Executive Summary Book the Nilgiris.Pmd
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NILGIRIS DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT THE NILGIRIS DISTRICT Introduction The Nilgiri district is the hilly part of Tamil Nadu. In Sanskrit, the Nilgiris means “Blue Mountains” and in Tamil “Neelamalai”. The Nilgiris district is also known as “The Queen of Hill Stations” is situated at an elevation of 900 to 2636 meters above MSL. Approximately 65% of the geographical area of this district lies at an altitude of 1800-2500 meters above MSL and there maining 35% at lower altitude. The climate is temperate to sub-tropical. The average annual rain fall ranges from 950 to1550mm. The Nilgiri district is situated in the north western part of the state in the Western Ghats. It differs considerably from its neighbouring districts with respect to the agro- climatic conditions. The Nilgiri district is surrounded by the Coimbatore district, Kerala and Karnataka States on the eastern, western and the northern side respectively. The district is a summer resort for tourists from the entire world. Udhagamandalam the headquarters of Nilgiris has once been the venue of TamilNadu Legislative Assembly. 1 The Geographical area of this districtis 2,544 square kilometers and consists of six taluks namely Udhagamandalam, Kundha, Coonoor, Kotagiri, Gudalur and Pandalur. The unique feature of Nilgiri district is that about 56% of the total area of the district is under forest. Geography The Nilgiris is a tiny district in the Western Ghats located between 1o10 and 11045Nl atitude and 76014 and 7702E longitude. About 60% of the cultivable land falls under the slope ranging from 10 to 33%. Basically a Horticultural District, the entire economy depends on the success and failure of horticulture crops like potato, cabbage, tea, coffee, spices and fruits. Topography In Nilgiri District, the topography is rolling and steep. The entire district is hilly and is divided into natural zones viz., the Nilgiris plateau and table land. Soil Condition The district is pronetol and slides and soil erosion during heavy rains. The majority soil in the district is sandy loam, redloa my soil and black soil seen in the riverbed areas. 2 Status of Human Development HDI of Coonoor block was the highest (0.69) followed by Udhagai block (0.68), Kotagiri block (0.52) and Gudalur block (0.51) and indicating that inter-block disparity. Gudalur block was backward in the three computed dimensions standard of living indicator, health indicator, high IMR (5) and high U5MR (4), low literacy rates (86). Kotagiri block was the second lowest block in the district, the reasons were less access to cooking fuel (58%), toilet facilities (50.76%) in standard of living, whereas the health indicators were high MMR (227) and high IMR(70). Based on GII, Gudalur (0.03) was designated as the first rank, followed by Coonor (0.04) Udhagai(0.06)and Kotagiri (0.08). In Kotagiri block, the GII value was high due to high MMR (227), share of female children(0-6) years was low (48.44%) and low female work participation rate(44.75%). In Udhagai block, higher MMR(72), low female work participation rate and low female work participation rate in non-agricultural sector. The child development index highlights that the performance differs only on health rather than education in the district. 3 Coonoor (0.80) had the highest CDI, followed by Udhagai (0.65), Kotagiri (0.53) and Gudalur (0.51). The health and education index was favourable in Coonoor block (1.0) when compared to Udhagai and Gudalur blocks. Gudalur block had high U5MR(5), malnourished children(18%) under health indicators; comparatively low transition rate from primary to upper primary (97.6%) and upper primary to secondary (97.63%) under education indicators which contributed to its poor performance. In Kotagiri block, high proportion of malnourished children(24%), comparatively lower transition rate from primary to upper primary (98.20%) and upper primary to secondary (97.34%) were the education indicators that caused poor performance in CDI. Kotagiri (0.62) had the highest MPI, followed by Udhagai (0.52),Gudalur (0.41), and Coonoor (0.33). Kotagiri block had high IMR(17), higher percentage of malnourished children (24%) low access to cooking fuel (58%), and toilet facilities (50.76%) which indicated multiple deprivations. Employment Income and Poverty The total workers in the district were 54 % of the total population. 