• Tamil Nadu, a state in southern lndia, is bordered by the states of Pondicherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The native language spoken here is Tamil which has become the official language with effect from January 14, 1958.
• It is the sixth most populous state of the Indian Union and a leading producer of both agricultural and industrial products. The state extends latitudinally between 8’05’ North and 13’09’ North and longitudinally between 76°15′ East and 80’20’ East. The southernmost point of the Indian Union –“Indira Point” got submergedunder the sea water in 2004 during the Tsunami.

Local bodies of Tamil Nadu:

1. Lok Sabha                                      39
2. Assembly Constituencies 234
3. District                                             32
4. ‘City Corporation                             10
5. Municipalities                                    152
6. Town Panchayats                            611
7. Village Panchayats                          12618

History of Tamil Nadu:

• Tamil Nadu has a very ancient history that goes back to 6000 years or so. Sangam or the institute grow of Tamil language existed in three phases. The first one was at Madurai devastated by the sea and the intermediary one was – Kapadapuram and third one seated at Madurai.
• The Tamil language with its grammar Tholkappiyam belongs to the last sangam period. Classic works like Ettuthogai and Pathuppattu also belonged to the sangam period. Tamil which obtained the semmozhi status is the eighth one of its kind. The first Tamil printing press was established at Tarangambadi in Nagapattinam district by the Danish missionaries.

Physiography of Tamil Nadu:

Geographically Tamil Nadu may be divided into four physical divisions

1. The Hilly region (Western ghats and Eastern ghats).
2. The Plateau .
3. The Plain and
4. The Coastlines

The Hilly regions of Tamil Nadu :

• The Western ghats enters the state through the Nilgiris District and runs up to Kanniyakumari district. Its average height is from 1000 m to 1500m.  The Western ghats and Eastern ghats meet at Nilgiri Hills. From the Nilgris of Tamilnadu and anaimalai  hills of kerala, an offshoot runs at a height of 1500 in the east.
• These are called Palani hills. To the south of palani hills there are two other ranges namely, Varshanad and Andipatti hills running parallel to the Cardamom hills. Kambam valley is betweenThekkadi hills, Varshanadu hills and Kodaikanal hills.
• This Valley is considered as the green valley of TamilNadu. The gap in between Varshanadu hills and Agathiya malai is called the Shenkottah gap. The Tamil Nadu hills separating, the plains and the plateaus have two well marked passes, namely, the Attur pass in the south and the Chengam pass in the north. The average elevation ranges from `1100m to 1600m. These hillocks are called by different names in different areas, such as,

1. Javadi Hills and Elagiri Hills in Vellore District;
2. Shervarayan in Salem District;
3. Kalvarayan in Villupuram District;
4. Pachaimalai in Thiruchirapalli District;
5. Kolli hills in Namakal District;
6. Chitteri hills are in both Dharmapuri and Salem Districts;
7. Gingee hills in Thiruvannamalai District

• The highest hills of Eastern Ghats – Shervarayan (1,500 – 1,600m). The highest hills of Westem Gats – Anaimalai (2,700m)

Plateaus of Tamil Nadu :

• The Eastern and Western ghats meets at Nilgiris plateau. Four km from this plateau, it slopes gently downwards to about 1,800m towards Coimbatore. The Bramahal plateau in Dharamapuri district is at an elevation of 300 to 700m which merges with the Mysore plateau in the west.

Plains of Tamil Nadu :

• The coastal plains of Tamilnadu extend from Pulicat lake in the north to Kanyakumari in the south to a length of 1,000 km at an average elevation of 50mt. The notable beaches found here are the Marina beach and the Rameshwaram beach.

Marina Beach  :

• It is the second largest beach in the world. Marina Beach extends up to a distance of 13km and it is one of the major tourist attractions of Chennai.

Rameswaram Beach  :

• The beach of Rameshwaram is famous for its beautiful coastal features. The sea waves rise to a maximum height of only 3cm and the view looks like a very big river.
• The coastal plains of Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Villupuram are together known as the Cholamandalam plains

Rivers of Tamil Nadu :

• The Northern rivers of Tamil Nadu are Araniyar, Korattalaiyar, Palar, Cheyyar, Kedilam, Manimuthar and Thenpennar. In the Kaveri delta, the distributaries such as Kollidam, Manniyar, Vennar, Vettar, Arasalar, Nattar, Mudikondinar, Kudamuruii and Veera Cholanar have formed a alluvial plain in a quadrangle shaps.
• Towards The south of Tamilnadu, there are rivers like Vaigai (Madurai), Vaippar (Virudhunagar), Gundar (Thoothukudi), chittar (Thirunelveli) and Kothaiyar (Kanyakumari)

Tamil Nadu Climate:

• Climate refers to the sum total of weather conditions and variations over a large area in a long period of time (more than thirty years.) Weather refers to the state of atmosphere over an area at any particular point of time. The hottest part of the summer season is known as Agni Nakshatram (Star of Fire) or kathiri veyil.
• In Tamil Nadu, May is the hottest and January is the coldest month. The average humidity of the air is about 68% in the month of May, whereas it is 82% in January.
• The rate of evaporation is more during the summer season than in the , winter season. The state possesses thick rain bearing coluds in the months of October, Novermber and December.
• The rainy seasons of the state may be grouped into three

1. South West Monsoon;
2. North East Monsoon;
3. Cyclonic Rainfall.

Southwest Monsoon :

• The southwest monsoon occurs between June and September. The district that are benefitted by this season are the Niligris, Kanyakumari, western parts of Coimbatore, Dharmapuri and Salem, As the South-west monsoon starts its downpour of rain in the Western ghats, the western parts of Tamil Nadu receive about 150cm of rainfall, on an average.
• Most of the Eastem and Central parts of Tamil Nadu become rainshadow region for this season. In general the amount of rainfall of the southwest monsoon decreases from west to east. The Nilgiris district receives about 70% of its annual rainfall followed by the Salem and Erode districts. Monsoon refers to the  seasonal  reversal  in the wind direction between seasons.

