Upputhara is a village in
Idukki district
Idukki (ഇടുക്കി; ) is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala in the southwest of the country. It is the largest district in Kerala and lies amid the Cardamom Hills of Western Ghats in Kerala. Idukki district co ...
in the
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n state of
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
. Upputhara
panchayat, belonging to the block panchayat of
Kattappana, is situated in the southern part of
Idukki district
Idukki (ഇടുക്കി; ) is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala in the southwest of the country. It is the largest district in Kerala and lies amid the Cardamom Hills of Western Ghats in Kerala. Idukki district co ...
in the
Peermade
Peermade, also spelt Peerumedu is a village, Grama Panchayat and hill station in the state of Kerala, in southwestern India. It lies above sea level in the Western Ghats (Sahyadri) about east of Kottayam on the way to Kumily.
Etymology
The n ...
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 ...
. The panchayat is bordered by the
Periyar River in the east, the Meenmutti Lake in the west, the Chinnar River and the Karintharuvi River in the south and the Kakkathode protected forests in the north. Upputhara is located in the
Western Ghats region of
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
that borders on the neighbouring 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 ...
. Geographically, Upputhara is divided into six types of land forms; mountains, highly steep land, moderately steep land,
valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
s,
marsh
In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...
y lands and rocky lands. Of these six land forms, about 40 percent of the total area is classified as valleys. Next in importance are marshy lands, slightly steep land, mountains, very steep land and rocky lands, in that order. Valleys and marshy lands together accounted for 62 percent of the area. Owing to the presence of large tracts of land with undulating topography, agriculture in Upputhara is faced with several challenges such as soil erosion.
The entire region around Upputhara remained uninhabited till about the early part of the 20th
century
A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c.
...
. Upputhara was one of the regions to which migration of farmers from other parts of Kerala = took place. A group of seven
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
households came to Upputhara in 1910 from the
Meenachil
Meenachil is the north-eastern region of Kottayam district in Kerala, south India. The name originates from Meenakshi, the Hindu Goddess. Pala is the main city in Meenachil. The arterial river of the district is also named Meenachil.
Geogra ...
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 ...
of
Kottayam
Kottayam () is a city in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India. It is the district headquarters of the district and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Kottayam has a population of ...
district after acquiring licence from the Government of
Travancore
The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...
to establish tea plantations. The first
migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
to begin cultivation of crops outside the plantation segment took place, however, only later by the mid-1930s.
This type of migration to regions outside the plantation segment was mainly steered by a policy of the Government of
Travancore
The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...
to distribute pattas (possession rights) to migrant farmers in previously uninhabited areas. The largest flow of migrants into Upputhara and its surrounding regions took place in the 1950s.
Farmers who
migrated into Upputhara after the 1930s were primarily involved in the cultivation of
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
,
pepper and a few tuber intercrops.
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
was cultivated only in large plantations. From the cultivation of only a few crops in the 1950s, the cropping pattern in Upputhara became diversified significantly by the 1990s. Data for the panchayat for the year 1996-97 shows that the cultivation of
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
accounts for the largest area – about 59 per cent of the gross cropped area. Pepper, cultivated in 17 per cent of the gross cropped area, is the second most important crop in terms of cultivated area.
Coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
(8.1 percent of the gross cropped area) and
cardamom
Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...
(4 percent of the gross cropped area) are the other main crops. Cultivation of
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...
,
tapioca
Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the tubers of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North Region, Brazil, North and Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast regions of Brazil, but which has ...
and
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
are also practised.
.
Upputhara is in news these days following the frequent earthquakes around the place. The villagers are in fear, as the tremours may cause the delicate
Mullaperiyar Dam to burst at any time. If the dam breaks, the 1,000 houses in Upputhara will be the first to washed away.
Educational institutions
* St.Philomena's Higher Secondary School
* OM Lower Primary School
Hospitals
* Community Health Centre (CHC)
*Veterinary Dispensary upputhara
* Govt Homeopathic Centre
Demographics
The panchayat comprises an area of 135 km
2. India
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, Upputhara had a population of 20596 with 10292 males and 10304 females.
Scheduled castes formed about 15 percent of the population in that year. There was a sizeable population of
Catholic Christians in the panchayat who played a major role in its social life.
References
{{Idukki district
Villages in Idukki district