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Tamil Nadu (Tamil: தமிழ் நாடு, "Land of the Tamils"; ) is a state at the southern tip of India. Tamil Nadu is bordered by Pondicherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Sri Lanka, which has a significant Tamil minority, lies off the southeast coast. Tamil Nadu has had long continuous human habitation since pre-historic times. Its long history and cultural traditions are among the oldest in the world. The ancient Tamil kingdoms of Chola, Chera and Pandya are of very ancient origins. They patronised a mature culture which produced some of the oldest surviving literature in India. Colonised by the East India Company, Tamil Nadu was eventually incorporated into the Madras Presidency. After the independence of India, the state of Tamil Nadu was created in 1969 based on linguistic boundaries. The politics of Tamil Nadu has been dominated by DMK and AIADMK, who are the products of the Dravidian movement which agitated demanding concessions for the 'Dravidian' population of Tamil Nadu. Lying on a low plain along the southeastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is bounded by the Eastern Ghats in the north and Nilgiri and Anai Malai hills on the west, the state has large fertile areas along the Coromandel coast, the Palk strait, and the Gulf of Mannar. The fertile plains of Tamil Nadu are fed by rivers such as Kaveri, Palar and Vaigai and by the northeast monsoon. Traditionally an agricultural state, Tamil Nadu is a also a leading producer of agricultural products. The sixth most populous state in the Indian Union, Tamil Nadu has the largest urban agglomeration nationwide. Increases in literacy has casued Tamil Nadu to report the the second lowest decadal growth in population in India. Globalisation brought increase export opportunities, making Tamil Nadu the fifth largest economy among the states of India. The growing demands for skilled labour has caused increased number of educational institutions in Tamil Nadu. It has the highest number of vocational training institutions in India. Chennai, which was known until 1996 as Madras, is the fourth largest city of India and the state capital. Chennai is the home of Marina Beach, one of longest beaches in the world. Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Salem, and Thirunelveli are other large cities (Corporations) of Tamil Nadu. The art and culture of Tamils are among the oldest in the world. Great literature, music, dance and architecture have evolved from Tamil Nadu over the past two millennia. Tamil Nadu provided the cradle in which the rich musical tradition of Carnatic music evolved. Many of the great composers such as Tyagaraja lived and flourished in Tamil Nadu. The film industry has also had a long history, its movies enjoying widespread popular support. History
Geography Tamil Nadu covers an area of 130,058 km² (50,215 mi²),and is the eleventh largest state in India. The bordering states are Kerala to the west, Karnataka to the northwest and Andhra Pradesh to the north. To the east is the Bay of Bengal. The southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula is located in Tamil Nadu. At this point is the town of Kanyakumari which is the meeting point of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean. Tamil Nadu has a wide variety of minerals with the most reserves in India lignite (almost 90% of India's reserves), magnesite (45%) and garnet (over 40%) among others. Forest cover over 17% of the state's geographical area with several wild life and bird sanctuaries. Politics Tamil Nadu had a bicameral legislature until 1986, when it was replaced with a unicameral legislature, like most other states in India. 39 234 Regional parties have dominated state politics since 1967. One of the earliest regional parties was the South Indian Welfare Association, which was founded in 1916. It came to be known as the Justice Party after the name of its English-language daily, Justice. E.V. Ramasami Naicker, popularly known as "Periyar", renamed the party Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944. DK was a non-political party which demanded the establishment of an independent state called Dravida Nadu. However, due to the differences between its two leaders Periyar and C.N. Annadurai, the party was split. Annadurai left the party to form the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.The DMK decided to enter into politics in 1956. Racial concepts In the 19th century, Western scholars proposed that Dravidian speakers were earlier inhabitants of India than the speakers of the Indo-Aryan languages in the north of the country. It was supposed that the generally darker-skinned Dravidians constituted a distinct race. This concept has affected thinking in India about racial and regional differences and has informed aspects of Tamil nationalism, which has at times appropriated the claim that