. L&T is setting up big manufacturingunits with an investment of 500 crores. Eventemple city Madurai has attracted Honeywellto set up their centre here.

The town of Sivakasi is a leader in theareas of printing, fireworks, and safetymatches.[129] It was fondly called as KuttyJapan or "little Japan" by Jawaharlal Nehru. Itcontributes to 80% of India’s production ofsafety matches as well as 90% of India’s totalfireworks production. Sivakasi provides over60% of India’s total offset printing solutionsand ranks as one of the highest taxpayingtowns in India. Sivakasi also is a 100% em-ployed town, putting it in the company ofvery few towns in India.

Tamil Nadu has a significant amount ofmineral reserves such as lignite (87%), ver-miculite (66%), garnet (42%), zircon (38%),graphite (33%), ilmenite (28%), rutile (27%),monazite (25%), and magnesite (17%). Thenumbers in the brackets indicate the percent-age contribution to the national share. India’sleading steel producer, SAIL has a steel plantin Salem.[130]

Tidel Park in Chennai is one of the largestsoftware parks in India.

Tamil Nadu is a leading contributor in theIT and BPO sectors. Tamil Nadu is the thirdlargest software exporter by value in India,

second only to Karnataka and Maharashtra.India’s largest IT park is in Chennai. Soft-ware exports from Tamil Nadu more thandoubled from Rs. 76 billion ($1.6 billion) in2003-04 to Rs. 141.15 billion {$3.53 billion}in 2005-06 and zoomed to Rs. 207 billion {$5billion} by 2006-07 according toNASSCOM.[131] Chennai is a hub for e-pub-lishing with 47 e-publishing units registeredwith the STPI in Chennai. Companies such asSymantec, Fidelity National Information Ser-vices, eBay, Hewlett-Packard, ComputerSciences Corporation, Virtusa, HCL, Wipro,TCS, Temenos, Satyam, Infosys, Polaris Soft-ware Lab, Cognizant Technology Solutions,Acme Technology Pvt Ltd, Covansys, Cap-gemini, Ford Information Technology,Xansa,Changepond, Verizon, iSoft,insoft,iNautix, MphasiS(Electronic Data Systems),Bally and many others have offices in Chen-nai. Infosys Technologies has set up India’slargest software development centre to house25,000 software professionals at an estim-ated investment of Rs. 12,500 million ($270million) in Chennai. Chennai is also the pre-ferred destination for companies outsourcingtheir high-end knowledge intensive opera-tions. Testimony to this is the presence ofmajor market research companies such asFrost & Sullivan and equity research com-panies such as Irevna in Chennai. This is thenext high growth area that Chennai iswitnessing.

Transportation

The Pamban rail and road bridges, across thePalk Strait connects the Pamban Island withthe Indian mainland. The rail bridge (right),opened in 1914, is considered to be one ofthe marvels of modern engineering.[132]

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Tamil Nadu has a well established transport-ation system that connects all parts of thestate. This is partly responsible for the invest-ment growth in the state. Tamil Nadu isserved by an extensive road network, provid-ing links between urban centers, agriculturalmarket-places and rural areas. There are 24national highways in the state, covering atotal distance of 2,002 km.[133] The state isalso a terminus for the Golden Quadrilateralproject that is scheduled to be completed in2008. The state has a total road length of167,000 km, of which 60,628 km are main-tained by Highways Department. This isnearly 2.5 times higher than the density ofall-India road network.[134] It is currentlyworking on upgrading its road network,though the pace of work is consideredslow.[135]

Tamil Nadu has a well developed rail net-work as part of Southern Railway.Headquartered at Chennai, the SouthernRailway network extends over a large area ofIndia’s Southern Peninsula, covering thestates of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry, asmall portion of Karnataka and a small por-tion of Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu has atotal railway track length of 5,952 km andthere are 532 railway stations in thestate.[136] The system connects it with mostmajor cities in India. Main rail junctions inthe state include Chennai, Erode, Coim-batore, Tirunelveli Madurai, Tiruchirapalli(Trichy) and Salem. Chennai has a well-estab-lished suburban railway network and is in theprocess of developing a metro.