Northeast Monsoon  :

• The Northeast monsoon season occurs between October and December. The coastal and interior plains of Tamil Nadu are highly benefitted by this rainy season. Excepting Kanyakumari, all other interior south and western parts of Tamil Nadu receive lesser rainfall.
• Coastal districts such as Chennai, Cuddalore, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Nagattinam, Thiruvarur and Thirunelvelli distrcts receive about 150 to 250 cm of rainfall;

Cyclonic Rainfall:

• November is the month of cyclonic rainfall. The low pressure formation in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal intensifies the cyclonic rainfall along the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu. An equal portion of rainfall is received from both the Northeast Monsoon and the Cyclonic rainfall in the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu.

Low pressure formation and cyclonic track:

• On the basis of annual rainfall received, the districts of Tamil Nadu can be grouped into 5 rainfall regions. Coastal districts along with Nilgris fall under the very heavy rainfall region with an annual rainfall of more than 1400mm. 

Season wise percentage of annual rainfall :

Rainfall Regions of Tamilnadu Distribution of rainfall (2007 – 2008)

Natural Vegetation :

• Vegetation that grows naturally without the effort of human beings is called Natural vegetation.According to the National Forest policy, a region should have 33% of its land under forest. Unfortunately, Tamilnadu has only 17% of its land under forest.
• Among the districts, the Nilgiris possesses, the highest percentage of area under forest followed by Theni, Dharmapuri and Kanyakumari districts.Javadi hills are noted for their fruit bearing trees and sandal wood.

Distribution of Forests :

• Concentration of forests is mostly on the hills of the western districts and Javadi group of hills in Vellore district.More than half of the area in the Nilgiris is under forests. Other districts hold 1 to 5% of area under forests.
• Thanjavur being the alluvial plain is suitable for agriculture which has less than 1% of forest cover. Trees that are used as fuel are found in Madurai, Coimbatore and Thirunelveli districts. Kanyakumari distict has rubber plantations.In the Nilgiris, camphor and eucalyptus trees are grown under afforestation.
• In the foothills of the Western Ghats and parts of Thirunelveli and Virudhunagar districts, there are trees that are used for making matchsticks. The trees such as pepal, blue apples, jack fruit and gooseberries grow over the state.

Types of Forests :

• The Natural Vegetation can be broadly divided into five different types.

1. Tropical evergreen forests;
2. Tropical deciduous forests
3. Thorny shrub forests
4. Mangrove forests and
5. Hill forests

Tropical evergreen forests :

• As the name implies these forests are evergreen and they never shed their leaves in a particular season.Since the leaves are presentalways they are called as the evergreen forests.Tropical evergreen forests distributed in the regions of heavy rainfall (above 200cm).
• These forests are found along the slopes of the Nilgris and Anamalai hills and the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu.The hard wood trees like ebony, teak, rosewood and ironwood are also found here. They grow to a height of 60m.

Tropical deciduous forests :

• These forests are found in the areas having rainfall ranging between 100 and 200 cm per year. They are found on the eastern slopes of the Western ghats. These are also called as monsoon forests.
• Trees of different varieties such as, tall and short, soft and hard woods are found in these forests. Some of them are sal, sandal wood, teak, bamboo ad paddock.

Mangrove forests :

• Mangroves are found in the tropical and sub-tropical tidal areas, which have a high degree of salinity. ln Tamil Nadu, Pitchavaram, Kodikkarai’ and vedaranyam, have mangrove or tidal forests. In Pitchavaram mangrove forests are found in 25km2 and Kodikkarai forests cover about 17km2.

Hill forests :

• These forests are found along the hill slopes where the rainfall is heavy. In the hills of Anamalai and Nilgiris different varieties of flora such as trees, shrubs, climbers are found, according to altitude.

Forest Product :

• Major and minor products. ajor products include timber and fuel wood. Timber is used for manual purposes The minor produces are bamboo, canes, leaves, grasses, essential oils, medicinal plants, resins, dyes, beewax, honey, turpentine and lac.

Resources of Tamil Nadu :

Resources:

• Resources can be utilized for the betterment of a country’s economy.
• Resources may be assessed on the basis of factors such as:

1. Types of resources; and
2. Characteristics of resources.

• Resources have three main characteristics: utility, quantity (often in terms of availability), and consumption.

Natural resources :On the basis of origin, resources may be divided into two: Biotic and Abiotic.

Biotic Resources: Biotic resources are those obtained from the biosphere. Forests and their products, animals, birds and their products, fish and other marine organisms are examples of the biotic resources.

Abiotic Resources : Abiotic resources comprise of non-living things examples are land water,  air and minerals such as gold, iron, and silver.

