User:Atcovi/5th Book/Tamil Nadu, India

Summary
Tamil Nadu (/ˈtæmɪl ˈnɑːduː/ Tamil: தமிழ்நாடு; (literally "Tamil Country") is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital is Chennai (formerly known as Madras), the largest city. Tamil Nadu is a land most known for its monumental ancient Hindu temples and classical form of dance, Bharata Natyam. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Puducherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It is bound by the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and Kerala on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait in the south east, and by the Indian Ocean in the south.

Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area and the seventh most populous state in India. It is the second largest state economy in India as of 2012. The state ranked 6th among states in India according to the Human Development Index as of 2011. The state has the highest number (10.56 per cent) of business enterprises and stands second in total employment (9.97 per cent) in India, compared to the population share of about 6 per cent. In the 2013 Raghuram Rajan panel report, Tamil Nadu was ranked as the third most developed state in India based on a "Multidimensional Development Index".

The region has been the home of the Tamil people since at least 1500 BCE. Its official language Tamil which holds a status of being a classical language. Tamil has been in use in inscriptions and literature for over 2500 years. Mythical traditions dictate that Lord Shiva himself taught sage Agastya this language. Sage Agastya is considered as the Father of Tamil literature and compiled the first Tamil grammar called Agathiyam, but the scripts of Agathiyam does not exist. It is believed that he has lived in the 6th or 7th century B.C and specialized in language, alchemy, medicine and spirituality (yogam and gnanam). There are 96 books in the name of Agathiyar. Tamil Nadu is home to many natural resources, classical arts, classical music, classical literature, Hindu temples of Dravidian architecture, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites and eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Demographics
Tamil Nadu is the seventh most populous state in India. 44 per cent of the state's population live in urban areas, the highest among large states in India. The state has registered the lowest fertility rate in India in year 2005–06 with 1.7 children born for each woman, lower than required for population sustainability.

As of 2001 India census, Tamil Nadu had a population of 62,405,679. The sex ratio of the state is 987 with 31,400,909 males and 31,004,770 females. There are a total of 14,665,983 households. The total children under the age of 6 is 7,235,160. A total of 11,857,504 people constituting 21.49 per cent of the total population belonged to Scheduled Castes (SC) and 651,321 people constituting 1.18 per cent of the population belonged to Scheduled tribes (ST).

The state has 40,524,545 literates, making the literacy rate to 73.45 per cent. There are a total of 27,878,282 workers, comprising 4,738,819 cultivators, 6,062,786 agricultural labourers, 1,261,059 in house hold industries, 11,695,119 other workers, 4,120,499 marginal workers, 377,220 marginal cultivators, 2,574,844 marginal agricultural labourers, 238,702 marginal workers in household industries and 929,733 other marginal workers.

India has a human development index calculated as 0.619, while the corresponding figure for Tamil Nadu is 0.736, placing it among the top states in the country. The life expectancy at birth for males is 65.2 years and for females it is 67.6 years. However, it has a high level of poverty especially in the rural areas. As of 2004–2005, the poverty line was set at INR 351.86/month for rural areas and INR 547.42/month for urban areas. Poverty in the state dropped from 51.7 per cent in 1983 to 21.1 per cent in 2001. For the period 2004–2005, the Trend in Incidence of Poverty in the state was 22.5 per cent compared with the national figure of 27.5 per cent. The World Bank is currently assisting the state in reducing poverty, High drop-out and low completion of secondary schools continue to hinder the quality of training in the population. Other problems include class, gender, inter-district and urban-rural disparities. Based on URP – Consumption for the period 2004–2005, percentage of the state's population Below Poverty Line was 27.5 per cent. The Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative ranks Tamil Nadu to have a Multidimensional Poverty Index of 0.141, which is in the level of Ghana among the developing countries. Corruption is a major problem in the state with Transparency International ranking it the second most corrupt among the states of India.

Religion
About 89 per cent of the population in Tamil Nadu are Hindus and the state is home to the core schools of medieval and modern Hinduism as well as several non-mainstream Hindu movements. These include Nayanmars Saivism, Saiva Siddhanta, Alvar Vaishnavism, Sri Vaishnavism and Ayya-Vazhi. Several important Hindu Tamil figures became important figures for Hinduism as a whole. In modern times, well known figures for Hinduism in the state include Ramana Maharishi and the Kanchi Sankaracharya. All Hindu deities in various forms and a large number of village deities are worshiped by Hindus in Tamil Nadu. Murugan is considered to be the Tamil God. Tamil Nadu dominates the list of largest Hindu Temples in the world which include the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple, Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Ekambareswarar Temple at Kanchipuram, Chidambaram Nataraja Temple, Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswar Temple among others. The emblem of Government of Tamil Nadu depicts the Gopuram (gateway tower) of the Andal Temple at Srivilliputhur.

Christians and Muslims together form close to 12 per cent of the population. Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern districts of Kanyakumari (54 per cent of the population in 2001), Thoothukudi (17 per cent in 2001) and Tirunelveli (11 per cent in 2001). St. Thomas Mount in Chennai, the place where St. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus, was believed to have been martyred, is an important pilgrimage site for Indian Christians. The Santhome Basilica, widely believed by Christians in India to have been built atop the tomb of St. Thomas, and the Vailankanni Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health are churches revered by Christians in India. The Church of South India and the Pentecostal Mission Church are headquartered in Chennai.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health at Velankanni is a Christian pilgrimage centre. Muslims constitute close to 6% of the total population of Tamil Nadu and they are mainly concentrated in following Districts. Ramanathapuram, Nagappattinam, Vellore, Tuticorin, Madurai and Tirunelveli. Among Muslims, 97.5 per cent are Sunni and the rest are Shias. The Sunnis adhere to either Hanafi or Shafi schools of thought. Erwadi in Ramanathapuram district and Nagore in Nagapattinam district are important pilgrimage sites for Muslims. Kazimar Big Mosque in Kazimar Street, Madurai and Karpudaiyar masjid in Kayalpatnam are among the earlier mosques in Tamil Nadu.

Samanars or Tamil Jains have a legacy dating back 250 BCE. They made significant contributions to Tamil literature. According to the 2001 census there were 83,359 Jains in Tamil Nadu. Jains make up 0.13 per cent of the population. Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes comprise 19 per cent and 1 per cent of the population respectively. Though an overwhelming percentage of SC/ST population identify themselves as Hindu, the SC/STs are enumerated separately in the census and not as a subgroup of Hinduism. An anti-conversion law came into force in 2002. However, the law was repealed in June 2004 after the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party led coalition in the 2004 elections.

Language
Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu. English is also in common usage as an official language of India. When India adopted national standards, Tamil was the very first language to be recognised as a classical language of India. Minority languages include Telugu (5.65 per cent), Malayalam (0.89 per cent), Kannada (2.68 per cent), Urdu (1.51 per cent), Gujarati / Saurashtri (0.32 per cent), Hindi (0.30 per cent) and Marathi (0.10 per cent). As of the 2001 Census, Tamil is spoken as the first language by 89.43 per cent of the population followed by Telugu by 5.65 per cent, Kannada by 2.68 per cent, Urdu by 1.51 per cent and Malayalam by 0.89 per cent.

Culture
Tamil Nadu has a long tradition of venerable culture. Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tradition of literature, music and dance which continue to flourish today. Unique cultural features like Bharatanatyam (dance), Tanjore painting, and Tamil architecture were developed and continue to be practised in Tamil Nadu.