sign in sign up
<<
Home , Andipatti, Bodinayakkanur, Chinnamanur, Cumbum Valley, Periyakulam, Theni

THENI DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT DISTRICT

Introduction  is located in the south west part of .  The 2,889 km(1,115 sq mt) district lies at the foot of the . A range of hills which runs parallel to Western Ghats from north to south separate it from the neighbouring state of .  The district is bounded by District in the north, District in the east, District in the southwest and of Kerala State in the west. Geography

 The district lies between 90 53’ and 100 22’ north latitude and 77017’ and 770 67’ east longitudes.  is flowing in the district and it will normally be dry during the summer season. The Mullai River also flows across the district. Theni District is divided into two natural divisions.  Hilly areas constituted by parts of the three taluks , and with thick vegetation and perennial streams from the hills on the western side.

1  which lies in .  Theni district comprises of 5 Taluks, 8 Blocks and 183 Villages. With regard to the hierarchy of administrative arrangement, there are 5 Municipalities, 23 Town panchayats and 130 Village panchayats in the district. Topography

 The Topography of the district includes hills, mounds and the mixture of slopes and plains.  The geographical setting of the district naturally helps the agricultural sector and agro based business. Soil Condition

 The district is characterised by Red, Black and Brown soils and the major part of the area is characterised by red soil. The black soil are limited to less than 1% of the area. They are fine textured with low permeability. The brown soil are limited to less than 1% of the area and characterised by low permeability. Climate

 The district receives rainfall under the influence of both southwest and northeast monsoon. Normal annual rainfall is of the order of 791.2 mm out of which 47% (375.5) is received during north east monsoon and 22% (172.7) is received during south west monsoon.

2  The mean daily minimum temperature varies from 20.9°C (January) to 26.3°C (May) and mean daily maximum temperature varies from 29.7°C (December) to 37.5°C (May). Status of Human Development

 In Theni district, during 2013-14, the blocks Theni (0.92), Uthamapalyam (0.80) and (0.79) scored the first three ranks and Myladumparai (0.29), Andipatti (0.36) and Periyakulam (0.65) scored the last three ranks in HDI.  In Theni district, the blocks Bodinayakkanur (0.02), Uthamapalayam (0.04) and Theni (0.04) occupied the first three places in Gender Inequality Index. The blocks (0.10), Cumbum (0.10) and Myladumparai (0.09) occupied the last three places in GII. The blocks Myladumparai (55.92%) and Andipatti (65.35%) scored low in female literacy rate when compared to the other blocks of the district.  Female Work Wage rate was lower in the blocks Uthamapalayam (Rs.142) and Cumbum (Rs.146) when compared to the other blocks viz., Andipatti (Rs 163) during 2013-14.  In Theni district, when considering CDI, the blocks Uthamapalayam, Bodinayakkanur and Theni were in the top three places with high enrolment and high transition rates, low U5MR and IMR whereas the blocks

3 Myladumparai, Andipatti and Chinnamanur were in the bottom three places because of high IMR, MMR and SBR, having larger proportion of Malnourished children, poor child sex ratio and low enrolment rates in addition to high dropout rate and low transition rate.  The blocks Theni, Bodinayakkanur and Cumbum were in top three places with low MPI value due to high accessibility of cooking fuel, toilet facilities, drinking water, electricity and pucca houses, low school dropouts and good health provisions whereas the blocks Myladumparai, Andipatti and Periyakulam occupied the bottom three places with high MPI values due to lack of access to livelihood, high IMR, MMR, High Order birth rate and malnourished children and high dropouts. EMPLOYMENT, INCOME AND POVERTY  The blocks Andipatti, Chinnamanur showed an increase in Workers Participation Rate from 48.32% to 53.09% and from 44.55% to 50.14% respectively whereas in the blocks Myladumparai, Uthamapalayam and Bodinayakkanur, it had decreased from 70.62% to 56.98%, from 52.86% to 48.00% and from 48.57% to 47.56% respectively during 2001-2011.  As per census 2011, considering rural WPR, Female WPR was greater in rural area, whereas male WPR was higher in urban areas.

