Social,
Environmental & Economic Sustainability
Our analysis of the rank of the district
Backwardness : 358
Disability : 34 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Literacy Ratio : 349 (Census 2001)
Sex Ratio Rank : 286
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : A (HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Water : Flouride in Groundwater above permissible limits
Challenges of the district : Our research with local communities
Female foeticide.
The sex ratio of women has fallen down drastically. This issue needs
urgent attention.
People migrate to our district in search of jobs. Migration has
become a major issue of our district.
The chronic disease of HIV is highly prevalent.
Brief About Dharmapuri District
History
The earliest known chieftain who ruled Tagadur (present Dharmapuri)
during the Sangam era, is Adigaman Naduman Anji, whose patronage
sustained the famous poetess Avvaiyar. The next we hear in the
8th century when the northern parts of Salem District were probably
under the Pallavas regime. Subsequently, we hear of the Ganga
Pallavas having sway over the Western parts of the Salem District.
The Western Gangas are also mentioned as having ruled Baramahal
during the end of the 8th century. In the beginning of the 9th
Century, the Rashtrakutas gained power and influenced the history
of the district for the next two centuries. During the period,
the Cholas also rose to power in the south and Aditya-I conquered
the Kongunadu in 894 A.D. During 949-950 A.D., the Cholas suffered
a defeat from the Rastrakuttas whose decline started later after
the death of their king Krishna-III. Subsequently, the entire
area in Salem District came under the rule of the Cholas. The
Gangavadi was then annexed to the Chola territory and placed in
charge of an Adigaman Tagadur. The 12th century witnessed the
decline of the Chola empire when the Hoysalas rose to power and
routed the Cholas from Gangavadi. They are said to have captured
Kolar, sacked Kotayur and over ran the western parts of Kongunadu.
The Baramahal and Talaget areas apparently still remained with
the Cholas. But the Adigaman seems to have practically become
free and owed only nominal allegiance to the Cholas. Soundrapandia-I
assisted the Yadavas in driving out the Hoysala king, Vira Someswara
from the Chola territory.The history of the 13th Century revolve
itself between the Hoysalas and the Pandyas. This portion may
be added after when they were attacked from the North by the Yadavas,
the Hoysalas retreated towards the South in Kongunadu. It is known
that Jatavarman Soundrapandian-I assisted the Yadavas in driving
out the Hoysalas king, Vira Someswara, from the Chola territory.
But it is doubtful whether he made himself master of the Talaghat
area as there are records to show that Vira Someswara's son Vira
Ramanatha later ruled the whole of Salem District and the Pandiyas
were then eclipsed by the Mohammadan emissaries of the Delhi Sultanate.The
rise of Vijayanagar kingdom was seen in the 14th century. In 1365-66
A.D., Bukka-I turned his attention towards the south to overthrow
the Mohammedan Sultanate of Madurai. One of these campaigns must
have brought Salem District under the Vijayanagar kings. They
ruled these parts till 1565 A.D when the glory of the Vijayanagar
king was laid in dust by the combined armies of the Deccan Sultans
on the field at Talikota Hosur Denkanikota. While Jagaderea Raya
of Chennapatna ruled the Baramahal along with Mysore. Meanwhile
the ascendancy of the Madurai Nayakas reached its zenith during
the time of Tirumala Nayak who came to power in 1623 A.D. and
this tract was placed in charge of Poligars owing allegiance to
him. Ramachandra Nayaka, one of his poligars was incharge of Talaimalai
a hill overlooking the Cauvery in the south Namakkal taluk. The
Namakkal Fort is said to have been built by them. The Gathi Mudaliars
were incharge of the most dangerously exposed province of the
Nayak Kingdom with Kaveripuram on the right bank of the Cauvery
as their strategic capital commencing one of the principal passes
to the Mysore plateau. The centre of then power seems, however
to have been Taramangalam where they built a grand edifice of
a temple. It is said that their domination extended as far as
Talaivasal to the east, Dharapuram in Coimbatore District in the
south. The forts of greatest strategic importance held by the
Gathi Mudaliars were Omalur and Attur.Several places in Coimbatore
were taken by Kantirave Narasa Raja of Srirangapatinam from Gathi
