title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide has been shown to be involved in physiological processes such as vasodilation in animals, as well as in increasing seed germination and stress responses in plants. Hydrogen sulfide signaling is also innately intertwined with physiological processes that are known to be moderated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS). has been shown to interact with NO resulting in several different cellular effects, as well as the formation of a new signal called nitrosothiol. Hydrogen sulfide is also known to increase the levels of glutathione which acts to reduce or disrupt ROS levels in cells. The field of HS biology has advanced from environmental toxicology to investigate the roles of endogenously produced HS in physiological conditions and in various pathophysiological states. According to a current classification, pathophysiological states with HS overproduction (such as cancer and Down syndrome) and pathophysiological states with HS deficit (e.g. vascular disease) can be identified. Although the understanding of HS biology has significantly advanced over the last decade, many questions remain, for instance related to the quantification of endogenous HS levels.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: The main use of hydrogen sulfide is as a precursor to elemental sulfur. Several organosulfur compounds are produced using hydrogen sulfide. These include methanethiol, ethanethiol, and thioglycolic acid.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Upon combining with alkali metal bases, hydrogen sulfide converts to alkali hydrosulfides such as sodium hydrosulfide and sodium sulfide:


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: These compounds are used in the paper making industry. Specifically, salts of SH break bonds between lignin and cellulose components of pulp in the Kraft process.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Reversibly sodium sulfide in the presence of acids turns into hydrosulfides and hydrogen sulfide; this supplies hydrosulfides in organic solutions and is utilized in the production of thiophenol.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: For well over a century hydrogen sulfide was important in analytical chemistry in the qualitative inorganic analysis of metal ions. In these analyses, heavy metal (and nonmetal) ions (e.g., Pb(II), Cu(II), Hg(II), As(III)) are precipitated from solution upon exposure to ). The components of the resulting precipitate redissolve with some selectivity, and are thus identified.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: As indicated above, many metal ions react with hydrogen sulfide to give the corresponding metal sulfides. This conversion is widely exploited. For example, gases or waters contaminated by hydrogen sulfide can be cleaned with metals, by forming metal sulfides. In the purification of metal ores by flotation, mineral powders are often treated with hydrogen sulfide to enhance the separation. Metal parts are sometimes passivated with hydrogen sulfide. Catalysts used in hydrodesulfurization are routinely activated with hydrogen sulfide, and the behavior of metallic catalysts used in other parts of a refinery is also modified using hydrogen sulfide.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide is used to separate deuterium oxide, or heavy water, from normal water via the Girdler sulfide process.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Scientists from the University of Exeter discovered that cell exposure to small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas can prevent mitochondrial damage. When the cell is stressed with disease, enzymes are drawn into the cell to produce small amounts of hydrogen sulfide. This study could have further implications on preventing strokes, heart disease and arthritis.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Depending on the level of toning present, coins that have been subject to toning by hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur-containing compounds may add to the numismatic value of a coin based on the toning's aesthetics. Coins can also be intentionally treated with hydrogen sulfide to induce toning, though artificial toning can be distinguished from natural toning, and is generally criticised among collectors.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: A suspended animation-like state has been induced in rodents with the use of hydrogen sulfide, resulting in hypothermia with a concomitant reduction in metabolic rate. Oxygen demand was also reduced, thereby protecting against hypoxia. In addition, hydrogen sulfide has been shown to reduce inflammation in various situations.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Volcanoes and some hot springs (as well as cold springs) emit some , where it probably arises via the hydrolysis of sulfide minerals, i.e. MS + → MO + . Hydrogen sulfide can be present naturally in well water, often as a result of the action of sulfate-reducing bacteria. Hydrogen sulfide is produced by the human body in small quantities through bacterial breakdown of proteins containing sulfur in the intestinal tract, therefore it contributes to the characteristic odor of flatulence. It is also produced in the mouth (halitosis).


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: A portion of global emissions are due to human activity. By far the largest industrial source of is petroleum refineries: The hydrodesulfurization process liberates sulfur from petroleum by the action of hydrogen. The resulting is converted to elemental sulfur by partial combustion via the Claus process, which is a major source of elemental sulfur. Other anthropogenic sources of hydrogen sulfide include coke ovens, paper mills (using the Kraft process), tanneries and sewerage. arises from virtually anywhere where elemental sulfur comes in contact with organic material, especially at high temperatures. Depending on environmental conditions, it is responsible for deterioration of material through the action of some sulfur oxidizing microorganisms. It is called biogenic sulfide corrosion.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In 2011 it was reported that increased concentrations of were observed in the Bakken formation crude, possibly due to oil field practices, and presented challenges such as "health and environmental risks, corrosion of wellbore, added expense with regard to materials handling and pipeline equipment, and additional refinement requirements".