Renewable resources :Examples of these resources are light,heat and energy from the sun, wind energy, Water from lakes, rivers, seas and the soils from the earth’s crust.

Non-renewable resources:Non renewable resources are those which are formed over long  geological periods and are certain to be exhausted in course of time. Example: Coal, oil and other minerals.

Soils of Tamil Nadu :

• The soils of Tamil Nadu maybe grouped into five types. They are classified according to their formation, size and color.
• Types of soils in Tamil Nadu and their distribution

Forest Resources :

• Tamil Nadu’s wealth of flora and fauna lies in the hilly and forest regions.Some of its major wildlife sanctuary Mudumalai and Anaimalai (Indira Gandhi Wild life sanctuary) situated on the hills of the Western Ghats, which have habitats for elephants, tigers, bisons and a variety of monkeys and deer.Among the 3,000 and more plant species found in Tamil Nadu, majority of them are found in TamilNadu majority of them are found in the mixed deciduous forests.
• One of the most noteworthy flowers is the Kurinji of Kodaikanal hills which blooms once in 12 years.The state has recognised it with special status. Cinchona, a forest product, from which quinine-a drug for treating malaria is extracted.Eucalyptus which grows abundantly in the Nilgiris is also used as medicine for curing cold and as pain reliever.
• ’Vanamahotsava’ is celebrated in October every year to highlight the importance of wild life.

1. World Wildlife Day October 4
2. World Forest Day March 21
3. World Water Day March 22

Water Resources  :

• Water resources comprising of surface water (river and likes), ground water, marine and ,coastal Waters, support all living things including human beings.

• Rainwater harvesting is the process of collecting rain water from roof tops and directing it to an appropriate where it is stored for ground water recharge.
• On an average, one spell of rain for two hours is enough to recharge 8,000 liters of water.

Glossary :

National Park :

• A natural area designated to protect the ecological balance of one or more ecosystems for the present and the future generations is referred to as a National Park.

Mineral Resources  :

• A mineral is a substance or compound of organic or inorganic origin found on the earth’s crust.
• The salt used in cooking and graphite in your lead pencil is a mineral.

Classification of Minerals :

Metallic Minerals of Tamil Nadu :

Non-Metallic Minerals of Tamil Nadu :

Mineral Fuels of Tamilnadu:

Conventional Power Resources  :

• It usually includes fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, oil as well as nuclear power.

Types :                   

The three major conventional energy sources are:

1. Thermal Power Resources;
2. Hydel Power Resources;
3. Atomic Power Resources

Thermal Power Resources :

• Power is generated from nonrenewable energy sources such as coal, oil, and Natural gas, is known as thermal power.Thermal power is produced by heating the water. The steam thus formed spins the turbine to produce eletricity.

Thermal power plants of Tamil Nadu :

Hydro power plants of Tamilnadu :

Atomic Power Station :

• The first Atomic Power Station of Tamil Nadu is located at Kalpakkam about 80 km south of Chennai.It has a comprehensive nuclear .power production, fuel reprocessing, and waste treatment facility that includes plutonium fuel fabrication for fast breeder reactors (FBRS). It is also India’s first fully indigenously constructed nuclear power station. It has two units which produce about 500 MW of energy.
• Another Nuclear Power station is currently under construction in Kudankulam of Thirunelveli district. This station has four reactors which are e te roduce about 1,000 MW from each reactor.

Non-conventional Power Resources :

• Sun is the biggest source of non-conventional energy.Energy is in the form of photons. India receives abundant sunlight for about 250 days in a year.Conversion of solar energy to electric energy and thermal energy takes place mainly photovoltaic cells and through solar thermal pathways.

The non-conventional energy resources are:

1. Solar Energy
2. Wind Energy
3. Tidal wave Energy
4. Geo-thermal Energy
5. Bio-fuel Energy and
6. Energy from baggasse.

• Excluding tidal wave energy andy geothermal energy, all other types have been harnessed in Tamil Nadu and their rate of utilization is discussed below.

Solar Energy  :

• Solar Power is generated from sunlight. This can be used as direct power with photovoltaic (PV) cells, or indirect with concentrating solar power (CSP), Sun’s energy is focused to boil water which is then used to generate power.

Location and capacity of wind Farms in Tamil Nadu :

Tidal Wave energy :

• Energy generated from tides is called tidal energy. The first tidal energy station was built in France.

Bio-fuel Energy    :

• Bio-fuels are a wide range of fuels. The term covers solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases. Currently, 13 plants with a capacity of 130MW are operating in Tamil Nadu.

Bio-fuel Plants in Tamil Nadu  :

Energy from Sugarcane Bagasse :

          Residual cane fibre (bagasse) is bumed as fuel. In Tami Nadu there are about 18 sugar mills producing energy of nearly 411 MW from bagasse.

Tamil Nadu – Agriculture                                               Types of Farming

Subsistence intensive forming            Plantation farming                          Mixed farming

1. Wet farming
2. Dry farming
3. Irrigation farming

Irrigation farming :

• Rice, cotton an ugarcane ar gromin with irrigation farming in most part of Tamil Nadu.Most of the farmers in Tamil Nadu practice subsistence intensive and irrigation farming.As, water requirement for each crop varies and irrigation plays a major role in agricultural development of Tamil Nadu

Plantation farming:

• Plantation farming is yet another type of farming where crops are grown on large farms or estates. Plants like Tea, coffee, rubber and pepper are grown as plantation crops on the hill slopes of Tamil Nadu.

