Puducherry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Union Territory. For its capital city, also named Pondicherry, see Pondicherry (city).
Pondicherry
Capital
 - Coordinates		 Pondicherry
 - 11.93° N 79.83° E
Largest city Pondicherry
Population (2001)
 - Density		 973,829 (2nd)
 - 2,029/km²
Area
 - Districts		 492 km² (3rd)
 - 4
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
Establishment
 - Governor
 - Chief Minister
 - Legislature (seats)		 1 July 1963
 - Mukut Mithi
 - N. Rangaswamy
 - Unicameral (30)
Official language(s) French, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam
Abbreviation (ISO) IN-PY
Map of Pondicherry Region, Union Territory of Pondicherry, India
Map of Pondicherry Region, Union Territory of Pondicherry, India

Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry (help·info)) is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or districts, and named for the largest, Pondicherry.

In September 2006, the territory changed its official name from Pondicherry to the vernacular original,[1][2] Puducherry, which means "New village"[citation needed] in the Tamil language. The territory is called புதுச்சேரி (Putuccēri) or பாண்டிச்சேரி (Pāṇṭiccēri) in Tamil,, or "Pondichéry" in French. It is also known as The French Riviera of the East (La Côte d'Azur de l'Est).

Contents

[edit] Geography

Pondicherry consists of four small unconnected districts: Pondicherry, Karaikal, and Yanam on the Bay of Bengal and Mahé on the Arabian Sea. Pondicherry and Karaikal are by far the larger ones, and are both enclaves of Tamil Nadu. Yanam and Mahé are enclaves of Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala respectively. The territory has a total area of 492 km²: Pondicherry (city) 293 km², Karaikal 160 km², Mahé 9 km² and Yanam 30 km². It has 900,000 inhabitants (2001).

[edit] History

See also: French India

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, of the early 2nd century AD, mentions a marketplace named Poduke (ch. 60), which G.W.B. Huntingford identified as possibly being Arikamedu(now part of Ariyankuppam), about 2 miles from the modern Pondicherry. Huntingford further notes that Roman pottery was found at Arikamedu in 1937, and archeological excavations between 1944 and 1949 showed that it was "a trading station to which goods of Roman manufacture were imported during the first half of the 1st century AD".1

Before this period nothing is known with certainty. The "Bahur Plates", issued in the 8th century speak of a Sanskrit University which was here from an earlier period. Legend has it that the sage Agastya established greatly his Ashram here and the place was known as Agastiswaram. An inscription found near the Vedhapuriswara Temple hints at the credibility of this legend.

History continues at the beginning of the fourth century A. D. when the Pondicherry area is part of the Pallava Kingdom of Kanchipuram. During the next centuries Pondicherry is occupied by different dynasties of the south: in the tenth century A.D. the Cholas of Thanjavur took over, only to be replaced by the Pandya Kingdom in the thirteenth century. After a brief invasion by the Muslim rulers of the North, who established the Sultanate of Madurai, the Vijayanagar Empire took control of almost all the South of India and lasted till 1638, when the Sultan of Bijapur began to rule over Gingee.

Much of the credit for putting Puducherry into the framework of strategic importance, as far as colonial scheme of things is concerned, should rest definitely with the French. The French East India Company set up a trading centre at Puducherry in 1673. This outpost eventually became the chief French settlement in India.

Dutch and British trading companies also wanted trade with India. Wars raged between these European countries and spilled over into the Indian subcontinent. The Dutch captured Pondicherry in 1693 but returned it to France by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1699. The French acquired Mahe in the 1720s, Yanam in 1731, and Karaikal in 1738. During the Anglo-French wars (1742-1763), Pondicherry changed hands frequently. On January 16, 1761, the British captured Puducherry from the French, but the Treaty of Paris (1763) returned the city to the French. It was taken again by the British in 1793 amid the Wars of the French Revolution, but once again returned to France in 1814. When the British gained control of the whole of India in the late 1850s, they allowed the French to retain their settlements in the country. Pondicherry, Mahe, Yanam, Karaikal and Chandernagar remained a part of French India until 1954.

The independence of India in 1947 gave impetus to the union of France's Indian possessions with former British India. An agreement between France and India in 1948 agreed to an election in France's Indian possessions to choose their political future. The de jure union of French India with the Indian Union did not take place until 1962, although de facto, the bureaucracy had been united with India's on 1 November 1954. It was organized as a Union Territory in 1963.

