PERAMBALUR DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT PERAMBALUR DISTRICT Introduction Perambalur is an administrative district in Tamil Nadu with headquarters at Perambalur. The district occupies an area of 1,756 sq.km and has a population of 5,65,223 making it the least populous district in the State. Perambalur District came into existence after trifurcation of Tiruchirappalli district with effect from 30.09.1995. In 19.11.2007 Government passed orders that Perambalur District be reorganized and bifurcated again into two districts Perambalur and Ariyalur and Perambalur district has its headquarters at Perambalur. The total geographical area of the district was 3,69,007 ha and net sown area and gross sown area were 2,16,422 ha and 2,37,136 ha respectively. The net area under irrigation was 71,624 ha. The district lies in the Southern plateau and hill zone of Agro-climate regional planning with characteristics of semi-arid climate. The normal rainfall of the district was 908 mm which was less than 946.9 mm, the normal rainfall of the State. 1 Geography Perambalur District is located and spreads between 10.54‘ and 11.30‘ degree Northern latitude and 78.40‘ and 79.30‘ degree of the Eastern longitude. Perambalur district has administrative divisions of 6 Taluks, 4 Blocks, 322 Village Panchayats and 345 Revenue Villages. Topography The district is bound to the north by the Cuddalore district and Salem district, to the south by Tiruchirapalli district, to the west by Namakkal district and to the east by Ariyalur district. It is an inland district without coastal line. The district has Vellar River in the North and has well marked natural divisions. The Pachamalai hill situated on the North boundary of Perambalur is the most important hill in the district. The district has an undulating topography, characterized by low mounds and broad valleys. Hill ranges belonging to Pachaimalai Hills occupy the north-western part of the district, where the terrain is rugged. The ground elevation ranges from 100 to 1015 m asl. The region slopes towards east. Soil Condition The soil is predominantly red loamy, alluvial and black soil. Soil types of the area are more 2 important since it is the main criteria in the agricultural production and in the recharge of ground water. Climate Perambalur district enjoys a typical semi arid climate with hot summers and moderately cool winters. The hottest season is from March to May. During the period the maximum temperature often exceeds 40°C. The winter season is spread over two months viz. January and February and the nights are cool and pleasant. The district generally has a high humidity. The district receives rainfall under the influence of both southwest and northeast monsoon. There is a gradual decrease in precipitation from northeast to southwest over the district. The precipitation during northeast monsoon, southwest monsoon and remaining winter hot weather period account for 52%, 34% and 14% of annual rainfall, respectively. STATUS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The HDI of the four blocks were as follows: Perambalur block – 0.91, Veppanathatai – 0.43, Alathur – 0.42 and Veppur – 0.35. The low human development values of the latter three blocks gave a realistic picture of the region, while the unusually high HDI of Perambalur block certainly did not reflect the true nature of development in the region. 3 Perambalur district showed a high disparity among male and female worker participation rate in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, more adversely in the latter. The gender gap in literacy rate in Veppur block is as high as 17.6%, while it is 15% in the other rural blocks. There is little to infer from the GII as the lowest value of 0.03 for Perambalur block and the highest of 0.67 for Veppur creates a false notion of a highly gender sensitized population demonstrating a very high parity between women and men in educational attainment, labour and representation in local governance. Alathur, Veppur and Permbalur fare better in Child Development Index. Considering the MPI, there is quite an amount of disparity among the 4 blocks with Alathur‘s MPI at 0.39 while Veppur MPI is 0.73. While the vulnerability of the people of Perambalur to poverty is generally high because of the very low per capita income, malnourishment levels, where larger proportion of children are deprived of the essential nutrition. Also, all blocks have very low access to toilet, which is an important factor of poverty according to MDG. The access to drinking water was 100%, times and it is from a shared source. The penetration of better fuel source for cooking 4 was good in Perambalur, largely due to urbanization. 