Mixed farming :

• Mixed farming is one wherein land is allotted for more than one activity along with agriculture.The farmer grows two or three varieties of crops along with cattle rearing, poultry and fishing on a large land holding.

Market gardening:

• Market gardening includes horticulture and floriculture, (growing fruits, vegetables and flowers) in large scale for supply to the urban markets and also for export purposes.

Cropping seasons of Tamil Nadu:

• Farmers select particular crops to be cultivated in a season, to suit soil and availability of water in that season.

1. Sornavari (Kharif season)- Chitthiraipattam
2. Sornavaria is otherwise known as kharif season.
3. The seeds are sown during MAY and harvested in OCTOBER.
4. As the month of May coincides with the Tamil month, Chitthirai it is known as Chitthiraipattam.

Samba (Summer season) (Adipattam)  :

• Samba is otherwise known as summer season. The seeds are sown in the month of JULY which coincides with the month Tamil month of Aadi and harvested in JANUARY. This season is referred to as Adipattam in Tamil Nadu.

Navarai (Winter Season – Rabi) (Karthigai pattem)

• The seeds are sown in the month of NOVEMBER and harvested in MARCH. This season is known as Karthigai pattam in Tamil Nadu as the Tamil month Karthikgai coincides with the month of November.

Factors influencing agriculture

• The factors influencing agriculture may be classified as physical, and economic factors. Physical factors include soils, temperature, rainfall,Humidity, climate slope of land.
• The Social factors includes, traditional knowledge belief and myths farmers, farm size and holding farmers acceptance towards innovation. Economic factors are market loan assistance, Government subsidy and incentives

Sources of Irrigation in Tamilnadu :

• Canals are man made channels of water taken from perennial river,dam or lake to supply water to the agricultural fields.Canal irrigation is the most prominent type in the basins of Kaveri and Tamirabarani. 27% or irrigated land in Tamilnadu cultivates crops using canal irrigation.

Important canals of Tamilnadu :

• Arrakankottai Canal, Thadapalli canal and Kalingarayan canal are some of the noteworthy canalas on river Bhavani a tributary river of river kaveri.
• Canals taken from Mettur dam provide irrigation for about 7lakh hectares water taken from a perennial river.The Grand Anicut built across the river Kaveri near Trichirappalli, diverts the water to the entire delta region through canals.
• River Thamirabarani and its tributaries serve Thirunelveli district with many canals. Canals used for irrigation have the oldest of two millennia in Tamil Nadu.
• Kallanai, built around First century, by karikalan is still in use and considered to be the oldest water-regulatory structure in the world. The state of Tamil Nadu is pioneer in linking rivers of the state as recommended by Ministry of Water Resources.

TANKS :

• There are about 39,202 tanks and it accounts for 19% of the irrigated area.Tanks are concentrated in the districtof Kancheepuram, Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram and Thirunelveli.At persent, Ramanathapuram has the maximum number of tanks.Tanks have to be desilted regularly for better storage and supply of water.
• In Tamil Nadu, are classified as follows; They are System tanks and non-System tanks. System tanks are linked to river/ canal system of the state, with water filled through supply channels. The non-system tanks, on the other hand, are dependent on rainfall of that region.
• Tanks are maintained by either PWD or Panchayat. Kancheepuram is known as the land of ‘thousand lakes’. Some important lakes of Tamil Nadu are found in Red Hills, Chernbarambakkam, Veeranam, Madhurandhagam, Kolavai, Ambattur, Ooty and Kodaikanal.

Well :

• Well irrigation covers 52% of irrigated area in the state. Wells may classified as surface wells and tube wells. In Tamil Nadu a high potential artesian aquifer occurs in the Cuddalore, Chidambaram and Viruthachalam area.This aquifer named as Neyveli aquifer, pumps out water regularly from lignite mining area for irrigation and domestic supply.

Distribution of corps in Tamil Nadu :

• Each crop requires specific climatic conditions for its growth

Food crops :

• Food crops include cereals,pulses,millets. Among the food crops(cereals),paddy is the prime crop cultivated in the districts of Tamilnadu. Rice (Paddy) requires level high land, high temperature and continuous supply of water  for its growth.
• Ponni and Kichadi Samba are major varieties of paddy grown in Tamilnadu. Jaya, IR 50 are high yielding varieties grown in Tamil Nadu.
• Among the districts. Thanjavuar, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam have maximum acreage as well production of rice. Tamil Nadu Rice research’ institute is in Aduthurai. TNRH 174, developed by the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University’s Tiruvurur Rice Research Station (T RRS), has recorded the highest yield of 4,500 kg per acre.

TamiInadu-Principal food crops- Area and production 2007 – 2008(in percentage)

Non food crops Fibre crops :

• Fibre crops include cotton and jute. Cotton thrives well in black soil and it is major fibre crop of tamilnadu cultivation on large scale in the district of Coimbatore ,Tirunelveli,Cuddalore, Villupuram

Mcu4,Mcu5,LRAt5166 are the major varieties of cotton cultivated in the state .

