Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is a Research and Development hub in the fields of space science, information technology, bio-technology, and medicine. It is home to the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, ER&DC – CDAC, CSIR – National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Free Software Foundation of India (FSFI), Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Priyadarsini Planetarium, The Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, Kerala Highway Research Institute, Kerala Fisheries Research Institute, etc. A scientific institution named National centre for molecular materials, for the research and development of biomedical devices and space electronics is to be established in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). College of Architecture Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum)(CAT), which specialises only on the architecture course, is another institution proposed to set up in the suburbs of the city.
The city houses several central and state government offices and organizations. Apart from being the political nerve centre of Kerala, it is also a major academic hub and is home to several educational institutions including the University of Kerala, and to many science and technology institutions, the most prominent being the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC),College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET), Technopark, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala, Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), the Centre for Development Studies, the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS), the Regional Research Laboratory, the Centre for Earth Science Studies, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology and the Sree Chitira Thirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology. It is also considered as one of the 10 greenest cities in India. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) was ranked as the best city in Kerala to live in by a recent Times of India survey. The city is also ranked as the best city in India for Housing and Transport by a survey conducted by India Today.
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) comes under the Southern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. There are five railway stations within the city limits including the Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) central station. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) Pettah, Kochuveli and Veli stations are located towards north direction and Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) Nemom is located in south direction from the central station. The Central railway station is located at Thampanoor in the heart of the city, and is about 5 km from the new international air terminal and nearly 8 km from the domestic air terminal. It is the largest and busiest railway station in the state. Kochuveli railway station is developed to ease congestion on central station and it act as satellite station to Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) Central. Some of the long distance trains from the city operates from this station. The Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) Rajdhani Express connects the city to New Delhi, the capital of India. The city is well connected by rail to almost all major cities in India such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is also the first major South Indian city on the longest train route in India, Kanyakumari to Dibrugarh.
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is a major academic hub. The University of Kerala is located here. The Regional Headquarters of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is also situated in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). There are many professional education colleges including fifteen engineering colleges, three medical colleges, three Ayurveda colleges, two Homeopathy colleges, six other medical related colleges, and two law colleges in the city and its suburbs. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) Medical College is being upgraded to the status of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Government Engineering College, Barton Hill, and Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering are the main engineering colleges in the city. The Asian School of Business and IIITM-K are two of the management study institutions in the city, both situated inside Technopark. The Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology is situated in the city. Centre for Development Studies and Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT), which does research, development and training in imaging technology, are located within city limits.
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is served by the Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) International Airport (IATA: TRV, ICAO: VOTV),which is the first international airport in India outside the four metropolitan cities then. It has direct connectivity to the Middle East, Singapore, Maldives and Sri Lanka and is a gateway to the tourism-rich state of Kerala. The airport is qualified for all-weather and night operations. One of the major advantage of the airport is the prevailing weather at the location that does not go to extremes, allowing flight operations without disruption year around. The International terminal of the airport is approximately 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) due west and the domestic terminal is approximately 8.0 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the central business district. The importance of the airport is also due to the fact that it is the southernmost airport in India and also the closest option for neighboring countries like Maldives and Sri Lanka, and the only option to Maldives from India. Also, apart from the regular scheduled flights, charter flights, primarily carrying tourists, also serve the airport.
The city comes under the Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) Lok Sabha constituency. The city corporation area contributes to four legislative assembly seats namely Kazhakuttam, Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), and Nemom. The city police is headed by a Police Commissioner, an officer of Deputy Inspector General rank in the Indian Police Service. The city is divided into three police sub-divisions headed by Assistant Commissioners. There are also two traffic sub-divisions. A women’s cell and a narcotics control cell also operate in the city. The other units of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) city police include Crime Detachment, City Special Branch, Dog Squad, Mounted Police, District Crime Records Bureau, Foreigners Registration Office (FRO), Tourist Police and District Armed Reserve. There are two state Armed Police Battalions and a unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) based in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). The CRPF has a Group Head Quarters (GHQ) located at Pallipuram. There is also a large army cantonment in Pangode where some regiments of the Indian Army are based.