[edit] Departure from France

See also: Causes for Liberation of French colonies in India

[edit] Cession of Pondicherry and Karaikal

Right from the time India gained its independence from British rule in 1947, the issue of the French settlements was raised with the Government of France. It took seven years for Puducherry to effectively unite with independent India. However, even earlier there were agitations now and then against the French.

In 1787 and 1791, farmers of Karaikal agitated against the heavy land tax imposed by the French. The first war of Indian Independence had its impact in the French settlements but it did not attract the attention of the rulers, as the incidents were few and considered as local. People employed legal means to fight against the French. In 1873, an advocate, Ponnuthammbi Pillai, moved the Paris court and won the case in which he was fined by a French magistrate in Puducherry for walking into the court with footwear.

There were student agitations in 1927 and 1930 which exhibited their sentiments. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bal Gangadhar Tilak visited Pondicherry and its other enclaves and addressed the meetings. In 1934, "Swatantram", a monthly, was started by veteran freedom fighter and trade union leader V. Subbiah for the cause of workers and the country.

Police control, which warranted trade union unrest, further increased the anger of the people against their rulers. In the late 1930, grassroots organizations known as mahajana sabhas were opened in Pondicherry and Karaikal. These groups, along with trade unions, organized the Non-Cooperation Movement. During the Second World War, Pondicherry supported France with men and materiel. Deaths among French-Indian soldiers caused unrest in the enclaves.

In 1946, the French India Congress was formed with the objective of integrating the French possessions with India. Later the following year, the French India Students Congress adopted a resolution on merger. In January 1948, the French People's Convention passed a resolution expressing its determination to merge the French possessions with India. The Communist Party also asked the people to accept only the merger.

The post-independence government under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was anxious to integrate the French Indian territories with the country. India signed an agreement with France in June 1948 which gave power to the people for determining the political status of their land. Accordingly, the municipal elections in Pondicherry, Karaikal and Yanam were held in October 1948. All municipalities except one were captured by the French India Socialist Party, a pro-French group. The new councillors at a meeting accepted the autonomy offered by the French Government.

The Indian Government continued to press for unification, pledging a distinct status and help for Pondicherry after its merger with India.

As the unification movement gathered momentum under Subbiah, the pro-French leader Edouard Goubert switched his loyalty to the pro-merger camp. A momentous event in the freedom movement of Puducherry occurred on March 18, 1954, when the members of the executive council and mayors of Pondicherry and seven adjoining communes proclaimed their decision to merge with India without a referendum. All the communes in Karaikal also followed suit. This decision was to be confirmed by the Representative Assembly and when the Socialist Party was preparing to move the merger resolution, the French governor scuttled it by postponing the session. Provoked by this, the Socialists planned to capture the outlying communes one by one and move to Pondicherry. The Communist Party was also ready to launch a campaign of direct action to merge Pondicherry with India. Accordingly, the leaders of the Socialist Party hoisted the Indian national flag atop the Nettapakkam police station on the last day of March in 1954. Subsequently, many villages in Mannadipet and Bahour communes came under the sway of the pro-merger forces. In the Karaikal region, all the communes and Karaikal municipality passed a resolution in favour of merger. The National Youth Congress began a Satyagraha. A freedom fighters' procession was lathi charged and the flags carried by the processionists were seized and torn by the French Indian Police.

India and France, following talks, issued a joint statement on October 13, 1954 announcing a procedure for deciding the status of the French settlements. Five days later, on 18 October 1954 the elected members of the Representative Assembly and the municipal councillors of Pondicherry and Karaikkal took part in a referendum at Keeloor. Of the 178 members voting, an overwhelming majority of 170 members favoured the merger of French Indian territories with the motherland. Three days later, an agreement on the de facto transfer of the French territories to India was signed in New Delhi between the two countries.

A treaty of cession was signed by the two countries in May 1956. It was ratified by the French parliament in May 1962. On August 16, 1962 India and France exchanged the instruments of ratification under which France ceded to India full sovereignty over the territories it held. Pondicherry and the other enclaves of Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam came to be administered as the Union Territory of Pondicherry from July 1, 1963.

[edit] Cession of Yanam

Main article: Coup d'État de Yanaon

Conditions became intolerable in Yanam after its mayor and other representatives of Yanam adopted the merger resolution. The mayor, deputy mayor, and over 200 people took refuge in the adjacent areas of the Indian Union. Police and hired vigilantes from Yanam assaulted refugees on Indian soil. It was then that the refugees marched into Yanam under the leadership of Dadala Raphael Ramanayya and took over the administration. After hoisting the Indian National Flag, they adopted a resolution declaring Yanam "liberated".