4  As per census 2011, agricultural wage rates for male was high at 335 rupees and at 315 rupees in the blocks Theni and Uthamapalayam respectively and was low at 237 rupees and at 265 rupees in the blocks, Cumbum and Periyakulam respectively.  As per census 2011, the percentage of cultivators and agricultural laborers was around 67 percent and 62 percent in the blocks Myladumparai, Cumbum and Chinnamanur respectively whereas in the same blocks percentage of industrial workers and non agricultural workers was registered as 33 percent, 38 percent and 38 percent respectively.  During 2013-14, 28110 candidates registered with employment exchanges and 0.33 percent. 473 candidates got placement. Totally, from 2007 to 2014, 183969 candidates were registered and 6092 candidates got placement.  Andipatti, Theni, Periyakulam and Myladumparai had registered job cards at 78%, 68 %, 67 % and 67 % for MGNREGA scheme respectively which was high at the district level whereas in Cumbum only 10 % was registered during 2011-12.  The per capita income of the district had registered Rs.39856 which was lower than the State per capita income of Rs.63996 during 2011-12.

5  The sectoral composition of GDDP of the district during 2011-12 indicates that the tertiary sector registered Rs.267947 which was higher than the primary sector growth at Rs.107121 and the secondary sector with Rs.62483. There was a mixed trend in the growth rate from the year 2004-05 to the year 2011-12.  The blocks Andipatti, Myladumparai, Periyakulam and Cumbum had registered a higher number of households below poverty level when compared to the district average of 26.12% during 2013-14.  387450 households are provided with family cards. DEMOGRAPHY, HEALTH AND NUTRITION

 An analysis of the decennial growth of population in the district from 2001 to 2011 showed that total population had grown from 1093950 to 1245899. The population growth rate of the district was 13.9% between 2001 and 2011.  The child sex ratio of was favourable indicating that interventions have led to a marginal reduction in sex selection practices.  The share of Scheduled Caste population had increased marginally between 2001 and 2011 from 19.36 percent in 2001 to 20.7 percentage in 2011. Scheduled Tribes share in the total population had decreased by 0.01 percent from 0.15 to 0.14 percent but it increased only in Myladumparai Block.

6  The density of the population in the district was 434 and remained much lower than that of the State average of 555. The highest density of population per square kilometer in Theni Block was 1085 in 2011. It was low at 118 persons per square kilometer at Myladumparai block.  During 2013-14, the CBR rate of the district 13.0 had decreased from 15.7 in 2011. CDR of the district was 6.1 and had decreased from 7.2 in 2011.  The blocks Chinnamanur (8.7), Uthamapalayam (8.3), Cumbum (7.5), Andipatti (7.5), Periyakulam (7.5) and Theni (7.2) registered CDR greater than the district average of 7.2 percent in the year 2011. The increase in mortality rate was lack of supply of medicines and ambulance service during emergencies in addition to bad roads connecting remote villages and tribal areas like Agamalai, Bodi Mettu, in Bodinayakkanur block, Valiparai, Megamalai, Vellimalai and in Myladumparai blocks.  The sex ratio of the district was 978 in 2001 and had increased to 991 in 2011. While Cumbum block registered sex ratio of 1013, Myladumparai block registered the lowest sex ratio of 948 in 2011.  The child sex ratio of 0-6 year‘s age group in the district had increased from 891 to 937 between 2001 and 2011 indicating that the efforts to address adverse sex ratio had been successful to a large extent.

7  The Life expectancy at Birth (LEB) of the district in 2011 for male was 65 years for male and 68 years for female. The LEB had increased from 62 years for male and 64 years for female in 2001. The increase in life expectancy indicates improvement of medical infrastructure and facilities in the government and private sectors in the district. During 2013 - 14, LEB increased to 70.3 years for male and to 69 years for female.  The MMR of the district was 150 during 2012 and the blocks Andipatti, Theni and Bodinayakkanur had an MMR of 230, 210 and 190 in 2008-09, 2010-11, 2011-12 respectively. The block Cumbum showed a uniformly lower MMR from 2008 to 2012 along with the block Chinnamanur.  It was observed that institutional deliveries of the district average were 99.65 percent in 2011 and it had increased to 99.8 percent during 2013 - 14.  The Still Birth Rate of the district was 20.9 per thousand live births in 2008. It had come down to 15.7 in 2012 and 13.6 in 2013-14.  The IMR of the district was high in Theni, Periyakulam, Myladumparai and Andipatti at the rate of 24.4, 23.6, 21.1 and 20.5 respectively in 2012 which had come down to Theni (10.3) and Periyakulam (18.0) and increased in the blocks Myladumparai (27.5) and Andipatti (23.0) during 2013-14. The IMR of the district had decreased from 23.1 in 2008 to 19.4 in 2012 and to 17 in 2013-14.