Tamil Nadu has a major international air-port, Chennai International Airport, that isconnected with 19 countries with more than169 direct flights every week. This is cur-rently the third largest airport in India afterMumbai and Delhi and has a passengergrowth of 18%. Other international airportspresent in the state are Coimbatore Interna-tional Airport and Tiruchirapalli InternationalAirport. Madurai Airport and Tuticorin Air-port are domestic airports which connecttheir respective cities to other parts of thecountry. Apart from these, there are AirForce bases at Thanjavur and Sulur(Suburbof Coimbatore), and a Naval air station atArakkonam. Increased industrial activity hasgiven rise to an increase in passenger trafficas well as freight movement which has beengrowing at over 18 per cent per year.[137]

Tamil Nadu has three major ports at Chen-nai, Ennore and Tuticorin, as well as one in-termediate port, Nagapattinam, and sevenminor ports, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari,Cuddalore, Colachel, Karaikal, Pamban andValinokkan which are currently capable ofhandling over 73 million metric tonnes ofcargo annually (24 per cent share of India).All the minor ports are managed by the TamilNadu Maritime Board.[138] Chennai Port isan artificial harbour situated on the Coro-mandel Coast in South-East India and it isthe second principal port in the country forhandling containers. Ennore Port was re-cently converted from an intermediate portto a major port and handles all the coal andore traffic in Tamil Nadu. The volume ofcargo in the ports grew by 13 per cent during2005.[139][140]

Fauna and Flora

Lion-tailed macaque, an endangered species.

The state has a wide range of flora andfauna. There is a wide diversity of wildlife.There are many Protected areas of TamilNadu, including 2 Biosphere Reserves, 5

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National Parks and several Wildlife Sanctuar-ies, where many unique species and theirhabitats are protected[141] Tamil Nadu in-cludes a wide range of Biomes, extendingeast from the South Western Ghats montanerain forests in the Western Ghats through theSouth Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forestsand Deccan thorn scrub forests to tropicaldry broadleaf forests and then to thebeaches, estuaries, salt marshes, mangroves,and coral reefs of the Bay of Bengal.

FaunaThere are about 2000 species of wildlife thatare native to Tamil Nadu. Protected areasprovide safe habitat for large mammals in-cluding Elephants, Tigers, Leopard, Wild dog,Sloth bears, Gaurs, Lion-tailed macaques,Nilgiri Langurs, Nilgiri Tahrs, Grizzled GiantSquirrels and Sambar deer, resident and mi-gratory birds such as Cormorants, Darters,Herons, Egrets, Open-billed Storks, Spoon-bills and White Ibises, Little Grebes, IndianMoorhen, Black-winged Stilts, a few migrat-ory Ducks and occasionally Grey Pelicans,marine species such as the Dugongs, Turtles,Dolphins and Balanoglossus and a wide vari-ety of fish and insects.

FloraTamil Nadu is the home to 3000 plant speciesincluding Eucalyptus, Palmyra, Rubber, Cin-chona, Clumping Bamboos (BambusaArundinacea), Common teak, Anogeissus lati-folia, Indian Laurel , Grewia, and bloomingtrees like Indian labumusum, Aredesia, andSolanancea. Rare and unique plant life in-cludes Combretum ovalifolium, Ebony(Dispyros nilagrica), Habebarai reriflora(Orchid), Alsophila, Impatiens elegans, Ra-nunculus reniformis, and Royal fern. TamilNadu ranks first in Angiosperm diversityamongst all the states in the country with5640 species (32%) of the total 17,672 spe-cies, which includes 230 red-listed speciesand 1559 species of medicinal plants.[142]

SportsTamil Nadu has made fair strides in the fieldof sports. The Sports Development Authorityof Tamil Nadu (SDAT) is the governmentbody that is vested with the responsibility ofdeveloping sports and related infrastructurein the state.[143][144] The SDAT owns and

World Chess Champion Vishwanathan Anand.

operates a number of world class stadiumsand organizes various sporting events.[145] Italso accommodates various sporting events,both at domestic and international level, or-ganized by other sports associations at itsvenues.[146] The YMCA College of PhysicalEducation at Nandanam in Chennai was es-tablished in 1920 and was the first collegefor physical education in Asia.[147]

Cricket is the most popular sport andKabaddi is the state game of Tamil Nadu. M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai is an in-ternational cricketing arena with a capacityof 50,000 and houses the Tamil Nadu CricketAssociation. Popular cricketers from TamilNadu who have represented the nationalteam include S. Venkataraghavan,Kris Srikkanth, Robin Singh, LakshmipathyBalaji Subramaniam Badrinath and DineshKarthik. Cricket contests between local clubsand teams is also popular across the state.The MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai is amuch sought after fast bowling academy bypace bowlers all over the world. The tradi-tional sport of Kabaddi, called Sadu Gudu inTamil, is another popular sport played ex-tensively in the rural areas. Silambam is an-other popular traditional sport played in therural areas.