[edit] Cession of Mahe

Close on their heels in Yanam, in Mahe, the Mahajana sabha under its president, I.K. Kumaran began a picketing programme. Some days later, hundreds of volunteers marched into Mahe to stage a demonstration in front of the administrator's residence. They were joined by citizens of the enclave. On July 16, 1954, Kumaran took over the administration from the French administrator marking the end of 224 years of French rule in Mahe.

[edit] Cession of Chandernagore

See also: Chandernagore

Under the Indo-French Agreement of June 1948, the first municipal elections were held in Chandernagore, also a French territory. In August that year the Congress Karmaparishad won 22 of the 24 seats. The new municipal assembly overwhelmingly voted for its merger with the Indian Union and the Government of India took control of Chandernagore on June 9, 1952. Later, it became a part of the Hoogly district of West Bengal.

[edit] Date of Events

Inde française
Colony Liberation de-facto transfer Treaty of Cession de-jure transfer Merger
Pondichéry - 1 Nov 1954 28 May 1956 16 Aug 1963 1 Jul 1963
Chandernagore | Chandernagore - 26 Jun 1949 28 Feb 1951 9 Jun 1952 1 Oct 1954
Karikal - 1 Nov 1954 28 May 1956 16 Aug 1963 1 Jul 1963
Mahé 16 June 1954 1 Nov 1954 28 May 1956 16 Aug 1963 1 Jul 1963
Yanaon 13 Jun 1954 1 Nov 1954 28 May 1956 16 Aug 1963 1 Jul 1963

[edit] French influence

   A remarkable degree of French influence in Pondicherry exists to this date. Pondicherry was designed based on the French grid pattern and features neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The entire town is divided into 2 sections, the French quarter (Ville Blanche or 'White town') and the Indian quarter (Ville Noire or 'Black Town'). Many streets still retain their French names and French style villas are a common sight in Puducherry. In the French quarter, the buildings are typically colonial style with long compounds and stately walls. The Indian (Tamil) quarter consists of houses lined with verandas, and houses with large doors and grills. These French and Indian style houses are identified and its architecture is preserved from destruction by a organization named INTACH. If ever anyone wishes to demolish the existing house in the town area and rebuild, they need the permission from this organization and the new built house should resemble the same architectural beauty it possessed before destruction.The use of French language can be still seen in Pondicherry.         
                 
        Puducherry still has a large number of Tamil and a small number of non Tamil residents with French passports, whose ancestors were in French Governmental service and who chose to remain French at the time of Independence. Apart from the monuments pertaining to the French period, there is the French Consulate in Puducherry and several cultural organisations. Another important one is 'Le Foyer du Soldat'. It is a Legion hall for soldiers who served in the different French wars.         
                 
        Of the cultural organisations the French Institute of Pondicherry, the Pondicherry Centre of the École française d'Extrême-Orient and a branch of the Alliance Française are noteworthy. A French-medium school system, the Lycée Français de Pondichéry, continues to operate under the aegis of the French Minister of National Education (France).         
                 
        ==Official languages of Government==     
        Official languages of Pondicherry are French, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.     
        Though Status of each languages varies differently with respect to each district. When Communicating in between districts of different languages, generally English is used for convenience.         
                 
        1.Tamil: Language used by the Pondicherry Government, especially used when communicating within and between the Tamil majority districts of (Pondicherry and Karikal) along with issuing official decrees. Also official Language in Tamil Nadu state. It was declared as Classical language in 2005 by Indian Government.    
                 
        2.French: It is also official language of Pondicherry Union territory. Though it was official language of French India (1673-1954), its official language status was preserved by Traité de Cession (Treaty of Cession) signed by India and France on 28 May 1956.    
                 
        It remained as de jure official language of Pondicherry U.T by the  Article XXVIII of Traité de Cession which states that,       
        * Le français restera langue officielle des Établissements aussi longtemps que les répresentants élus de la population n'auront pas pris une décision différente (French version)         
                 
        *The French language shall remain the official language of the Establishments so long as the elected representatives of the people shall not decide otherwise (English version)   
                 
        ===Regional official languages===        
        3.Telugu: It is also an official language of Pondicherry but used only when communicating within Telugu district (Yanam). So, more correctly it is considered as regional official language of Pondicherry while being official language of Yanam District. It is also has official language status in Andhra Pradesh State.       
                 
