Dineshmca

                                                 Tamil Nadu
                                                                                                                  தமிழ்நாடு           

ORU TAMIZHANAI NAM NAM TAMILNADU PATRIYA ANAITHUM ARINDHIRUPADHU NAMADHU KADAMAI.........VAZHGA TAMIL...                                             

Tamil Nadu (Tamil: தமிழ்நாடு "Country of the Tamils", pronounced [t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ]( listen)) is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai (formerly known as Madras). Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by Puducherry (Pondicherry), Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is bound by the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and Palakkad on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait in the south east, and by the Indian Ocean in the south.

Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area (about the size of Greece) and the seventh most populous state.^[2] It is the fifth largest contributor to India's GDP^[3] and the most urbanised state in India.^[4] The state has the highest number (10.56%) of business enterprises in India,^[5] compared to the population share of about 6%. It is one of the foremost states in the country in terms of overall development.^[6][7]

Prehistory

A sculpture at Airavatesvara     Temple, Darasuram, built by Tamil Chola Kings. The group of monuments are UNESCO World Heritage sites

Tamil Nadu's history dates back to pre-historic times. Archaeological evidence points to this area being one of the longest continuous habitations in India. In Adichanallur, 24 km (15 mi) from Tirunelveli, archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India unearthed 169 clay urns containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, plus husks and grains of rice, charred rice and Neolithic celts, giving evidence confirming them to be of the Neolithic period, 3800 years ago.^[10]

The ASI archaeologists have proposed that the script used at that site is "very rudimentary" Tamil Brahmi.^[11] Adichanallur has been announced as an archaeological site for further excavation and studies.^[12]

About 60% of the epigraphical inscriptions found by the ASI in India have been from Tamil Nadu and most of which are in Tamil language^[13]

Recently there have been more discoveries of the evidence of prehistoric creatures inhabiting the landscape of what is now modern Tamil Nadu in the shape of eggs of dinosaurs and other animals of their kind. Geologists in Tamil Nadu have stumbled upon a Jurassic treasure trove buried in the sands of a river bed. Sheer luck led them to hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs, perhaps 65 million years old, underneath a stream in a tiny village in Ariyalur district.^[14] Researchers from the Salem-based Periyar University found clusters of eggs of what they believe to be the most aggressive Carnosaur and the docile, leaf-eating Sauropod at Sendurai village. While Carnosaurs were large predatory dinasaurs, Sauropods were long-necked, herbivores which grew to enormous heights and sizes.^[15]

Independence

When India became independent in 1947, Madras Presidency became Madras State, comprising present day Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh up to Ganjam district in Orissa, northern Karnataka, and parts of Kerala. The state was subsequently split up along linguistic lines. In 1968, Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning Country of Tamil.

Geography

Topographic map of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu covers an area of 130,058 square kilometres (50,216 sq mi), and is the eleventh largest state in India. The bordering states are Kerala to the west, Karnataka to the northwest and Andhra Pradesh to the north. To the east is the Bay of Bengal and the union territory of Puducherry. The southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula is located in Tamil Nadu. At this point is the town of Kanyakumari which is the meeting point of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean.

The western, southern and the north-western parts are hilly and rich in vegetation. Tamil Nadu is the only state in India which has both the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats and they both meet at the Nilgiri hills. The Western Ghats dominate the entire western border with Kerala, effectively blocking much of the rain bearing clouds of the South West Monsoon from entering the state. The Eastern parts are fertile coastal plains and the northern parts are a mix of hills and plains. The central and the south central regions are arid plains and receive less rainfall than the other regions.

Tamil Nadu has a coastline of about 910 kilometres (600 mi) which is the country’s third longest coastline. Tamil Nadu's coastline bore the brunt of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami when it hit India, which caused 7,793 direct deaths in the state.^[ Tamil Nadu falls mostly in a region of low seismic hazard with the exception of the western border areas that lie in a low to moderate hazard zone; as per the 2002 Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) map, Tamil Nadu falls in Zones II & III. Historically, parts of this region have experienced seismic activity in the M5.0 range.

State Symbols of Tamil Nadu
National Animal	Nilgiri Tahr
National Bird	Emerald Dove
National Dance	Bharathanattiyam
National Flower	Gloriosa Lily
National Song	Neerarum
National Sport	Kabaddi
Tree	Palm Tree

Governance and administration

ministers. The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court is the head of the judiciary. The present Governor, Chief Minister and the Chief Justice are Surjit Singh Barnala, M. Karunanidhi and Hemant Laxman Gokhale respectively.^[37][38][39] The major administrative units of the state constitutes 39 Lok Sabha constituencies, 234 Assembly constituencies, 32 districts, 10 city corporations, 152^[40] municipalities, 611 town panchayats and 12,618 village panchayats. Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is the state capital. It is the fourth largest city in India and is also one of the five A1 Metropolitan cities of India.

Tamil Nadu had a bicameral legislature until 1986, when it was replaced with a unicameral legislature, like most other states in India. The term length of the government is 5 years, as is elsewhere in India. The present government run by the DMK led alliance came to power in 2006 and comprises a council of 29 ministers, chaired by the Chief Minister. Tamil Nadu legislative assembly is chaired by the speaker Mr. R Avudaiappan and is housed at the historical Fort St. George in Chennai. The state had come under the President's rule on four occasions - first from 1976 to 1977, next for a short period in 1980, then from 1988 to 1989 and the latest in 1991.

Tamil Nadu has 10 City Corporations: Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Salem, Erode, Tirunelveli, Tirupur, Vellore and Thoothukudi. There is a plan to upgrade Tambaram and Ambattur as City Corporations. The Corporation of Chennai, established in 1688, is the oldest Municipal Corporation not only in India but also in any commonwealth nations outside United Kingdom.^[41]

Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state of E-Governance initiatives in India. A large part of the government records like land ownership records are digitised and all major offices of the state government like Urban Local Bodies — all the Corporations and Municipal Office activities — revenue collection, land registration offices, and transport offices have been computerised. Tamil Nadu is one of the states where law and order has been maintained largely successfully. The Tamil Nadu Police Force is over 140 years old. It is the fifth largest state police force in India and has the largest strength of women police personnelin the country. As of 2003, the state had a total police population ratio of 1:668, higher than the national average of 1:717.The current Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu is K. P. Jain.

INDRI AMAIYADHA PERUMAI KONDA TAMIZHAI PEENI PADHUKAPOOM..............................

                                                                                                                                                                                     THAMIZHAN,

                                                                                                                                                                                      R.DINESH