The ATP Chennai Open tournament heldin Chennai every January is the biggest Ten-nis event in South Asia.[148] Tennis playersfrom Tamil Nadu who had made it to the bigstage include Ramanathan Krishnan, Rameshkrishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathiand Prakash Amritrajand more recently Som-dev Devvarman was runner up in ATP 2009.

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Tamil Nadu has a long standing motorsportsculture. The sport was pioneered bySundaram Karivardhan in its early days. Not-able sportspersons from Tamil Nadu in thefield are Narain Karthikeyan, the first Indianto participate in F1 racing, and Karun Chan-dok. Motor racing events are held at theIrungattukottai track (near Sriperumbudur),Sholavaram track and Kari Motorspeedwaynear Coimbatore.

Kari Motorspeedway near Coimbatore.

The Tamil Nadu Hockey Association is thegoverning body of Hockey in the state. TheMayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennaihosts international hockey events and is re-garded by the International Hockey Federa-tion as one of the best in the world for itsstate-of-the-art infrastructure.[149] Chennaihosted the SAF Games in 1995. Anju BobbyGeorge, bronze medalist from SydneyOlympics, represents Tamil Nadu in the na-tional arena.[150] Shanthi Soundararajan, sil-ver medalist (later stripped) from Doha AsianGames, also hails from the state.[151] TheJawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai is amultipurpose stadium hosting Football andTrack & Field events. The Indian TriathlonFederation and the Volleyball Federation ofIndia are headquartered in Chennai.[152]Chennai hosted India’s first ever Internation-al Beach Volleyball Championship in2008.[153]

Chess and Carrom are popular indoorsports. World Chess champion and IndianGrand Master Viswanathan Anand and Ar-juna Awardee and two-time world carromchampion Maria Irudayam hail from TamilNadu. Snooker was invented by General SirFrederick Roberts at the Ooty Club in Ud-hagamandalam.[154][155] The VelacheryAquatics Sports Complex in Chennai hostsdifferent kinds of water sports. The SDAT -TNSRA Squash Academy in Chennai, one ofthe very few modern squash facilities inSouth Asia,[156] hosts international squashevents. Tamil Nadu has six 18-hole Golfcourses,[157] the most popular of which are

the Kodaikanal Golf Club, established in1895, and Gymkhana Club, Chennai. TheMadras Boat Club, set up in 1867, hosts reg-ular rowing races on the Adyar River.[158]The 232 year old Guindy race course in Chen-nai is popular horse racing venue. Apart fromthese, the Multi-Purpose Indoor Games Com-plex in Chennai hosts international events forVolleyball, Basketball, Badminton and TableTennis. In the recent years, adventure sportshave also gained popularity, especiallyamongst the tourists visiting the state.[159]

Tourism

Courtallam waterfalls in Tirunelveli district.

Tamil Nadu’s tourism industry is the secondlargest in India, with an annual growth rateof 16%.[160] Tourism in Tamil Nadu is pro-moted by Tamil Nadu Tourism DevelopmentCorporation (TTDC), a Government of TamilNadu undertaking. The tagline adopted forpromoting tourism in Tamil Nadu is En-chanting Tamil Nadu. Approximately1,753,000 foreign and 50,647,000 domestictourists visited the state in 2007.[161]

Tamil Nadu is a land of varied beauty. Itboasts some of the grandest Hindu templesof Dravidian architecture in the World. Thetemples are of a distinct style which are fam-ous for their towering Gopurams. The Bri-hadishwara Temple in Thanjavur, built by theCholas, the Airavateswara temple in Daras-uram and the Shore Temple, along with thecollection of other monuments in Ma-habalipuram have been declared as UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites.[162][163] The Rajagop-uram of Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Sri-rangam — the largest functioning Hindutemple in the world — is the tallest templegopuram in the world[164] Madurai is home

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to one of the grandest Hindu temples in theWorld — Madurai Meenakshi AmmanTemple. Rameshwaram, Kanchipuram andPalani are important pilgrimage sites for Hin-dus. The largest Shiva Temple in TamilNaduis Nellaiappar Temple situated in the heart ofTirunelveli city. Other popular temples inTamil Nadu include those in GangaikondaCholapuram, Chidambaram, Thiruvan-naamalai,Tiruchengode, Aragalur, Tiruttani,Swamithoppe, Tiruchendur and Tiruvallur.