        4.Malayalam: It is also an official language of Pondicherry but used only when communicating within Malayalam district (Mahe). So, more correctly it is considered as regional official language of Pondicherry while being official language of Mahe District. It also has an official language status in Kerala State and Lakshadweep Islands Union Territory.

[edit] Language spoken in numbers

As of 2001, number of people speaking in each official languages are,

  • Tamil: 220,749 (In Pondicherry and Karikal Districts)
  • Telugu: 31,362 (In Yanam District only)
  • Malayalam: 36,823 (In Mahe District only)
  • French: Above 10,000

[edit] List of Governors of French Establishments in India

Commissaires:

Gouverneurs Généraux:

Inde française became an Territoire d'outre-mer for France in 1946.

Commissaires:

de facto transfer to Indian Union

High Commissioners:

  • Mr.Kewal Singh November 1 1954–1957
  • M.K. Kripalani 1957–1958
  • L.R.S. Singh 1958–1958
  • AS Bam 1960
  • Sarat Kumar Dutta 1961–1961

[edit] Government & administration

Pondicherry Legislative Assembly
Pondicherry Legislative Assembly
Main articles: Pondicherry Legislative Assembly and Pondicherry Municipal Council
See also: Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry and List of Chief Ministers of Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a Union Territory of India, not a separate State, which implies that the governance and administration of the territory falls directly under the federal authority in New Delhi. However, along with Delhi, Pondicherry is one of the two union territories in India, which is entitled by special constitutional amendments to have an elected legislative assembly and a cabinet of ministers, thereby enjoying partial statehood powers. Under the special provision, the government is permitted to make laws with respect to specific matters. In many cases, such legislations may require the ratification from the federal government or the assent of the President of India.

The Centre is represented by the Lt. Governor, who resides at the Raj Nivas (Le Palais du Gouverneur) at the Park, the former palace of the French Governor. The Central government is more directly involved in the financial well-being of the territory, as against the states where financial administration, given a budgeted central grant is the responsibility to the state governments. Consequently, Pondicherry has at various times, enjoyed lower taxes, especially in the indirect category.

[edit] Pondicherry in literature

* Pondicherry was the setting for the first third of the Booker prize-winning novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel. * Prince Pondicherry's castle of chocolate has melted in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. * In The Second Sherlock Holmes Novel, A Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a family, victim to the death which engages the famous fictional detective on the case, reside at Pondicherry Lodge.

[edit] Economy

[edit] Macro-economic trend

This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Puducherry at market prices estimated by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees.

Year Gross State Domestic Product
1980 1,840
1985 3,420
1990 6,030
1995 13,200
2000 37,810


Puducherry's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $2 billion in current prices.

[edit] Road Network

Puducherry is endowed with excellent infrastructural facilities on par with the best available in the country. A network of all weather metalled roads connecting every village exists in the territory. Puducherry has a road length of 2552 km (road length per 4.87 sq km), the highest in the country.


Road length comparsion with Tamilnadu and India as a whole.

ROADS
Total Road Length (in Puducherry) 2552 Kms.
Road Length per 1000 Sq.Km. Puducherry Tamil Nadu India
4575 1572 663


[edit] Classification of Roads

Sl. No. Type of Road Length in

(km)
1

National Highways

64.450
2

State Highways

49.304
3

District & Other Roads

  
 

Puducherry - 173.384

  
 

Karaikal - 55.162

  
 

Mahe - 19.622

  
 

Yanam - 26.460

  
 

274.628

274.628
4

Rural Roads

  

Puducherry - 164.964

  
 

Karaikal - 83.470

  
 

248.434

248.434
 

Grand Total

 636.816


[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC: "New name for old French territory" <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5365248.stm>.
  2. ^ Bill to rename Pondicherry as Puducherry passed <http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/22/stories/2006082207481000.htm>.

[edit] Notes

  • Note 1: The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, transl. G.W.B. Huntingford (Hakluyt Society, 1980), p. 119.


v • d • e
States and territories of India


Union Territory of Puducherry [ v • d • e ]
Puducherry Topics | History | Economy | Geography | Culture | Tourism
Capital Puducherry
Districts Puducherry • Karaikal • Mahe • Yanam
Major Towns Puducherry • Karaikal • Mahe • Yanam
Languages French • Tamil • Malayalam •Telugu
v • d • e
French overseas empire
Former
Present
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/u/d/Puducherry.html"