Pondicherry-The Educational Hub of Southern India
By Students’ Academy
Copyright@2011Students’ Academy
Smashwords Edition
Chapter 1: Introduction
Puducherry is a Union Territory of India. This Union Territory was formerly known as Pondicherry and it still carries the nickname ‘Pondy’. It is a former French colony and the signs of the colonialism are very much present in the state. This Union Territory consists of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Pondicherry. Karaikkal, Mahé, Yanam, Puducherry were the four non-contigous enclaves of Puducherry.
In the year 2006, the Union Territory was renamed Puducherry. Of late, Pondicherry is also considered an educational hub of southern India, having 1 national institute of technology, 1 central university, 8 medical colleges, 10 engineering colleges, 3 dental colleges, 2 law colleges, 1 veterinary college, 1 agricultural college, 10 arts and science colleges, and 5 polytechnic colleges functioning within its territory. Many medical and engineering colleges including a state-owned university are also reported to be in queue. People of Pondicherry are demanding statehood for Pondicherry and are also requesting to add neighboring villages from Tamil Nadu to newly form Greater Pondicherry state for better administration and development purposes.
In local Tamil language Puducherry means New Hamlet. During the colonial period the name was changed to Pondicherry. Pondicherry was widely used for a long time to refer to the region. In 2006, the name for the state and the capital city officially reverted to Puducherry.
During ancient times, it was known as Poduke or Podukai. Ancient Greeks referred to this place as Poduke and Aryans referred as Vedapuri.
Chapter 2: Geography
Pondicherry consists of four non-contiguous regions: 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 (190 sq mi): Puducherry 293 km2 (113 sq mi), Karaikal 160 km2 (62 sq mi), Mahé 9 km2 (3.5 sq mi) and Yanam 30 km2 (12 sq mi). It has 900,000 inhabitants (2001). Greater Pondicherry Movement which is recently formed is demanding of unification of neighbouring villages from Tamil Nadu to make Pondicherry region contiguous and larger in area to form the Pondicherry State, which would increase the area of the Pondicherry region from 293 km2 (113 sq mi) to 510 km2 (200 sq mi).
There is a continuous stretch of mangroves in the east coast of India. Pondicherry lies along the east coast, a little away from Chennai, formerly called Madras. The main river in Pondicherry is the Gingee (Sankarabarani river), believed originate from Gingee. It bifurcates into the Ariyankuppam and Chunnambar rivers. Maximum mangrove vegetation is found in Ariyankuppam river banks toward the estuary. In the Karaikal region, the mangrove vegetation is found distributed in Kizhvanjur estuary and Arasalaar estuary near the lighthouse. Most of the plants growing in the lighthouse region backwaters were planted by artificial plantation.
Chapter 3: History of Pondicherry
The Indian history has many references to a port town called Poduke on the Coromandal Coast. It is recorded that this town was a major trading centre in this part of the world. The identification of a Roman trading centre in the immediate vicinity of Pondicherry adds weight to the equation of Poduke with Pondicherry. Although this has been suggested by more than one writer, the equation of Poduke with Puduvai the name by which the town was known in the early days, seems to be more acceptable. According to tradition, the town was once upon a time an abode of scholars well versed in the Vedas and hence came to be known as Vedapuri. During the days of Ottakoothar and Kambar in the 11th and 12th centuries, Pondicherry was known in its shortened form as Puthuvai.
With the arrival and control of the French, Pondicherry experienced many changes. During that period many places in South India were under the French control. Joseph François Dupleix became the Governor of the French Territory in India on 15 January 1742 and brought Madras also under French control in September 1746; Madras continued under French rule for 3 years. An attack on Pondicherry by the British in 1748 failed. Dupleix's help to Chanda Sahib and Musafer Jung in 1750 added Villianur and Bahour, a group of 36 villages, to French control. This was the peak period of the French regime; thereafter there was a decline in their sovereignty.
Pondicherry had experienced many internal disturbances in the preceding years and nothing was constant in the social scene of the city. Despite the Treaty of Pondicherry, internal disturbances in Pondicherry gave the British the opportunity, in August 1793, to gain control of Pondicherry; it was administered as part of Madras until 1815. However, after the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the British restored the settlements, which the French had possessed on 1 January 1792, back to the French in 1816. French rule continued until 31 October 1954.
The people of Pondicherry actively took part in the freedom movement in British India. In fact they had been helping the people in India since 1920. Sri Aurobindo of Bengal came to Pondicherry in 1910 followed by patriots like Poet Subramanya Bharathi, V.V.C Iyer and others. In 1918, the British demanded the extradition of Sri Aurobindo and other freedom fighters. The French government did not comply with this. Gandhi visited Pondicherry in 1934 and Jawaharlal Nehru in 1939.
In the immediate ensuing period, the governments of India and France came to an understanding and the question of the merger of Pondicherry with the Indian Union was referred to the elected representatives of the people for decision in a secret ballot on 18 October 1954; 170 out of 178 elected representatives favored the merger. The de facto transfer of power took place on 1 November 1954; the de jure transfer on 16 August 1962.
Chapter 4: French Influence
Police officer in Pondicherry
Street signs in French
A first time visitor to Pondicherry is definitely surprised because the place looks quite different from the cities in the rest of India. There are obvious signs of the former French colonial period. The design of the city was based on the French (originally Dutch, the plans of Pondicherry dating from the end of the 17th century (1693–1694) are preserved in the National Archives at The Hague) grid pattern and features neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The entire town is divided into two sections, the French Quarter ('Ville Blanche' or 'White Town') and the Indian Quarter ('Ville Noire' or 'Black Town'). The history of French India is led by Joseph François Dupleix, governor general of the French establishment in India, and rival of Robert Clive. Dupleix was primarily responsible for the Carnatic Wars. At first Dupleix was successful in resisting the attacks of the English East India Company, but he lost in the later battles.
The layout of the city is highly influenced by the French style of street planning and building constructions. The numbering of the houses is unique compared to other cities in Tamil Nadu, in that the even numbers are on one side and the odd numbers are on the opposite side of the road.
Chapter 5: Official Languages
Though Tamil is spoken by the majority of the people in Pondicherry, French language is equally popular, spoken by a large number of people. The official languages of Pondicherry are Tamil and French. Telugu, Malayalam are official language of Yanam and Mahe enclaves respectively. English is used for administrative convenience. The status of each language varies with respect to each district. English is lingua franca between the enclaves.
Tamil: Language used by the people in the Tamil majority districts of Pondicherry and Karikal. Also the official language in neighbouring Tamil Nadu state.
French: Also the official language of Pondicherry Union Territory. It was the official language of French India (1673–1954) and its official language status was preserved by the Traité de Cession signed by India and France on 28 May 1956.
French remained as the 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 représentants élus de la population n'auront pas pris une décision différente" (French version)
"The French language will remain the official language of the Establishments as long as the elected representatives of the people do not take a different decision" (English version)
As of 1981, number of people speaking in each official languages are,
Tamil: 89.18 % (868,461)
Other Languages (Includes French, Telugu, English and Malayalam) : 10.82 %
Government
Pondicherry is divided into two districts and each district is divided into sub divisions, taluks and sub-taluks.
According to the 1956 Traité de cession, the four former French colonies were assured of maintaining their special administrative status. That is why Pondicherry is the only Union Territory with some special provisions like Legislative Assembly, French as official language, etc. Article II of Traité de Cession states:
"The Establishments will keep the benefit of the special administrative status which was in force prior to 1 November 1954. Any constitutional changes in this status which may be made subsequently shall be made after ascertaining the wishes of the people."