Thiruvananthapuram (Malayalam: തിരുവനന്തപുരം [Tiruvanantapuraṁ]), formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland. It is characterized by its undulating terrain of low coastal hills with wide, clean roads and busy commercial alleys.
This is the largest city corporation of the state. The city, being the State Capital houses many Central and State Government offices, organizations and companies. Apart from being the political nerve center of Kerala, it is also a major academic hub and houses several premier educational institutions including the Kerala University. Thiruvananthapuram is also home to many science and technology institutions, the most prominent being the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre(VSSC). The city is home to the first IT Technology Park in India, Technopark Kerala. Situated near Kazhakutoom, in the IT corridor, the Technopark houses many of the leading software giants in the world.
Origin of name
Thiruvananthapuram literally means Thiru (Great/Lord) Ananthan's Puram (City). The name derives from the main deity of a Hindu temple at the centre of the city. Ananthan is the serpent Shesha on whom Padmanabhan or Vishnu reclines. The temple of Anantha, the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple is the most recognizable iconic landmark of the city.
The city was officially known as Trivandrum until 1991. Trivandrum is the anglicized form of Thiruvananthapuram. The name is still in common use and most non-Keralites prefer to use Trivandrum.
History
Thiruvananthapuram is an ancient city with trading traditions dating back to 1000 BC. It was a trading post for spices like the rest of ancient Kerala. However the ancient political and cultural history of the city was almost entirely independent from that of the rest of Kerala. The early rulers of the city were the Ays. With their fall in the 10th century, the city was taken over by the rulers of Venad.
The rise of modern Thiruvananthapuram began with accession of Marthanda Varma in 1729 as the founding ruler of the princely state of Thiruvithamkoor (Travancore). Thiruvananthapuram was made the capital of Travancore in 1745. The city developed into a major intellectual and artistic center during this period of time. The golden age in the city's history was during the mid 19th century during the reign of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal and Maharaja Ayilyam Thirunal . This Padmanabha Swami temple was also linked to Ayyavazhi mythology. Ayya Vaikundar was also jailed in Singarathoppe, part of this city by the king Swathi Thirunal in 1838 (approximately from December to March). This era saw the establishment of the first English school (1834), the Observatory (1836), the General Hospital (1839) and the University College (1873).
The early 19th century was an age of tremendous political and social changes in the city. The Sree Moolam Assembly, established in 1904 was the first democratically elected legislative council in any Indian state. Despite not being under direct control the British Empire at anytime, the city however featured prominently in India's freedom struggle. The Indian National Congress had a very active presence in the city. This era also saw the establishment of the University of Travancore in 1937 which later became the Kerala University.
After the withdrawal of the British in 1947, Travancore chose to join the Indian union. In 1949 Thiruvananthapuram became the capital of Thiru-Kochi, state formed by the integration of Travancore with its northern neighbour Kochi. When the state of Kerala was formed on November 1, 1956, Thiruvananthapuram became the capital of the new state.
With the establishment of TERLS (Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station) in the 60s, Thiruvananthapuram became the cradle of India's ambitious space program. The first Indian space rocket was developed and launched from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) located in the outskirts of the city in 1966. Several establishments of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) were later established in Thiruvananthapuram.
A major milestone in the city's recent history was the establishment in 1995 of Technopark, India's first IT park. Technopark has developed into the largest and greenest IT Park in India and is home to IT giants like Infosys and TCS, employing around 12,000 people in close to 100 companies. This placed Thiruvananthapuram on the IT map of India and it is today one of most promising in the country in terms of competitiveness and capability.
Geography
Thiruvananthapuram is located at 8°30′N 76°54′E / 8.5°N 76.9°E on the west coast, near the southern tip of mainland India. The city covers an area of about 250 square kilometers, sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. The average elevation is at sea level.
The city can be divided into two geographical regions, the midlands and the lowlands. The midland region comprises of low hills and valleys adjoining the Ghats. This area has high agricultural activity and crops like paddy, tapioca, spices and cashews are cultivated here. The lowland is a narrow stretch comprising of shorelines, rivers and deltas, dotted with coconut palms. The major rivers that flow through the city are the Karamana river, the Neyyar and the Vamanapuram river.
A third region the highlands form the eastern suburbs of the city. Several cash crops like rubber, tea, cardamom etc. are grown here. The highest point is the Agasthyarkoodam which rises 1890 m above sea level. Ponmudi and Mukkunimala are hill-resorts near the city.
