ERODE DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT ERODE DISTRICT Introduction Erode district was part of Coimbatore District before its formation on September 17, 1979 and was known as Periyar district and was renamed as Erode District in 1996. Among the thirty two districts of Tamil Nadu, Erode is the one which is known for both agriculture and industrial progress. Erode District was a part of Coimbatore and has its history intervened with that of Coimbatore and because of its close linkage with the erstwhile Coimbatore district. Erode is known for the biggest textile shandy for marketing the powerloom and handloom products. The district has 3 Revenue Divisions and 7 Taluks. It has 20 blocks, 5 Municipalities, 1 Township, 59 town Panchayats and 343 Village Panchayats. Bhavani, Cauvery and Noyyal are the main rivers of the district. Other significant river is Palar in the North. Palar constitutes the boundary between 1 Erode district and Karnataka State in the North. The Bhavanisagar main canal along with the above mentioned rivers provide proper drainage and facilities for assured irrigation in the district. Bhavani rises in the silent valley in Palghat ranges in the neighbouring State of Kerala after receiving Siruvani, a perennial stream of Coimbatore District and gets reinforced by the Kundah river before entering Erode District in Gobichettipalayam. Geography Erode District lies on the extreme north of Tamil Nadu. Erode District is essentially a land-locked area having no sea-coast of its own. Erode District situated between 10 36" and 11 58" North Latitude and between 76 49" and 77 58" East Longitude. The total geographical area of the district is 572,264 hectares. It is bounded mostly by Karnataka State and also River Palar covers pretty long distance. To the East lies Namakkal and Karur Districts. Dindigul District is its immediate neighbour to the South and on the West; it has 2 Coimbatore and The Nilgiris Districts, as its boundaries. With more than 228,750 hectares of land under dense forest, Erode is one of the few fortunate districts in the State which can boost the forest area. 27.7% of the total district area is under forests. Topography The region comprised in the district can be portrayed as a long undulating plain gently sloping towards the river Cauvery in the south-east. The two major tributaries of river Cauvery viz. Bhavani and Noyyal drain the long stretch of mountains in the north. A part of the eastern boundary of the district is formed by river Cauvery, entering the district from Salem and flowing in a south direction. Soil Condition The soils of the district are mostly red sand and gravel with moderate amounts of red- loam and occasional black loam tracts. Vast stretches of the upland regions are mostly gravel. Red-loam occurs mostly in land under Kalingarayan channel and in beds of tanks in Erode Taluk and to some less extent in the 3 valleys in Perundurai taluk. It also occurs in the hilly tracts of Bhavani taluk. Soils of Bhavani, Erode and Perundurai taluks are chiefly gravel, stony and sandy of the red variety. Soils of Gobichettipalayam and Sathyamangalam taluks are mostly of the red sandy variety. Red loam is prevalent mostly in Gobichettipalayam and Perundurai taluks. Climate Erode District has dry weather throughout except during the monsoon season. Generally the first two months of the year are pleasant, but in March, Mercury gains an upward trend which persists till the end of May. Highest temperature is normally recorded during May. The scanty showers during this period do not provide any relief to the oppressive heat. There is a slight improvement in the climate during June-August period. During this premonsoon period, the mercury reverses its trend and by September, the sky gets overcast heavily but the rains are meagre. North-east monsoon sets in vigorously only during October-November and by December, 4 the rains disappear rendering the climate clear but pleasant. The district in general is characterized with a scanty rainfall and a dry climate. Maximum rainfall is recorded in Gobichettipalayam and Bhavani taluks. The Palghat gap in the Western Ghats, which has a soothing effect in the climate of Coimbatore District, does not render much help in bringing down the dry climate in this area. The cool-wind that gushes out of the west coast through Palghat gap loses its coolness and becomes dry by the time it reaches Erode region. Status of Human Development The top three blocks in Human Development Index (HDI) are Erode Municipal corporation (0.95) Erode (0.79) and Kodumudi (0.71). The bottom three blocks in HDI are Thalavadi (0.28) Bhavanisagar (0.43) and Nambiyur (0.45). The HDI