Udupi district

Udupi district (also Udipi or Odipu in Tulu language) is an  administrative subdivision in the Karnataka state of India, with the district headquarters in the city of Udupi. It is situated in the Canara coastal region, there are seven taluks, 233 villages and 21 towns in Udupi district. The three northern tehsils of Udupi, Kundapur and Karkala, were partitioned from Dakshina Kannada district (South Canara) to form Udupi district on 25 August 1997. Moodabidri was officially declared as new tehsil (taluk), separated from Karkala with effect from 11 January 2018.

In February 2018, the district was split to into 3 more taluks, with Byndoor being carved out of Kundapur taluk and the Udupi taluk being split into three parts. Along with the initial Udupi taluk, Kapu, Brahmavar and Hebri were created.

Dinakar Babu and Sheela K Shetty of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the current president (Sarpanch) and vice-president of the Udupi Zilla Panchayat, respectively, after the election held at the Zilla Panchayat on 27 April 2016.

Location

Udupi district is surrounded by Uttara Kannada district in north, Dakshina Kannada district in southern direction. Shimoga district borders on north east side and Chikmagalur district on east. Arabian sea is on west of Udupi district.

Transportation

Udupi district is connected by road and railway line. The National highway 66 (previously NH-17) is the main highway road of Udupi district. National highway 169A connects this district with Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district but it is very narrow at many places and only mini buses and mini lorries are allowed on Agumbe ghat through which this national highway 169A passes. The national highway 169 (previously NH 13) from Mangaluru to Shivamogga passes through Sanoor, Karkala, Bajagoli, Mudar of this district. There are few state highways(SH) built and maintained by Karnataka public works department (P.W.D.). Main District Roads (M.D.R) connect villages and towns of the district.

Konkan Railway connects Udupi with Goa, Maharshtra and Kerala states. Udupi, Byndoor, Kundapura, Barkur, Innanje, and Padubidre are few railway stations on Konkan railway line. There are trains from Udupi to state capital Bangalore, Mangalore, Kasaragod, Margao, Thane and Mumbai.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Udupi district has a population of 1,177,361. This gives it a ranking of 403rd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 304 inhabitants per square kilometre (790/sq mi). Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 5.9%.

Udupi district has 253,078 households, population of 1,177,361 of which 562,131 are males and 615,230 are females. The population of children between age 0-6 is 103,160 which is 8.76% of the total population.

The sex-ratio of Udupi district is around 1094 compared to 973 which is average of Karnataka state. The literacy rate of Udupi district is 78.69% out of which 82.85% males are literate and 74.89% females are literate. The total area of Udupi is 3,582 km² (1,383 sq mi) with a population density of 329 km² (127 sq mi).

Out of the total population, 71.63% of the population lives in the Urban area and 28.37% lives in Rural area.

Udupi has a sex ratio of 1093 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 86.29%. About 28% of the population lives in the urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 6.41% and 4.49% of the population respectively.

At the time of the 2011 census, 42.70% of the population spoke Kannada, 31.44% Tulu, 12.16% Konkani, 4.61% Urdu, 2.83% Marathi, 2.13% Malayalam and 2.01% Beary as their first language.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1901	413,076	—
1911	425,607	+0.30%
1921	437,908	+0.29%
1931	466,756	+0.64%
1941	507,316	+0.84%
1951	575,817	+1.27%
1961	648,798	+1.20%
1971	775,647	+1.80%
1981	948,696	+2.03%
1991	1,038,099	+0.90%
2001	1,112,243	+0.69%
2011	1,177,361	+0.57%
source:

Climate

Udupi has a tropical climate.

Udupi had record rainfall during September 2020, with mass floods following soon after. The district received 315.3 mm rainfall which is a record in Udupi taluk during the last 40 years.

Commerce and industry

A thermal power plant has been set up at Nandikoor in Udupi district, with installed capacity of 1200 MW and a further 1600 MW proposed.

Suzlon has a manufacturing facility at Padubidre for making blades for wind mills. The project has been mired in controversies, with the company announcing a lock-out in November 2017 that lasted for more than a month. Activities were again suspended in July 2018.

A strategic petroleum reserve is set up at an underground location in the village of Padur ( Padoor ) village in the Udupi district.

At Shivalli Industrial Estate in Manipal a few small scale industries have set up factories. There are few clay roof tiles (Mangalore tiles) industry, Cashew nut processing industry, Coconut oil mills and fish meal industry in Udupi district. There are many small entrepreneurs who make Pickles, Happala ( Pappad ), Spices powder and other food products in this district. Prior to nationalisation of commercial banks and insurance companies in early 1960s the district had many private banks and insurance companies. Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank and Canara Bank had genesis in this district ( then South Kanara district ) before independence of India from British in 1947 A.D.

Notable people