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Besides living near gas and oil drilling operations, ordinary citizens can be exposed to hydrogen sulfide by being near waste water treatment facilities, landfills and farms with manure storage. Exposure occurs through breathing contaminated air or drinking contaminated water.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In municipal waste landfill sites, the burial of organic material rapidly leads to the production of anaerobic digestion within the waste mass and, with the humid atmosphere and relatively high temperature that accompanies biodegradation, biogas is produced as soon as the air within the waste mass has been reduced. If there is a source of sulfate bearing material, such as plasterboard or natural gypsum (calcium sulphate dihydrate), under anaerobic conditions sulfate reducing bacteria converts this to hydrogen sulfide. These bacteria cannot survive in air but the moist, warm, anaerobic conditions of buried waste that contains a high source of carbon – in inert landfills, paper and glue used in the fabrication of products such as plasterboard can provide a rich source of carbon – is an excellent environment for the formation of hydrogen sulfide.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In industrial anaerobic digestion processes, such as waste water treatment or the digestion of organic waste from agriculture, hydrogen sulfide can be formed from the reduction of sulfate and the degradation of amino acids and proteins within organic compounds. Sulfates are relatively non-inhibitory to methane forming bacteria but can be reduced to HS by sulfate reducing bacteria, of which there are several genera.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide is commonly found in raw natural gas and biogas. It is typically removed by amine gas treating technologies. In such processes, the hydrogen sulfide is first converted to an ammonium salt, whereas the natural gas is unaffected.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: The bisulfide anion is subsequently regenerated by heating of the amine sulfide solution. Hydrogen sulfide generated in this process is typically converted to elemental sulfur using the Claus Process.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic and flammable gas (flammable range: 4.3–46%). Being heavier than air, it tends to accumulate at the bottom of poorly ventilated spaces. Although very pungent at first (it smells like rotten eggs), it quickly deadens the sense of smell, creating temporary anosmia, so victims may be unaware of its presence until it is too late. Safe handling procedures are provided by its safety data sheet (SDS).


