Profile of Kanyakumari District

Kanyakumari district, the southernmost tip of the Indian sub-continent, gets its name from the township Kanyakumari, a pilgrim centre associated with the temple of Goddess Kanyakumari. It stretches an area of 1,684 sq km and occupies 1.295 Percentage of the total area of Tamil Nadu.

Kanyakumari district lies between 77^o-15^’ and 77^o-36^’ of the eastern longitude and 8^o-03^’ and 8^o-35^’ of the north latitude. It is bordered by Kerala on the west and northwest, Tirunelveli on the north and the east, Gulf of Mannar on the south eastern side, Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea on the south and the south and the south west.

The district was part of Travancore Princely State during the pre-independence period, and agter the independence it remained as part of Travancore Cochin State until the realignment on linguistic basis was achieved. After the pronouncement ofd the States Reorganisaton Act, 1956 the newly formed district Kanyakumari comprising Agastheeswaram, Thovalai, Kalkulam, Vilavancode the four southern taluks of Thiruvananthapuram merged with the Tamil speaking then Madras State (Tamil Nadu) on November 1, 1956.

Revenue Division	Taluk	Block
Padmanabhapuram	Vilavancode	Melpuram Munchirai Killiyoor
	Kalkulam	Thiruvattar Thuckalay Kurunthancode
Nagercoil	Thovalai	Thovalai
	Agastheeswaram	Agastheeeswaram Rajakkamangalam

 

The headquarter of Kanyakumari district is Nagercoil. The district has been divided into two revenue divisions, four taluks and nine blocks.

Among the four taluks, Thovalai differentiates itself from other taluks, by its topography that has long tracts of hilly and paddy fields and it is the only one without a costal area in itself.

Kanyakumari district has seven legislative constituencies (Tamil Nadu has 234). They are: Kanyakumari, Nagercoil, Padmanabhapuram, Colachel, Thiruvattar, Killiyoor and Vilavancode. The Kanyakumari constituency falls under the Thiruchendur parliamentary constituency and the remaining six legislative constituencies fall under Nagercoil constituency.

As far as the local bodies are concerned currently Kanyakumari district has:

•       97  Village Panchayats (1996 wards)
•          9  panchayat Unions (113 wards)
•          1 District Panchayat (11 wards)
•     56 Town Pnchayats (912 wards)
•          4 Municipalities (117 wards)

The district enjoys a warm and humid climate, away from the effect of the winter season. But, summer is very oppressive as this region is closer to the equator compared to other regions of the sub-continent. Unlike other districts in Tamil Nadu, Kanyakumari receives rainfall both during the southwest and the northeast monsoons. The first monsoon is from June to September, while the second one is from October to December which provide abundant water source to the district. Rainfall is generally high in the northern parts of the district. The annual rainfall ranges between 90 and 160 cm and the average is 140 cm. It also gets its water source from five rivers Thamiraparani, Valliyar, Ponnivaikal, Pampoorivaikal and Pazhayar. There are four dams Pechiparai, Perunchani, Chittar I and II and two diversion-weirs, constructed across these rivers to store water. Water for irrigation purposes are channeled through 6 channels-Pandiyan Kal, Thovalai Channel, Regulatory Kal, Anandanar Channel, Nanchinad Puthanar Channel, Padmanapuram puthenar Channel and Chittar Pattanam Channel. The land holding pattern of the district has decreased in the last five decades considerably. According to agricultural census the average size of holdings was 0.39 ha in 1970-71, and it has come down to 0.10 in the 90s. While the agricultural workers are increasing, the cultivators are in decline.