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Karur District | |
|---|---|
.jpg)     Clockwise from top-left:Pasupateeswarar temple,Noyyal inUngampalayam, Street inAravakurichi, Part of theAmaravathi River nearKarur, Karur skyline | |
.svg) Location in Tamil Nadu | |
 Karur district | |
| Coordinates:10°57′28.8″N78°4′48″E / 10.958000°N 78.08000°E /10.958000; 78.08000 | |
| Country |  India |
| State |  Tamil Nadu |
| Municipal corporation | Karur |
| Municipality | |
| Town Panchayats | |
| Founded by | J. Jayalalithaa |
| Headquarters | Karur |
| Taluks | |
| Government | |
| • Collector | Thangavel,I.A.S |
| • SP | E. Sundaravathanam,I.P.S |
| Area | |
• Total | 2,856 km2 (1,103 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 1,064,493 |
| • Density | 373/km2 (970/sq mi) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Tamil |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 639xxx, 621xxx, 638xxx. |
| Telephone code | +91(0)4324, +91(0)4323, +91(0)4320 for Karur, Kulithalai and Aravakkurichi Circles Respectively. |
| Vehicle registration | TN 47[1] |
| Largest city | Karur |
| Sex ratio | 1015♂/♀ |
| Literacy | 81.74% |
| Lok Sabha constituency | 2 – Karur, Perambalur (Part) |
| Vidhan Sabha constituency | 4 |
| Central location: | 10°57′N78°4′E / 10.950°N 78.067°E /10.950; 78.067 |
| Climate | Max 38c – Min 17c(Köppen) |
| Website | karur |
Karur District is one of the 38 districts (adistrict located centrally along theKaveri andAmaravathi rivers) in the Indian state ofTamil Nadu. The main town in Karur District is the city ofKarur, which is also the district headquarters. The district has a population of 1,064,493 with a sex-ratio of 1,015 females for every 1,000 males,according to 2011 census.
Karur is one of the oldest towns of Tamil Nadu and has played a very significant role in the history and culture of the Tamils. Its history dates back over 2000 years, and was a flourishing trading center from the early Sangam days. In the ancient and medieval times, the area was ruled byCheras, Gangas andCholas. ThePasupatheesvarar Temple inKarur was built by the Chola kings in the 7th century. Later theNayakars followed byTipu Sultan also ruled Karur. The British added Karur to their possessions after destroying the Karur Fort during the war against Tipu Sultan in 1783. There is a memorial at Rayanur dedicated to the warriors who lost their lives in the fight against the British in theAnglo-Mysore Wars.
Post British annexure to the Madras presidency, Karur became ataluk headquarters and was the first part ofCoimbatore District and laterTiruchirappalli District. A new district was formed on 30 September 1996 by bifurcating Karur,Kulithalai andManapparai Taluks of Tiruchirappalli district, which comprises the present-dayAravakkurichi,Manmangalam,Pugalur, Karur,Krishnarayapuram, Kulithalai,Musiri,Kadavur and Manapparai Taluks.
Later, within a year, Musiri taluk was separated from Kulithalai taluk. Both taluks were reunited with Tiruchirapalli District. The Karur taluk was bifurcated to form Aravakkurichi and Karur taluks whereas Kulithalai taluk was bifurcated to form Krishnarayapuram and Kulithalai taluks.
Krishnarayapuram taluk was again bifurcated to form Kadavur taluk whereas Karur taluk was also bifurcated to form Manmangalam taluk. Some of the villages from Aravakkurichi and Manmangalam Taluks were separated and united to form Pugalur taluk.
At present, Karur District has 7 Taluks.
With headquarters at Karur, it is the centrally located district of Tamil Nadu. It is bounded byNamakkal district in the north,Dindigul district in the south, Tiruchirapalli district on the east andErode &Tiruppur districts on the west. Karur is located at 10°57'° N 78°4'° E has an average elevation of 122 metres (400 feet). It is about 371 km (231 mi) south west ofChennai (Madras), the capital of Tamil Nadu.
