Puducherry

புதுச்சேரி

État de Poudouchéry
Union Territory of Puducherry
—  Union Territory  —
Street in Pondicherry
Pondicherry
Location of புதுச்சேரி

État de Poudouchéry
Union Territory of Puducherry
Coordinates
Country  India
District(s) 4
Established 1 November 1954
Capital Pondicherry
Largest city Pondicherry
Lt. Governor Iqbal Singh
Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam
Legislature (seats) Unicameral (30)
Population

• Density

 973,829 (2nd)

• 1,979 /km2 (5,126 /sq mi)
Official languages Tamil, French
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
Area 492 km2 (190 sq mi)
ISO 3166-2 IN-PY
Website www.pondicherry.gov.in

Puducherry (Tamil: புதுச்சேரி Putuccēri; French: Poudouchéry), formerly known as Pondicherry, is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Puducherry. The territory was officially known as Pondicherry until 2006 when it was renamed Puducherry.[1][2] Of late, Puducherry is also considered an educational hub of southern India, having 1 central university, 8 medical colleges, 10 engineering colleges, 3 dental colleges, 2 law colleges, 1 veterinary college, 1 agricultural college, 10 arts and science colleges, and 5 polytechnic colleges functioning within its territory. Many medical and engineering colleges including one national institute of technology and a state-owned university are also reported to be in queue. People of Puducherry demanding statehood for Puducherry and requesting to add neighbouring villages from Tamil Nadu to newly form Puducherry state for better administration and development purposes.[3]

Contents

Name

The name Puducherry (புதுச்சேரி) means new village in Tamil, the local language. During the colonial period the name was changed to Pondicherry. Pondicherry was widely used for a long time to refer to the region. In 2006, the name for the state and the capital city officially reverted to Puducherry.

Geography

Puducherry consists of four non-contiguous regions: Puducherry, Karaikal, and Yanam on the Bay of Bengal and Mahé on the Arabian Sea. Puducherry and Karaikal are by far the larger ones, and are both enclaves of Tamil Nadu. Yanam and Mahé are enclaves of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, respectively.

The territory has a total area of 492 km2 (190 sq mi): Puducherry 293 km2 (113 sq mi), Karaikal 160 km2 (62 sq mi), Mahé 9 km2 (3.5 sq mi) and Yanam 30 km2 (12 sq mi). It has 900,000 inhabitants (2001).

History

Puducherry was mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, 1st century CE.

There are various references to the word Poduke, a port town on the Coromandal Coast, in history. The identification of a Roman trading centre in the immediate vicinity of Puducherry adds weight to the equation of Poduke with Puducherry. Although this has been suggested by more than one writer, the equation of Poduke with Puduvai the name by which the town was known in the early days, seems to be more acceptable. According to tradition, the town was once upon a time an abode of scholars well versed in the Vedas and hence came to be known as Vedapuri. During the days of Ottakoothar and Kambar in the 11th and 12th centuries, Puducherry was known in its shortened form as Puthuvai.

Joseph François Dupleix became the Governor of the French Territory in India on 15 January 1742 and brought Madras also under French control in September 1746; Madras continued under French rule for 30 years. An attack on Puducherry by the British in 1748 failed. Dupleix's help to Chanda Sahib and Musafer Jung in 1750 added Villianur and Bahour, a group of 36 villages, to French control. This was the peak period of the French regime; thereafter there was a decline in their sovereignty.

Internal disturbances in Puducherry gave the British the opportunity, in August 1793, to gain control of Puducherry; it was administered as part of Madras until 1815. However, after the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the British restored the settlements, which the French had possessed on 1 January 1792, back to the French in 1816. French rule continued until 31 October 1954[4].

Puducherry helped in the freedom movement in British India since 1910. Sri Aurobindo of Bengal came to Puducherry in 1910 followed by patriots like Poet Subramanya Bharathi, V.V.C Iyer and others. In 1918, the British demanded the extradition of Sri Aurobindo and other freedom fighters. The French government did not comply with this. Gandhi visited Puducherry in 1934 and Jawaharlal Nehru in 1939.

Following the understanding reached between the Governments of India and France, the question of the merger of Puducherry with the Indian Union was referred to the elected representatives of the people for decision in a secret ballot on 18 October 1954; 170 out of 178 elected representatives favored the merger. The de facto transfer of power took place on 1 November 1954; the de jure transfer on 16 August 1962.

French influence

Puducherry still retains much evidence of its history as a French colony. The design of the city was based on the French (originally Dutch, the plans of Pondicherry dating from the end of the seventeenth century (1693–1694) are preserved in the National Archives at The Hague) grid pattern and features neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The entire town is divided into two sections, the French Quarter ('Ville Blanche' or 'White town') and the Indian quarter ('Ville Noire' or 'Black Town'). The history of French India is led by Joseph François Dupleix, governor general of the French establishment in India, and rival of Robert Clive. Dupleix was primarily responsible for the Carnatic Wars. At first Dupleix was successful in resisting the attacks of the English East India Company, but he lost in the later battles.

