Mankada is a hillside village in the Malappuram district of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 state. It is part of the Malappuram

Malappuram

Malappuram is a municipality in the South Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 33.61 km2. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Malappuram district. As per the 2011 census Malappuram urban agglomeration is the fourth largest UA in kerala with a total population of...

 parliament constituency, now represented by E. Ahammed

E. Ahammed

E. Ahamed is the Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs and minister of state for Human Resource Development of the Republic of India. He represents the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency of Kerala and is a member of the Indian Union Muslim League...

 MP, the Minister of State

Minister of State

Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...

 for Indian Railways

Indian Railways

Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....

. In the previous UPA cabinet(2004-2009) he was handling the Ministry of External Affairs (India)

Ministry of External Affairs (India)

The Ministry of External Affairs is the foreign ministry of India. It is the Indian government agency responsible for the foreign relations of India. The Minister of External Affairs holds cabinet rank as a member of the Council of Ministers. The current minister is S M Krishna...

 portfolio. Mankada is also a legislative constituency and is currently represented by Manjalamkuzhi Ali MLA.

Geography

The Mankada Panchayath is bordered the Cheriyam hills and other three major towns in Malappuram district, Malappuram

Malappuram

Malappuram is a municipality in the South Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 33.61 km2. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Malappuram district. As per the 2011 census Malappuram urban agglomeration is the fourth largest UA in kerala with a total population of...

, Manjeri

Manjeri

Manjeri is a town and municipality in Malappuram District in the state of Kerala, India. It is the commercial capital of Malappuram District and is 28 km from an international airport and 50 km from Kozhikode railway station....

 and Perintalmanna

Perintalmanna

Perinthalmanna is a city and municipality in Malappuram district of Kerala. Perinthalmanna's name is derived from Perumthallu . It was the capital city of Valluvanad, a princely state ruled by the Valluvakonathiris, a suspected branch of the Pallava dynasty of the ancient Tamil kingdoms...

. The total area of Mankada Panchayath is 31.33 km². Most of the land is arable. Climate is very cool in the rainy season and usually dry in the summer season just like the other part of kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

. The rainy season is from June to November, winter season from December to January and the rest of the year is sunny. The temperature is normal and ranges from 25 degree -35 degree. The terrain consists of small hills and upland plain. There is not much natural resources and most of the arable land is cultivated with permanent crops. Also there are no major environmental issues or natural hazards.

People

As of 2001 census the total population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of the panchayath is 28,935, which constitute 14131 Males and 14804 females. The population density is 763.52 per km² which is around the state average. The sex ratio is almost normal. The people are highly literate. The literacy rate is 92.60 (Male: 94.77 and female 90.44). A good percentage of the population is kids in the range from 0-6(4,309). Though Malayalam is the spoken language among the inhabitants English is widely used for administrative purposes.

Economy

The economy encompasses traditional village farming, small scale business and the foreign money. A good percentage of natives are working in the Middle East as unskilled workers. The local economy is currently undergoing construction boom and which is solely dependent on the gulf money. The main crops that are cultivated are coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

, aracnut, paddy and banana.
Two gold load zones of highly potential sulphide rich high grade rocks have been found in recent explorations in mankada. The govt may head for the mining, if it can address the environmental issues.

Administration and other facilities

The panchayath is divided into 10 wards for administrative ease. Development funds are coming to the village through panchayath allocations and the assembly and parliament allocations. The panchayath has a very good track record on development using the fund allocation from local governments. The road network and potable water accessibility is available to a good number of people. The panchayath has one Government Allopathic hospital, one Government run Ayurvedic hospital and few other clinics. Other public amenities include three banks including State Bank of Travancore, one post office, public library and a stadium.

Transport

Population density in some places is too little. The major mode of internal transport are buses, paid SUV’s, Motor cycles and bicycle. There is enough Buses to access the nearest cities. The nearest railway station is only 8 km away from the town center. Also an international airport is around 50 km away.

Education

Though the literacy rate is high, most of the literacy rate was attained through the literacy drive of Kerala Literacy Mission. The panchayath has good number of primary and upper primary schools. The main educational institute is the Government Higher secondary school which has hundreds of students.