The highest temperature is obtained in early May–June is usually about 34 °C (93.2 °F), though it usually exceeds 38 °C (100.4 °F) for a few days most years. Average daily temperature in Karur during January is around 23 °C (73.4 °F), though the temperature rarely falls below 17 °C (62.6 °F). The average annual rainfall is about 775 mm (30.5 in) which gets most of its seasonal rainfall from the north-east monsoon winds, during late September to mid November.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 408,424 | — |
| 1911 | 443,204 | +0.82% |
| 1921 | 461,471 | +0.40% |
| 1931 | 464,590 | +0.07% |
| 1941 | 524,076 | +1.21% |
| 1951 | 599,066 | +1.35% |
| 1961 | 639,170 | +0.65% |
| 1971 | 687,356 | +0.73% |
| 1981 | 756,757 | +0.97% |
| 1991 | 854,162 | +1.22% |
| 2001 | 935,686 | +0.92% |
| 2011 | 1,064,493 | +1.30% |
| source:[2] | ||
| Religions in Karur district (2011)[3] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Religion | Percent | |||
| Hinduism | 94.05% | |||
| Islam | 4.61% | |||
| Christianity | 1.25% | |||
| Other or not stated | 0.09% | |||
According to 2011 census, Karur district has a population of 1,064,493 with a sex-ratio of 1,015 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. 40.82% of the population lived in urban areas.[4] A total of 102,731 were under the age of six, constituting 52,969 males and 49,762 females.Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 20.80% and 0.05% of the population respectively with the average literacy of 68%, compared to the national average of 72.99%.[4] The district has a total of 287,095 households with 543,298 workers, comprising 83,800 cultivators, 182,639 main agricultural laborers, 10,162 in house hold industries, 231,906 other workers, 34,791 marginal workers, 2,072 marginal cultivators, 18,198 marginal agricultural laborers, 1,178 marginal workers in household industries and 13,343 other marginal workers.[5]
At the time of the 2011 census, 91.95% of the population spokeTamil and 6.41%Telugu as their first language.[6]
Karur district has twoMunicipalities, 11Town Panchayats, 158Village Panchayats and 203Revenue Villages. It consists of twoLok Sabha constituencies,Karur andPerambalur. The fourTamil Nadu Assembly constituencies in Karur are Aravakkurichi, Karur, Krishnarayapuram, and Kulithalai.
The District is divided into two Revenue divisions,Karur andKulithalai.alai,Krishnarayapuram, andKadavur, their blocks include K. Paramathy, Aravakurichi, Karur, Thanthoni, Kadavur, Krishnarayapuram, Kulithalai, and Thogaimalai. Town Panchayats in Karur includeAravakurichi,Pallapatti,Punjaipugalur,TNPL Pugalur (Kagithapuram),Puliyur,Uppidamangalam, Palaya Jeyankonda Cholapuram,Krishnarayapuram, Marudur, andNangavaram. The Major villages are :K.Paramathi, Thennilai,Thogaimalai,Pavithram, Chinnadhrapuram, Punnam chathiram,Mayanur,Lalapet,Vangal,Nerur, Ayyar malai,Velliyanai,Esanatham.
| District | No. | Constituency | Name | Party | Alliance | Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karur | 134 | Aravakurichi | Monjanoor R. Elango | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | SPA | |||
| 135 | Karur | V. Senthilbalaji | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | SPA | ||||
| 136 | Krishnarayapuram (SC) | K. Sivagama Sundari | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | SPA | ||||
| 137 | Kulithalai | R. Manickam | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | SPA | ||||
Karur District is a part ofcauvery delta region and utilization of land area in the district is up to 44.59%. 4.76% of the land area remains as uncultivated land, and the rest 2.74% is forest area in Karur district. Black soil is the predominant soil type in this district accounting for 35.51% followed bylaterite soil for 23.85% of the total soil cover. The remaining 20.31% is sandy, coastal and alluvium soil.
The main crops arepaddy,banana,sugarcane,beetle leaf,grams &pulses,tapioca, kora grass,groundnuts,oilseeds, tropical vegetables,garland flowers, and medicinal herbs.
Karur is famous for its home textiles. The district has five major product groups: bed linens, kitchen linens, toilet linens, table linens, wall hangings. Karur generated around Rs.6000 crores in foreign exchange through direct and indirect exports in 2016.[9] Allied industries like ginning andspinning mills,dyeing factories,weaving etc., employs at around 450,000 people in and around Karur.