Dravidians are the earliest inhabitants of India in order to argue that other populations were oppressive interlopers from which Dravidians should liberate themselves. The discovery of the Indus Valley Civilisation in the 1920s, which is sometimes attributed to now assimilated Dravidians of the north, further fuelled such Dravidianist ideas since it implied that the Indo-Aryans were "uncivilised barbarians" rather than a "superior race". Although the general outline of the theory, concerning the differences in language and culture between North and South India as being the result of an incursion of Indo-European speaking peoples or culture, is generally considered correct by modern scholars, the racial implications of these differences are far more controversial. Nehru's grant of a separate state essentially forced Tamil nationalism off stage. Instead Tamil regional parties now fight for access to the centre and between each other. The Anti-Hindi agitations in mid-1960s made the DMK more popular and more powerful in the state. The DMK routed the Congress Party in the 1967 elections and took control of the state government, ending Congress's stronghold in Tamil Nadu. C.N. Annadurai became the DMK's first Chief Minister, and Muthuvel Karunanidhi took over as Chief Minister and party leader after Annadurai's death in 1969. Karunanidhi's leadership was soon challenged by M.G. Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR. In 1972, he split from DMK and formed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). He was the Chief Minister of the state from 1977 until his death in 1987. After the death of MGR, the party split again into two factions, one led by Janaki Ramachandran, wife of MGR, and the other led by J. Jayalalithaa. After the defeat of AIADMK in 1989 assembly polls, both factions were merged and Jayalalithaa took control of the party. She was elected as the General Secretary of the unified AIADMK. There have been splits in both the DMK and the AIADMK, but since 1967 one of those two parties has held power in the state. In the State Elections held in May 2006, the prevailing government by the AIADMK was defeated by the DMK-led alliance. Population Tamil Nadu's population stood at 62,110,839 as of 00.00 hours of March 1 2001. It is the sixth most populous State of the Indian Union behind Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The State accounts for 6.05% of the country's population. Its population density at 478 persons per square kilometre, up from 429 in 1991, and much higher than the all-India density of 324, makes it the eleventh most densely populated State (1991 rank:10) During the decade 1991-2001, Tamil Nadu reported the second lowest decadal growth in population after Kerala, among the group of States with population exceeding 20 million in 2001. While Kerala's population grew by 9.42% between 1991 and 2001, Tamil Nadu's grew by 11.19%. In fact, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa are the only three States in this group to have shown a decline in decadal percentage change in population in every decade since 1971. Culture and Arts Tamil civilization is one of the oldest in the world. Unique cultural features, like Tanjore paintings, Bharatanatyam and Tamil architecture, give Tamil Nadu a heritage to be proud of. Chola kings conquered lands as far north as the Himalayas, and as far east as Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia. The world's oldest dam was built across the Kaveri river in Tamil Nadu by King Karikala Chola. Today, the rapidly increasing IT boom in Tamil Nadu cities like Chennai,Coimbatore and Tirunelveli makes Tamil Nadu one of India's economic hotspots. Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu and it achieved the classical language status in India (as well as one of the official languages of India). Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tradition of literature, music and dance which continue to flourish today. Literature Tamil is a vibrant language with a long and rich literary tradition. Most of the older works are in verse form, and prose gained popularity later. All through history, Tamil literature has sought to inform and inspire, educate and entertain. Tamil poetry has universal appeal as evinced by many examples. Tirukural which was written nearly two millennia ago portrays a universal outlook. This is evident by the author, Thiruvalluvar who had not mentioned his religion, land, and the auidence of his work. He is portrayed as holy saint of Tamil nadu today and even for the generations to come. There is an evidential history that the kings of olden days rolled out Tamil Sangam (Tamil organization) to develop literature works in tamil. The Sangam headquartered in Madurai generated lot a notable literary works. In 20th century during the freedom struggle, many tamil poets and writers provoked national spirit, social equity, secularistic