Kanyakumari, the Southernmost tip of Main-land India, at sunrise.

Tamil Nadu is also home to many beautifulhill stations. Popular among them are Ud-hagamandalam (Ooty), Kodaikanal, Yercaud,Coonoor, Topslip, Valparai, Kolli Hills andYelagiri. The Nilgiri hills, Palani hills,Shevaroy hills and Cardamom hills are allabodes of thick forests and wildlife. MukurthiNational Park & Kalakkad Mundanthurai Ti-ger Reserve are the two tiger reserves in thestate. Tamil Nadu has many National Parks,Biosphere Reserves, Wildlife Sanctuaries,Elephant and Bird Sanctuaries, ReservedForests, Zoos and Crocodile farms. Promin-ent among them are Mudumalai NationalPark, The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve,Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and Nation-al Park, Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary andArignar Anna Zoological Park. The mangroveforests in Pichavaram are also eco-tourismspots of importance.

Kanyakumari, the southern most tip ofpeninsular India, is famous for its distinctand beautiful sunrise, Vivekananda Rock Me-morial and Thiruvalluvar’s statue built off thecoastline. Marina Beach in Chennai is one ofthe longest beaches in the world.[165] Thestretch of beaches from Chennai to Ma-habalipuram are home to many resorts,

theme parks and eateries. The Waterfalls inthe state include Courtallam, Hogenakal,Papanasam and Manimuthar. The Chettinadregion of the state is renowned for its Palatialhouses and cuisine. In recent years, TamilNadu is also witnessing a growth in Medicaltourism, as are many other states in India.

See also• Tamil people• Tamil language• Dravidian people• South India• Tamil cinema

References[1] Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.[2] The Story of India: South India.[3] History of Tamil Nadu.[4] TAMIL HERITAGE... the Tamils are an

ancient people.[5] Tamil Nadu’s Ancient Cities May Predate

Mesopotamian Civilization.[6] Population of Tamil Nadu as of 01/07/

2008.[7] Gross Domestic Product by prices as of

28 February, 2008.[8] ^ Tamil Nadu the most urbanised State:

Minister.[9] Enterprises in India.[10] India Today, dated 24th September,

2007.[11] "Tamil Nadu, The best place to do

business". November 12, 2005.http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/nov/12guest2.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.

[12]Press Information Bureau.[13]UNESCO World Heritage List.[14]Tamil Nadu India’s most literate state:

HRD ministry.[15]LITERATES AND LITERACY

RATES-2001 CENSUS (PROVISIONAL).[16] "Skeletons dating back 3,800 years

throw light on evolution". The Times ofIndia. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1354201,prtpage-1.cms. Retrievedon 2008-06-11.

[17] "The Hindu : National : ’RudimentaryTamil-Brahmi script’ unearthed atAdichanallur". The Hindu.http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/02/17/stories/2005021704471300.htm.Retrieved on 2008-06-11.

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[18] "The Hindu : National : Skeletons, scriptfound at ancient burial site in TamilNadu". The Hindu.http://www.hindu.com/2004/05/26/stories/2004052602871200.htm.Retrieved on 2008-06-11.

[19]Staff Reporter (November 22, 2005)."Students get glimpse of heritage". TheHindu. http://www.thehindu.com/2005/11/22/stories/2005112215970400.htm.Retrieved on 2007-04-26.

[20]Great Living Chola Temples.[21]Geography of India by Joel Anderson.[22]Damage to tsunami-hit countries - India.[23]Amateur Seismic Centre, Pune.[24]Assessment Report from the National

Drought Mitigation Center, Univ. ofNebraska-Lincoln.

[25]United Nations, System of Organizations.[26] IndiaAndIndians.com.[27]Department of Geology and Mining,

Government of Tamil Nadu.[28]Tamil Nadu Forest Department.[29] [1].[30]^ Secretaries to Government of Tamil

Nadu.[31] "National Symbols of India". High

Commission of India, London.http://www.hcilondon.net/india-overview/land-people/national-symbols.html.Retrieved on 2007-09-03.

