THIRUCHIRAPALLI DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT TRICHIRAPALLI DISTRICT Introduction The district of Tiruchirappalli was formerly called by the British as ‘Trichinopoly’ and is commonly known as ‘Tiruchirappalli’ in Tamil or Tiruchirappalli‘ in English. The district in its present size was formed in September 1995 by trifurcating the composite Tiruchirappalli district into Tiruchirappalli, Karur and Perambalur districts. The district is basically agrarian; the industrial growth has been supported by the public sector companies like BHEL, HAPP, OFT and Railway workshop. The district is pioneer in fabrication industry and the front runner in the fabrication of windmill towers in the country. As two rivers flow through the district, the Northern part of the district is filled with greeneries than other areas of the district. The river Cauvery irrigates about 51,000 ha. in Tiruchirappalli, Lalgudi and Musiri Divisions. Multifarious crops are grown in this district and Agriculture is the main occupation for most of the people in the District. With an area of 36,246 hectares under the coverage of the forests the district accounts for 1.65 percentage of the total forest area of 1 the State. Honey and Cashewnuts are the main forest produces besides fuel wood. The rivers Kaveri (also called Cauvery) and the river Coleroon (also called Kollidam) flow through the district. There are a few reserve forests along the river Cauvery, located at the west and the north-west of the city. Tiruchirappalli district has been divided into three revenue divisions, viz., Tiruchirappalli, Musiri and Lalgudi. It is further classified into 14 blocks, viz., Andanallur, Lalgudi, Mannachanallur, Manigandam, Manapparai, Marungapuri, Musiri, Pullambadi, Thiruvarumbur, Thottiyam, Thuraiyur, T.Pet, Uppiliyapuram, and Vaiyampatti. Further, the district has 507 revenue villages, 17 town panchayats, three municipalities and one corporation. The Tiruchirappalli Corporation is the fourth largest Municipal Corporation in Tamil Nadu. Geography Tiruchirappalli District is located centrally in Tamil Nadu between the North Latitude 10° to 11°-30’and the East Longitude 77°-45' to 78°-50’2. The district has a total area of 4403.83 Square Kilometres and is surrounded by various districts such as Namakkal in the North West, Salem in the North, Karur in the South West, 2 Ariyalur in the North East, Pudukkottai in the South East, Thanjavur in the East and Dindigul in the South. The prominent geomorphic units identified in the district through interpretation of Satellite imagery are 1) Alluvial Plains 2) Valley Fills 3) Buried Pediments 4) shallow Pediments 5) Pediments and 6) Structural Hills. The total geographical area of the district is 4403 sq. km., which is 3.39 per cent of the total geographical area of Tamil Nadu. The total geographic area of the district is 440383 ha., out of which 17167.470 ha. of land is covered by forests. Topography The entire Tiruchchirappalli district constitutes a peneplain. The Kolli Hills in the north- western part and Pachchamalai Hills in the north-eastern parts of the district constitute the remnants of the denuded Eastern Ghats and rise to a heights of more than 100 m above Mean Sea Level. From these hills, the land slopes gently toward east and forms a vast stretch of plain country. The Southern and the South-Western part of the district are dotted by several hills which are an offset of the Western Ghats - the most prominent one of which is the Rock Fort hill in Tiruchirappalli town. 3 Eastern Ghats also passes through the district. The earthen minerals available in the district in substantial quantities are Lime Stone, Fire Clay, Soap Stone, Gypsum, Quartz, Rough Stone, Sand Brick, Earth Colour. The area northeast of Tiruchirappalli is in an active stage of erosion and shows typical bad land topography. The master slope of the district is towards east. Soil Condition The soil here is considered to be very fertile. Alluvial sandy loam and loam soil constitute major portion of the central regions, which form the Cauvery delta in the district. In Lalgudi, Manachanallur and Andanallur blocks, loamy soil is predominant. Red soil and black soil are predominant in the dry tracks of the district. Climate The district enjoys a tropical climate. The period from April to June is generally hot and dry. The weather is pleasant during the period from November to January. Usually mornings are more humid than afternoons. The relative humidity varies between 50 and 85% in the mornings while in the afternoon it varies between 70 and 92%. 