reveals the vast differences in human development across the blocks in Erode district. The gender inequality index is a negative index. Hence, the value closer to ‘O’ (zero) shows lower gender inequality and the value 5 close to ‘I’ (one) shows higher gender inequality. The three top blocks with lower gender inequality in 2013-14 are Thukkanaikenpalayam (0.01) Bhavanisagar (0.01) and Kodumudi (0.01). The three bottom blocks with higher gender inequality in 2013-14 are Erode (0.06) Erode Municipal Corporation (0.06) and Perundurai (0.05). The three top blocks in Child Development Index (CDI) during 2013 – 14 are Erode Municipal Corporation (0.91), Erode (0.87) and Perundurai (0.82). The bottom three blocks in Child Development Index during 2013 – 14 are Thalavadi (0.59), Anthiyur (0.50) and Sathyamangalam (0.46) Sathyamangalam is at the bottom because it has a large number of malnourished children and lower gross enrolment rate at secondary level. The top three blocks with lower multidimensional poverty index value are Erode Municipal Corporation (0.03). Erode (0.24) and Chennimalai (0.31).The bottom three blocks with higher MPI value are Thalavadi (0.87) Sathyamangalam (0.62) and Bhavanisagar (0.60). 6 Thalavadi has the highest MPI value (0.87) because the block is located in the hills and people there depend mostly on agriculture. The people there lack education, employable skills and have poor access to health facilities. This block needs special attention. Employment, Income and Poverty The WPR of Erode district (53.10) registered a marginal decline in 2011 from 54.54% in 2001. Even though, Nambiyur block had the highest WPR, the WPR of the block declined from 64.59% in 2001 to 60.14% in 2011. Erode Municipal Corporation registered the lowest WPR (43.91) in 2011. But in the HDI, it tops the list. The reason why the total population, workers and non-workers are low in Erode Municipal Corporation is that it has been bifurcated from Erode block in recent years. For the District as a whole, the WPR is 53.10. The male and the female worker participation rate in the district are 64.79 and 41.33 respectively. Female WPR is higher in Kodumudi (51.96%) and Ammapet (51.95%) blocks than in other blocks. Rural – Urban worker Participate Rate. 7 The rural WPR is 58.07. The male and the female WPR in rural areas is 65.85 and 50.12 respectively. The urban WPR is 48.42. The male and the female WPR in urban areas are 64.79 and 41.33 respectively. WPR of women is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. The main reason why the female WPR is high in rural areas is that the principal workers (main workers) in rural areas get low wage. 59% of male workers and 39% of female workers were engaged in non-farm sector. The SSA survey in 2003 identified 2243 child labourers in Erode district and the number has considerably declined in recent years because of the vigilance of the district administration. In 2013-14, 1,90,087 households in Erode district were provided employment under MGNREGA. The per capita income of Erode district (at constant prices) in 2011 – 12 was Rs.75670 and it was higher than that of the state (Rs. 63996). During 2011 – 12, the contribution of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors to GDDP was 14.43%, 32.48% and 53.09%. 8 In the district 31.42 percent of households were below poverty line in 2003. Thalavadi block had the highest percentage of BPL households in the district (41.42%) followed by Thukkanaickenpalayam (40.2%) and Ammapet (36.89%) blocks. In Erode district, in 2014, 6.37.886 households had family cards to avail the benefits of public distribution system. Demography, Health and Nutrition According to 2011 census, Erode district had a population of 22,51,744. The sex ratio of the district was 993. The population of the district increased by 11.66 percent during 2001-2011.Thalavadi block had the highest increase in population during 2001-2011 (19%). The Crude Birth Rate of the district marginally increased from 12.64 in 2009 to 12.84 in 2014. Among the blocks, Modakurichi has the lowest CBR of 10.4. The CDR of the district declined from 12.1 in 2009 to 6.5 in 2014.Among the blocks, Thalavadi had the lowest CDR (4%) if we do not take into account Erode Municipal corporation which had the CDR of 0.8 Sathyamangalam and Thukkanaikenpalayam each had the highest death rate (8.2). 9 It is heartening to note that the sex ratio in Gobichettipalayam, Kodumudi, Modakuruchi, Nambiyur, Thalavadi and Thukkanaicken palayam blocks is above 1000. The Child sex ratio of the district increased from 968 in 2001 to 993 in 2011 Ammapet had the lowest child sex ratio (931). Whereas Thalavadi had the highest sex ratio.