thoughts among the common man. Some of the notable persons are Subramanya Bharathy , Periyar Ramasami, C. N. Annadurai, etc. Even today, Tamil nadu host potential writers like M. Karunanidhi, Kalki etc. Music The Kings of the olden days created sangams for Iyal Isai Nadagam (Dance, Music and Drama) to express the spiritual feels and to quench the entertainment. Music plays a major role in sangams. Music in tamil nadu had different forms across the people. In villages where farming was a major work, the ladies who work in the feilds used to sing kulavai songs. Even today, southern Tamil nadu has this tradition. Odhuvars, Sthanikars, or Kattalaiyars offer short musical programmes in the temples by singing the devotional Thevaram songs. Musicians had total reliance on divine grace. They lead the chorus in the temple congregational prayers to the accompaniment of the Sarangi. Sarangi was in use in the temples of Tamil Nadu till the end of the nineteenth century. Carnatic music is the classical music of Southern India. The basic form is a monophonic song with improvised variations. There are 72 basic scales on the octave, and a rich variety of melodic motion. Both melodic and rhythmic structures are varied and compelling. This is one of the world's oldest & richest musical traditions. Carnatic music abounds in structured compositions in the different ragas. These are songs composed by great artists and handed down through generations of disciples. While the improvised elaboration of a raga varies from musician to musician, the structured portion is set. These compositions are extremely popular, with a strong accent on rhythm and lively melodic patterns. Three saint composers of the nineteenth century, Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri, have composed thousands of songs that remain favourites among musicians and audiences. The composers belonging to the Tamil Trinity of Muthu Thandavar (?1560 - ?1640 CE), Arunachala Kavi (1712-1779) and Marimutthu Pillai (1717-1787) composed hundreds of devotional songs in Tamil and helped in the evolution of Carnatic music. The Nineteen Forties were a rather turbulent period for Carnatic Music in Tamil Nadu because of the Tamizh Isai controversy. More than a controversy, it was a move by some well meaning people to increase the number of Tamil songs being sung in concerts in Tamil Nadu. Started by Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar and spurred on by individuals like Sir R.K.Shanmugham Chettiar and journalist Kalki Krishnamurthy, it tried to create a lot of awareness among musicians and rasikas that language had a role in music. Today, Tamil nadu is proud to have hundreds of notable carnatic singers who spreads this music all over the world. M. S. Subbulakshmi, a renoved carnatic singer has a uniqueness of singing song in the UN security council. World famous singer D. K. Pattammal contributed a lot to this music. S. Balachandar ,one of the most renouned and celeberated musicians was a strong influence around music, art and entertainment. Entertainment From the olden days, to mark the youth's adventures activities, Jallikattu, a traditional sports is conducted. In south Tamil Nadu, this game is very famous and still it is conducted with same enthusiasim Film Industry Tamil Nadu is also home to the large Tamil film industry, producing a huge number of Tamil films each year. There are several websites dedicated to tamil movies like Behindwoods.com. Next to Bollywood movies, Tamil movies are big budget movies.Chennai has often been referred to as Kollywood, a conflation of Hollywood and Kodambakkam,the section of Chennai that houses the cinema related facilities. Kollywood is the biggest film industry in India next to Bollywood. Artists from Andhra, Kerala have contributed a lot to the growth of Tamil film Industry. Particularly singers from these states are widely accepted in Kollywood. Karnataka and Maharashtra has also contributed a lot by providing actresses. Tamil movies are the one screened outside India and non-muslim world. Tamil Festivals
Educational capabilities of the state Contents on Macro-economic trend This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Tamil Nadu at market prices estimated• by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. Tamil Nadu's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $56 billion in current prices. Possessing the fifth largest economy (2004-2005) among states in India, Tamil Nadu is also the second most industrialised state next to Maharastra. It ranks second in per capita income (2004-2005) among large states. It ranks third in foreign direct investment approvals (cumulative 1991-2002) of Rs.225,826 million ($5,000 million), next only to Maharashtra (Rs.366,024 million ($8,100 million)) and Delhi (Rs.303,038 million ($6,700 million). The State's investment constitutes 9.12% of the total FDI in the country. Unlike many other states, the economic resources are quite spread out, rather than concentrated in a small industrialised area. According to the 2001 Census, Tamil Nadu has the highest level of urbanization (43.86%) in India, accounting for 6% of India’s total population and 9.6% of the urban population.