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide is a broad-spectrum poison, meaning that it can poison several different systems in the body, although the nervous system is most affected. The toxicity of is comparable with that of carbon monoxide. It binds with iron in the mitochondrial cytochrome enzymes, thus preventing cellular respiration. Its toxic properties were described in detail in 1843 by Justus von Liebig.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Since hydrogen sulfide occurs naturally in the body, the environment, and the gut, enzymes exist to detoxify it. At some threshold level, believed to average around 300–350 ppm, the oxidative enzymes become overwhelmed. Many personal safety gas detectors, such as those used by utility, sewage and petrochemical workers, are set to alarm at as low as 5 to 10 ppm and to go into high alarm at 15 ppm. Detoxification is effected by oxidation to sulfate, which is harmless. Hence, low levels of hydrogen sulfide may be tolerated indefinitely.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Exposure to lower concentrations can result in eye irritation, a sore throat and cough, nausea, shortness of breath, and fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema). These effects are believed to be due to hydrogen sulfide combining with alkali present in moist surface tissues to form sodium sulfide, a caustic. These symptoms usually subside in a few weeks.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Long-term, low-level exposure may result in fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, irritability, poor memory, and dizziness. Chronic exposure to low level (around 2 ppm) has been implicated in increased miscarriage and reproductive health issues among Russian and Finnish wood pulp workers, but the reports have not (as of 1995) been replicated.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Short-term, high-level exposure can induce immediate collapse, with loss of breathing and a high probability of death. If death does not occur, high exposure to hydrogen sulfide can lead to cortical pseudolaminar necrosis, degeneration of the basal ganglia and cerebral edema. Although respiratory paralysis may be immediate, it can also be delayed up to 72 hours. Diagnostic of extreme poisoning by is the discolouration of copper coins in the pockets of the victim.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Inhalation of HS resulted in about 7 workplace deaths per year in the U.S. (2011–2017 data), second only to carbon monoxide (17 deaths per year) for workplace chemical inhalation deaths.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Treatment involves immediate inhalation of amyl nitrite, injections of sodium nitrite, or administration of 4-dimethylaminophenol in combination with inhalation of pure oxygen, administration of bronchodilators to overcome eventual bronchospasm, and in some cases hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). HBOT has clinical and anecdotal support.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide was used by the British Army as a chemical weapon during World War I. It was not considered to be an ideal war gas, but, while other gases were in short supply, it was used on two occasions in 1916.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In 1975, a hydrogen sulfide release from an oil drilling operation in Denver City, Texas, killed nine people and caused the state legislature to focus on the deadly hazards of the gas. State Representative E L Short took the lead in endorsing an investigation by the Texas Railroad Commission and urged that residents be warned "by knocking on doors if necessary" of the imminent danger stemming from the gas. An exposed person may die from a second exposure to the gas, and a warning itself may be too late.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: On September 2, 2005, a leak in the propeller room of a Royal Caribbean Cruise Liner docked in Los Angeles resulted in the deaths of 3 crewmen due to a sewage line leak. As a result, all such compartments are now required to have a ventilation system.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: A dump of toxic waste containing hydrogen sulfide is believed to have caused 17 deaths and thousands of illnesses in Abidjan, on the West African coast, in the 2006 Côte d'Ivoire toxic waste dump.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In September 2008, three workers were killed and two suffered serious injury, including long term brain damage, at a mushroom growing company in Langley, British Columbia. A valve to a pipe that carried chicken manure, straw and gypsum to the compost fuel for the mushroom growing operation became clogged, and as workers unclogged the valve in a confined space without proper ventilation the hydrogen sulfide that had built up due to anaerobic decomposition of the material was released, poisoning the workers in the surrounding area. Investigator said there could have been more fatalities if the pipe had been fully cleared and/or if the wind had changed directions.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In 2014, levels of hydrogen sulfide as high as 83 ppm were detected at a recently built mall in Thailand called Siam Square One at the Siam Square area. Shop tenants at the mall reported health complications such as sinus inflammation, breathing difficulties and eye irritation. After investigation it was determined that the large amount of gas originated from imperfect treatment and disposal of waste water in the building.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In November 2014, a substantial amount of hydrogen sulfide gas shrouded the central, eastern and southeastern parts of Moscow. Residents living in the area were urged to stay indoors by the emergencies ministry. Although the exact source of the gas was not known, blame had been placed on a Moscow oil refinery.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In June 2016, a mother and her daughter were found deceased in their still-running 2006 Porsche Cayenne SUV against a guardrail on Florida's Turnpike, initially thought to be victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. Their deaths remained unexplained as the medical examiner waited for results of toxicology tests on the victims, until urine tests revealed that hydrogen sulfide was the cause of death. A report from the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner's Office indicated that toxic fumes came from the Porsche's starter battery, located under the front passenger seat.