THIRUVALLUR DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT THIRUVALLUR DISTRICT Introduction Tiruvallur district has a combination of traditional temples and handlooms on the one hand, and rapid industrial development on the other hand. Agriculture and family based trades are fast diminishing with the all- encompassing industrial economy and service sector which are major contributors to the faster economic growth in the district as compared to the State of Tamil Nadu. Tiruvallur, a newly formed district on the east coast has just 5.8 % forest cover and 35 % net sown area which are fast receding. Socio economic position, it has a mix of both traditional and modern cultural and livelihood practices, with the equation between the two changing over time. Geography Tiruvallur district is located in north-east Tamil Nadu and lies between 12°15' and 13°15' north latitude and 79°15' and 80°20' east longitude. The district is surrounded by Kancheepuram district in the south, Vellore district in the west, Bay of Bengal in the east and Andhra Pradesh in the north. 1 The total geographical area of the district is 342,243 hectares or about 3,422 square kilometers. Topography The coastal region is mostly flat while certain areas in Tiruttani and Pallipet taluks are undulated and even hilly. However, there are not many hills of any considerable height in this district. There are a few conical hills or ridges of small elevation, like the St. Thomas Mount. Most of the hills and hillocks are rocky and no verdant vegetation is seen in the slopes of these hills. The area under forests, all of 19,736 sq. km., is only 5.8 % of the total geographical area of the district. Soil Condition Rocks found in and near the surface are in detached masses. Hence, the soil can’t be termed as very fertile. The soil types predominantly found are red non-calcareous and coastal alluvial. Sandy soil mixed with soda or other alkalis is also found in the district. The soil found nearer to the seacoast is of the inferior erinaceous type, which is most suited for raising casuarina plants. No mineral of any importance is available in the district. 2 Climate Like other parts of Tamil Nadu, hot climate prevails during the months of April and May and humid climate during the rest of the year except in December, January and February when it is slightly cold. The average normal rainfall of the district is 1104 mm. Out of this about 50 % is received during north east monsoon period and about 40 % is received during south west monsoon period. The average temperature of the district is a maximum of 37.9°C and a minimum of 18.5°C. STATUS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Poonamallee and Tiruvallur blocks had high ranks with regard to all the four indices whereas Villivakkam block was close behind and could be called one of the developed blocks. Gummidipoondi and Tiruvalangadu blocks on the other hand had consistently lower ranks. Poondi and R K Pet too had lower ranks with regard to three of the four indices. Overall HDI and CDI in the district were higher with majority of the blocks clocking an HDI value about 0.500. 3 Wider inter-block variations were observed in indices for HDI because of low access to health facilities and services in some of the very backward blocks impacting indicators pertaining to IMR, MMR and under-five- mortality. The overall HDI index revealed a wide variation with Poonamallee (0.911) at the highest and Tiruvalangadu (0.295) at the lowest rank with the inter-block variation between HDI of the first and last ranked blocks. Inter-block GII values ranged from 0.117 in Tiruttani with the worst level of inequality to 0.016 in Tiruvallur with a mild level of gender inequality. Villivakkam, Pallipet, Poonamalee have better CDI and R.K.pet, Sholavaram, Puzhal have low CDI value. The blocks of Puzhal, Poonamallee, and Villivakkam indicated lower presence of multiple deprivations in education, health and living standards unlike the blocks of R. K. Pet, Gummidipoondi and Tiruvalangadu which had highest MPI ranking among the blocks. Employment, Income and Poverty District’s PCI was higher in comparison with the State PCI and the district’s GDDP had 4 grown faster than the state’s GDP. Respective share of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors in the district and the state, however, remains comparable with the service and industry sectors contributing the lion’s shares to the respective GDP. Total population in this district had increased from 2,754,761 in 2001 to 3,728,104 registering an increase by 35.33%; there was also an upward change in the workers participation rate. However, only about 40 % of the population was employed. There was however no significant change in the proportion