Chennai district

Chennai District

Madras
Chennai District Madras
District of Tamil Nadu
	View of Marina Beach
	Nicknames: Detroit of Asia; Healthcare Capital of India; Banking Capital of India; Electronics Manufacturing Hub of India; City of Flyovers; Gateway of South India; Capital of Tamil Nadu;
	Location in Tamil Nadu
	Coordinates: 13°5′2″N 80°16′12″E / 13.08389°N 80.27000°E
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
Region	Chola Nadu
Headquarters	Chennai
Talukas	Alandur, Aminjikarai, Ambattur, Ayanavaram, Egmore, Guindy, Madhavaram, Manali, Maduravoyal, Mylapore, Mambalam, Purasawalkam, Perambur, Shollinganallur, Thiruvottiyur, Tondiarpet, Velachery
Government
• District Collector	Tmt.S.Amirtha Jothi, IAS
• Commissioner of Police Greater Chennai	Shankar Jiwal, IPS
Area
• Total	426 km2 (164 sq mi)
Elevation	6.7 m (22.0 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	6,748,026
• Density	16,000/km2 (41,000/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Chennaiite; Chennaikaran
Languages
• Official	Tamil
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	600XXX
Telephone code	44
ISO 3166 code	044
Vehicle registration	TN01; To; TN10; TN13; TN14; TN18; TN22
Sex ratio	951 female / 1000 male
Literacy	90.33%
Website	https://chennai.nic.in/

Chennai district, formerly known as Madras district,^[a] is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the smallest and the most densely populated district in the state. The district is coterminous with the city of Chennai, which is administered by the Greater Chennai Corporation. It is surrounded by Tiruvallur district in the north and the west, Kanchipuram district in the south-west, Chenglpattu district in the south, and the Bay of Bengal in the east.

As of 2011, the district had a population of 67,48,026 with a sex-ratio of 989 females for every 1,000 males.^[5] Much of the district's population descended from its settlements in the 1st century CE to the Middle Ages, but the diversity has grown much since then. The district consists of only one civic body, the megacity of Chennai, which forms the core and the most notable portion of the much bigger Chennai metropolis, or officially, the Chennai Metropolitan Area. In 2018, the district's limits were expanded, aligning with that of the newly expanded Greater Chennai Corporation, which had annexed adjacent municipalities. It resulted in the area being increased from 175 square kilometres (68 sq mi) to 426 square kilometres (164 sq mi).^[3]^[6] The district is divided into three revenue divisions and ten taluks.

Etymology

The name Chennai was derived from Damarla Chennappa Nayak, the father of a general of the Vijayanagar Empire.^[7]

Geography

Chennai district covers an area of 426 km² located on the Eastern Coastal Plains of India. It is situated on the northeastern corner of Tamil Nadu along the Coramandel coast, a region bounded by the Bay of Bengal and is surrounded inland by the districts of Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram and Chengalpattu. It lies between 12°59' and 13°9' of the northern latitude and 80°12' and 80°19' of the eastern longitude at an average altitude of 6 metres above sea level on a 'sandy shelving breaker swept' beach. Terrain slope varies from 1:5000 to 1:10,000.^[8] The terrain is very flat with contours ranging from 2 m to 10 m above mean sea level with a few isolated hillocks in the southwest beyond the district limits at St. Thomas Mount, Pallavaram and Tambaram.^[9]

The district runs inland in a rugged semi-circular fashion and its coastline is about 25.60 km (2.5% of the total coastline of Tamil Nadu). Because of its strategic location and economic importance, it is referred to as the "Gateway of South India." The drainage system includes two rivers, namely, Cooum (flowing in the northern part) and Adyar (flowing in the southern part), a canal (the Buckingham), and a stream (the Otteri Nullah) slicing the district into several islands.

The district falls under Seismic Zone III indicating a moderate risk of earthquake. Geologically the district is divided into three regions, namely, sandy, clayey and hard-rock regions. The soil comprises clay, shale and sandstone.^[10]

Of the total land area, reserved forests cover 2.71 km² and is concentrated in and around the Guindy National Park region, one of the few national parks in the world located within a city. The forest cover of the district is as follows:^[11]

Class	Area (Ha)	Percentage
Dense forest	151.01	1.16
Moderate dense TOF	121.16	0.93
Non-forest	12,215.56	94.06
Open forest	114.24	0.88
Open TOF	153.73	1.18
Water	231.46	1.78
Total	12,987.16	100

Climate

Chennai has Tropical savanna climate (Köppen: Aw)