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In January 2017, three utility workers in Key Largo, Florida, died one by one within seconds of descending into a narrow space beneath a manhole cover to check a section of paved street. In an attempt to save the men, a firefighter who entered the hole without his air tank (because he could not fit through the hole with it) collapsed within seconds and had to be rescued by a colleague. The firefighter was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital and later recovered. A Monroe County Sheriff officer initially determined that the space contained hydrogen sulfide and methane gas produced by decomposing vegetation.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: On May 24, 2018, two workers were killed, another seriously injured, and 14 others hospitalized by hydrogen sulfide inhalation at a Norske Skog paper mill in Albury, New South Wales. An investigation by SafeWork NSW found that the gas was released from a tank used to hold process water. The workers were exposed at the end of a 3-day maintenance period. Hydrogen sulfide had built up in an upstream tank, which had been left stagnant and untreated with biocide during the maintenance period. These conditions allowed sulfate-reducing bacteria to grow in the upstream tank, as the water contained small quantities of wood pulp and fiber. The high rate of pumping from this tank into the tank involved in the incident caused hydrogen sulfide gas to escape from various openings around its top when pumping was resumed at the end of the maintenance period. The area above it was sufficiently enclosed for the gas to pool there, despite not being identified as a confined space by Norske Skog. One of the workers who was killed was exposed while investigating an apparent fluid leak in the tank, while the other who was killed and the worker who was badly injured were attempting to rescue the first after he collapsed on top of it. In a resulting criminal case, Norske Skog was accused of failing to ensure the health and safety of its workforce at the plant to a reasonably practicable extent. It plead guilty, and was fined AU$1,012,500 and ordered to fund the production of an anonymized educational video about the incident.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In October 2019, an Odessa, Texas employee of Aghorn Operating Inc. and his wife were killed due to a water pump failure. Produced water with a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide was released by the pump. The worker died while responding to an automated phone call he had received alerting him to a mechanical failure in the pump, while his wife died after driving to the facility to check on him. A CSB investigation cited lax safety practices at the facility, such as an informal lockout-tagout procedure and a nonfunctioning hydrogen sulfide alert system.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: The gas, produced by mixing certain household ingredients, was used in a suicide wave in 2008 in Japan. The wave prompted staff at Tokyo's suicide prevention center to set up a special hotline during "Golden Week", as they received an increase in calls from people wanting to kill themselves during the annual May holiday.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: As of 2010, this phenomenon has occurred in a number of US cities, prompting warnings to those arriving at the site of the suicide. These first responders, such as emergency services workers or family members are at risk of death or injury from inhaling the gas, or by fire. Local governments have also initiated campaigns to prevent such suicides.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide is a central participant in the sulfur cycle, the biogeochemical cycle of sulfur on Earth.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In the absence of oxygen, sulfur-reducing and sulfate-reducing bacteria derive energy from oxidizing hydrogen or organic molecules by reducing elemental sulfur or sulfate to hydrogen sulfide. Other bacteria liberate hydrogen sulfide from sulfur-containing amino acids; this gives rise to the odor of rotten eggs and contributes to the odor of flatulence.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: As organic matter decays under low-oxygen (or hypoxic) conditions (such as in swamps, eutrophic lakes or dead zones of oceans), sulfate-reducing bacteria will use the sulfates present in the water to oxidize the organic matter, producing hydrogen sulfide as waste. Some of the hydrogen sulfide will react with metal ions in the water to produce metal sulfides, which are not water-soluble. These metal sulfides, such as ferrous sulfide FeS, are often black or brown, leading to the dark color of sludge.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Several groups of bacteria can use hydrogen sulfide as fuel, oxidizing it to elemental sulfur or to sulfate by using dissolved oxygen, metal oxides (e.g., iron oxyhydroxides and manganese oxides), or nitrate as electron acceptors.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: The purple sulfur bacteria and the green sulfur bacteria use hydrogen sulfide as an electron donor in photosynthesis, thereby producing elemental sulfur. This mode of photosynthesis is older than the mode of cyanobacteria, algae, and plants, which uses water as electron donor and liberates oxygen.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: The biochemistry of hydrogen sulfide is a key part of the chemistry of the iron-sulfur world. In this model of the origin of life on Earth, geologically produced hydrogen sulfide is postulated as an electron donor driving the reduction of carbon dioxide.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide is lethal to most animals, but a few highly specialized species (extremophiles) do thrive in habitats that are rich in this compound.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: In the deep sea, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps with high levels of hydrogen sulfide are home to a number of extremely specialized lifeforms, ranging from bacteria to fish. Because of the absence of sunlight at these depths, these ecosystems rely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Freshwater springs rich in hydrogen sulfide are mainly home to invertebrates, but also include a small number of fish: "Cyprinodon bobmilleri" (a pupfish from Mexico), "Limia sulphurophila" (a poeciliid from the Dominican Republic), "Gambusia eurystoma" (a poeciliid from Mexico), and a few "Poecilia" (poeciliids from Mexico). Invertebrates and microorganisms in some cave systems, such as Movile Cave, are adapted to high levels of hydrogen sulfide.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide has often been detected in the interstellar medium. It also occurs in the clouds of planets in our solar system.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Hydrogen sulfide has been implicated in several mass extinctions that have occurred in the Earth's past. In particular, a buildup of hydrogen sulfide in the atmosphere may have caused, or at least contributed to, the Permian-Triassic extinction event 252 million years ago.