Mudaliars in 1611 A.D. After 11 years, he seized Baramahal including
Viralahadradurg, Pennagaram, Dharmapuri and Denkanikotta in 1654
A.D., he took over Hosur from Chandra Sankar Dodda Devaraju the
king of Mysore wrested Omalur from the Gathi Mudaliars and thus
erased them out of political scene. The aggression of Marattas,
however checked the power of the Mysore Kings. For a time Baramahal
and Talaghat passed into the hands of Marattas. In 1688-89 A.D.,
Chikka Deva Raya king of Mysore felt strong enough once again
to invade Baramahal and wrested Dharmapuri, Manukonda, Omalur
Paramathi, Kaveripatinam and Attur were also retrieved by Chika
Deva Raya and the whole district of Salem came under his control
before his death in 1704 A.D. Meanwhile Abdul Nabikhan of Nawab
of Cuddapah extended his possession towards South and by 1714
A.D., he made himself master of the Baramahal.By about 1750 A.D.,
Hyder Ali was in power in Mysore Baramahal came under his sway
in 1760 A.D. By 1767 A.D., the British Government at Madras planned
an attack on Hyder Ali and seized Kaveripattinam without serious
opposition. Krishnagiri was then besieged. Meanwhile, reinforcement
was brought by Hyder Ali and they drove away the British. Thus,
Kaveripattinam was recaptured. Some months later the British made
another invasion on the Baramahal. Further, South Dharmapuri,
Salem, Attur, Sendamangalam and Namakkal were surrendered to the
British without serious difficulties. The victory, however, was
shortlived because Hyder Ali soon recaptured Dharmapuri, Denkanikota,
Omalur, Salem and Namakkal. During the period of second Mysore
war, Salem District was in the hands of Hyder Ali.Tippu Sultan
succeeded Hyder Ali and proved to be a formidable power. The British
made an alliance with the Marattas and the Nizam and started the
third Mysore war in 1790 A.D., in order to curb the power of Tippu
Sultan. A wing of the British forces stationed itself fully reinforced
at Kaveripattinam. Even though Tippu Sultan rushed to this spot
with his full force, he could not dislodge the British. A number
of alternations took place between the commanding forces in the
Baramahal area. In 1791, Hosur, Anjetti, Nilgiri and Ratnagiri
came under the British Royakotta and many other small forts fell
without much resistance. In 1791 Tippu sent a force from the South
along the Tippu pass. In the battle at Pennagaram they surrendered
to the British. In 1792 A.D., a peace treaty was signed between
Tippu and English. According to this, a half of the dominion of
Tippu was taken away. The whole of Salem District except the Balaghat
and a portion of Hosur came into the hands of the British. The
first British Collector had is headquarters at Krishnagiri on
strategic consideration.The last Mysore war in 1799 added up several
places in Hosur Taluk like Nilgiri, Anjetti, Durgam, Ratnagiri
and Kelamangalam which were recaptured by British. After the fall
of Srirangapattinam in which Tippu Sultan lost his life the Balaghat
area was also added to Salem District. The present Dharmapuri
District was then the part of the Salem District. The British
on their victory over Tippu had control over this area since 1792
A.D. During the British rule in the country and even till 1947
there was no separate district except Dharmapuri as one of the
taluks of Salem District. This was formed as a separate district
in 1965 with it headquarters at Dharmapuri.
About District
Dharmapuri district, which came into existence from 2.10.1965
is situated in the North western Corner of Tamil Nadu and is bounded
by Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram Districts on the east, Salem
District on the South, Krishnagiri District on the north and Kaveri
river on the west. It is located between latitudes N 11 47’ and
11 57’ and longitudes E 78 02’ and 78 40’. The total geographical
area of Dharmapuri District is 4497.77 Sq Kms, i.e. 3.46% of Tamil
Nadu.
Climate and Rainfall
The climate of the Dharmapuri District is generally warm. The
hottest period of the year is generally from the months of March
to May , the highest temperature going up to 38 C in April. The
Climate becomes cool in December and continuous so up to February,
touching a minimum of 17 C in January. On an average the District
receives an annual rainfall of 895.56 mm.
Soil
The Soil type ranges from black to mixed loam; Red sandy soils
are seen in Harur Taluk. Black and loam soil are found in Dharmapuri
Taluk. Generally the soil is low in Nitrogen and Phosphate content
with no marked variation between Taluks