• and is the second most industrialized state in India. Tamil Nadu has a network of about 110 industrial parks and estates offering developed plots with supporting infrastructure. Also, the state government is promoting other industrial parks like Rubber Park, Apparel Parks, Floriculture Park, TICEL Park for Biotechnology, Siruseri IT Park, and Agro Export Zones among others. Annual Plan outlays have increased by a record 75% from Rs.52,000 million ($1,100 million) in 2001-2 to Rs.91,000 million ($2,000 million) in 2005-6. Agriculture
Industry and manufacturing The Tamil Nadu state government owns the Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers (TNPL), the world's biggest bagasse based Paper mills in Karur as well as the world's sixth largest manufacturer of watches together with TATA, under the brandname of "Titan". 55% of all wind-generated electricity in India is created by windmills in Tamil Nadu. Renowned Danish wind power company NEG Micon has established its manufacturing unit in Chennai. Tamil Nadu is leading producer of Cement in India, it is the home for leading cement brands in the country such as Chettinad Cements(Karur), Dalmia Cements Ariyalur, Ramco cements (Madras Cement Ltd), etc.,There is a ACC cement factory located in madukarai outskirts of Coimbatore. Many heavy engineering and manufacturing-based companies are centered in and around the suburbs of Chennai (nicknamed, "The Detroit of Asia"). Chennai boasts the presence of global vehicle manufacturing giants like Ford, Caterpillar, Hyundai, BMW and Mitsubishi as well as domestic heavyweights like MRF, TI cycles of India, Ashok Leyland, Royal Enfield, Mahindra & Mahindra, TAFE Tractors and TVS. Everything from automobiles, railway coaches, battle-tanks, tractors, motorbikes and heavy vehicles are manufactured in Tamil Nadu. A large number of textile mills and engineering industries are present around Coimbatore City. Karur is known for its bus body building industries where most of the buses used in south India are manufactured. Over 11.2% of the S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Tamil Nadu. The Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plant, Ennore Thermal Plant, Neyveli Lignite Power Plant,Vriddachalam Ceramics and the Narimanam Natural Gas Plants are major sources of Tamil Nadu's electricity. Tamil Nadu sources a significant proportion of its power needs from renewable sources with Wind Power contributing over 2000 MW or over 20% of the needs. As of 2005, Tamil Nadu is one of the few Indian states with surplus power electricity, enabling the electrical authority to sell it to neighbouring states of Andra Pradesh & Karnataka. India's leading steel producer SAIL has a steel plant in Salem, Tamilnadu. Tamil Nadu ranks first nationwide in diesel-based thermal electricity generation with national market share of over 34%. The Mettur Dam is a large dam in India. It was completed in 1934. The total length of the dam is 1700 meters. It is also called Stanley Reservoir. The Mettur Hydro Electrical power project is also quite large Mettur Dam. Mettur has a number of industries (50 km from Salem city): SISCOL, MALCO (Madras Aluminium Company owned by Vedanta Resources), Chemplast (former known as Mettur Chemicals) , Thermal power plant, Hydel power plant and huge number of chemical industries. The textile industry plays a significant role in the Indian economy by providing direct employment to an estimated 35 million people, and thereby contributing 4% of GDP and 35% of Gross Export Earnings. The textile sector contributes to 14% of the manufacturing sector. The city of Tirupur (Coimbatore district), in Tamil Nadu is the largest garment exporter in India and sometimes referred to as Textile valley of India. In 2004, the export turnover from the town was more than Rs.50,000 million ($1,100 million). Some 7,000 garment units in the town provides employment opportunity to 1 million people. 