There is also French influence in the layout of the city. The numbering of the houses is unique compared to other cities in Tamil Nadu, in that the even numbers are on one side and the odd numbers are on the opposite side of the road.

Official languages of Government

The official languages of Puducherry are Tamil and French. Telugu, Malayalam are official language of Yanam and Mahe enclaves respectively. English is used for administrative convenience. The status of each language varies with respect to each district. English is lingua franca between the enclaves.

Tamil: Language used by the people in the Tamil majority districts of Puducherry and Karikal. Also the official language in neighbouring Tamil Nadu state.

French: Also the official language of Puducherry Union Territory. It was the official language of French India (1673–1954) and its official language status was preserved by the Traité de Cession signed by India and France on 28 May 1956.

French remained as the de jure official language of Puducherry U.T. by the Article XXVIII of Traité de Cession which states that:

"Le français restera langue officielle des Établissements aussi longtemps que les représentants élus de la population n'auront pas pris une décision différente" (French version)
"The French language will remain the official language of the Establishments as long as the elected representatives of the people do not take a different decision" (English version)

Languages spoken

Languages (2008)
Languages Percentage
Tamil 89.18 %
Others 10.82
Total 100

As of 1981, number of people speaking in each official languages are,

Tourism

Map of Puducherry Region, Union Territory of Puducherry, India

Puducherry is one of the most popular tourist destinations in South India. The city has many colonial buildings, churches, temples, and statues, which, combined with the systematic town planning and the well planned French style avenues, still preserve much of the colonial ambience. Puducherry is also known as La Côte d'Azur de l'Est meaning "The French Riviera of the East".

The most popular tourist destinations are the four beaches in Puducherry, which are Promenade Beach, Paradise Beach, The Auroville Beach and Serinity Beach[6]. Sri Aurobindo Ashram located on rue de la Marine, is one of the best-known and wealthiest ashrams in India. Auroville (City of Dawn) is an "experimental" township located 8 km North-West of Puducherry. Auroville is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities[7].

There are a number of eighteenth and nineteenth century churches in Puducherry as well as a number of heritage buildings and monuments are present around the Promenade beach such as the Children’s Park & Dupleix Statue, Gandhi statue, Nehru Statue, Le Café, French War Memorial, 19th Century Light House, Bharathi Park, Governors Palace, Romain Rolland Library, Legislative Assembly, Puducherry Museum, and the French Institute of Pondicherry at Saint-Louis Street.

Joyful boat rides at Chunnambar boat house (Puducherry-Cuddalore Road) and at Osutari lake, Botanical Garden for joyful train ride and for unseen natures beauty.

Thirukaameeswarar Temple is one of the ancient, beautiful, and huge temples that is located in a beautiful rural town called "Villianur" (the ancient name was Vilvanallur, which means "vilva marangal niraindha nalla vur"), which is located about 10 km away (towards Villupuram) from Puducherry town. This temple is Renowned As "Periya Koil", which means "Big Temple" in Puducherry locality. The prime god is Lord Shiva and the prime goddess is Goddess Kokilambigai. In addition, there are also other Hindu gods such as Murugan, Vinayagar, ThakshanamoorthY, Perumal, Bhramah, Chandikeshwarar, Natarajar, Navagrahah, and 63 Naayanmaars. The pioneers in this temple say that the age of this temple is about 1000+ years. This seemed to be constructed by one of the Chola Kings. There is also a huge "temple pond". One of the famous festival of this temple is "Ther Thiruvizha" (Car Festival).

The other important temple is "Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple" located within the Puducherry town.

Government and administration

Sub-divisions

Puducherry is divided into two districts and each district is divided into sub divisions, taluks and sub-taluks:

Puducherry
Districts Sub Divisions Taluks Sub-Taluk
Puducherry Puducherry – North Puducherry
Ozhukarai
Puducherry – South Villianur
Bahour
Yanam Yanam Yanam
Mahé Mahé Mahé
Karaikal Karaikal Karaikal
Thirunallar

Special administration status

According to the 1956 Traité de cession, the four former French colonies were assured of maintaining their special administrative status. That is why Puducherry is the only Union Territory with some special provisions like Legislative Assembly, French as official language, etc. Article II of Traité de Cession states:

"The Establishments will keep the benefit of the special administrative status which was in force prior to 1 November 1954. Any constitutional changes in this status which may be made subsequently shall be made after ascertaining the wishes of the people."

Statehood

Special Statehood for Puducherry sought by people and government of Puducherry to empower the Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and the Assembly to implement legislation.[8] People of Karaikal and Yanam region strongly opposing to merger with proposed Puducherry state.[9] Group of protestors hailing from Puducherry region demanding to add neighbouring villages from Tamil Nadu to merger with Puducherry state for better administration and have a contiguous boundary.[10].