Commercial  crops : 

• Sugarrane, tobacco, commercial oilseeds and spices like chilies’, turmaic and coriander are example of commercial crops.Suagrcane is the dominant amxmercial crop cultivated in Tamil Nadu.It is a nine-month crop which requires fertile soil, high temperature, and stagnant water till the time of flowering.Coimbatore, Karur, Villupuram, Thiruvalur and Cuddalore district show predominance of this crop.
• Tobacco is yet another commercial crop of Tamil Nadu which is widely grown in Dindigul, Theni and Madurai district. Groundnuts, sunflower, safflower (Kusumbavrai), castor and linseed are the major oilseeds cultivated in Tamil Nadu.

Plantation crops :

• Tea, coffee, rubber, pepper and cashew plantation crops of Tamil Nadu.Tami Nadu ranks second in area cultivation of tea next to Assam. Tea estates are seen to be concentrated the hill slopes of the Nilgris and Coimbatore districts.

Horiculture :

• Cultivating fruits, Vegetables on large scale is a recent trend in Tamil Nadu. Fruits like mangos, jackfruits, banana, guava and grapes are widely grown in groves.Krisnagiri leads in mango production, Coimbatore and Erode are known for banana production and Theni for grapes.

Animal husbandry:

• Rearing animals for the production of milk, meat and hide is known as Animal husbandry. Tamil Nadu Cooerative Milk Producers’ Federation (Aavin) producers federation (Aavin) produces milk and diary products of the state. The federation handles 26.1 million liters of milk per day, processes and supplies milk for the whole state through 7,662 societies.
• The milk production was 55.86 million tons during 2007 – 2008.Percapita milk consumption is 233g/day. The poultry hub of Tamil Nadu is Namakkal, Erode, Coimbatore and Salem.Tamil Nadu produced 8394million eggs during the year 2007-08. Per capita availability is 128 eggs/year.
• The coastline has 591 fishing, villages which are spread over thirteen districts of the state. Pearl fishing is predominant in Gulf of Mannar region. Thuthukudi is the leading port in fish export. Two more major fishing harbours are : Chennai, and Chinnamutthom in Kanyakumari district four minor harbours are at Pazhayar,Valinokkam, coalechal,Nagapattinam.
• Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Ramanathapuram districts together contribute 40% of marine fish production in the state. Increase in organic matter will increase the water holding capacity of the soil. This will support the microbial activity and hasten the nutrient absorption capacity of roots.

Tamil nadu – Manufacturing Industries :

Classification of industries based on raw materials

• Industry using agricultural products for manufacturing is termed as Agro- based industry.Cotton textiles, sugar industry and food processing industries are agro- based industries.
• Industry that uses forest products as raw materials are known as Forest based industry. Example: Paper and Pulp industry. Honey and Sandalwood products.
• Industry using minerals for production are called as Mineral-based industry.

Classification of Industries :

 Industries can be classified on the basis

1. Raw materials
2. Ownership

c, Capital involved

1. Product.

Classification of industries based on   – ownership

• Private industry is one which owned by an individual or a group of people. All Government – owned industries come under the Public sector. Tamil Nadu Newspaper Limited (TNPL) is state owned public sector industry.
• Co-operative sector is one which is owned by a group of co-operative members who supply_the raw materials for that industry.Most of the sugar factories in Tamil Nadu are in the cooperative sector.
• The nuclear power station at Kudankulam near Thirunelveli is a joint sector between Tamil Nadu Government and the Russian Government. Cottage industry is one wherein very little investment is involved. Family as a whole will work without any paid laborers. Locally available raw materials are used to produce the handicrafts.

Factors determining the location of Industries in Tamil Nadu.

1. Raw materials
2. Engergy
3. Capital
4. labour
5. Transport and
6.  

Distribution of Major industries in Tamil Nadu :

• Major industries in Tamil Nadu are Textile industries, Sugar industries, Paper industries, Leather industries , cement industries,Electrical equipments, Automobiles, Information ,Tourism industry and so on.

Textile industry of Tamil Nadu  :

• Coimbatore, Pollachi, Udumalapet, Thiruppur, Karamadai, Erode, Bhavani, Dindigul,Thirumangalam, Madurai, Sankamagar, Palayamkottai,Papanasam and Theni are important centres for textile industry.Maximum units are concentrated in and around Coimbatore region. For this reason, it is know as ‘the Manchester of South India’.

• Districts of Coimbatore, Thiruppur and Erode contribute much for the state’s economy; therefore, they are referred to as ‘Textile Valley of Tamil Nadu’.Thiruppur alone contributes 70% of export of knitwear of Tamil Nadu. Erode specializes in garments and bedspreads. The city of Karur is known as ‘Textile Capital of Tamil Nadu.”

Silk Textiles:

• Tamil Nadu occupies fourth place in silk textile production in our country.Kancheepuram silk is unique in its quality and is known for its traditional value all over the world. Arani, Rasipuram and Thirubuvanam are other silk centres of TamilNadu.

• Sericulture Training Institute in Hosur trains farmers to adopt sericulture along with farm work to accelerate rural industrialization.

Sugar Industry :

• Tamil Nadu produces about 10% total sugar in India. Suitable climate and soil, for high yielding varieties, continuous irrigation facility, good transport, marketing facility and regularized co-operative sector arefavourable factors for the wide spread sugar mills in the state.
• At present Tamil nadu 42 sugar Mills, out of which 16 are under the co-operative sector, 3 owned by public sector and 23 as private mills.Sugar factories are highly concentrated in Villupuram, Cuddalore, Vellore, Erode , coimbatore Thiruvannamalai, Thiruchirappalli, Thanjavur and  madurai districts.
• Jaggery, Kandasari, and sugar are products from the sugar industry.

