KANCHEEPURAM DISTRICT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DISTRICT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT KANCHEEPURAM DISTRICT Introduction Kancheepuram district was initially known as Chengalpattu district. It was bifurcated on 18-11-1997 into Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. Kancheepuram town, known as the city of thousand temples, is the headquarters of the district. Kancheepuram is a unique district, with a long and glorious cultural and historical background. It is known for its silk sarees and traditional handloom-weaved fabrics. Being close to the growing metropolis of Chennai, the district is showing very impressive growth in the industrial and services sector. For administrative reasons, the district has been divided into 4 revenue divisions comprising of 11 taluks with 1,137 revenue villages. For development reasons, it is divided into 13 development blocks with 648 Village Panchayats. The district has 24 town panchayats and 10 municipalities. In the last decades, many villages and municipalities within the district have been subsumed under the Greater Chennai Agglomeration and are now a part of the fast expanding Chennai city suburban areas. 1 Geography The district is situated on the east coast of Tamil Nadu. It is bordered on the east by the Bay of Bengal, by Vellore and Thiruvannamalai Districts on the west, by Chennai city and Tiruvallur district on the north and Villupuram district on the south. It lies between 11° 00' to 12° 00’ North latitudes and 77° 28' to 78° 50' East longitudes. Situated at a distance of 76 km from Chennai, the district is well connected by road and rail. At present, Chengalpattu is the headquarters of the Chengalpattu taluk of the Kancheepuram district and is 55km southwest of the State capital, Chennai on the National Highway 45. The district has a total geographical area of 4433 sq. km and coastline of 87.2 km. Palar is the main river and is not perennial. Cheyyar and Vegavathy rivers are tributaries of Palar and join it at Thirumakkudal. Topography The major part of the area is characterised by topography with innumerable depressions, which are used as irrigation tanks. Three beach terraces ranging in elevation between 4 mark the coastal tract and 12 m with broad inter-terrace depressions. 2 The coastal plain displays a fairly low level or gently rolling surface and only slightly elevated. The straight trend of the coastline is a result of development of a vast alluvial plain. There are a number of sand dunes in the coastal tract. The coastal landforms include estuarine tidal, mud flats or lagoons salt marsh. Soil Condition The soil is generally low in nitrogen and potassium and high in phosphorus. The status of micronutrients is critical and deficiency in zinc, iron and copper is noticed in many villages. There are different kinds of soil conditions - Red Soil in Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Uthiramerur, Thirukalukundram, Maduranthakam, Cheyyur, Brown Soil in Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Uthiramerur, Thirukalukundram, Maduranthakam, Cheyyur. Mixed Soil is found in Chengalpattu, Cheyyur, Kancheepuram, Black Soil in Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Uthiramerur, Thirukalukundram,Maduranthakam, Cheyyur and Alluvial Soil in Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Cheyyur. Climate Kancheepuram district enjoys a tropical climate, hot and humid most of the period of 3 the year. It benefits both from the south-west and north-east monsoons; however, the major rainfall is during the north-east monsoon season from October end to December. Status of Human Development The top five blocks in human development Index in the district are: St. Thomas Mount (0.752) Kattankolathur (0.682) Kundrathur (0.654) Sriperumbudur (0.630) and Thiruporur (0.572). The bottom five blocks in the district are : Acharapakkam (0.375) Madurantakam (0.387) Uthiramerur (0.393) Wallajabad (0.415) and Lathur (0.477). There are wide variations in HDI across the 13 blocks in the district. The overall HDI reveals that seven out of 13 blocks have HDI values higher than 0.50, while the other six blocks have HDI values lower than 0.50. Even though, for historical reasons, the blocks at the bottom are industrially backward, that is not the justification for them to perform low on delivery of health services as well as education. The GII value ranges from 0 to I, the higher the value, the more inequality it shows. The top five blocks that have lower gender inequality are: Lathur (0.006) Chithamour 4 (0.012), Sriperumbudur (0.024) Madurantakam (0.032) and Kundrathur (0.38). The bottom five blocks with higher gender inequality are Kancheepuram (0.082). St. Thomas Mount (0.077). Thirukalukundram (0.072), Uthiramerur (0.069) and Kattankolathur (.057). It is interesting to note that Lathur scores very well on gender empowerment. It