[32]Government of Tamil Nadu.[33]Chief Justice of Madras High Court.[34]Brief Note on Corporation Of Chennai.[35]Tamil Nadu crime trends.[36]TN Police.[37] [2].[38]Tirupur district shortly from The Hindu.[39] "Election results". Indian Elections.

http://www.indian-elections.com/assembly-elections/tamil-nadu/election-result-06.html.

[40] "Parties Statistics". Election Commissionof India. http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/ElectionStatistics.asp.

[41]The Quest for the Origins of VedicCulture: The Indo-Aryan MigrationDebate By Edwin Bryant.

[42] "Census Population" (PDF). Census ofIndia. Ministry of Finance India.http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2006-07/chapt2007/tab97.pdf. Retrieved on2008-12-18.

[43]^ Updated population estimates forTamil Nadu as of 01/07/2008.

[44]^ The Tamil Nadu picture on FrontlineMagazine.

[45]Tamil Nadu the most urbanised state.[46]National Family Health Survey, India.[47]Distribution by Language - States and

Union Territories - 2001.[48]Population by religious and linguistic

communities.[49]^ Tamil Nadu boasts of best school

enrollment figures.[50]Universities in Tamil Nadu.[51]Engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu.[52]Opening of IIM Trichy.[53]Glaring regional disparities in human

development index.[54]Human Development Reports.[55] " Top three States — a socio-economic

comparison" - BusinessLine.[56]^ "Number and Percentage of Population

Below Poverty Line By States- 2004-05".[57]Tamil Nadu Poverty.[58]Poverty Profile.[59]World Bank Poverty Reduction Project.[60] "Education is the means of social

mobility" - Rediff India Abroad.[61]Tamil Nadu Hunger Problem Alarming.[62]Tamil Nadu Hunger Level in Danger List.[63] India at a Glance - National Portal of

India.[64]Madhya Kailash temple, Chennai.[65]St. Thomas in India.[66] "The Hindu" (’Engagements’). Ayya

Vaikunda Dharmapathi.http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/02/stories/2007030218740300.htm.Retrieved on 2007-02-07.

[67] "The Hindu" (’In Coimbatore today’).Ayya Vaikunta Sivapathi.http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2007030419620300.htm&date=2007/03/04/&prd=th&. Retrieved on2007-02-07.

[68] "satrumun" (’?????????’). ?????????????????? 175-??? ????? ????????.http://satrumun.blogspot.com/2007/03/175.html. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.

[69]Report on declaration of the holiday"Dina Malar". http://www.dinamalar.com/2006mar03/general_tn3.asp Report ondeclaration of the holiday. Retrieved on2007-02-03.

[70]Daily Thanthi, Tamil daily, Nagercoiledition, 5/3/2006.

[71]Thamizh Murasu, Tamil evening daily,Nagercoil edition, 4/3/2006.

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[72]Declaration of holiday on the event ofbirth anniversary of Vaikundar in TheHindu.

[73] "Official site". Government of Tamilnadu. http://www.tn.gov.in/budget/budsp07_08_4.htm#Overall%20Financial%20Position.Retrieved on 2007-03-23.

[74]GDP from TN Govt. site.[75]3rd largest economy.[76]Most Enterprises in India.[77]Per capita income from TN Govt. site.[78]Tamil Nadu ranks third in FDI, favoured

destination.[79]FDI Magazine.[80]Top Places to invest in.[81] "Tamil Nadu Unemployment Rate".[82]State-wise Per Capita Income At Current

Prices.[83]Gross Domestic Product of states as of

21 November 2006.[84] "e-CENSUSIndia". CensusIndia.net.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tamil_Nadu&action=edit&section=1.Retrieved on 2006-08-16.

[85]Example include Tidelpark and ITPChennai.

[86]TICEL Park for Biotechnology.[87]Rough rice production (000 t) in India,

by state, 1961-2006.[88]National Horticulture Mission - Action

Plan for Tamil Nadu.[89]Banana Production Statistics.[90]^ National Horticulture Mission Action

Plan for Tamil Nadu.[91]Coffee Data - IndiaCoffee.org.[92] "Rubber Statistical News" - Rubber

Board.[93]Coconut statistical info from

IndiaCommodity.com.[94] "Production Of Tea In India During And

Upto August, 2002 - TeaAuction.com.[95]^ Sugar statistical info from

IndiaCommodity.com.[96] Information on Mango from National

Horticulture Board.[97]Spices in India.[98]Oil Palm Sector in India - World Wildlife

Fund - India.[99] "Clean Green Energy from Tamil Nadu,

India".http://www.indutourismnews.com/.Retrieved on 2006-11-15.