8  The accessibility to safe drinking water supply in the district during 2012-13 in the blocks Myladumparai, Chinnamanur and Uthamapalayam needs to be improved by developing infrastructure to provide water supply to the needy habitations in the district as they covered 73 %, 79% and 80% of the habitations respectively.  During 2013-14, the blocks Myladumparai (91%), Andipatti (98%) and Periyakulam (98%) had access to drinking water and the percentage was lower or equal to the district average of 98%.  59% of households in Theni district had access to toilet facilities. Theni block had registered the highest number of households with access to toilet facilities - 75% followed by Cumbum and Andipatti block with 65% access, Myladumparai block had the least number of households with access to toilet facilities (29%) in 2012-13. During 2013-14, the number of households’ with toilet facilities had increased from 59% to 63%. LITERACY AND EDUCATION

 Concerted and all round efforts were made in the district to improve the educational status with focus on all the blocks notably the backward blocks of Myladumparai, Andipatti and Chinnamanur.  The Literacy rate of the district was 71.58 in 2001 and it had increased to 77.26 in 2011.

9 Male and female literacy rate was 85.03 and 69.46 respectively in 2011 whereas it was 81.88 for male and 61.19 for females in 2001.  The Gross Enrolment Rate in primary education declined from 102.46 to 101.94 during 2011-12 and 2012-13 and increased to 102.16 in 2013-14.  The completion rate in primary education of the district was 99.72 and 95.66 during 2012 -13 and 2013-14 respectively due to the high performance in six blocks except the blocks Myladumparai and Chinnamanur. The dropout rate at primary education that prevailed at district level was 1.15 in 2013-14. It was the highest in the blocks Andipatti (1.46), Chinnamanur (1.45) and Uthamapalayam (1.32). The lowest dropout rate was in the blocks Cumbum (0.42), Bodinayakkanur (0.98) and Theni (0.99).  The Gross Enrolment Rate in upper primary education had decreased from 103.02 in 2011 to 102.86 in 2012 and to 102.21 in 2013 -14.  It was observed that the lowest completion rate in upper primary education was in the block of Myladumparai at the rate of 90.16 in 2011 and it had increased to 91.86 in 2013-14.  The average dropout rate in the district as a whole had declined sharply in 2013 from 2011. The dropout rate in upper primary education of the district was 1.53 and that included male dropout rate of 1.45 and female dropout rate of 1.60 in 2013-14.

10  In 2013-14, the average transition rate of the district rose from 98.57 to 99.80. It consisted of boys’ transition rate of 99.85 and girls’ transition rate of 99.75 from primary to upper primary.  The pupil teacher ratio of the district in 2011 that the district had attained was the desired rate of 30 pupils per teacher and had remained closer to 30 till 2011-2013. During 2014-15, Pupil Teacher Ratio was at 1: 24 in primary and 1:18 in upper primary level, which was conducive for imparting knowledge to the students optimally.  The Gross Enrolment Rate of the district in secondary education during 2013-14 was 56.15 boys and 49.16 girls. The blocks Uthamapalayam had the highest enrollment with 109.5 whereas the block Myladumparai had the least with 100.5 in GER.  The dropout in secondary education of the district during 2012-13 was 5.63 among boys and 3.25 among girls. During 2013-14, the dropout rate had increased to 6.2 among boys and 4.1 among girls.  During 2013-14, there were 898 schools in the district which includes Primary, Upper Primary and Higher Secondary.  The entire district had 39 SC/ST hostels and housing 2640 students of both genders by 2012 which had increased to 2673 students in 2013-14.

11  During 2013-14, Under the Technology Initiative scheme in education, the government schools from primary to higher secondary were provided with Desktops, Laptops and Projectors.  During 2013-14, there were 11523 students studying in 12 arts and science colleges located in 7 blocks except in Myladumaparai. The blocks Periyakulam had 5 colleges followed by Bodinayakkanur block which had 2.  The other institutions of skill development like education, nursing, ITI and catering colleges were 52 in the district educating 23429 students.  There is a Government Medical college with Hospital with 506 students in various branches of medicine. GENDER

 The sex ratio of the district was 990 females for 1000 males which had increased from 978 in 2001 to 990 in 2011. The child sex ratio of the district is 937 females for 1000 males which was also an increasing trend from 891 in 2001 to 937 in 2011. The increasing trend had resulted due to the steps taken by the government.  The literacy rate of the district was (870080) 77.26. The female literacy rate showed an increasing trend from 60.70 in 2001 to (390677) 69.46 in 2011 but was lower than the male literacy rate.