Climate
The city has a tropical climate and therefore does not experience distinct seasons. The mean maximum temperature 34 °C and the mean minimum temperature is 21 °C. The humidity is high and rises to about 90% during the monsoon season.
Thiruvananthapuram is the first city along the path of the south-west monsoons and gets its first showers in early June. The city gets heavy rainfall of around 1700 mm per year. The city also gets rain from the receding north-east monsoons which hit the city by October. The dry season sets in by December. December, January and February are the coldest months while March, April and May are the hottest. The winter temperature comes down to about 15 °C and summer temperatures can sometimes go as high as 37 °C.
Economy
The economy of Thiruvananthapuram is based on the tertiary sector with about 70% of the workforce being employed as government servants. Large scale industrial establishments are low compared to other south Indian state capitals like Chennai and Bangalore.
Since the establishment of Technopark in 1995, Thiruvananthapuram has steadily grown into a competitive IT centre. Technopark houses global majors like Infosys, TCS, McKinsey & Co., Ernst & Young, Allianz Cornhill, US Technologies etc. The park has around 80 companies employing over 12,000 professionals. With the expansion plans to be completed in 2007-08, this figure is to rise to about 30,000.The work in progress include 600,000 sft Thejaswini to be completed in October 2006 ,400,000 sft TCS Peepul Park in May 2006 and TCS Development Centre. Work on Leela IT building, IBS Campus, US Tech Campus and Infosys campus is due to commence shortly.
Tourism has also contributed heavily to the economy of Trivandrum. Foreign tourists are flocking to Trivandrum, a major destination for chartered flights to India for Medical tourism, as Trivandrum has more than fifty recognised Ayurveda centres in and around the city. This is primarly due to Ayurveda's immense popularity in the West. Medical tourism is futher promoted by world class modern medicine hospitals in the city. Recuperation facilities are available at five star beach resorts and hill stations nearby.
There are around 20 government owned and 60 privately owned medium and large scale industrial units in Thiruvanathapuram. The major employers are the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), Keltron, Travancore Titanium and Hindustan Latex, all government owned. There are also about 30,000 small scale industrial units employing around 1,15,000 people. Traditional industries include handloom and coir.
Other major organizations of economic interest are the Chithranjali Film Complex, Kinfra Apparel Park, Kinfra Film and Video Park, Kerala High-tech Industries (KELTECH), Kerala Automobiles and the English Indian Clays Ltd.
Commercial activity is quite low mainly due to the under-development of ports. However this will soon change with the construction of the proposed mega Deep Water Container Transshipment Port at Vizhinjam. Situated close to the city, Vizhinjam is very close to international shipping route and East-West shipping axis. It has a natural draft of 20 meters within a nautical mile off the coast, making it one of the deepest ports in the world, without requiring any dredging at all. Minimal littoral drift along the coast will mean hardly any maintenance dredging unlike other ports. Immediacy to National Highway, rail network and the Thiruvananthapuram International Aiport will facilitate the creation of a Logistics city next to the IT corridor. The Vizhinjam port is estimated to cost over a billion dollars when completed. Once completed, Vizhinjam is expected to to give Colombo, Jebel Ali (Dubai) and Singapore ports a run for their money.
Government and politics
The city is administered by the Trivandrum Corporation headed by the Mayor. The city council is democratically elected and comprises of 84 members representing the different city wards. Several agencies work under or in partnership with the Corporation including the Trivandrum Development Authority (TRIDA) and Trivandrum Road Development Corporation.
Most of the city comes under the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. Some northern wards of the city come under the Chirayinkeezhu constituency. The city contributes to 6 legislative assembly seats namely Kazhakkuttom, Thiruvananthapuram North, Thiruvananthapuram West, Thiruvananthapuram East, Nemom and Kovalam.
The city police is headed by a Police Commissioner an officer of IPS rank. The city is divided three police sub-divisions headed by Assistant Commissioners. There are also two traffic sub-divisions. A women's cell and a narcotics control cell also operate in the city. There are two state Armed Police Battalions and a unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) based in Trivandrum. The CRPF has a Group Head Quarters (GHQ) located at Pallipuram. There is also a large army cantonment where a regiment of the Indian Army is based.
Thiruvananthapuram is the capital of Kerala and hence the state legislative assembly and Secretariat are located here. The city is also the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram district.
The only foreign mission in the city is the Consulate of Maldives.
Transport
Within the city, city buses and autorickshaws provide means of transportation. Two-wheelers, especially scooters and motorcycles are the favored means of personal transportation on the roads.
