Demographics

Residents of Chennai are called Chennaiites. They are also referred to as Madrasis, in line with the city’s former name. As of 2000, Chennai city had a population of 4.2 million, while the total metropolitan population was 6.7 million. The estimated metropolitan population in 2005 is 6.90 million.

The population density in the city is 24,418 per km² while the overall population density is 5,847 per km². The sex ratio is 948 females for every 1000 males, slightly higher than the national average of 934. The average literacy rate is 80.14%, much higher than the national average of 59.5%. Five percent of the city’s population is classified as living in slum conditions.

The main problem Chennai faces is overpopulation and resulting water scarcity. Residential skyscrapers are generally not favoured, leading to urban sprawl, with consequent increase in commuting time and ownership of private vehicles. High land prices and the lack of space has pushed many members of the lower strata of society into residing in slums, which tend to have poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water.

The majority of residents in Chennai are native Tamilians and speak Tamil. English is widely spoken, and is used almost exclusively in business, education and other white collar professions. Tamil spoken in Chennai uses English words liberally, so much so that it is often called Madras bhashai (Tamil for “Madras language”). There is also a sizeable Telugu speaking minority in the city. Other languages spoken include Malayalam, and Urdu. A regional hub since British times, Chennai has a large number of Marwari traders. Other prominent communities are the Anglo Indian, Bengali, Punjabi and people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Chennai also has a growing expatriate population who work in the industries and IT centres.

Culture

Chennai’s culture reflects its diverse population. The city is known for its classical dance shows and Hindu temples. Every December, Chennai holds a five week-long Music Season, which has been described as one of the world’s largest cultural events. The Music Season encompasses performances (kutcheries) of traditional Carnatic music by hundreds of artists in and around the city.

Chennai is also known for the classical Indian dance, the Bharatanatyam, which is also the official dance of Tamil Nadu. An important cultural centre for Bharatanatyam is Kalakshetra (Sanskrit for “place of the arts”), located on the beach in the south of the city.

Chennai has a vibrant theatre scene, with a large number of Tamil plays being performed. In general, Tamil theatre is divided into the sabha-oriented theatre which are parodies on political issues or trends supported by slapstick comedy and the non-sabha oriented theatre which include serious plays and historical plays. English theatre is also popular. School and college cultural festivals (locally called culfests) play an important role by providing platforms for the city’s youth to indulge in art and culture.

Chennai is the base for the large Tamil movie industry, dubbed Kollywood after the locality of Kodambakkam where most of the movie studios are located. The industry makes about 300 Tamil movies a year, and its film soundtracks dominate the music scene in the city.

Chennai celebrates a number of festivals. Pongal, celebrated in the month of January, is the most important festival of and is celebrated over a period of five days. Tamil New Year’s day signifying the beginning of the Tamil calendar usually falls on April 14 and is celebrated widely. Being a cosmopolitan city, almost all major religious festivals like Deepavali, Eid and Christmas are celebrated here.

Chennai is famous for its numerous restaurants that offer light meals or tiffin which usually include rice-based dishes like pongal, dosa, idli or vada, served with steaming hot filter coffee, a very popular beverage consumed in Chennai. This unique cuisine is replicated in many a Madras Cafe in other parts of India and the world.

Tourism

Chennai is famous for its temples, historic landmarks and buildings, long sandy beaches, cultural and art centers and parks. The most important tourist attraction of the city is actually in the neighbouring town of Mahabalipuram with its ancient temples and rock carvings of the 7th century Pallava kingdom. The famous temples include the Kapaleeshwarar temple, Parthasarathy Temple in Triplicane and the San Thome Basilica. Important centres for Tamil culture and tradition include the Valluvar Kottam, Kalakshetra and Dakshinachitra.

The 12 km long and 400 to 500 metre wide Marina Beach is the pride of Chennai. The city also has many famous parks like the Guindy National Park, the country’s smallest National Park, The Guindy Snake Park, the Arignar Anna Zoological Park (better known as Vandalur Zoo) , the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and the Horticultural Botanical Garden.

Chennai is also famous for its Kancheepuram hand woven silk sarees, art and crafts, contemporary and traditional artwork, antiques, jewellery and stone sculpture.

Transport

Popularly known as “Gateway to South India”, Chennai is well connected internationally and to other parts of India. Five major national highways radiate outward towards Kolkata (Calcutta), Bangalore, Trichy, Tiruvallur, and Pondicherry. The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT), which serves as the terminus for all intercity buses from Chennai, is the largest bus station in South Asia. Seven government owned transport corporations operate inter city and inter state bus services. There are also many private inter city and inter state bus companies that operate services to and from Chennai.

The Chennai International Airport serves as the city’s airport for both domestic and international flights. The city is connected to major hubs in South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America through over thirty national and international carriers. The airport is also the second busiest cargo terminus in the country.

The city is served by two major ports namely the Chennai Port which is one of the largest artificial ports and the Ennore Port. The Chennai port is India’s second busiest container hub handling general industrial cargo, automobiles etc. The Ennore port handles cargo such as coal, ore and other bulk products. A smaller harbour at Royapuram is used by local fishing boats and trawlers.

There are two main railway terminals, the Chennai Central station, which is the city’s largest railway station with trains to all the major cities and towns in India, and Chennai Egmore, with trains for destinations within Tamil Nadu and to other major cities in northern, eastern and western parts of India.