2/3 rd of people in the rest of the 3 blocks were dependent on wood or charcoal as cooking fuel. Although half the population of Veppanthattai, Alathur and Veppur blocks had pucca houses, about 85% of the population in the three blocks did not have access to toilets. Even in the sole urban block, Perambalur, 55% of the population did not have access to toilets. People need to be encouraged to utilize the government’s rural sanitation schemes to build toilets in their houses. EMPLOYMENT, INCOME AND POVERTY The per capita income of Perambalur (Rs. 24256) being much lower than the TN average (Rs.63996) in 2012 reinforces the importance of policies to ensure employment. Mines, industries and quarries had sprouted in recent years because of development agenda of the government. The analysis of employment opportunities and income levels of Perambalur due to the economic growth activities and agricultural activities were constrained by the lack of adequate data, but efforts were made to obtain a sense of the scenario prevalent in the district. The percentage of total workers of Perambalur block was smaller than the other blocks. This may be attributed to a significant 5 part of the population being engaged in training their soft skills or pursuing higher education, or to a lack of opportunities. Further, the MGNREGA had least coverage in Perambalur block compared to the other blocks, which may also be an explanation for the fall in the main workers’ numbers. The distribution of workers according to the type of work clearly illustrates that agriculture related activities were the main source of employment (66.29% of total workers). Perambalur was traditionally an agrarian district. The contribution of agriculture to the GDDP was 32.24%. 37% of total land was under cultivation, highlighting the large extent of agricultural activity in the district. The number of cultivators has fallen by more than 10%, while the number of agricultural labourers had risen by more than 35%. This can be explained by the significant migration from two blocks, Veppanthattai and Veppur, as well as the acquisition of land for SEZ. Unemployment in the rural context refers to long-term unemployment. Registrations in the District Unemployment Exchange show that between 2007 and 2011, only 1,569 out of 1,11,325 had obtained employment. Educated employment seems to be on the rise, given that 70% of the unemployed have tenth standard qualifications at least. Proper wage employment programs and other developmental programs could be introduced 6 to meet the problems of the educated unemployed. Perambalur‘s BPL percentage is 31.56%.162619 households are provided with family cards. DEMOGRAPHY, HEALTH AND NUTRITION The decadal (2001 – 2011) growth rate of population is 14.50%. According to the 2011 census, 17.19% lived in urban areas and 82.81% lived in rural areas. In the decade 2001 – 2011, the population density has risen from 282 persons per square kilometer, to 323/ sq. km. The CBR of the district has declined from 15.8 to 14.7. The district CDR has also declined from 5.7 to 1.52. Perambalur, one of the least developed districts of Tamil Nadu, has a CBR of 16.4 per 1000 people. Although the sex ratio figures for the district (990 females for every 1000 males) and the various blocks – 1017, 1003 and 1012 in Veppanthattai, Veppur and Alathur blocks respectively - were healthy indicators of sex ratio, focus group discussions (FGDs) with stakeholders indicated that there were sporadic incidences of female infanticide in the district. The child sex ratio revealed the gender imbalance within the district – the child sex ratio was 946. While Alathur had the highest child sex ratio of 1026, Perambalur and 7 Veppanthattai had much lower child sex ratios (919 and 914 respectively). The child sex ratio of Veppur was an alarming 829. The declining sex ratio may be attributed to a number of factors – missing women through undercounting, lower status of women, higher mortality of female babies during childhood because of negligence or inadequate nutrition, female infanticide and recent technological developments that aid sex-selective abortions. In 2007, the IMR was 20.4 and it had steadily risen in the succeeding years – 23.8 in 2008, 22.5 in 2009, 22.8 in 2010. In 2011, the IMR dropped drastically to 19.7 and then to 17.08 in 2014. In 2010, Veppanthattai block had recorded the highest MMR of 163.4 and it increased in 2011 to 2012 and it declined to 84.6 in 2014. In Alathur block, it was 117.6 in 2010 and declined to 63.5 in 2011 and increased to 187 in 2014. In 2014, MMR for the District stood at 81.17. The still birth rate (SBR) of the district was 16.5 in 2007 and declined to 11.7 in 2014. Veppur and Perambalur blocks had a SBR of 14.5 and 9.03 respectively in 2014.