The intra-city public transport is dominated by the state-owned KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation). There are also private bus services, but are limited in number. The city services of KSRTC operate from six depots namely, the City depot, Vikas Bhavan, Peroorkada, Pappanamcode, Kaniyapuram and Vellanad. These services were revamped in 2005 with the introduction of modern buses and electronic ticketing mechanisms. The central city bus terminal is located at East Fort, near the Padmanabha Swamy temple. The Central and Inter State bus station is located 1km away at Thampanoor. Buses from it go to all major towns and villages in the State as well as big cities in India such as Bangalore and Chennai.
The central railway station is also located at Thampanoor in the heart of the city, 8 km from the airport. It is a very important terminus which handles over 50 trains daily. The city is well connected by rail to almost all major cities in India. Trivandrum is the first major city from south along the second longest train route in the world, Kanyakumari to Jammu. A second satellite station was opened in 2005 at Kochuveli, near the International Airport.
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Thiruvananthapuram's international airport, with direct flights from the Middle East, Singapore, Maldives and Sri Lanka is the gateway to the tourism-rich state of Kerala. Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Air Deccan are the domestic airlines operating from here. Air India, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways,Silkair, Srilankan Airlines,Emirates and Air Maldives operate the international flights. There are also two military airports one near the civilian airport and the other at the Southern Air Command of the Indian Air Force in Akkulam.
The construction of the mega Deep Water Container Trans-shipment Port at Vizhinjam is expected to begin in 2007.
The exponential growth of the services and IT based sectors coupled with its prominence as the state capital and tourist centre has caused considerable strain on the transport infrastructure of the city. To tackle this crisis, several multi-million dollar construction projects are now underway including the construction of several new underpasses and flyovers, scheduled to be completed by early 2007. In the first phase, 42 kms of 6 lane and 4 lane dual carriage ways are being built, with world class facilities such as bus bays, modern bus stations and GPS synchronised traffic signals.
Demographics
The city has a population of 889,191 according to the 2001 census, making it the second most populous in the state and the 30th in the country. Within the city, the density of population is about 3,500 people per square kilometer. The district has a literacy rate of 88%. Unlike most other Indian cities there are more women in Thiruvananthapuram than men, with the sex ratio being 1037 females to every 1000 males.
Hindus comprise of 62% of the population, Christians are about 20% and Muslims about 15%. The major language spoken is Malayalam. English and Hindi are also widely understood. There is also a prominent minority of Tamil speakers and a few Tulu and Konkani speakers.
Culture
Thiruvananthapuram has a rich cultural background, with the rulers of erstwhile Travancore taking an active interest in development of arts and culture. Thiruvananthapuram has produced several great artists, the most famous ones being Maharaja Swathi Thirunal and Raja Ravi Verma.
Maharaja Swathi Thirunal was a great composer and played a vital role in the development of Carnatic music. He is widely credited with introducing the violin in to the world of classical Carnatic music. A music college in his name exists today in the city. Raja Ravi Verma was an illustrious painter with global recognition. His contributions to Indian art are substantial. Most of his famous paintings are preserved at the Sree Chithra Art Gallery in the city.
The Padmanabha Swamy Temple and the fort surrounding it, the Napier Museum and Zoo, the VJT hall, Palayam Mosque and Church are among the prominent heritage buildings in the city. The Veli Lake and Shangumukham beach are home to various sculptures of noted sculptor Kanhai Kunjiraman.
Thiruvananthapuram easily disguises itself as a laid back quiet city to the casual observer. However beneath it, there is a humdrum of cultural activity. The city comes to life during the festival season of Onam in August\September and during the tourist season later in the year. The state government conducts the tourism week celebrations every year during Onam with cultural events taking place at various centers in the city. The other major events include the annual flower show, the Attukal Pongala, the Aaraat at Padmanabha Swamy Temple, the Beemapally Uroos, Vettucaud Perunaal etc.
The CVN Kalari at East Fort, is world renowned center for training in Kerala's own martial art the Kalaripayattu. The Margi center offers training in many of Kerala's traditional arts including Kathakali.
The British Council and Library (Est. 1964) is located very near the Government Secretariat adjacent to the YMCA Hostel. It is home to almost 25,000 books and periodicals.
Education
Thiruvananthapuram is a major academic hub. The University of Kerala is located here. The city also has several professional education colleges including 15 engineering colleges, 3 medical colleges, 2 Ayurveda colleges and 2 law colleges. The College of Engineering, Trivandrum is one of the prominent engineering institutions in the country and is one of only 20 institutions in India and the only one in Kerala covered by the World Bank's TEQIP scheme for top engineering colleges.