Buses and trains are the most popular form of public transport. The Chennai suburban railway network consists of four rail sectors, namely Chennai Central-Arakkonam, Chennai Central-Sullurpeta, and Chennai Beach-Chengalpattu. The fourth sector is an elevated MRTS suburban train system, which is interlinked with the remaining rail network. The rail network is broad gauge. There are plans to construct an underground Metro Railway in the City. Besides this, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has been identified as the nodal agency by the Government of Tamil Nadu for the development of a Monorail Mass Rapid Transit System (MMRTS) for Chennai.

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) runs an extensive city bus system. The bus service consists of 2,773 buses on 375 routes, and transports an estimated 4.2 million passengers daily. Besides MTC services, mini-bus services are present in the suburbs of the Chennai metropolitan area. Vans which are run like bus services and popularly called “Maxi Cabs” also ply on many routes in the city. Hired transport facilities include metered call taxis, fixed rate tourist taxis and auto rickshaws.

Media

The city has two AM and four commercial FM radio stations, operated by All India Radio and private broadcasters. Non profit FM radio stations are run by a few city colleges. Chennai has six major print media groups that publish about eight major newspapers and magazines. The major English dailies are The Hindu, The New Indian Express, The Deccan Chronicle and an evening daily, The News Today.

The major business dailies published from the city are The Economic Times, Business Line, Business Standard, and The Financial Express. The major Tamil dailies include the Dina Thanthi, Dina Mani, Dina Malar, Tamil Murasu and Malai Malar. Besides major newspapers, there are a number of localised neighbourhood newspapers such as The Adyar Times that cater to particular localities. Magazines published from Chennai include Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam, Kalki, Kungumam, Frontline and Sportstar.

Being a major commercial and business centre in India, Chennai has a well-developed communication and media infrastructure. The city is covered by a large network of optical fiber cables. The city is the key point of connectivity between Indian and underwater South East Asian optical fibre networks and enjoys maximum internet bandwidth in the country. The city’s telephone service is serviced by four landline companies: BSNL, Tata Indicom, Reliance Infocomm and Airtel.

There are six mobile phone companies: BSNL, Hutch, Aircel(formerly RPG), Airtel(formerly SkyCell), Tata Indicom and Reliance Infocomm. The phone companies also offer broadband internet access. Doordarshan runs two terrestrial television channels and two satellite television channels from its Chennai centre. Private Tamil television networks like Sun TV, Raj TV, Star Vijay, Jaya TV and SS Music broadcast out of Chennai. SCV and Hathway are the major cable TV service providers.Direct To Home (DTH) is available via DD Direct Plus and Dish TV. Chennai is the only city in India to have implemented the Conditional Access System for television.

Education

Schools in Chennai are either run publicly by the Tamil Nadu government, or run privately, some with financial aid from the government. The medium of education in private schools is English. Government run schools offer both English and Tamil medium education, English being preferred by a majority. Private schools are usually affiliated to the national CBSE board or to the Tamil Nadu State Board. A few schools are affiliated to the ICSE board and the Montessori system. A few schools also offer the International Baccalaureate and the American systems. Schooling begins at the age of three. After two years of kindergarten and twelve years of schooling, students take up non professional or professional university courses.

The University of Madras (1857), which has three campuses in the city, offers a range of programs in liberal arts, science and commerce. A large majority of city colleges are affiliated to the university and offer programs in medicine, law, science, Arts and commerce. Some such older institutions are the Madras Christian College (1837), Presidency College (1840), Pachaiyappa’s College (1842), the Madras Medical College (1835) and Vivekananda College (1948), all of which affiliated themselves to the University of Madras on its formation. Other autonomous educational establishments include Loyola College, Chennai (1925), the National Institute of Fashion Technology (1995), Asian College of Journalism (2000) and the Madras School of Social Work (1952).

The prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras (1959), is located in the south of the city and is internationally renowned for its engineering program. Located nearby, is the main campus of Anna University (1978), which formed from a merger of the College of Engineering, Guindy (1794), the Madras Institute of Technology (1949), the Alagappa College of Technology (1944), and the School of Architecture and Planning (1957).

Almost all colleges in Tamil Nadu that offer programs in engineering, technology and architecture are affiliated to Anna University. The remaining colleges are autonomous deemed universities. The Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, Chennai, a prominent law college in Tamil Nadu was founded in 1891.

This law college has some other law colleges in chennai and one located at Salem city(Central law college,Kannankuruchi,Salem district).There are law colleges in major cities like Madurai, Coimbatore. Madras High Court is one of the oldest court in India. This is the highest court in the state located at Park Town.Madras Medical College, established in 1835[2], is one of the oldest educational institutions to offer medical education in the Indian subcontinent. Stanley Medical College, Kilpauk Medical College and Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute( www.srmc.edu) are the other notable medical colleges in the city.

Madras Dental college(it is called as Tamilnadu dental college) is also an old educational institution located near famour Parry’s corner, Park Town, Chennai. Sri Ramachandra college is an autonomus(Deemed) University. . Dental colleges in this state come under this university. There are many private dental colleges in chennai like famous “Meenakshi Ammal Dental college and research institute”(located at madhuravayal,chennai-600102), Raagas dental college and hospital, Saveetha dental college and hospital. All these dental insitutes offer a quality dental education.

Madras Veterinary College established in 1903 was the first institution of its kind in India.
The Connemara Public Library built in 1890 is one of the four National Depository Centres in India. These centres receive a copy of all newspapers and books published in India. It also is a declared UNESCO information centre. Other important libraries include the Archaeological Survey of India library at the Fort St. George, The Ramakrishna Math Library and The Krishnamurti Foundation library in the premises of the Theosophical Society world headquarters in Adyar.