Distribution of integrated sugar complexes :

Food and Beverage Industry :

• Food and Beverage based industry flourish well in TamilNadu. Mango pulp is processed and exported. Instant food varieties and ingredients for cooking are manufactured and marketed locally as well as exported.

Paper industry  :

• Tamilnadu stands second next to Andhrapradesh in paper production in our country.The state produces about 12% of paper country. Bamboo, grass and Bagasse from sugarcane are raw materials for paper industry.
• Pukkathurai in Kanchipuram district,Bhavanisager, Pallipalayam Pugalur, Paramathi, vellore, Udumalaipettai, Thoppampatti, Coimbatore,Nillakkottai an cheramandevi are centers of paper mills in Tamilnadu.
• Tamilnadu News Print Paper Limited (T NPL) was set up with aid of World Bank in 1979 in Kakidhapuram near Pugalur in Karur district.

Leather industry:

• Tamil Nadu accounts for 70% of national tanning factories and 60% export of India.Leather industry occupies an important place by its wide dispersal sizeable employment and export potential.Tanning is a process of making leather, from the skins of animals with the use of tannin, an acidic chemical compound.Chennai, Vellore, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, Thiruchirapalli, Dindigul and Madurai districts have widespread centres for leather industry.

Cement industry :

• Tamil Nadu stands fourth in cement production. lt accounts for 10% of the country’s cement production.Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation Limited (TANCEM) is wholly owned by the Government of Tamil nadu and manufactures Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and Super Star Cement exceeding the requirements prescribed under the Indian standards

Automobile industry :

• TamilNadu earns 8% of is GDP from automobile industry. This industry contributes for about 21% of passenger and cars , 33 % of commercial vehicles produced in India. Chennai city is the base for 30% of india’s automobile industry and 35% of its auto components. This industrial supermacy has given the name to Chennai as “Detroit of Southern Asia”

Chemical industry :

• Chemical industry introduction production of chemicals, drugs, fertilizers, petrochemic als, Soaps, detergents, cosmetics, medicines, synthetic rubber and plastics. Most of the chemical industries are clustered at Chennai (Manali), Cuddalore,Pana gudi (Nagapattinam) and Thuthukudi. The notable chemical industries of Tamil Nadu are SPIC (Southem Petrochemical Industries Corporation Lts) and Manali Petrochemicals Limited.

• SPIC is the largestproducer of fertilizers in India and covers 12 states and caters to the customers through 4,000 outlets.lt produces around 2 million tons of fertilizers annually.

Electrical and Electronics Industry  :

• Bharat Héavy Electricals Limited located at Thiruchirappalli is one among the six large units of India. It produces boilers, generators, turbines used in the production of hydroelectricity.

Software Industry :

• Infosys’ campus at Mahindra World City near Chennai.Tamil Nadu is the second largest software exporter (by value) in India. It has the leading BPO sector in the country next to Karnataka.

• Major national-and global IT Companies ,such as verizon, Hewlett- Packard, IBM, Accenture, Ramco Systems, Computer Sciences Corporation, Cognizant Technology Solutions,Tata consultancy services, Polaris, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra, mahasis Acme Technology Pvt Ltd., Covansys, Ford  Information technology, Xansa, iSoft, iNautix, Elecronic Data Systems, Bally and many others have established their branches in Chennai.
• India’s largest IT Park is in Chennai, jointly constructed and maintained by Ascendas India Ldt,a Singapore – based company engaged Providing business space solutions, with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development corporation (TIDCO).

Other notable industries of Tamilnadu :

• Perambur Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is the largest in Asia to produce railway coaches Tamil Nadu.
• “Armoured Vehicles and Ammunition Depot of India” (Avadi) is about 23 km northwest of Chennai.
• Sivakasi is known for offset and Crackers and matches. It is known as little Japan”.
• Thanjavur and kumbakonam specialized in the production of bronze statues and musical instruments.

Tourism industry :

• Tamilnadu’s tourism industry is the second largest in India  with an annual growth rate of 16%. Tourism in Tamilnadu is promoted by Tamilnadu tourism development corporation(TTDC) , a government of Tamilnadu undertaking.
• State industries promotion corporation of Tamilnadu(SIPCOT) limited, a fully government owned premier institution, established in the year 1972, has been a catalyst in the development of small, medium, and large scale industries in Tamilnadu.
• Tamilnadu Transport and Communication : Roadways , Railways, Waterways and Airways, National highways, State highways, District roads,village roads
• There are national highways covering a toatal distance of 4500 km Length of road in km:

• Apart from these the state has vehicular transport in the form of three wheeler vehicles which constitute about 83.9 %. The number of registered vehicle population in Tamilnadu had increased to 10064 million in 2007-2008. There are 64 vehicular zones in state.
• Among regional transport offices , Chennai is the largest one which has 61 acres

Recent development in road transport :

• The widening and improvement of road from madhyakailsh in adyar to siruseri on old mahabalipuram road (omr) for about 2km was laid.This is called as IT express way that serves as connectivity to all IT companies.
• The east coast road (ecr) that is built along the coast of the bay of Bengal connects Chennai and cuddalore via Pondicherry.It gives rise to spectacular scenic views with beaches and fisherman hamlets.Presently the east coast road has been extended to thuthukudi vis Chidambaram, Nagapattinam, and ramanathapuram
• Golden quadrilateral project of the national highway development that runs for about 1232km in Tamilnadu, Chennai had been established.