has the lowest GII (O.006) because, the female worker participation rate in Lathur block is high and the representation of women in Rural Local Bodies is also comparatively higher. The female worker participation rate for non – agricultural sector is high in backward blocks. Lathur had the lowest MMR for the year 2013-14. Chithamour and Lathur blocks had low gender inequality for the main reason that there is high degree of political participation of women at the Panchayat level. It is encouraging to note that in 9 out of 13 blocks, the CDI value is more than 0.500.The top 5 blocks in CDI in the district are 1. Sriperumbudur (0.801) 2. Kundrathur (0.723) 3. St. Thomas Mount (0.664) 4. Thiruporur (0.626) and 5. Kattankolathur (0.610). The bottom 5 blocks in CDI in the district are: Wallajabad (0.349). Uthiramerur (0.368). 5 Lathur (0.380). Maduranthakam (0.416) and Kancheepuram (0.518).The top 5 blocks in CDI are also the top 5 blocks in HDI. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is calculated on the basis of indicators reflecting the dimensions of health, education and living standard.The top five blocks, where the multidimensional poverty is low are St. Thomas Mount (0.278) Kancheepuram (0.316). Kundrathur (0.356) Kattankulathur (0.402) and Thiruporur (0. 434). The bottom five blocks where the multidimensional poverty is high are Walajabad (0.767) Acharapakkam (0.711) Madurantakam (0.660) Thirukalukundram (0.639) and Chithamour (0.597). Employment Income and Poverty Inadequate opportunity for gainful employment leads to lowering of income levels, consequently driving the people into poverty. The Total workers in Kancheepuram district increased from 11.33 lakh in 2001 to 18.32 lakh in 2011. That means an increase of nearly 7 lakh. The Work Participation Rate of the district increased from 39.79 percent in 2001 to 41.86 percent in 2011. The main workers increased from 9.14 lakh in 2001 to 14.77 lakh in 2011. 6 Across the blocks, Madurantakam, Kancheepuram, Wallajabad, St. Thomas Mount and Acharapakkam witnessed a large increase in marginal workers during 2001 to 2011. The non – workers increased from 17.44 lakh in 2001 to 21.66 lakh in 2011. The rural WPR in the district in 2011 (46.46) was higher than that of the urban WPR (39.22) during that year. The female WPR in 2011 was 24.81 and it is less than half of the male WPR (58.69) during the same year. The data relating to sectoral composition of workers reveals that ‘’household industries and other workers” account for the bulk of employment. There has been an increase in this segment from 75.4% in 2001 to 85.8% in 2011. In the case of primary sector, the proportion of workers employed declined from 24.7% in 2001 to 14.2% in 2011. There was decline in the percentage of cultivators as well as agricultural labourers during 2001 and 2011. Possible reduction in cultivable lands influenced by land conversion to real estate business, failure of monsoon can be attributed for the change. Migrants, both intra – State and inter – State may have contributed to the increase in working population. 7 According to the land use pattern, Kancheepuram district has a higher land use for non –agricultural purpose; only 28% of the land is utilized for agriculture. The Percentage of barren and uncultivable land is minimal at 3% while fallow lands (current and other) are around 24%. Child labour has come down in Kancheepuram district owing to the implementation of many programmes by the Government (e.g., The National Child Labour Project (NCLP) was started by the Union Ministry of labour and Employment with the ultimate aim of completely eradicating the practice of child labour). Child Labour Protection Committee was formed in the district with the Project Director (District Rural Development Authority) as Secretary. During 2006-7, 586 children were mainstreamed. But the number came down to 122 in 2013-14. It is encouraging to note that at present 425 children are enrolled in NCLP’s Special Training Centres in Kancheepuram district. Trade unions, more number of NGOs, employers and the civil society may be involved in addressing this issue. For those registered with District Employment office, the percentage of placements is very low in the district. During the period 2007 to 2014, the average percentage of placement is 2.58 only. 8 The per capita income of the district has been consistently higher than that of the State during the period 2008-09 to 2011-12. In 2011-12, the per capita income of the district was Rs.92713, whereas the per capita income of the State in that year was Rs. 63996. The MGNREGA is a pioneering employment guarantee scheme in independent India. As on March 2013, 67.4% of households in Kancheepuram were registered under this programme. Nearly four lakh persons were employed under this scheme in the district. Larger Participation of women in MGNREGA programme in the district is noteworthy.