12  The maternal mortality ratio of the district was 150 in 2012. Anemic condition, accessibility to the hospital from remote villages and inadequate infrastructure facility in PHC‘s were the causes for high MMR. The MMR of the district had decreased from 150 in 2012 to 78 in 2013-14.  The gender wise work participation rate during 2011-12 indicated that the female workers participation rate was high in the blocks Myladumparai (59%), Andipatti (52%) and Chinnamanur (44%) than male workers participation rate.  66.90 % and 33.10 % of women were engaged in agriculture and non agricultural sectors respectively. Maximum percentage of women was engaged in agricultural sector as labour.  The number of Self Help Groups was 14423 in Theni district in 2011 and membership stood at 216345 and total credit extended to all these SHGs was Rs.17845 lakhs.  Out of 7535 State government staff, 20.17 percent i.e 1520 number were women. Out of 5242 staff in local bodies nearly 37% percent were occupied by women. The female employment in both State Government and local bodies were less compared to the male participation in the district during 2012-13.  The membership of women in State Assembly and Local Bodies in Theni District in 2011- 12, indicates that Myladumparai block had

13 registered the highest of 54% followed by Cumbum block with 52% and Aundipatti block with 42% and least representation was registered in Uthamapalayam block with 31% and Periyakulam block with 34%. SOCIAL SECURITY  The vulnerabilities associated with the child labor, disability, caste and gender-based discrimination and discrimination against old aged persons are the key issues to human development.  The demographic profile of aged in Theni district during 2001-11 showed that the district had 106914 people of age 60+ which accounted for 10% of the total population. The proportion of elderly male population in Theni district was 51966 i.e., 49% and 54948 elderly female population.  The number of beneficiaries in all the categories of old age pension schemes in the 60+ age group had increased from 2756 (2.6%) in 2005 to 33342 (31.4%) in 2010-11 and increased to 95312 in 2013-14.  The differently abled population in the district during 2013-14 was 10570 male and 8142 female out of total differently abled population of 18712, of them, only 9386 differently abled people were getting government assistance of which 6572 were male and 2824 female. The assistance coverage for the registered differently abled persons in the district was only (50.2%).

14  In the district a total of 324 crimes against women were registered in the district. The most prevalent crimes faced by women were cruelty by husband and his relatives which accounted for 89 cases i.e., 27.46 percent of total crimes. Crimes under Harassment of Women Act accounted for 82 cases i.e., 25.30 per cent of cases followed by 79 cases of kidnapping and abduction 40 cases of molestation, 22 cases of rape and 12 cases of dowry death against women were registered. Registering of crimes does not indicate an increase in the crime rate but could be increased awareness and reporting by women. INFRASTRUCTURE

 The district had fared well in the case of roads, electrification of village and individual houses. The recent efforts to identify infrastructure needs and planning for the same at the village level through various schemes is a very positive move.  The district was having a road network comprising of 2915.978 kms including state highways, national highways, Panchayat and panchayat union highways and municipal highways. Black Topped roads in the district constituted a length of 2004.088 kms including State, national highways and other roads. CC roads, WBM roads and Mud roads constituted a length of 353.340 kms, 187.856 kms and 370.694 kms respectively in the blocks of the district.

15  During 2013-14, the length of roads had increased to 3336.10 kms. The length of BT road had increased from 2004.088 kms to 2342.441 kms.  The status of electrification in Theni district was 91.60 percent in 2011. During 2014-15, the numbers increased to 313846 HH EB connections including huts, 36660 connections for agriculture, 3744 connections for industrial purposes and 61012 connections for commercial purpose.  The district had EDC Wind Mill capacity of 535.90 MW and Hydro generation of electricity capacity of 212.00 MW as on 2015.  The total number of Family card holders was 387996 in 2013 and 394599 in 2014. The Family card holders with LPG connections was 47.80% in 2013 (one LPG 108651 and two LPG 79259) and 48% in 2014 (one LPG 109353 and two LPG 77034).  Considering the telecommunication systems of the district during 2012-13, it was seen that there were a total of 25 telephone exchanges, 1641 PCOs, 17404 of land line connections, 4256 households with telephone connections, 47 mobile phone towers and 56433 people were covered under various types of telecommunication networks through BSNL network.  During 2013-14, an analysis of the block wise distribution of cooperative banks showed that

