| Voice of Lakshadweep
: Mr Koya
Lakshwadeep is cut out from the main land of our country and it
is scattered in the Arabian Sea. So to bring about development in
this area the material has to be brought from the main land i.e.
Cochin, calicut or Manglore. The standard of living of people is
high of other parts of the country as compared to us. This is a
tourist place and so it has to be maintained. This is the only development
issue that should be taken care of.
Lakshadweep
District
Area, Population & Sex Ratio
Analysis Geographical Area : 32.0 Km2
Population in Lakshadweep (Census 2011)
Total Population
Total : 64429
Male : 33106
Female : 31323
Under 6 population
Total : 7088
Male : 3715
Female : 3373
Disabled population
Total disabled population : 1678
In seeing : 603
In speech : 207
In hearing : 147
In movement : 505
Mental : 216
Rank ( VoiceOfBharat.org Analysis
)
Backwardness : Does not figure in list of 447 backward
districts
Sex Ratio Rank : 339
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : C
(HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Disability : 576 (Census 2001)
Literacy Ratio : 19 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Brief About Lakshadweep District
Early history of Lakshadweep is unwritten. What now passes for history
is based on various legends. Local traditions attribute the
first settlement on these islands to the period of Cheraman Perumal,
the last king of Kerala. It is believed that after his conversion
to Islam, at the behest of some Arab merchants, he slipped out of
his capital Cranganore, the present day Kodungallor - an old
harbour town Kochi, for Mecca. When his disappearance was discovered,
search parties went after him in sailing boats and left for the
shores of Mecca, in search of the king from different places. It
is believed that one of these sailing boats of Raja of Cannanore
was struck by a fierce storm and they were shipwrecked on the island
now known as Bangaram. From there they went to the nearby island
of Agatti. Finally the weather improved and they returned to the
mainland sighting other islands on their way. It is said that after
their return another party of sailors and soldiers discovered the
island of Amini and started living there. It is believed that the
people sent there were Hindus. Even now unmistakable Hindu Social
stratification exists in these islands despite Islam. Legends say
that small settlements started in the Islands of Amini, Kavaratti,
Andrott and Kalpeni first and later people from these islands moved
to the other islands of Agatti, Kiltan, Chetlat and Kadmat. This
legend of Cheraman Perumal is not, however, substantiated.
The advent of Islam dates back to the 7th century
around the year 41 Hijra. It is universally believed that one St.Ubaidullah(r)
while praying at Mecca fell asleep. He dreamt that Prophet Mohammed(s)
wanted him to go to Jeddah and take a ship from there to go to distant
places. Thus, he left Jeddah but after sailing for months, a storm
wrecked his ship near these small Islands. Floating on a plank
he was swept ashore on the island of Amini. He fell asleep there
but again dreamt of the Prophet asking him to propagate Islam in
that Island. Ubaidullah started doing so. But this enraged
the headman of the island and he ordered his exit at once. St. Ubaidullah(r)
stood firm. Meanwhile, a young woman fell in love with him.
He gave her the name Hameedat Beebi and married her. This further
offended the headman and he decided to kill him. It is said that
the headman and his henchmen surrounded Ubaidullah(r) and his wife
to kill them. At once St.Ubaidullah(r) called up on the Almighty
and the people were struck blind. At this time St.Ubaidullah(r)
and his wife disappeared and as soon as they left the island people
regained their eye sight. From Amini St.Ubaidullah(r)
arrived at Andrott where he met with similar opposition but he succeeded
finally in converting the people to Islam. He next went to other
islands and successfully propagated Islam and returned to Andrott
where he died, and was buried. The grave of St.Ubaidullah(r) is
today a sacred place. Preachers from Andrott are respected
deeply in far off lands like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Burma etc. It
is a marabout or Mukbara.
The Arrival of the Portuguese in India again
made Laccadives an important place for seafarers. It was also the
beginning of years of plunder for the islands. The finely spun coir
was much sought after for ships. So the Portuguese started
looting island vessels. They forcibly landed at Amini to procure
coir sometime in the early 16th century, but it is said that the
people killed all the invaders by poisoning, ending the Portuguese
invasion. Even after the conversion of the entire islands to
Islam, sovereignty remained in the hands of the Hindu Rajah of Chirakkal
for some years. From the hands of the Chirakkal Raja, the Administration
of the island passed on to the Muslim house of Arakkal of Cannanore
around the middle of the 16th century. The Arakkal rule was oppressive
and unbearable. So sometime in the year 1783 some islanders from
Amini took courage and went to Tipu Sultan at Mangalore and requested
him to take over the Administration of Amini group of islands. Tipu
Sultan at that time was on friendly terms with Beebi of Arakkel
and after deliberations, the islands of Amini group were handed
over to him. Thus the islands suzerainty came to be divided as five
came under the rule of Tipu Sultan and the rest continued under
Arakkal house. After the battle of Seringapattom in 1799 the islands
were annexed to the British East India Company and were administered
from Mangalore. In 1847, a severe cyclone hit the island of Andrott
and Raja of Chirakkal decided to visit the island in order to assess
the damages and for distributing relief. An officer of the East
India Company Sir William Robinson volunteered to accompany him.
On reaching Andrott, the Rajah found it difficult to meet all the
demands of the people. Sir William then offered the Rajah help in
the form of a loan. This was accepted. This arrangement continued
for about four years but when the interest started mounting, the
English asked the Rajah to repay them which he could not. In 1854
all the remaining islands were handed over to the East India Company
for Administration. so, came the British rule.
The sequestration of the islands is a clear example
of the political manipulations and methods adopted by the British
for establishing their supremacy in India. Its traditional system
of administration was treated by the English as something of
misgovernment. But they were more interested in their own political
and economic interests than the good government of the islands.
Their policy was to exploit the profits from the islands through
the Beebi without taking responsibility of its administration. the
British later brought the Lakshadweep Regulation 1912,which confers
limited power of judicial and magisterial status to Amins/Karanis
of the islands. A reasonable restriction of outsiders were also
brought into force by the above regulation. Nine Primary Schools
and few dispensaries were started during the colonial rule in the
islands.
The tiniest Union Territory of India, Lakshadweep
is an archipelago consisting of 12 atolls, three reefs and five
submerged banks. It is a uni-district Union Territory with an area
of 32 Sq.Kms and is comprised of ten inhabited islands, 17
uninhabited islands attached islets, four newly formed islets and
5 submerged reefs. The inhabited islands are Kavaratti, Agatti,
Amini, Kadmat, Kiltan, Chetlat, Bitra, Andrott, Kalpeni and Minicoy.
Bitra is the smallest of all having only a population of 225 persons
(Census 1991). The uninhabited island Bangaram has been enumerated
during 1991 census operation and has a population of 61 persons.
It is located between 8 º- 12 º 13" North latitude and 71º
-74º East longitude, 220 to 440 Kms. away from the coastal
city of Kochi in Kerala, in the emerald Arabian sea. Considering
its lagoon area of about 4,200 Sq.kms, 20,000 Sq.kms of territorial
waters and about 4 lakhs Sq.kms. of economic zone, Lakshadweep is
a large territory.
Geology
There are no conclusive theories about the formation
of these coral atolls. The most accepted theory is given by the
English Evolutionist Sir Charles Darwin. He concluded in 1842 that
the subsidence of a volcanic island resulted in the formation of
a fringing reef and the continual subsidence allowed this to grow
upwards.
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