Trivandrum also hosts the world-class Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) and Asian School of Business. Both these prestigious institutions are located inside Technopark
There are about 900 schools in Thiruvananthapuram district. The public schools are run directly by the state government and follow the syllabus prescribed by the state government. In addition to this there are also four Kendriya Vidyalayas run directly by the Central government which follow the CBSE syllabus and private schools run by educational trusts or boards which follow CBSE and/or ICSE syllabus.
Trivandrum also has Kerala's first and only International School - Trivandrum International School, headed by Dr Richard Hillebrand. The curricula offered are ICSE, (University of Cambridge) IGCSE and `A` Levels . The School is a registered Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) centre.
Media
Daily newspapers are available in English and Malayalam. The English newspapers with editions from Thiruvananthapuram are The New Indian Express, The Hindu and The Pioneer. The major Malayalam newspapers are Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama, Kerala Kaumudi, Desabhimani, Madhyamam and Mangalam.
Most Malayalam TV channels are based in Thiruvananthapuram. The government owned Doordarshan began broadcasting from here in 1981. Asianet was the first private Malayalam channel and began operations in 1991. The other channels now based in Thiruvananthapuram are Surya TV, Amrita TV, Kairali TV, Kiran TV (Youth channel of Surya TV) Asianet Plus (Youth channel of Asianet) and People (News and current affairs channel of Kairali TV). The local cable services are provided by ACV and Siti Cable and they provide a bouquet of local channels in addition to all the Indian channels. DTH services are available through Doordarshan Direct Plus and Dish TV. All India Radio has an AM (1161 MHz) and an FM (101.9 MHz) station for the city. The first private FM channel, "Radio DC" has commenced operations recently.
There are over 20 cinema halls which screen movies in Malayalam, Tamil, English and Hindi. There are also two movie studios in the city, Chithranjali and Merryland. The Kinfra Film and Video Park is located near Technopark and is one of the most advanced film and animation production facilities in India. Leading firms like Prasad Labs have their facilities here.The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) is held in November every year and is acknowledged as one of the leading such events in India.
The basic telephone services are provided by BSNL, Reliance and Tata Indicom. The cellular networks operating in the city are BSNL CellOne, Airtel, Idea Cellular, BPL Mobile (all GSM) and Reliance (CDMA). The number of mobile phone connections have increased exponentially since the late 90s. Broadband internet services are provided by ACV Dataline, Siti Cable and BSNL DataOne. The major dial-up internet providers are BSNL NetOne, Kerala Online and KelNet among others. Trivandrum also holds the distinction of having been the first 100% Digital SSA in India.
Sports
The most popular sports are Football and Cricket. Basketball, Badminton and Volleyball are also popular, mostly in schools. The Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium is a prominent football stadium and has hosted both national and international level matches. The University stadium has hosted two international cricket matches and is also used for athletics. The Jimmy George Sports Complex, the GV Raja Sports School and Lakshmi Bhai National College for Physical Education (LNCPE) are the other major sports establishments in the city. The city also has a Golf Club, one of the oldest in India, and a Tennis Club both located at Kawdiar.
The city fields two football clubs SBT and Titanium, both in the second division of the National Football Leauge.
Science and Technology
Thiruvananthapuram is a Research and Development hub in the fields of space science, information technology, bio-technology, medicine and so on. It is home to a cluster of research centres to rival any in the world, which include
- Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)
- Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, LPSC
- Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, TERLS
- Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, CDAC
- Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management - Kerala, IIITM-K
- Regional Research Laboratory, CSIR
- Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology
- Regional Cancer Centre, (RCC)
- Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology
- Tropical Botanical Garden & Research Institute, TBGRI
- Centre for Earth Science Studies, CESS
- Centre for Development Studies
- Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, CTCRI
- Kerala State Science and Technology Museum
- Priyadarsini Planetarium
- College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram
- Software Technology Parks of India, STPI
- Technopark
- Kerala Highway Research Institute
- Kerala Fisheries Research Institute
External links
- Official District website
- Public Relations Department Page on Trivandrum
- Government of Kerala Website on Thiruvananthapuram District
- Trivandrum.co.in -Web Portal of Trivandrum
- Tvmonnet - Information on Thiruvananthapuram/ Trivandrum District.
- Travancore Titanium
- Technopark
References
- Manorama Yearbook 1995 (Malayalam Edition) ISSN 0970-9096
- Manorama Yearbook 2003 (English Edition) ISBN 81-900461-8-7
- Frank Modern Certificate Geography II ISBN 8-171-70007-1