CENSUS OF INDIA 1961. VOLUME IX MADRAS PART-X-IV DISTRICT CENSUS HANDBOOK T'RUNELVELI VOLUME I P. K. N AJ\.lBIAR Of thfl Indian Admini,ytrative Service SUPERINTENDENT OF CENSUS OPERATIONS. MADRAS PUBLISHED BY THE DIRECTOR OF STATIONERY AND PR1NTING, MADRAS AND PR1NTED AT MlTTHL'KUMARA", PRESS, MADRAS-I. 1965 Price: Ra. 12-tJ 0 PREFACE It has been the policy of the Government of Madras to print and publish village statistics based on the information collected during each Census. In 1951, the Government of India offered to handover to the State:Government the Census Tables and abstracts prepared during Census and suggested that they might be printed and published along with any other useful information relating to each district. The form of the District Census Handbook was thus conceived. The State Government accepted the idea and a publication was brought out at the cost of the State Government. Each District Census Handbook consisted of two parts-Part I containing three sections. viz. General Population Tables, Economic Tables, Table I, II and III of Small-Scale Industries, Summary figures of district and taluks, rural and urban statistics and Part II containing C and D series, viz. Household and Age Tables and Social and Cultuml Tables and District Occupational Abstract. A District Census Handbook was published for each <psJrict., It has been considered an important achievement of the lasL Census.,. Sri 'A. Mitra, Registrar-General, Tndia. decided 110t only to continue the series during 1961. but to improve definitely on its content. so that each District Census Handbook' would contain basic economic data for the smallest ,administrative unit in the district and be a useful reference book for scholars, Central and State Governments. Local Bodies and private institutions. Th~ proposal of wideh.ing the scope of the Census Handbook was accepted by the State Government in their G. O. Ms. No. 154, Public (Elections II) dated the 31st January, 1961. 1t was also d.ecided to publish it at the cost of the State Government. The Handbooks have been printed in two volumes. The first volume contains an introductory essay on all important aspects' of the district, physical features, history, people and their social condition, agriculture, industyjes, puhlic health, education, :irrigation, electricity and other allied topics. It contains .. A" Series Tables, "B" Series, "C'- Series, seT for each tal uk. SC 1, ST I and II and a list of fairs and festivals in the district. Seventy-two statements of administrative statistics classified under seven ~cctions have been included in the second volume of this District Census Handbook. L Agriculture and irrigation 2. .Industry and Labour 3. Education 4. Public Health 5. Law and Order 6. Communication~ 7. M:iscellaneOl.iS A new feawr:;: of the District Census Handbook is the village Directory which replaced the Rural Statistics included in the previous Census series. An abstract giving a complete list of all villages and towns in each taluk in the district along '.vi th the distributIon of pop~lla tion by sex and various categories ii of workers has been added. It also gives an account of the basic amenities available in each village such as educational, medical, irrigational, posts and telegraph, communication and electrification. A village-wise list of industries classified according to the Indian Standard Industrial Classification Code and the total number of units in the different types of industry for each village~ a list of fairs and festivals, an alphabetical list of villages along with their corresponding Census location code number and a statement showing the type of soil and type of terrain, sources of irrigation~ important wet and dry crops and value of such lands will also be found in this volume. The second volume of this book contains maps of each taluk in the district and in addition the following interesting items: 1. Gazetteer of place names 2. Calendar of outstanding occurrences that have influenced the district. It has been also my endeavour to include in this volume all items of information collected by the Census Organisation in the course of special studies undertaken during 1961 Census. Though the publication will be issued by the Government of Madras, the views expressed in the volume are personal and do not bind the Government. This volume containing a variety of information relating to Tirunelveli district will, I hope, be useful to the general public. In keeping with the policy of the Government to make Tamil the language of a.dministration, the Government of Madras have decided to issue an abridged edition of District Census Handbook in Tamil. This abridgement will be 'done by the State Government, but they have kindly agreed to show it to me foJ' comments before