Pondicherry, since 2006 officially Puducherry, is a Union Territory of India. Puducherry means New Village.

It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or districts, and named for the largest, Pondicherry. Located about 160 Kms South of Chennai.

Pondicherry consists of four small unconnected districts: Pondicherry, Karaikal and Yanam on the Bay of Bengal and Mah on the Arabian Sea. Pondicherry and Karaikal are by far the larger ones and are both enclaves of Tamil Nadu. Yanam and Mah are enclaves of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively. The territory has a total area of 492 km: Pondicherry (city) 293 km, Karaikal 160 km, Mah 9 km and Yanam 30 km. It has 900,000 inhabitants (2011). The Union Territory of puducherry comprises of four coastal regions viz- puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. puducherry and Karaikal are situated on the East Coasts in Tamil Nadu, Yanam in Andra Pradesh and Mahe on the West Coast in Kerala.

The Lieutenant Governor Dr. IQBAL SINGH

Hon'ble Chief Minister Thiru. N. RANGASAMY

Hon'ble Speaker Thiru. V. SABAPATHY

The population of Pondicherry (Census, 2011) is 12,44,464. As a proportion of the countrys total population, it is 0.10%.

Pondicherry is highly urbanized. Urban population accounts for 67% as against the All India. proportion of 28% (2011). The average annual rate of growth of urbanization of the UT is 1.95%. Majority of the population of the UT resides in the districts of Pondicherry and Karaikal. In terms of the size of the population, ranking in the descending order is Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. There is no rural population as such in Yanam and Mahe. In Pondicherry district, the proportion of rural population is 31%. In Karaikal, it is 56% Density.

Hinduism, Christianity and Islam co-exist in Pondicherry.

Hindus

The Hindus have scores of ancient temples in Pondicherry famous among them being Varadaraja temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu,Villianur temple dedicated to Thirukameshwara and Thirunallartemple dictated to Planet Saturn, Sani.Karaikal is the Gateway to various places of worship in the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu.

Velankanni and Nagore the two famous places of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims respectively are near Karaikal.

Muslims

For the Muslims, Masthan Saheb Darga (dedicated to Masthan Syed Buhari, a Sufi Saint) is very sacred.

Christian

The Christians have half a dozen famous churches . Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Church of the Immaculate Conception, the Notre Dame des Anges and the Villianur and Ariankuppam Churches.

 Tamil (89 %) Malayalam (3.8 %) Telugu (2.9 %) French (1 %) The status of each language varies by district.

State Bird
Koel

State Animal
Squirrel

State Flower

State Tree

Cannonball tree's flower

Bael Fruit Tree

Pondicherry Beach

Auroville

Bharathi Park

Aurobindo Ashram
Botanical Garden

Pondicherry Museum

Light House Beach

Manakular Vinayagar Temple

Streets Near Aurobindo Ashram, French Heritage

The festivals celebrated here are: Fire Walking Sedal Mascarade Festival: Mangani Festival Kandoori Festival The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes Thiraiyattam Masimagam Festival Navratri Ayudha Puja Vijayadasami Diwali Karthigai Deepam Festival Pongal Other festivals or fairs celebrated in Pondicherry include Putha Lanthira, Mandolilthira, Koyodan Korothithra, Pandokuloththira, Mandalam vilakku, vishnutheertham, Swamikalyanam, etc. The Mahe district, which is situated near Kerala, celebrates festivals similar to Kerala like Onam, Vishu, Sri Krishna Jayanti, Vinayaga Chathurthi etc.

Fire Walking

Sedal

The people who participate in this festival has to observe a fast of forty days and wear saffron colored clothes and after bath, walk through the fire.

During this festival the devotees torture themselves by piercing small silver hooks and spears in their body or tongues in fulfillment of some vow. It is said that as many as 100 needles are pierced over their body. They then go in a procession after a bath and clad themselves in turmeric strained clothes.

International Yoga Festival

This festival is celebrated from 4th to 7th January every year. During this festival yogis and yognis from all over the world.

Mascarade or Mask festival is celebrated during March-April. This festival reflects the French sense of humor, the people wear fantastic mask and fancy costumes and they go around the streets in joyous merriment indulging in a kind of gimmic dance to the accompaniment of trumpets. Mascarade Festival

Mangani Festival

This festival is celebrated in July in Karaikal Ammayur temple.

Kandoori Festival

This is the festival of Karaikal Durga. The people celebrate this festival very sacredly.

The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

This is celebrated by Christians in the Our Lady of Lourdes church.

Thiraiyattam

This is celebrated in October every year. Even non-Christians attend this festival.

Masimagam Festival

This festival is celebrated on the early morning in the month of February-March. The devotees go to the seashore to have a holy dip in the sea for ablution of their sins.

Navratri

Ayudha Puja

This festival marks the end of Navaratri. All forms of implements and equipments, including cars and motorcycles are given Puja. No work is done that day. This is a nine-day festival of the Goddess Durga (warrior righteousness), Lakshmi (prosperity) and Saraswati (knowledge and the arts).

VijyaDashmi

The next day to Ayudha Puja is given over to the Goddess Durga, who is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother.

This is celebrated between mid-October and mid-November. This festival marks the triumph of Good over Evil.

During this three day festival mostly all the Hindu houses are illuminated.

 Sri Aurobindo and Subramanya Bharathy who took part in the Indian independence movement. Tamil Poet Bharathidasan.

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh

Subramanya Bharathy

Bharathidasan

Economy
Nominal GDP is 13,724 Cr.

GDP Per Capita growth is 11.9% as compared to previous year. Pondicherry has a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$1.399 bn (2004-05).

The per capita income in Pondicherry is US$766.

The total value of all industrial units in Pondicherry is roughly 10,000 crore.

Major Industries
Pondicherry has 8708 small scale industries, 80 medium scale

industries & 45 large scale industries. It provide employment to 80,000 people. Some of the significant industries in Pondicherry are chemicals, textiles, light engineering, metals, and food processing. The Indian government supports investment in Pondicherry by

increasing subsidies.

Top ten Industries:

Fish pickles. Bottled Coconut water. Cattle /Poultry Feed Manufacturing. Paper and paper products. Ice Plant. Cold Storage. Coconut Shell powder Coir fiber. Bio fertilizers. Dairy products.

Major Industtries Details

The challenges confronting the coastal Puducherry are similar to the ones faced by the coastal cities in India.

Pollution of the sea front due to municipal and industrial wastes. Ever-increasing demographic pressure with its attendant problems of waste generation and groundwater. Pressure on establishing hotels and amusement parks at the water front which would contribute to above problem. Incomplete implementation of seasonal fishing bans, and overfishing.