56% of India's total knitwear exports come from Tirupur. The Export Import Policy of 2002-2007 acknowledges Tirupur for its contribution to the export efforts. Next to Tirupur, the town of Karur generates around $300 million a year in foreign exchange through home textile exports such as bed linens, kitchen linens, toilet linens, table linens and wall hangings. Madurai and Kanchipuram is very famous for handloom sarees. This handloom sarees are on sale all over India. Tamilnadu, Karnataka, and Kerala are the main states for wholesale sarees. This sarees manufacturing raw materials are purchased from Salem and Coimbatore. Electronics manufacturing is a growing industry in Tamil Nadu. Companies like Nokia, Flextronics, Motorola, Foxconn and Dell have chosen Chennai as their South Asian manufacturing hub. Products manufactured include circuit boards and cellular phone handsets. Ericsson also has a Research and Development facility in Chennai. The town of Sivakasi is a leader in the areas of printing, fireworks, and safety matches. It was fondly called as Kutty Japan or "little Japan" by Jawaharlal Nehru. It contributes to 80% of India's production of safety matches as well as 90% of India's total fireworks production. Sivakasi provides over 60% of India's total offset printing solutions and ranks as one of the highest taxpaying towns in India. Sivakasi also is a 100% employed town, putting it in the company of very few towns in India. Mining This is a chart of proven reserves of major minerals of Tamil Nadu• in 2001 by Department of Geology and Mining with figures in tonnes. Energy production The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) is a Tamil Nadu government promoting renewable energy sources and energy conservation activities. The agency has largely been responsible for instigating the tremendous growth of Tamil Nadu in the development of wind power.• The once-impoverished village of Muppandal benefited from the building of the nearby Muppandal wind farm, a renewable energy source, supplying the villagers with electricity for work.• • Wind farms are being built along the 19 km road between Muppandal and Kanyakumari, a town lying between the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. These areas generate about half of India's 2,000 megawatts of wind energy or two percent of the total power output of India.• Services
Governance Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state in E-Governance initiatives in India. A large part of the government records like land ownership records are already digitised and all major offices of the state government like Urban Local Bodies - All the Corporations and Municipal Office activities - revenue collection etc, land registration offices, and transport offices have been computerized, thereby improving the quality of service and transparency in operations. Revenues of Government Tamil Nadu ranks second nationwide of all State governments in tax revenue. (See: States of India by tax revenues.) This is a chart of trend of tax revenues (including the shares from Union tax pool) extracted from the Consolidated Fund of the Government of Tamil Nadu with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. See also the Finance Commission of India report. Tax revenues of local bodies are excluded. This is a chart of trend of non-tax revenues and grants-in-aid extracted from the Consolidated Fund of the Government of Tamil Nadu with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. See also * and *. Non-tax revenues of local bodies are excluded. Social development The Dravidian movement, which began in Tamil Nadu, claimed to uplift the socially repressed classes, but drew its main support from the middle classes. Educating the people and eradicating superstitions were some of their objectives. They had a commitment to social justice which led to the expansion of reservation for the middle castes (or other backward classes - OBCs) and the lower castes and tribes (the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes). Upper castes in Tamilnadu criticise that high % of reservations are being followed inspite of the fact that Upper castes are securing only around 3% seats as against their population of 13%.*. Today many of India's premier educational institutions such as IIT-Madras, Chennai; Anna University, Chennai; University of Madras, Chennai; Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai; Regional Engineering College, Trichy; Chennai Medical College, Chennai and TamilNadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore are some of the many premier institutions of the state. Tamil Nadu has also performed reasonably well in terms of literacy growth during the decade 1991-2001. The State's literacy rate increased from 62.66% in 1991 to 73.47% in 2001. The Mid-day meals program in Tamil Nadu program, initiated by Karumaiveerar Kamarajar, was expanded considerably during the rule of the AIADMK in 1983. It feeds over a fifth of the state's population. The other event is "Entry in Vaikkom Temple" The mutual interaction of various philosophies, schools of thought, and religious ideologies in the state has made it one of the most tolerant and universalistic states. Women enjoy a high level of respect and protection compared to other Indian states * Magsaysay Award winners from Tamil Nadu Districts Main article: Districts of Tamil Nadu There are 30 districts in Tamil Nadu, with Krishnagiri District being the thirtieth with headquarters at Krishnagiri, by bifurcating the Dharmapuri District. Tourism
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