publication. In preparing this volume, I have been assisted by a large number of my j)taff. Special mention should be made of Sri K.C. Narayana Kurup~ my, Deputy Superintendent, who has assisted me in compiling and test_:checkjn~ the material pieced together in this volume. I am also grateful to Sri Asot Mitra~ I.e.s.,. Census Commissioner of India for having made it possible to conceive of a volume like this for publication in connection with the 1961 Census. P. K. N AMBI A..R~ Superintendent of Census Operatio~. I wish to acknowledge the able assistance given by the following members of my staff in the preparation and presentation 0f statistics .in thls volume: Sri G. Chandrasekharan Tabulation Officer Sri A. V. Vallinathan Statistical Assistant Sri C. K. Somasundara n Upper' Division Clerk Sri C. Gangadharan Lower Division Ckrk Sri S. Vittal Rao Lower Division Clerk Sri A. Rajamani Draughtsman Sri N. Chandran Draughtsman I wish to place on record my appreciation of the good work done by Muthukumaran Press, Madras in printing this volume. P. K. NAlL{BIAR CONTENTS PART-I Pages -Preface Chapter I Introduction 1-9 Chapter II Characteristics of popula Hon 10--22 Chapter III People 23-25 -Chapter IV Housing 26-35 Chapter V Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 36-39 Chapter VI Irrigation 40-41 Chapter VII Education and Public Health 42--46 Chapter VIII Industries 47-50 Chapter IX Handloom Industry 51-52 Chapter X Local Administration and Elections 53-56 Chapter XI Plan Achievemen ts 57-65 Chapter XII Temples 66 PART-U CENSUS TABLES General Population Tables-A Series A--f Area. Houses and Population Fly leaf 71-72 Table 73-76 Appendix 1-1951 Territorial units constituting the present set up of Tirunelveli District 77 Sub-Appendix to Appendix I -Area for 1951 and 1961 for those municipal towns which have undergone changes in area since 1951 Census 1& Villages transferred from one Taluk to another in Tirunelveli District 7& Appendix II-Number of villages with a population of 5,000 and over and towns with a population under 5.000 .. , 19 Appendix III-Houseless and Institutional Population 79-10 A-ll Variation in popUlation during sixty years Fly leaf ~l Table 12 A-Ill Villages classified by population Fly leaf 83-8.. Table 15 A-IV Towns (and Town-groups) classified by population wjth 'Variation since 1941- Fly leaf ~6-88 Table 89-95 (ii) General Economic Tables B-serles (B-I-B-IX) Preliminary Note on General Economic Tables 99 8-1 Workers and Non-workers classified by sex and broad age groups­ Fly leaf 100 Table 101-102 B-()] Parts A &; B Industrial classification of Workers and Non-workers by educational levels in Urban and Rural areas- Fly leaf 103 .1 Table 104-112 8--IV Part A Industrial classification by sex and class of worker of persons at work at Household Industry- Fly leaf (Parts A, B and C) 113 Table 114-118 B-IV Part B Industrial classification by sex and class of worker of persons at work in Non-household industry, Trade, Business, Profession or Service- Table t 19-128 B-IV Part C Industrial Classification by Sex and Divisions, Maior Gwups a11d Minor Groups of persons at work other than cultivation­ Table 129-153 Appendix 154-163 B-V Occupational classificatj·un by sex of persom at "vork other thO-l1 cultivation-- . Fly leaf 164 Table 165-223 Appendix 224-233 8-Vl Occupational Divisions of persons at work other rhan Cultivation classified by sex, broad age groups and educational levels in Urban areas only- Fly leaf 234 Table 235---242 8-YU Part A Persons working principally (i) as Cultivators (ii) as Agricultural Labourers or (iii) at Household Industry classified by Sex and Secondary work (i) at Household Industry (Ii) as Cultivator or (iii) as Agricultural Labourer- Fly leaf (Parts A and B) 243 Table 244-246 8-Vll Pan 13 Industrial dassification by sex of persons working in Non­ Household Industry, Trade, Business, Professio_n or Service who are aho engaged in Household Industry- Table 247-250 (iii) 18-VIII Parts A & B Persons unemployed aged 15 and above by sex, broad age groups and educational levels in Urban and Rural areas- Fly leaf 251 Table 252-25~ 'S-IX Persons not at work classified by sex, broad age-groups and type of activity- Fly leaf 255 Table 256-263 Household EcoDomic Tables (B-X to B-XVU) Note on Household Economic Tables 267-21i Annexure-Selected local rights on Lmd in Tirunelveli District 275-271 B-X Sample Households (i) engaged neither in Cultivation nor Household Industry (ii) :engaged either in Cultivation or Household Industry but not in both and (iii) engaged both in Cultivation and House­ hold Industry for all areas- Fly leaf 278 'Table 271) B-XI' Sample Households engaged in Cultivation classified by interest in land and size of land cultivated in Rural and Urban areas separately- .