4 Total workers in the Nilgiris District had increased from 47.40 % in 2001 to 54.32 % in 2011. Work Participation Rate (WPR), in the district is 50 percent, and there is not much variation in the WPR between 2001 and 2011. The female WPR has slightly decreased from 39.55 percent to 39.37 percent. There is wide disparity in WPR between rural and urban population. The WPR is more than double among males in urban areas compared to that of rural areas. Per capita income of the district was Rs. 51738 in 2011-12. Percentage of registration of households to total households in the district under MGNRGES was 65.40%. Among the total number of households in the district, 32.19 per cent of families were below poverty line and the highest registered was in Coonoor (44.62%), followed by Udhagai 43.18%), Kotagiri (38.14 %) and Gudalur block (16.73 %) in 2013-14. 90% of the total households in the district had family cards. It was observed that there was a declining trend in terms of employing children. The number of cultivators has drastically come down in the district. This has been offset by increase of agricultural labourers, household industry workers, and other 5 workers. It reveals that there is a transition from agriculture to non- agriculture activities due to fluctuating green leaf tea prices. The role of district employment exchange in providing employment is very marginal and the opportunities are very limited in government sector. Demography, Health and Nutrition The district population growth rate was 7.35 lakhs in 2011 and the population density has decreased from 299 in 2001 to 288 in the year 2011. The percentage of SC and ST population decreased from 30.75 % to 25 % respectively in 2011 in the district. The CBR was 12.6 in 2009 and 10.5 in 2013 while CDR was 1.9 in 2001 and 4.6 in 2013. The highest CBR was found in Gudalur (13.30) followed by Coonoor (10.1) and Udhagai (9.9). In the case of urban areas, the crude birth rate was the same both in Udhagai Municipality and Coonoor which accounted for 9.3 per thousand in 2013-14. The CDR in the district was 4.6 in 2013-14 which was found to be the highest in Udhagai (7.1), followed by Coonoor (6.9), Gudalur (4.6) and Kotagiri (2.8). Udhagai Municipality and Coonoor were considered as urban areas in the district. 6 The sex ratio of the district was 1014 and 1041 in 2001 and 2011 when compared with the State average (996). Child sex ratio was 979 in 2001 and 1008 in 2011 and the state average of 943. The life expectancy at birth is 77.9 whereas; it was 75.9 for male and 80.10 years for female in 2013. The Infant Mortality Rate in the Nilgiri district was 10.70 in 2013-14 which was lower than the State average (21). The IMR was the highest in Udhagai (16 ), followed by Kotagiri (15) and Coonoor (13). The overall IMR in all blocks had a decreasing trend. This is a positive sign for health indicators. The MMR was in 74.75 in 2013 which was higher than the State average (68). The MMR was the highest in Kotagiri (227) and Udhagai (72 ). This was due to lack of medical facilities in the remote tribal hamlets. Socio-economic factors also play a crucial role, for instance, patriarchal attitudes, the enormous burden of hard toil and poor nutrition, the lacunae in transport and communication facilities, delay in accessing proper health facilities and the lack of and/or poor quality of essential and emergency obstetric service. In the case of institutional deliveries, 36 percent of the institutional deliveries were in government hospitals, 34 percent in private hospitals, 28 percent in PHCs. 7 When compared to 2007, the Still Birth Rate had declined in 2011 in all the blocks of the district except Kotagiri. The overall still birth rate in the district had increased. The still birth rate in the district was 12 in 2013-14. The percentage of underweight (MUW+SUW) children (below 5 age group) in the district was 16.93 in 2013-14. The percentage of children immunized in Nilgiri District was 99.4 percent in 2013-14. 100 percent achievement of immunizing children was noticed in Gudalur, Udhagai and urban areas. 98.41 of household had access to drinking water.The highest water facility was available in Kotagiri with 98.60 percent, followed by Gudalur (98.49), Udhagai (98.18) and Coonoor (95.56). 59.65 of the households had toilet facilities.Coonoor block had the highest percentage i.e. 71.41 percent, followed by Gudalur block with 63.88 percent, Udhagai with 52.53 percent and Kotagiri with 50.76 percent. Provision of IFA tablets was found as 99 percent. It was found that positive TB in the district was 193 persons the positive cases of TB had increased from 227 in 2007 to 230 in 2011. Among all the blocks, Gudalur registered the highest number of positive cases (75) and 8 Coonoor with 62. Except Udhagai, all blocks had a decreasing trend in TB cases in the years 2013-14. More persons in the age group of 25-29 and 30-39 were affected by HIV among both male and female in 2013-14.