Climate data for Chennai, India
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	33 (91)	37 (99)	39 (102)	43 (109)	45 (113)	43 (109)	41 (106)	40 (104)	39 (102)	39 (102)	34 (93)	33 (91)	45 (113)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	29 (84)	31 (88)	33 (91)	35 (95)	38 (100)	38 (100)	36 (97)	35 (95)	34 (93)	32 (90)	29 (84)	29 (84)	33 (92)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	19 (66)	20 (68)	22 (72)	26 (79)	28 (82)	27 (81)	26 (79)	26 (79)	25 (77)	24 (75)	22 (72)	21 (70)	24 (75)
Record low °C (°F)	14 (57)	15 (59)	17 (63)	20 (68)	21 (70)	21 (70)	22 (72)	21 (70)	21 (70)	17 (63)	15 (59)	14 (57)	14 (57)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	16.2 (0.64)	3.7 (0.15)	3.0 (0.12)	13.6 (0.54)	48.9 (1.93)	53.7 (2.11)	97.8 (3.85)	149.7 (5.89)	109.1 (4.30)	282.7 (11.13)	350.3 (13.79)	138.2 (5.44)	1,266.9 (49.88)
Source: Indian Meteorological Department^[12]

Demographics

According to 2011 census, Chennai district had a population of 4,646,732 in unexpanded old limits area of 176 sq.km. with a sex-ratio of 989 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 16.78% and 0.22% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the district was 81.27%, compared to the national average of 72.99%.^[5] With the expanded limits to 426 sq. km. Chennai district had a population of 6,748,026 as per 2011 census data.^[4]

The district had a total of 1,154,982 households. There were a total of 1,817,297 workers, comprising 10,210 cultivators, 10,251 main agricultural labourers, 29,143 in house hold industries, 1,569,950 other workers, 197,743 marginal workers, 4,244 marginal cultivators, 3,423 marginal agricultural labourers, 8,202 marginal workers in household industries and 181,874 other marginal workers.^[13]

Religion

Religion in Chennai district (2011)
Religion			Percent
Hinduism			80.73%
Islam			9.45%
Christianity			7.72%
Jainism			1.11%
Other or not stated			0.93%

Administration and politics

In 2013, five taluks on the district were split to create five new ones: Velachery, Purasawalkam, Ayanavaram, Aminjikarai and Guindy.^[14]

In January 2018, the state government announced that the district will be expanded to match the boundaries of the Greater Chennai Corporation. This will integrate six additional taluks from Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts into the Chennai district. The new divisions and taluks of the district will be:^[3]^[6]

Revenue divisions and taluks

North Chennai Revenue Division, headquartered at Tondiarpet, contains taluks of Tiruvottiyur, Madhavaram, Perambur, Tondiarpet, and Purasaiwalkam.
Central Chennai Revenue Division, headquartered at Ambattur, contains the taluks of Mambalam, Egmore, Aminjikarai, Ayanavaram, Ambattur, and Maduravoyal.
South Chennai Revenue Division, headquartered at Guindy, contains the taluks of Mylapore, Guindy, Velachery, Alandur, and Sholinganallur.

Members of Parliament

PC No.	Constituency	Political Party	Elected Representative
1	Chennai North	DMK	V. Kalanithi Veerasamy
2	Chennai South	DMK	T. Thamizhachi Thangapandian
3	Chennai Central	DMK	M. Dhayanithi Maaran
4	Sriperumbudur (partially)	DMK	T.R.Baalu

Politics

Source:^[15]^[16]
District	No.	Constituency	Name			Remarks
Chennai	7	Maduravoyal	K. Ganapathy	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	8	Ambattur	Joseph Samuel	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	9	Madavaram	S. Sudharsanam	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	10	Thiruvottiyur	K. P. Shankar	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	11	Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar	J. J. Ebenezer	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	12	Perambur	R. D. Shekar	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	13	Kolathur	M. K. Stalin	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA	Chief Minister
	14	Villivakkam	A. Vetriazhagan	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	15	Thiru-Vi-Ka-Nagar (SC)	P. Sivakumar (A) Thayagam Kavi	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	16	Egmore (SC)	I. Paranthamen	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	17	Royapuram	Idream R. Murthy	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	18	Harbour	P. K. Sekar Babu	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	19	Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni	Udhayanidhi Stalin	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	20	Thousand Lights	Dr. Ezhilan Naganathan	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	21	Anna Nagar	M. K. Mohan	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	22	Virugampakkam	A. M. V. Prabhakara Raja	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	23	Saidapet	M. Subramanian	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	24	Thiyagaraya Nagar	J. Karunanithi	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	25	Mylapore	Dha. Velu	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	26	Velachery	J. M. H. Aassan Maulaana	Indian National Congress	SPA
	27	Shozhinganallur	S. Aravind Ramesh	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA
	28	Alandur	T. M. Anbarasan	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	SPA

Notes

^ Both of these terms are also often used as metonyms for the Chennai metropolitan area's trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being largely based in the city. The name Chennai is colloquially used for a far wider area than just the city. Chennai most often denotes the sprawling Chennai metropolis, including parts from the three districts of Tamil Nadu adjacent to the city/district of Chennai itself. This wider usage of Chennai is documented as far back as 1639, when the Madras Municipal Corporation was created.