ADMINISTRATION


      The present Palakkad district, as an administrative unit, was formed on the 1st January 1957, comprising of Palakkad, Perinthalmanna, Ponnani, Ottapalam, Alathur and Chittur. When Malappuram District was formed on the 16th June 1969, Ponnani Taluk (excluding Trithala firka & the villages of Vadakkekkad, Punnayur, and Punnayurkulam and Perinthalmanna taluk consisting of Mankada firka and Perinthalamanna firka excluding Karuvaramkundu and Chellatur ) was transfeered to Malappuram district. A new taluk, namely Mannarghat was formed by grouping 19 villages of the erstwile of Perinthalamanna taluk. While retaining the Trithala firka with Ottapalam firka, the vilages of Vadakkekkad, Punnayur and Punnayurkulam were brought under Chowghat taluk of Thrissur district.The Paradur village of Tirur was added to Ottapalam taluk. Recently some portions of Karuvarankundu village of Malappuram district were also added to  Palakkad.
       At present the Palakkad district consisits of two revenue divisions, five taluk and 163 villages.
The revenue divisions are Palakkad and Ottapalam. Palakkad, Alathur and Chittur taluks form Palakkad revenue division and Ottapalam & Mannarkkad taluks form the Ottapalam revenue division. There 13 development blocks and 91 panchayats in the district. 
     
ADMINISTATIVE UNITS:



  • Taluks                                                             5
  • Development Blocks                                      13
  • Municipalities                                                4
  • Corporations                                                  None
  • Panchayats                                                     91
  • Parlimentary Constituencies                         2
  • Assembly Constituencies                               12
  • District Panchayats                                       1 
  • District Panchayat Constituencies               26
  • Block Panchayats                                          13
  • Block Panchayats Constituencies                141
  • Grama Panchayats                                        91
  • Grama Panchayats Constituencies              1178
  • Municipal Councils                                      4
  • Municipal Councils Constituencies            130      

Total Population  :  2617072 (2001 Census)

Taluks of Palakkad District

  • Palakkad
  • Alathur
  • Chittur
  • Ottapalam
  • Mannarkkad

Municipalities of Palakkad District

     The district includes four municipalities, which each belong to a taluk. The municipalities, with population estimates for 2001, are:
  • Palakkad (pop. 130736)
  • Shornur (pop. 42022)
  • Chittur (pop. 31884)
  • Ottapalm (pop. 49230)

Kerala Assembly Seats in Palakkad District

  • Palakkad
  • Chittur
  • Kuzhalmannam
  • Kollengode
  • Mannarkkad
  • Malampuzha
  • Alathur
  • Trithala
  • Ottapalam
  • Pattambi
  • Sreekrishnapuram

       Sreekrishnapuram, Kuzhalmannam and Kollengode Constituencies will be removed while Kongad, Shoranur, Nemmara and Tarur Constituencies will be created during the next General Election, as a result of delimitation for the Kerala Legislative Assembly, increasing the total number of seats coming under Palakkad district to 12.

District Panchayat

     Under the amended Indian Constitution, decentralised planning has been implemented in the state. The headquarters of the District Panchayat
is at Palakkad Municipal town. The District Panchayat office building is near the Civil Station.

Economy

     Agriculture is the main occupation. The most prominent crop is rice. Palakkad is known as theRice Bowl of Kerala. But in recent times, rice cultivation has become unremunerative due to high wages and low prices. Hence, farmers have turned to other crops and the area under rice cultivation has decreased drastically. In the areas bordering Tamil Nadu, crops such as sugar cane, groundnut, tomato, jasmine etc. are cultivated. Rubber is the main crop in the hilly regions. Vegetables like pumpkin, ash gourd കുമ്പളങ്ങ, bitter gourd, brinjal, etc. are now cultivated extensively.
    Tamarind, Neem, Mango and Palm trees are seen in abundance in Palakkad, as in Tamil Nadu. The district is a major centre of export for mangoes and tamarind. Jaggery, which is unrefined sugar, is made from sugarcane in Chittur Taluk.
     The only big city in the district is the district head quarters, Palakkad.The retail giant Panthaloons BIGBAZAR opened their first showroom of Kerala in this city.Joby's mall,the biggest mall of the city is one of the biggest of the state itself. All major jeweleries of the state
has at least one showroom in the town. Biggest brands such as The Raymond, Woodlands, Reebok, Peter England, Scullers, Indigo nation, John Miller, Basics life, Derby, Cotton County, Koutons, Bombay Dyeing, has their own exclusive showrooms in the city.