[100]M. S. Swaminathan ResearchFoundation.

[101]The southern tip of India - Kanyakumari.[102]iamwarm.

[103]Irrigation in Tamil Nadu.[104][3] Livesotck & Poultry Statistics from

Ministry of Agriculture, Department ofAnimal Husbandry Dairying & Fisheries,Government of India.

[105]"Estimates Of Egg Production".[106]"Per Capita Availability Of Milk.[107]"Estimates of Milk Production".[108]"Share Of Milk Production By Cows,

Buffaloes & Goats".[109]"Estimates Of Wool Production".[110]"Dry & Green Fodder Production".[111][http://dahd.nic.in/stat_files/

NoOfIns&InfraData2006.pdf Number ofVeterinary Institutions andInfrastructure Data of Animal Husbandry(Year-2006)].

[112]"Milk, Egg Production and FishCatchment: By Districts".

[113]"Inland Fish Production".[114]Chennai Advantage in Investment.[115]Daimler-Hero zeros in on Chennai for

plant.[116]Signet Solar to setup manufacturing

plant in Tamil Nadu.[117]TEDA - Projects of TEDA TamilNadu

Energy Development Agency by TEDA.[118]Policy Note 2008 - 2009 of Energy

Department, Tamil Nadu, India by Govt.of TamilNadu.

[119]The Challenge of Reform: How TamilNadu’s Textile and Apparel Industry isFacing the Pressures ofLiberalizationPDF (471 KB) by MeenuTewari for the Government of TamilNadu, India and the Center forInternational Development, HarvardUniversity, Cambridge MA.

[120]Tirupur: India’s Textile Valley! by GeorgeIype for rediff.com.

[121]Flextronics signs pact for Chennaifacility.

[122]Ericsson India Private Ltd.[123]Sanmina sets up manufacturing plant in

Tamil Nadu.[124]Nokia Siemens to invest in Tamil Nadu.[125]Moser Baer Manufacturing Plant in

Tamil Nadu.[126]TNPL.[127]Titan Website.[128]Vestas Web page.[129][4] SivakasiOnline.com.[130]SAIL Plant.[131]The Hindu Business Line : TN software

exports clock 32 pc growth.

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[132]The Hindu Business Line : PambanBridge to be pulled down for gaugeconversion.

[133]Economy and Business in TamilNaduPDF (1.21 MB)

[134]Official site for Tamil Nadu Highways.[135]Highways, roads to be upgraded in Tamil

Nadu.[136]Tamil Nadu Railway Statistics.[137]Transportation in Tamil Nadu.[138]Creation of the Tamil Nadu Maritime

Board.[139]Official website for Ennore Port.[140]Official website for Tuticorin Port.[141]Tamil Nadu Forest Department,

retrieved 7/29/2007Tamil Nadu WildlifeTourism.

[142]Tamil Nadu Dept. of Forests, Retrieved9/9/2007 Biodiversity.

[143][5].[144][6].[145][7].[146][8].[147]Y.M.C.A. College of Physical Education

NANDANAM.[148]Nadal, other tennis greats arrive for

Chennai Open 2008.[149]Radhakrishnan Stadium to have new

turf.

[150]Anju B George to be felicitated.[151]The Sad Case of a South Indian Girl

Athlete.[152]All Presidents, National Sports

Federation.[153]India seeks to popularise beach

volleyball.[154]The History Of Snooker.[155]THE ORIGIN OF SNOOKER : THE

NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN STORY.[156]Opening up new vistas for squash talent.[157]Golf Courses in Southern India.[158]Sports in Chennai.[159]Adventure Tourism.[160]8 Steps to India[161][9][162]Great Living Chola Temples - UNESCO

World Heritage Centre.[163]Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram.[164]Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple website.[165]Marina Beach, Chennai - One of the

Longest Beaches in the World.

External links• Tamil Nadu Government Website• Tamil Nadu at the Open Directory Project

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu"

Categories: Tamil Nadu, States and territories of India, States and territories established in1956

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