4 The normal annual rainfall over the district varies from about 730 mm to about 900 mm. It is the minimum around Musiri (731.9 mm) in the western part. It gradually increases towards north, east and south and reaches a maximum around Manapparai (908.5 mm). STATUS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The analysis of the status of the human development in Tiruchirappalli district at the block level revealed that Tiruchirappalli Corporation stands first in the HDI ranking with an index value of 0.878 departing from all other blocks in the district. Tiruchirappalli Corporation stood first as it tops the chart in seven indicators viz., Access to Toilet Facility (62.18 per cent), Access to Drinking Water (100 per cent), Access to Electricity (97.66 per cent), IMR (0.8), U5MR (4.04), Literacy Rate (91.38 per cent) and GER Primary (108.50 per cent). Thiruverumbur block stood second in terms of HDI ranking as it tops the chart in IMR (0.4) and stands second in four indicators, viz., Access to Electricity (97.45 per cent), U5MR (11.21), literacy Rate (89.16 per cent) and GER Secondary (101 per cent) Tiruchirappalli Corporation, Thiruverumbur, T.Pet, Uppiliyapuram and Thuraiyur blocks were placed in the top five positions with index values of 0.878, 0.770, 0.658, 0.629 and 5 0.609 respectively, while Vaiyampatti, Manigandam, Manapparai, Marungapuri and Andanallur blocks were placed at bottom five with the index values of 0.417, 0.444, 0.446, 0.475 and 0.484 respectively. Vaiyampatti block stands last in terms of HDI ranking as it performed worst among the blocks in terms of five indicators viz., Access to Cooking Fuel (19.55 per cent), Access to Toilet Facility (35.41 per cent), Access to Electricity (87.47 per cent), Literacy Rate (70.47 per cent) and GER Secondary (99 per cent). Six blocks had HDI values below 0.500; viz., Vaiyampatti, Manigandam, Manapparai, Marungapuri, Andanallur and Pullambadi. These blocks performed very poorly in the standard of living and health parameters. The GII reveals the inequality in gender achievements in the district. Here, Andanallur and Uppiliyapuram showed the way to other blocks followed by Marungapuri and Thiruverumbur. Andanallur block secured the first rank in GII as it performs first in three indicators, viz., MMR (zero), Share of Institutional Delivery (99.72 per cent) and Share of Ante Natal Coverage (100 per cent), and had above average Share of Female Children (0-6) years (48.88 per cent), above average Female WPR (34.10 per cent) and low wage gap between male and female (Rs.100). 6 Uppiliyapuram block secured the second rank in GII as it has zero MMR and performed better than the district average in terms of the Share of Institutional Delivery (100 per cent), Share of Female Elected Representatives in RLBs and ULBs (33.64 per cent), Female WPR (48.70 per cent) and wage gap between male and female (Rs. 125). Andanallur, Uppiliyapuram, Marungapuri, Thiruverumbur and Tiruchirappalli Corportation blocks got the top five ranks with the index values of 0.11, 0.11, 0.024, 0.027 and 0.034 respectively, indicating lower gender gap in achievements. Musiri, Vaiyampatti, Manapparai, Thuraiyur and Thottiyam blocks had higher GII with index values 0.132, 0.106, 0.089, 0.089 and 0.77 respectively, indicating wider differences in the male and female achievements. Musiri block comes last in terms of GII ranking as it had second highest MMR (160), below average Female Literacy Rate (69.35 per cent), huge gender gap in Literacy (16.61 per cent), below average Share of Female Children (0-6) years (48.21 per cent), low Female WPR in Non-Agricultural Sector (22.81 per cent), lowest female wage rate (Rs. 100), high gender gap in wage rate (Rs. 200). Some blocks like Musiri, Vaiyampatti, Manapparai, Thuraiyur, Thottiyam and Manachanallur perform poorly in terms of 7 MMR combined with lower level of female literacy rate and higher gender gap in literacy rate, which pushes them to lower ranks. These blocks required a strong dose of gender sensitization, which would lead to improvement in the achievement levels of females. From the analysis of the CDI, it could be gathered that Tiruchirappalli Corporation got a higher value compared to all other blocks, which was again not a surprise. It performed well in all the indicators. Three blocks, viz., Vaiyampatti, Uppiliyapuram and Thuraiyur perform very poorly in most of the indicators used to compute CDI and get very low values. But, Thuraiyur and Uppiliyapuram seemed to figure in the top five blocks with respect to HDI. Tiruchirappalli Corporation, Manachanallur, Musiri, Marungapuri and Manpparai blocks secured the top five ranks in terms of CDI with index values of 0.731, 0.696, 0.530, 0.499 and 0.497 respectively. Vaiyampatti, Uppiliyapuram, Thuraiyur, Thottiam and Lalgudi blocks were pushed to the last five positions with CDI values of 0.252, 0.332, 0.335, 0.405 and 0.413 respectively. Tiruchirappalli Corporation stands first in terms CDI ranking and departs from all other blocks, as it performed best with regard to five indicators, viz., U5MR (4.04), Juvenile 8 Sex Ratio (960), Percentage of Malnourished Children (9.10 per cent), GER in Primary (108.50 per cent) and Transition Rate from Primary to Upper Primary (100per cent).