The Puducherry District, also known by its former name Pondicherry district, is one of the four districts of the

union territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

of Puducherry in South India. The district occupies an area of , spread over 12 non-contiguous enclaves lying on or near the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

within a compact area in the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. According to the 2011 census, the district has a population of 950,289.

Administrative divisions

For administrative purpose, the union territory of Puducherry is divided into eight

taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

s. Four of these, viz. Puducherry, Uzhavarkarai, Villianur and Bahour, together constitute Puducherry district. Among these four, only Uzhavarkarai taluk does not contain any rural area. The rural areas under the other three taluks are further divided commune panchayats (CP) or simply communes. Rural area of Puducherry taluk is covered by a single commune Ariyankuppam, whereas Villianur taluk has two communes, viz. Villianur and

Mannadipet Mannadipattu is a Village, Commune and Assembly Constituency in the Union Territory of Puducherry, India. It consists of 3 enclaves out of the 11 enclaves of Puducherry. Also, Sellipattu, located on the main enclave, is a part of Mannadipat ...

, and rural area of Bahour taluk consists of two communes, viz. Bahour and Nettapakkam. Census 2011 has identified three

census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

s in Puducherry district, along with three existing statutory towns.

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

and Uzhavarkarai are the municipalities, Kurumbapet is the gram panchayat and the 3 census towns are: Ariyankuppam, Manavely and Villianur. Puducherry

urban agglomeration An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

consists of the area under the all these six towns along with Odiampet, which is an urban outgrowth. For the ease of administration, Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Puducherry, has defined two sub-divisions of the Puducherry district, viz. Pondicherry North subdivision and Pondicherry South subdivision, each consisting of two taluks. Pondicherry North subdivision contains the taluks of Pondicherry and Uzhavarkarai, whereas Pondicherry South subdivision consists of the other two taluks of the district, viz. Villianur and Bahour. Each of these four taluks are further divided into sub-taluks/firkas which consists of revenue villages from rural/semi-urban/urban area. Planning and Research Department, Government of Puducherry, further defines the notion of a block. The union territory of Puducherry is divided into six blocks, three of which forms the Puducherry district, viz. Ariyankuppam, Ozkhukarai and Villianur.

Demographics

Puducherry's population, 950,289, is roughly equal to that of the nation of

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

or the US state of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

. This gives it a ranking of 460th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 28.73%. Puducherry has a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 1,031 females for every 1,000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of 86.13%.

Notes

External links

North East Monsoon 2009 - Action Plan
published by Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Puducherry

published by Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Puducherry

, published by Planning and Research Department, Government of Puducherry {{DEFAULTSORT:Pondicherry District Districts of Puducherry