16 there were a total of 115 cooperative societies in Theni District serving a total of 373299 members.  During 2013-14, commercial bank’s strength was 164 branches with 1060124 account holders in the district. Out of the 164 branches, 94 branches belonged to the public sector banks, 66 were private sector banks and 4 development banks.  All Central and State government and NABARD programs were being carried on by commercial banks dovetailing the socio- economic, infrastructure and human development through VDDP – II and RBI out reach program which was functional in 2 villages of the district.  The insurance companies in Theni district during 2011-12, were 4 public sector insurance companies. During 2013-14, the number of insurance companies had increased to 5 with the membership covered 55995.  The dams, Periyar dam, Manjalar dam, Sothuparai and are the sources of water for irrigation and drinking water in the district. The periyar dam provides irrigation and drinking water for four or more districts viz., Madurai, Dindigul, Ramnad and Sivagangai.  Theni and Andipatti are the chief centres for spinning mills and ginning factories and produce a variety of cotton yarn. There were

17 1160 registered small scale industrial units as on 2015 engaged in the manufacture of a very wide range of products with production capacity of Rs.2581463 and employing more than 6443 employees.  During 2013-14, the district had number of processing units, cold storage stations, ripening stations for fruits and vegetables, fertilizer producers and chemical firms, market for horticulture products, green stations, biotech firms nursery and private nurseries. Notably, there were grape processing centers in the blocks Cumbum, Chinnamanur and Uthamapalayam, and banana ripening centers in the blocks Cumbum, Uthamapalayam, Periyakulam and Chinnamanur, and ripening centers in the blocks Theni and Periyalulam and nut processing units in the block Myladumparai, functioning effectively in the district.  These agro business centers provided agro based employment opportunities to the people of the district. The district had horticulture extension centers in all the blocks.  In 2013-14, there were a few large scale industries, viz., Shri Renuga Textile Mills Private Ltd, Paragan Paper and Paper products Private Ltd, Eastern Condiments Private Ltd, Raj Shree Sugar Mills and Chemicals Private Ltd, Nisha Kishan Spinning

18 Mills Private Ltd, LS Mills Private Ltd, Bojaraja Textiles Mills Private Ltd and Anna Co operative Textile Mills Ltd. employing more than 30000 employees.  The district had 2 industrial estates located in the district which included one industrial estate of 25 acres with 57 industries functioning out of 72 sanctioned in Theni block and one industrial estate of 10 acres with 10 industries functioning out of 15 sanctioned in Andipatti block where there were micro and small scale industries functioning under SIDCO.  Three National Highways run through the district. NH 45 – Dindigul - Periyakulam - Theni, NH 49 – Theni - Madurai – Rameshwaram –Dhanushkodi (NH49 extension Theni to Kochin) and NH 220 Gudalur – Cumbum – Uthamapalayam – Theni (NH 220 extension Kollam to Theni) and there are State Highways; District Roads and other than Districts.  The Post and Telegraphs network was fairly extensive. There were two head Post Offices in Theni and Periyakulam. The users of telephones were around 56433 and there were 25 telephones exchanges as on 2011 – 12. The number of telephone exchanges was same during 2013-14 but the connections have come down to 16579.  Southern Railway operated rail service from Madurai to Bodinayakknur train services on

19 Meter Gauge. Now the rail transport has been converted into broad gauge and the work is in progress. The railway service from Dindigul to Kumuli is also on the anvil. CONCLUSION  The urbanization, industrialization, inter block migration provides for a high per capita income having its own implication on human development in terms of quality of life, knowledge and acquiring better health services. Specific attention is required to address inter-block variations in terms of resource allocations, schemes and employment generation. Block specific interventions are required to overcome the inequality.  Specific areas to be addressed include the placement of enough teachers in upper primary education, rational distribution of teachers. Concerted and the targeted efforts given to Tribal belts like Megamalai in Myladumparai block, Agamalai in Bodinayammanur block and hilly track of Myladumparai by ensuring proper functioning of different schools single teacher schools needs to be avoided.  In terms of demographic support, sectoral contribution to the economic development, growth rate of per capita income, increasing trend in literacy rate and enrolment ratio etc., the district has achieved quite a lot but the inter block disparity in certain key indicators needs greater attention. a

20