The city contributes 80% of software exports from the state, and was selected as the fourth hottest IT destination in India. Since the establishment of Technopark in 1995, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) has steadily grown into a competitive IT centre. The city was rated as the best 2nd tier metro with IT/ITES infrastructure, and second in terms of availability of human talent. Technopark houses global majors like Oracle Corporation, Accenture, Infosys, ITC Infotech, TCS, HCL, Capgemini, Visual Graphics Computing Services, Ernst & Young Global Shared Services Center, Allianz Cornhill, RR Donnelley, UST Global, Tata Elxsi, IBS Software Services, NeST Software, SunTec Business Solutions etc. The park has around 285 companies employing over 40,000 professionals. This is the first CMMI Level 4 assessed Technology Park which spreads over 330 acres, and about 4,000,000 sq ft (370,000 m2). of built-up space As Phase IV expansion, Technopark is developing 450 acres of land in Pallippuram, 5 km north from the main campus as Technocity.
The rise of modern Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) began with accession of Marthanda Varma in 1729 as the founding ruler of the princely state of Travancore (Thiruvithamkoor in the local vernacular). Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) was made the capital of Travancore in 1745 after shifting the capital from Padmanabhapuram in Kanyakumari district. The city developed into a major intellectual and artistic centre during this period. The golden age in the city’s history was during the mid 19th century under the reign of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal and Maharaja Ayilyam Thirunal. This era saw the establishment of the first English school (1834), the Observatory (1837), the General Hospital (1839), the Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library and the University College (1873). The first mental hospital in the state was started during the same period. Sanskrit College, Ayurveda College, Law College and a second grade college for women were started by Moolam Thirunal (1885–1924).
Within the city, city buses, taxis and autorickshaws provide means of transportation. Scooters, motorcycles and regular bicycles are the favored means of personal transportation. The intra-city public transport is dominated by the state-owned KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation). There are also bus service operated by private operators and provides access within city limits and beyond. The city services of KSRTC operate from six depots namely, the City depot, Vikas Bhavan, Peroorkada, Pappanamcode, Kaniyapuram and Vellanad. These services were revamped in 2005 with the introduction of modern buses and electronic ticketing mechanisms. The Central bus station is located Thampanoor, opposite Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) Central Station. It connects Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) with other parts of Kerala as well as other states. The central city bus terminal is located 1 km away at East Fort (Kizhakke kotta), near the Padmanabha Swamy temple.
Apart from being the capital of India’s most literate and socially developed state, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is a strategically important city in Southern India. Being the largest city in India’s deep south, it is important for both military logistics and civil aviation in the southern part of the country. It is the headquarters of the Southern Air Command (SAC) of the Indian Air Force. The city is very close to the international shipping route and east-west shipping axis. Also, it falls under the international air route. Due to the strategic importance of the city, the Indian Air Force authorities have planned to establish an aerospace command in SAC. The plan for setting up a new “Tri-Service Command”, which will integrate all the three forces under a single command, is also in the pipeline.
The wireline telephone services are provided by BSNL, Reliance, AirTel and Tata Indicom. The main GSM networks operating in the city are BSNL CellOne, Airtel, Aircel, Tata Docomo, Uninor, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Reliance, Videocon and Virgin Mobile. The main CDMA providers are Reliance, MTS and Tata Indicom. The number of mobile phone connections has increased exponentially since the late 1990s. Major broadband internet services are provided by BSNL Broadband, Asianet Dataline and Siti Cable. Private providers like Reliance, Tata Communications (VSNL), Airtel and Satyam also have their presence in the city. The major dial-up internet providers are BSNL NetOne, Kerala Online and KelNet among others. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) also holds the distinction of having been the first 100% Digital SSA (Secondary Switching Area) in India.
The city has a climate that borders between a tropical savanna climate and a tropical monsoon climate. As a result it does not experience distinct seasons. The mean maximum temperature 34 °C and the mean minimum temperature is 21 °C. The humidity is high and rises to about 90% during the monsoon season. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is the first city along the path of the south-west monsoons and gets its first showers in early June. The city gets heavy rainfall of around 1700 mm per year. The city also gets rain from the receding north-east monsoons which hit the city by October. The dry season sets in by December. December, January and February are the coldest months while March, April and May are the hottest. The lowest temperature recorded during winter was 15 °C, and the highest temperature recorded in summer is 39 °C.
Unemployment is a serious issue in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), as it is in the whole of Kerala. The increase in the unemployment rate was from 8.8% in 1998 to 34.3% in 2003, thus registering a 25.5% absolute and a 289.7% relative increase in five years. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) taluk ranks third in Kerala with 36.3% of its population unemployed. The in-migration of the unemployed from other districts also boosts this high unemployment rate. Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) has a high suicide rate, which went up from 17.2 per lakh in 1995 to 38.5 per lakh in 2002. In 2004, the rate came down slightly to 36.6 per lakh. As per 2001 census, the populace below the poverty line in the city was 11,667. A BPL survey indicated the urban poor population as 120,367. Majority of these populace lives in slums and coastal fishing areas.