Railways :

Railtracks are classified into :

1. Braod gauge
2. Meter gauge
3. Narrow gauge
4. Suburban railway

• In Tamilnadu the total length of railway tracks is about 5952km and total number of railway station is 532 to connect all the majorcities Tamilnadu.The southern south railway zones have been demarcated into six divisions, namely, Madurai, Salem, Chennai, Palakkad, Thiruvanandhapuram, Thiruchurpalli.
• Recent developments in railways: The meter gauge rails are being converted into broaaqd gauges of which 26% of the length have been electrified.

Waterways :

• It may be divided into inland waterways and sea ways. The state has 1000km of coastline
• The three major ports of Tamilnadu are Chennai, Thoothukudi and Ennoor.Some of the minor ports are Cuddalore, Nagapattinam,Kolachal and rameswaram. Projects under progress sedhu samudhiram shiping canal project

Communications :

• The mean through which ideas and information are exchanged are called “means of communication. They are Personal communication and mass communication networks , Personal communication includes postal service,Telegram service, Telephone, Internets , E-mail,Fax.
• The Telegram communication has been discontinued from the country from 2013.

Postal network  andTelegraph :

• The postal department allocated the postal index number (PIN) to facilitate faster delivery of letters in the form of air mail service, railway mail service and speed post.

Postal telegraph offices in Tamilnadu :

• Number of post offices alone 12,115
• Number of post and telegraph offices 3504
• In India BSNL is a major service provider. Direct calls can be made across the country and the world with STD (Subscriber Trunck Dialling), PCO( Public call office), and ISD ( International subscriber dialing) facilities respectively.

Today Tamilnadu has,

• Telephone exchanges – 2408
• Telephone subscribers – 3346906
• The private basic telecom services are Bhatathi Infotel, TATA , Reliance, Airtel,Aircel, Vodafone,Uninor

All India Radio (AIR)  :

• Indian Radio broadcasting which was started in 1927, acquired the name All India Radio (AIR) in 1936.AIR has 15 Radio stations in Tamilnadu. Private broadcaster have set up FM Radio of programme on education,agriculture, and entertainment .

Private  channels of Doordhasan :

• Kalaignar Tv, Sun Tv, Star Tv, Raj Tv,Star Vijay, Jaya Tv, Vasanth Tv, Makkal Tv And Several Channels

Internet and Intranet :

• An intranet is a private computer network.Intranets are websites that can only be accessed within a company through their internal network. It is the latest means of communication which has bought revoluon in the communication all over the world.

Trade :

• Trade may be defined as an exchange of goods and commodities either within the country or between the countries.The primitive method of trade was known as the barter system.

Trade in Tamilnadu :

• There are about 21 market committees to handle the marketing of agricultural goods and to fix a genuine prize for the commodity.At present there are about 303 agriculture produce Marketing centers (APMC) distributed all over the districts of Tamilnadu
• The APMC is further classified into Primary,Secondary, marketing centers and Non-regulated marketing centers . The largest number of 34 marketing centers are found in Erode district followed by Coimbatore and Thanjavurwithin 21centers.
• First uzhavar sandhai was started at Madurai in 1999 and there are about 103 such uzhavar sandhais in state. Tamilnadu co-operative silk producers federation, TANSILK an apex co-operative body,with head quarters silk at kancheepuram, purchases raw silk and supply them to handloom weavers co-operative societies and other weaving sectors.
• State industries promotion corporation of Tamilnadu(SIPCOT) focuses on developing, marketing and maintaining induatrial complexes/parks within state.

Population of Tamilnadu :

• The sex ratio is the number of females per 1000 of males. The ratio between the number of children age of five and the number of female at the reproductive age (15-45) calculated for every thousand persons in known as fertility rate.

Growth of Population :

• The population of Tamilnadu had doubled over a period of 50 years from 1951 to 2001.The difference between birth and death rate gives the natural increased of population of regions When expressed in percentage it is known as the growth rate. The annual growth rate is 1.1% which lower than that of India.

Distribution of Population :

• Chennai possesses the largest share of 6.96% of the total population of Tamilnadu.This is followed by Coimbatore, Vellore, Salem districts. Perambalur has the least population of 0.69%

Tamilnadu : District wise density of population

Composition of Population Tamilnadu :

• As per 2001 census, 37% of population in Tamilnadu is below 20yrs, 54% is between 20 and 60 yr, and 90% is above 60yrs.Percentage of schedule castes and schedule Tribes is 19% and 1.04% respectively.
• In Tamilnadu there are about 88% Hindus, 5.5% Muslims, 6% Christians, and the rest are of Religions such as Sikhs, Buddhist and Jains.

• The state has a sex ratio of 987 women for 1000men. The highest sex ratio is in Thuthukudi(1,050) and and the least is in Salem(929). In Tamilnadu, 56% of the people live in rural areas and 44% of the population live in urban centers.

Literacy :

• The literacy in Tamilnadu has greatly increased in the period 1951 to 2001. The overall literacy of Tamilnadu is 73.5%. Among the districts, Dharmapuri has the least literacy of 61.39% Kanyakumari has the highest 87.555 of literatures.Chennai, Thuthukudi and Nilgiris have 80% literatures.
• Among the schedule castes and schedule Tribes 55% and 35% of them are literatures.Among them 726 out of every 1000 are literates.Likewise among women 571 out of every 1000 are literates. Among the districts, Kanyakumari has the highest literacy with 803 for evry thousand women.