of main, marginal and non-workers to overall worker population over the past decade. A lower proportion of marginal workers indicates that majority of the employed population had employment for more than 180 days in a year except for Villivakkam block where the increase in marginal workers was phenomenal at 157.9%. The female work participation out of total female population was 23.46 % in the district in 2011. The female participation rate varies among the blocks ranging from 15.51 % in Puzhal to 44.70 % in Tiruvalangadu. There is also a striking urban rural disparity in work opportunities for women, with just 5 18% of urban women economically active as compared to the 33.6% rural women. In primary sector the proportion of workers employed had declined from 22.4 % in 2001 to 21.4% in 2011 the overall worker population had increased by 55.8 %; yet the number of cultivators reduced by 5.5% and net sown area reduced by 10.46%. The district has witnessed enormous inter district and intra district labour movement, driven by diminishing and unprofitable agriculture, marginalization of small businesses such as handlooms, and industrial activities concentrated in eastern parts of the district with exception of the SIPCOT and TANSDICO in Gummidipoondi. There has been a decrease in the worker population in the household industry sector (by 4.9%) and tremendous increase in the worker population in the ‘other’ sector (by 63.39%), indicating both positive and negative aspects of labour movement. On a positive note, there was a movement of workers from unorganized sectors to organized, industrial or service sectors. Decrease in household industry sector, however, suggests that traditional family based or small enterprises such as handlooms had reached a stagnation point prompting the families to explore other avenues. 6 The placement has been consistently low ranging from 1.82 to 3.11 during the reference period between 2007 and 2011. The proportion of sector-wise contribution in the GDDP from 2009-10 to 2011-12 suggested that a major share of the income of the district, accounting 62.9% of total income, was contributed by tertiary sector followed by secondary sector with 34.1% with just 3.04% contributed by the primary sector. The per capita income of district is Rs. 83594 higher than State. In rural areas, the proportion of BPL families was slightly lower (36.76%) than the State average for rural areas whereas in the urban areas it was slightly more (21.98 %) than the State average for urban areas. Percentage of BPL households in the district (30.86%) was comparatively higher than that in the State (21.12%). Tiruvallur, Puzhal and Villivakkam blocks had the least percentage of BPL households whereas; Pallipet (63.09%), R K Pet (42.16%), Tiruvalangadu (37.15%), were the blocks with high percentage of BPL families. Demography, Health and Nutrition Population of Tiruvallur district was 37,28,104 in 2011 registering a growth of 35.33% over 7 2001. Intra district growth transition revealed varying degrees of growth percentages among the blocks ranging from 62.60% in Villivakkam and 12.75% in Tiruvalangadu block. Density for Tamil Nadu was 555 in 2011, it was higher at 1098 for the district. During 2001 and 2011, this ratio increased from 776 to 1098 indicating a steady increase in pressure on land for occupation. Population density in the blocks ranged from 325 in Poondi to 5104 in Puzhal. CBR for the district in 2013 was lower compared to the State (15.6) and national average (21.4) for the same year. CDR for the district too was lower than the State (7.3) and national average (7.0) for the same year. Sex ratio in the district had increased from 971 in 2001 to 987 in 2011 which was, still, lower than the State’s sex ratio of 996 women per 1000 men (census 2011). Six blocks viz., Minjur, Poondi, Tiruvallur, Ellapuram, Tiruttani and Tiruvalangadu, had sex ratio more than 1,000. The CSR for Tiruvallur district has reduced from 957 girls per 1000 boys in 2001 to 946 girls in 2011. The inter-block disparities in IMR ranges from lowest in Poonamallee (5.1 deaths per 1000 8 live births) to highest in Tiruvalangadu (20.2 deaths per 1000 live births) indicate high variation in preparedness for ensuring child survival. Innovative interventions like Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC), had lowered the MMR in Tamil Nadu (68) and in Tiruvallur district (79.5). In MMR, Kadambathur, Pallipet, Thruvallur have shown impressive improvements in their performance in the year 2013-14. Percentage of institutional deliveries in the district had gone up to be 99.9 % with just 0.1 % domiciliary deliveries. The district SBR had marginally declined from 13.26 in 2012-13 to 12.96 deaths per 1000 live births in 2013-14.