Industry

    There are various industries in the district. The Public Sector companies and Instrumentation Limited have plants in Kanjikode, 12 km from Palakkad town. Other large companies are the BPL group, Coca Cola and Pepsi. There is an Industrial Area in Kanjikode with a number of medium industries.
     Established in 1976, the Palakkad unit of ITI Limited manufactures large digital switches and digital trunk exchanges in collaboration with M/s Alcatel of France. A highly productive plant by virtue of its structure, it has a modern facility for PCB manufacture (including multi-layer boards) assembly and automated testing facilities with SMT line and environmental test lab. ITI Palakkad is accredited with ISO 9000 (Manufacturing) and ISO 14000 (Environmental Management System) quality standards.
     A state of art facility for calibration, testing and measurement of various parameters related to fluid flow is also located in Kanjikode.

KINFRA IT Park, Ottapalam

     Ottapalam is going to be icon of the Modernized Kerala, with the upcoming KINFRA IT Park, Ottapalam at Palappuram/Lakkidi, Palakkad - Ponnani Highway. This is central government venture, to boost regional infotech industry.

Demographics

      The main religion is Hinduism, with many castes represented:Namboothiri (Malayali Brahmin), Iyer (Tamil Brahmin), Nair (including Menons andPanickers), Pisharody (Malayali Vaishnavite, ambalavasi), Hindu Vaisya Castes (Moothan, Guptan, Mannadiar and Tharakan), Ezhava, Ezhuthachan,  Chettiar (equivalent to telugu Naidu), as well as artisan communities such as carpenters (Asari), goldsmiths (Thattan), blacksmiths (Kollan) and potters (Kusavan). There are some tribal peoples living in the forest areas within the Palakkad district. Namboothiris are temple priests. Once upon a time they were highly influential landlords. A few Namboothiri families were also known for their knowledge in astrology and medicine.Nair's were traditionally the warrior caste. They are now actively involved in many professional fields within India and also abroad.  Ezhavas and Ezhuthachans were mostly farmers, the educated among them are into all fields of work now.
      Malayalam is widely spoken. As Palakkad district is very close to Tamil Nadu, a significant percentage of the population (nearly 25%) speak Tamil . There is also a significant community of Telugu speakers, descended from the members of an invading army who decided to settle in the area.
       Tamil Brahmins of Palakkad (Palakkad Iyers) are people who settled in Palakkad district after migrating from the Tanjore district in the State of Tamil Nadu, at the invitation of Palakkad's ruler. They were settled in 96 villages called Agraharams in different parts of the district. They are basically priests. As part of their cultural heritage, they introduced Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam dance to the area. Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Palghat Mani Iyer, and M. D. Ramanathan are some of the prominent local names in the field of Carnatic music.
       The Tamil Brahmins of Palakkad migrated from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu centuries ago.
Palakkad also has a Moothan community, who are followers of Hinduism and reside primarily in Moothanthara. They are believed to have come from the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu in historic times. They engage in business and commerce.
       Muslims are in the majority in the areas bordering Malappuram district. Here almost every family has male relatives working in the Gulf region. Due to the remittances from these people, the area has improved economically in the recent years.
      The earliest Christians in the district were from Thrissur, who settled at Melarcode around 1550 CE as traders of coconut oil and spices. Later on, Christians from Idukki and Kottayam districts  migrated to Palakkad and made the hilly terrains of the district their homes.

Transport

       Palakkad Junction is an important station on the Southern Railway. Places like Pollachi, Dindigul  and Madurai are connected by the meter gauge track beginning here. The trains on the meter gauge are the lifeline for the people of the district, bringing vegetables, fish and dairy products. The office of the Palakkad Division of the Southern Railway is situated near Palghat Junction Railway Station. The trains coming from Tamil Nadu are diverted to north and south Kerala from Shoranur station in Palakkad District. From here there is train service to Calicut, Ernakulam, Trivandrum, Shoranur and Nilambur.
      Palakkad has a medium grade network of roads. The Salem-Kanyakumari National Highway 47 and the Palakkad-Kozhikode National Highway 213 pass through the district. Another important road is the Palakkad - Ponnani road which connects NH 47 and NH 17.
      The nearest Airport is at Coimbatore which is 60 km from the town. It offers connections to all parts of India. Air Deccan, SpiceJet, JetLite, Kingfisher airlines, Goair, Paramount airways, Indian Airlines and Air India are the major operators.