Economy

Macro-economic trend

This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Puducherry at market prices estimated by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Year Gross State Domestic Product (In Millions of Indian rupee)
1980 1,840
1985 3,420
1990 6,030
1995 13,200
2000 37,810

Puducherry's gross state domestic product for 2008 is estimated at Indian rupee64,570 million, and a per capita income of Indian rupee66,478, one of the highest in India. The literacy rate of the U.T. is 81.49%, much higher than the national average of 64.8%[12]. Puducherry is growing as a destination to hardware units, having subsidiaries of few multinational giants like Wipro, HCL and IBM. The U.T. also has manufacturing units of Hindustan Unilever Limited, Suzlon etc. The potential for fisheries is substantial in the Union Territory. The four regions of the Union Territory have a coastline of 45 km (28 mi) with 675 km2 (261 sq mi) of inshore waters, 1.347 ha of inland water and 800 ha of brackish water. There are 27 marine fishing villages and 23 inland fishing villages with fishermen population of about 65,000 of which 13,000 are actively engaged in fishing. Irrigation tanks and ponds are also tapped for commercial fish rearing. The railways play a vital role for speedy economic growth. The entire cost towards execution of the new broad gauge line for 10.7 km (6.6 mi) from Karaikal to Nagore will be funded by the Ministry of Railways and work has already been awarded on a turn-key basis for laying the new railway line in a period of 18 months. The present availability of power is about 400 MW. The demand is likely to increase with the development of the Port, Special Economic Zone, other industrial development, trade and commerce etc. It has been decided to expand Puducherry Airport so that air services can improve gradually over time, to land ATR to Boeing aircraft to meet the growing demand for air travel. A Memorandum of understanding has already been signed with the Airports Authority of India for expansion of Puducherry Airport in two phases.

Auroville

Important personalities

  • Sri Aurobindo - British India freedom fighter and religious reformer
  • The Mother-Sri Aurobindo's close spiritual collaborator, born in Paris, France.
  • Joseph François Dupleix - French Governor General (Rival of Robert Clive )
  • Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau - French Governor General
  • Maire de Yanaon Samatam Kistaya - Pro-French Telugu poet & the last don Coup d'État de Yanaon
  • Edouard Goubert - First Chief minister of free Puducherry
  • Ananda Ranga Pillai - French Indian leader dubash'
  • Bharathidasan - Tamil poet and social activist, follower of Bharathiyar
  • Ganapathi Thanikaimoni - Botanist and palynologist
  • M. Night Shyamalan - Hollywood movies producer, Padma Shri awardee

Puducherry in literature

  • Ananda Ranga Pillai (1709–1761), a dubash and famous writer.
  • Puducherry was the setting for the first third of the Booker prize-winning novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
  • Lee Langley's novel A house in Pondicherry was likewise set there.
  • In Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Prince Pondicherry has Willy Wonka build him a castle made entirely of chocolate, which quickly melts.
  • In the Sherlock Holmes adventure, The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the family of a murder victim resides at Pondicherry Lodge. In the adventure of The Five Orange Pips a frightening letter is postmarked from Pondicherry, India seven weeks before the death of Colonel Openshaw.
  • Some Novels of M. Mukundan, Mahe former employee of French Embassy and famous Malayalam Writer.
  • Mr. R. Manavazhagan, Well known Management Faculty, Bangalore.
  • Master Ashwath, A Star Research Attachment Scholar, Temasek Secondary School, Singapore.

See also

  • Road Network in Puducherry District
  • Causes for Liberation of French colonies in India
  • Municipal Administration in French India
  • List of Chief Ministers of Puducherry
  • Puducherry (Lok Sabha constituency)
  • French East India Company
  • Auroville
  • North Malabar for Mahe
  • Karaikal

References

  1. ↑ BBC: "New name for old French territory"
  2. ↑ "Pondicherry reverts to Puducherry". The Times of India. 26 May 2006. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1575159.cms. Retrieved 23 March 2010. 
  3. ↑ http://greaterpuducherry.blogspot.com/
  4. ↑ "The history of Pondicherry". Pondichery.com. http://www.pondichery.com/english/histoire.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-26. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 www.education.nic.in/cd50years/g/t/V/0T0V0D01.htm
  6. ↑ Puducherry.org [1].
  7. ↑ Official website of Auroville [2].
  8. ↑ http://news.oneindia.in/2008/05/17/legislators-to-press-for-statehood-for-puducherry-1211150574.html
  9. ↑ http://nandhivarman.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/karaikal-delegation-reports-to-home-ministry/
  10. ↑ http://greaterpuducherry.blogspot.com/
  11. ↑ "Population Analysis and Projections". Census of India. www.pon.nic.in. http://www.pon.nic.in/stategovt/pandr/vision2020/pdf_files/APPENDIX.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-04. 
  12. ↑ "BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE PROVISIONAL RESULTS OF 2001 CENSUS". Pon.nic.in. 2001-03-01. http://www.pon.nic.in/open/depts/ecostat/census/RESULTS.HTM. Retrieved 2010-07-26. 

External links

States and territories of India
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Union Territory of Puducherry
Puducherry Topics · History · Economy · Geography · Culture · Tourism
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