Occupation :

• According to 2001 census, the total number of workers in Tamilnadu account for 44.67%. Non workers account for 55.33%. Among the workers, 41.5% work in the primary sector, followed by 27.7% in the secondary sector and 30.8% in the tertiary sector.
• Former UN secretary General Kofi Annan has stated “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing property, promoting sustainable development and building good governance”.

Strategies adopted by government of Tamilnadu for women empowerment :

• Entrepreneurship Development programme (EDP) and entrepreneurship awareness programme (EAP) to bring out the talents of women and to make them prove their potential. A self- Help group(SHG) is a group of women, organized for eradiction of property. They ready to save regularly and convert their savings into a common fund known as the Group corpus.

• In Tamilnadu SHG’s were started in 1989 in Dharmapuri district.At present 1,40,000 groups are functioning with 2.383 million members. Tamilnadu corporation for Development of women Ltd arranges credit assistance for the successful groups through various schemes implemented by state as well as central government.

Environment issues :

Major environmental issues are :

1. Urbanization
2. Deforestation
3. Enironmental pollution and
4. Global warming

Urbanisation :

• The level of urbanization in Tamilnadu is bottles 44% as per census of 2001. It is the second highest urbanized state in the country. In Tamilnadu slum clearance board has already taken steps and constructed nearly 3000 shelter units to replace the existing slums.

Common house hold items derived from killing animals :

1. Paint brush – from wild boar and mongoose
2. To produce 100gm of silk- about 1500 moths are boiled to death
3. Silver foil-Ox-gut is used
4. Lac-To produce 1kg of lac 300,000 insects ar killed.

Effects of Noise Pollution:

• Celebrations of special days like world Environment day(June 5^th), Earth day(April 22^nd),Ozone day(16^th Sep) are celebrated every year.The increasing pace IT and Electronic industries generate 70% of waste which should be disposed through the authorized recyclers as approved by the TNPCB.
• Three monitoring stations have been established at Guindy, Vyasaropadi and Thirumangalam in Chennai to check vehicular emission. There are 46 air pollution monitoring stations in the city of Chennai.

Conservation of land resources :

• Soil is the most important land resource as it provides room for all human activities.In Tamilnadu soil erosion by wing is very common in Kambam valley,parts of Tirunelveli,Thuthukudi and Ramanathapuram.

• Tamilnadu Agricultural department has set up soil testing laboratories at village level to help farmers with the scientific assessment of soil quality and treating method. There are also 16mobiles soil testing laboratories to serve the villages in Tamilnadu.

Conservation of forests and wildlife in Tamilnadu:

• Tamilnadu has 17% of its land area under forest cover. Forests are rain harvesters,rechargers of soil moisture, reservoirs for underground water, habitatas for variety of fauna and flora and stabilizers of environment. There are 13 bird sanctuaries 5 national parks and 7 wildlife sanctuaries in Tamilnadu.
• Birds from arctic region visit the sanctuaries in Tamilnadu every year during the winter season of breeding .Like the Project Tiger, Project Elephant has been launched by the Government to save plants elephants from extinction.

Bird Sanctuaries and Wildlife in Tamilnadu :

• The UNESCO’s man and the bio-sphere Programme(MAB) was established in 1977 to promote an interdisciplinary approach in research, training and communications in ecosystem conservation and rational use of natural resources.This resulted in forming 553 biospheres reserves in 107 countries of the world.

Bio sphere Resources :

• Tamil Nadu has three such Biospheres in Nilgiris, Gulf of mannar, and Agasthiyamalai.
• The notable governmental and non-governmental organizations that are actively engaged in conserving medicinal plants of TamilNadu are :

FRLHT(Foundation for Revitalization of Local health and Traditions).

DANIDA (Danich International Developmemt Agency).

• There are 11 MPCA’s in TamilNadu in the following places :

1. Alagar kovil
2. Kodaikamal
3. Kolli hills
4. Kurumbaram
5. Kuttralam
6. Mundanthurai
7. Ambasamudram
8. Pechiparai
9. Thaniparai
10. Thenmalai
11. Topslip

• Medicinal plants Development Area(MPDA) is yet another method which aims at restoring degraded forests by reaising the native plants with community participation.

• There are eight such MPDA’s in TamilNadu. They are in :

1. Attur
2. Chengalpattu
3. Coimbatore
4. Dharmapuri
5. Doddabetta
6. Madurai
7. Salem
8. Vellore

Wetland conservation  :

• Areas of marshy land not exceeding 6m depth with or without permanent water, is classified as Wetlands.

TamilNadu has such Wetland areas in the following places :

1. Point
2. Calimere
3. Kazhuveliin Villupuram
4. Pallikaranai in Chennai
5. Muthupet in Pachavaram
6. And few in Ramanathapuram

• Under the scheme Bio-gas Development programme Tamilnadu has installed 1,285 Bio-gas plants upto March 2008.
• Tamilnadu government is a pioneer in bio-fuel It is one among the nine states to use 5% ethanol blended  fuels for vehicles since 2003.Seeds of Jatropha  plant is used  in the production of Bio-fuel. Other seeds used in the production of Bio-fuels are neem, karani,pungam.