On the international textile map, Karur has become synonymous withhand loom made-ups products. The weaving industry came to Karur from Kerala and has earned a reputation for its high-quality hand-loom products today. Hand loom exports from Karur began on a modest scale with just 15 exporters in 1975 and today Karur has thousands of exporters and the products are supplied to world leading chain stores likeWalmart,Target,IKEA,Åhléns etc.
TNPL is promoted inTNPL Pugalur, by theGovernment of Tamil Nadu with a loan assistance from theWorld Bank. Today TNPL is the largest producer of bagasse-based paper in the world and the 2nd largest paper producer in Asia. It produces 230,000 tons of Printing & writing paper and consumes 1 million tonnes of bagasse every year, providing more employment options. It has its finished products, production plant atMayanur.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has its receiving terminal and retails distribution plant at Attur, near Karur.
Karur is a renowned hub for bus building industry. Nearly 95% of south Indian private bus bodies are built in Karur. The total business is estimated to be around Rs.2750 crore per Annum. There are more than 200 builders in the district and they make up to 3500 buses per year, including government buses of some states likeKarnataka,Tamil Nadu etc.
Karur is also home to Chettinad Cements and TNPL Cements. Chettinad Cements has an installed production capacity of 600,000 tons per annum, with another 1.1 million tons expansion in the pipeline.
EID Parry has a sugar factory unit atPugalur with a capacity of 4000 TCD per year. It also has a 22 MW co-generation power plant, with TNPL.
The leading private scheduled banksKarur Vysya Bank andLakshmi Vilas Bank have their headquarters in Karur.
Around 65% of India's production of HDPE filament and associated products are from Karur district. These are widely used in fishing and fruit cultivating areas throughout South Asia.
The Karur belt also produces some very goodamethyst,cat's eyes,feldspar,moonstones,aquamarines,sapphires,jasper andberyl.[citation needed]
Apart from these, there are 3SIDCO industrial estates, a textile park namely, The Karur Textile Park Limited and many private contributing sectors like LGB Retreads, Rolon Chains, VKA Polymers, Shobika Impex, VKA Diary etc., have their headquarters or production units in Karur District.
Karur district has 1 Government Medical College Hospital, 5 Government General Hospitals, 29 Primary Health Care centres and 168 health sub-centres. In recent years, it has gained notoriety as one of the districts with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country. In response to the epidemic, a massive district-level communication campaign (DLCC) was launched in 2006 by the USAID-funded APAC-VHS project in the district. In 2007, the district received its own ART (Antiretroviral drug therapy) Centre, located at the Government General Hospital. Also, in 2007, Karur was selected as an IMAI pilot district by the World Health Organization and Solidarity and Action against the HIV Infection in India, with support from the District Collectorate and Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Society.
Karur is connected with the rest of India through all modern means of transportation. The International highway AH-43 pass away here. There are two national highways:NH-44 (North South Corridor Road (Kashmir to Kanyakumari)) Srinagar – Kanyakumari andNH-67 (Nagapattinam – Trichy – Karur – Coimbatore – Gudalur), which connect with other major towns such as Chennai, Erode,Tiruppur,Pollachi,Hosur,Tuticorin,Dindigul,Theni,Oddanchatram,Dharapuram,Palani,Tanjore,Karaikudi,Kumbakonam,Kochi, andPondicherry. Karur is well connected withBengaluru in all means of transport, it is just 290 km from Bengaluru.
Karur Junction railway station (Station Code – KRR) is an important railway junction in the state, connected to theIndian Railways network. Apart from this, there are 17 other stations which lie acrossErode-Tiruchirappalli line andTemplate:Salem-Karur-Dindigul line connecting all other parts of the country. More than 45 Express and Passenger trains fly through Karur daily.
The nearest airports areTiruchirappalli Airport (85 km),Salem Airport (115 km),Coimbatore Airport (130 km) andMadurai Airport (135 km).
The nearest major sea ports areThoothukudi (280 km),Chennai (372 km) andCochin (344 km).