Most of the Malayalam TV channels are based in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). The government owned Doordarshan began broadcasting from here in 1981. Asianet, the first private Malayalam channel, began its telecasts in 1991. The other channels now based in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) are Amrita TV, Kairali TV, Kairali We (Youth channel of Kairali), JaiHind TV, Asianet Plus (Youth channel of Asianet) and People (News and current affairs channel of Kairali TV). The local cable services are provided by Asianet Satellite Communications Limited, Connecttel Communications Pvt Ltd, Trivandrum Cable Network Pvt Ltd and Siti Cable and they provide a bouquet of local channels in addition to all the Indian channels. DTH services are available through Doordarshan Direct Plus, Tata Sky, SUN Direct, Big TV, Airtel digital TV, Videocon d2h and Dish TV.
The schools in the city are classified as Aided, Unaided and Government schools. The government schools are run directly by the state government and follow the syllabus prescribed by the state government. The aided schools also follow the state syllabus. In addition to this, there are four Kendriya Vidyalayas run directly by the Central government, which follow the CBSE syllabus, and private schools run by educational trusts or boards which follow CBSE and/or ICSE syllabus and/or NIOS syllabus and/or state syllabus. The first International school in Kerala, The Trivandrum International School, was started in the outskirts of the city in August 2003. The literacy rate in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), according to the 2001 census, is 89.36 percent; 92.68 percent among males and 86.26 percent among females.
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) appears as a laid back and quiet city to a casual observer. However there are considerable cultural activities in the city. The cultural activities are more during the festival season of Onam in August/September, and during the tourist season later in the year. The state government organises the tourism week celebrations every year during the Onam with cultural events conducted at various centres in the city. The other major events include the annual flower show, the Attukal Pongala, the Aaraat of Padmanabha Swamy Temple, the Beemapally Uroos, Vettucaud Perunaal etc. The CVN Kalari at East Fort is a well known centre for training in Kerala’s indigenous martial art—the Kalaripayattu. The Margi centre offers training in many of Kerala’s traditional arts including Kathakali.
Maharaja Swathi Thirunal was a great composer and played a vital role in the development of Carnatic music. There is a music college in his name in the city – Swathi Thirunal College of Music. Raja Ravi Varma was a famous painter of international renown. His contributions to Indian art are substantial. Most of his famous paintings are preserved at the Sree Chithra Art Gallery in the city. The Padmanabha Swamy Temple and the fort surrounding it, the Napier Museum and Zoo, the VJT hall, Palayam Mosque and Church are among the prominent heritage buildings in the city. The Veli lake and Shankumugham beach are home to various sculptures of the noted sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman. Many people, including Mahatma Gandhi have admired the city’s greenery.
The sewerage system in the city was implemented at the time of the Travancore Kingdom, and modernised in 1938. This scheme for the disposal of sullage and sewage is an underground system. The whole system is controlled by Kerala Water Authority now. The city area is divided into seven blocks for the execution of the sewerage system, two commissioned in the 1990s and two after 2000. The sewerage is pumped to a stilling chamber at the Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) located at Valiyathura, and is disposed through sewage farming. The Dairy Development Department maintains this sewage farm, and fodder cultivation is done here. There is no revenue generation from this scheme, and the sewerage system in the city is a service provided to the residents.
The city gets its name from the Malayalam word thiru-anantha-puram IPA: ( listen), meaning the “City of Lord Ananta”. The name derives from the deity of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple at the centre of the city. Anantha is the serpent Shesha on whom Padmanabha or Vishnu reclines. This temple of Vishnu reclining on Anantha remains the iconic landmark of the city. It is estimated that the value of the monumental items and assets of the temple partially revealed are close to 100000 crore (US$18 billion), making it the richest temple in the world. The city was officially referred to as Trivandrum until 1991, when the government decided to reinstate the city’s original name Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum).
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) (IPA: ( listen)) is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland. Referred to by Mahatma Gandhi as the “Evergreen city of India”, the city is characterized by its undulating terrain of low coastal hills and busy commercial alleys. The city has a population of more than 750,000 inhabitants and a population of around 1.68 million in the urban agglomeration, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) is the largest and most populous city in Kerala. It is the IT hub of the state with over 80% of the state’s software exports.
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