KARUR DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT KARUR DISTRICT Introduction Karur District is an administrative unit of Tamil Nadu State in southern India. The city of Karur is the district headquarters. The district is located in the banks of river Cauveri and Amaravathi. Initially, Karur district was carved out of the composite Tiruchirapalli district, consisting of three taluks viz., Karur, Kulithalai and Manaparai. Karur district was formed vide Government Order 913 dated 30.10.1995. A separate Karur district was formed on 30th September 1995 by trifurcating Thiruchirapalli district. The district has been divided into two Revenue Divisions Karur and Kulithalai. The district has five taluks of Aravakuruchi, Kadavur, Karur, Krishnarayapuram and Kulithalai. The district consists of eight blocks, namely, Aravakuruchi, Kadavur, Krishnarayapuram, Thanthoni, K.Paramathy, Karur, Kulithalai and Thogaimalai. The district has 203 revenue villages, 158 village Panchayats, 4 municipalities (Inamkarur, Karur, Kulithalai and Thanthoni) and 11 town Panchayats (TNPL Pugalur, 1 Punjaipugalur, Nangavaram, Krishnarayapuram, Pallapatti, Aravakurichi, Punjai Thottakurichi, P.J.Cholapuram, Puliyur, Marudur and Uppidamangalam). Geography The geographical position of the district lies between North Latitude 11.000 to 12.000; from 77.280 to 77.500 East Longitude and an altitude of 122 metres from MSL. The district has an area of 2895.57 km². It is bounded by Namakkal district in the north, Dindigul district in the south, Tiruchirapalli district on the east and Erode district on the west; it is the most centrally located district in Tamil Nadu. The topography of the district is almost plain except Rengamalai hills in extreme south of Karur taluk - Tipasamymalai and Vellimalai are in Kulithalai Taluk. Utilization of land area in the district for agriculture purpose is up to 44.59 percent. 4.76 percent of the land area remains as other uncultivated land. 2.74 percent is forest area. Topography The Rangamalai hills and Kadavur hills occurring in the southern side of the district constitutes the remnants of the much denuded Eastern Ghats and rise to heights of over 1031 m above mean sea level. 2 From these hills the district slopes gently towards north east and forms a vast stretch of plain country till the eastern boarder of the district. There are numerous small residual hills represented by Ayyarmalai, Thanthonimalai and Velayuthampalayam hills. The general elevation of the area is ranging between 100 m and 200m above mean sea level. Soil Condition The soils of Karur district can be broadly classified into 4 major soils types viz., Red Soil, Thin Red Soil, Red Loam and River Alluvium Soil. Red soil is the predominant one covering major part of the district followed by thin Red soil and Red loam. Black soil is the predominant soil type in this district accounting for 35.51 percent followed by laterite soil for 23.85 percent. The red soils are predominantly seen in Kadavur, Kulithalai, Krishnarayapuram, Thanthoni and Thogamalai blocks. The thin red soils are seen in Aravakurichi and K.Paramathiy blocks. Major portion of the Karur block is covered by red loam. The remaining 20.31 percent is sandy and alluvium soil. Climate The district enjoys a tropical climate. The period from March to May is generally hot and 3 dry. The weather is pleasant during the period from November to January. Usually mornings are more humid than afternoons. The relative humidity is generally between 40 and 80%. But in the period from February to July the air is comparatively drier in the afternoon. The highest temperature is observed in early May to early June usually about 34°C, though it usually exceeds 38°C for a few days. Average daily temperature during January is around 23 °C, though the temperature rarely falls below 17 °C. Status of Human Development The basic objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. Human development is a process of enlarging people’s choices. Karur (0.85) K. Paramathi and Aravakurichi (0.78) are top three blocks in HDI in Karur district. The bottom three blocks in HDI are Krishnarayapuram (0.52), Kadavur (0.37) and Thogaimalai (0.37). Thogaimalai occupies the last rank among the eight blocks in the district for reasons relating to access to drinking water, access to electricity, access to pucca houses, IMR, MMR, U5MR and literacy rate. Across the eight blocks in Karur district, the top three blocks which have low gender 4 inequality are K.Paramathy (.02), Aravakurchi (0.02) and Karur (0.04). The bottom three blocks with high gender inequality are Kulithalai (0.08). Kadavur (0.08) and Thogaimalai (0.09). Child Development Index is a positive index and it is based on two dimensions namely Health and Education. In 2013, three blocks which were at the top in Child Development Index are Karur (0.80). Kulithalai (0.61) and Kadavur (0.58). The bottom three blocks in Child Development Index (CDI) were Thanthoni (0.52). Krishnarayapuram (0.50) and K. Paramathy (.047). Krishnarayapuram and K.Paramathy have a severe problem of malnourishment. In Thanthoni, Aravakurichi, Kadavur blocks, the sex ratio is less than 950. In the case of education, children never enrolled in school are low in the entire district, except in K. Paramathy block. Thanthoni block has lower enrolment at secondary level than other blocks for reasons of accessibility. Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is calculated in terms of health, education and standard of living dimensions. There are wide disparities in MPI across the blocks. Karur with MPI of 0.16 and Krishnarayapuram with MPI of 0.71. The top three blocks with lower MPI value are Karur (0.16) Thanthoni (0.35) and K.Paramathy (0.38). 5 The bottom three blocks with higher MPI value are Thogaimalai (0.65). Kadavur (0.69) and Krishnarayapuram (0.71). Health dimension has correlation with poverty. High range of infant mortality in K. Paramathy block has positive correlation with child malnourishment. Krishnarayapuram, Thogaimalai and Kulithalai blocks with high order birth rate have the link with malnourishment. Thogaimalai, Aravakuruchi and Kadavur blocks show higher rate of dropout at secondary level. Kadavur block has very low standard of living. Employment, Income and poverty The economy of Karur is based on agriculture as well as industry. Nearly 45% percent of the land is utilized for agricultural purposes. A number of industries in Karur district provide employment to a large number of people. In 2011, the working population in Karur was 5.43 lakhs. The Work Participation Rate (WPR) in 2011 was 51.04. The percentage of main workers and marginal workers in total workforce in 2011 was 93.6 and 6.4 respectively. The percentage of non – workers in 2011 was 48.96. A major reason for the relatively large 6 share in non–workers is declining in rural livelihoods, mainly in agriculture. Among the blocks, the WPR declined from 60.6 percent in 2001 to 48.4 percent in 2011 in Kulithalai block. Kulithalai is mainly an agrarian block with rural background. With decline in jobs in agriculture and availability of only a few non-farm jobs, Kulithalai witnessed sharp reduction in WPR over the period. Male and female work participation rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. In urban areas, male and female WPR have been witnessing an increasing trend over the period, 2001 to 2011, male WPR increased from 60.52% to 60.79% and female WPR increased from 27.34% to 27.40%. Male WPR is higher than female WPR both in rural and urban areas. In 2011, household Industrial and other worker’s categories constituted 43.82 percent of total workers; the percentage of agricultural labourer was 37.88 and cultivators formed 18.29 percent of workers. While cultivators declined from 22.98 percent in 2001 to 18.29 percent in 2011, agricultural labourers increased from 33.80 percent in 2001 to 37.88 percent in 2011. It is possible that because of the failure of agriculture and transfer of land from agricultural to non – agricultural uses (e.g. industrial and real 7 estate), some of the cultivators would have become agricultural labourers for their livelihood. The continuous efforts by labour Department have resulted in reducing child labour to a great extent in the district. Over the period, 2007-08 to 2013-14, 1,18,661 candidates registered with District Employment Exchange office. But only 2,166 candidates got placement. The per capita income of the district at 2004- 05 constant prices increased from Rs. 48, 793 in 2006 – 07 to Rs. 71, 795 in 2011-12. Over the period 2006-07 to 2011-12, it increased in a sustained manner. Inter – block variations in the utilization of benefits of MGNREA are observed. During 2010-11, the contribution of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors to GDDP of Karur district was 24.31 percent, 24.37 percent and 57.11 percent respectively. About 56 percent of total labourers depended upon the primary sector, especially agriculture, for their livelihood. During 2013-14, 32.18 percent of households we Below Poverty Line (BPL) in Karur district. There are wide inter – block variations in the proportion of households BPL in the district. As poverty is mainly due to lack of income, there is need for focussing on the BPL 8 households, especially in blocks like K.Paramathy to lift the people from the vicious circle of poverty by improving their lives in various dimensions of human development. Demography, Health and Nutrition The population of Karur district in 2011 was 10,64,493. The population growth rate of the district during 2001 and 2011 was 13.77 percent.