title: Hydrogen sulfide

text: Organic residues from these extinction boundaries indicate that the oceans were anoxic (oxygen-depleted) and had species of shallow plankton that metabolized . The formation of may have been initiated by massive volcanic eruptions, which emitted carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, which warmed the oceans, lowering their capacity to absorb oxygen that would otherwise oxidize . The increased levels of hydrogen sulfide could have killed oxygen-generating plants as well as depleted the ozone layer, causing further stress. Small blooms have been detected in modern times in the Dead Sea and in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Namibia.


title: South India

text: South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry, comprising 19.31% of India's area () and 20% of India's population. Covering the southern part of the peninsular Deccan Plateau, South India is bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse with two mountain ranges – the Western and Eastern Ghats – bordering the plateau heartland. The Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Tungabhadra, Periyar, Bharathappuzha, Pamba, Thamirabarani, Palar, and Vaigai rivers are important perennial rivers.


title: South India

text: The majority of the people in South India speak at least one of the four major Dravidian languages: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada (all 4 of which are among the 6 Classical Languages of India). Some states and union territories also recognize a minority language, such as Deccani Urdu in Telangana, and Tamil and French in Puducherry. Besides these languages, English is used by both the central and state governments for official communications and is used on all public signboards.


title: South India

text: During its history, a number of dynastic kingdoms ruled over parts of South India, and the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent across southern and southeastern Asia affected the history and culture in those regions. Major dynasties established in South India include the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas, Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Bahmani, Deccan Sultanates, Cochin, Kakatiyas, Kadambas, Hoysalas, Zamorin, Vijayanagara, Maratha, Travancore, Arakkal, and Mysore. Jews, Saint Thomas Christians, Mappila Muslims, and Europeans entered India through the southwestern Malabar Coast of Kerala. Parts of South India were colonized under Portuguese India, French India and the British Raj. The Hyderabad State ruled by the Nizams was the last princely state of India.


title: South India

text: South India witnessed sustained growth in per-capita income and population, structural changes in the economy, an increased pace of technological innovation. After experiencing fluctuations in the decades immediately after Indian independence, the economies of South Indian states have registered a higher-than-national-average growth over the past three decades. South India has the largest gross domestic product compared to other regions in India. The South Indian states lead in some socio-economic metrics of India. The HDI in the southern states is high and the economy has undergone growth at a faster rate than in most northern states. Literacy rates in the southern states is higher than the national average, with approximately 81% of the population capable of reading and writing. The fertility rate in South India is 1.9, the lowest of all regions in India.


title: South India

text: South India is also known as Peninsular India, and has been known by several other names too. The term "Deccan", referring to the area covered by the Deccan Plateau that covers most of peninsular India excluding the coastal areas, is an anglicised form of the Prakrit word "dakkhin" derived from the Sanskrit word "dakshina" meaning south. "Carnatic", derived from ""Karnād"" or ""Karunād"" meaning "high country", has also been associated with South India.


title: South India

text: Historical South India has been referred to as Deccan, a prakritic derivative of an ancient term 'Dakshin' or Dakshinapatha. The term had geographical as well as the geopolitical meaning and was mentioned as early as Panini (500 BCE).


title: South India

text: Carbon dating shows that ash mounds associated with Neolithic cultures in South India date back to 8000 BCE. Artifacts such as ground stone axes and minor copper objects have been found in the Odisha region. Towards the beginning of 1000 BCE, iron technology spread through the region; however, there does not appear to be a fully developed Bronze Age preceding the Iron Age in South India. The region was in the middle of a trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu linking the Mediterranean to East Asia. Trade with Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Syrians, Jews, and Chinese began during the Sangam period (c. 3rd century BCE to c. 4th century CE). The region was part of the ancient Silk Road connecting the East with the West.


title: South India

text: Several dynasties – such as the Cheras of Karuvur, the Pandyas of Madurai, the Cholas of Thanjavur, the Zamorins of Kozhikode, the Travancore royal family of Thiruvananthapuram, the Kingdom of Cochin, the Mushikas of Kannur, the Satavahanas of Amaravati, the Pallavas of Kanchi, the Kadambas of Banavasi, the Western Gangas of Kolar, the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta, the Chalukyas of Badami, the Hoysalas of Belur, and the Kakatiyas of Orugallu – ruled over the region from the 6th century BCE to the 14th century CE. The Vijayanagara Empire, founded in the 14th century CE. was the last Indian dynasty to rule over the region. After repeated invasions from the Sultanate of Delhi and the fall of Vijayanagara empire in 1646, the region was ruled by Deccan Sultanates, the Maratha Empire, and polygars and Nayak governors of the Vijayanagara empire who declared their independence.


title: South India

text: The Europeans arrived in the 15th century; and by the middle of the 18th century, the French and the British were involved in a protracted struggle for military control over South India. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799 and the end of the Vellore Mutiny in 1806, the British consolidated their power over much of present-day South India, with the exception of French Pondichéry. The British Empire took control of the region from the British East India Company in 1857. During the British colonial rule, the region was divided into the Madras Presidency, Hyderabad State, Mysore, Travancore, Kochi, Jeypore, and a number of other minor princely states. The region played a major role in the Indian independence movement: of the 72 delegates who participated in the first session of the Indian National Congress at Bombay in December 1885, 22 hailed from South India.


title: South India

text: After the independence of India in 1947, the region was organised into four states: Madras State, Mysore State, Hyderabad State and Travancore–Cochin. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganized the states on linguistic lines, resulting in the creation of the new states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. As a result of this Act, Madras State retained its name and Kanyakumari district was added to it from the state of Travancore-Cochin. The state was subsequently renamed Tamil Nadu in 1968. Andhra Pradesh was created through the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956. The Marathi-speaking Marathwada region of Hyderabad State was transferred to Bombay State and ceased to be a part of South India. Kerala emerged from the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore–Cochin. Mysore State was re-organised with the addition of the districts of Bellary and South Canara (excluding Kasaragod "taluk") and the Kollegal taluk of Coimbatore district from Madras State; the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, North Canara, and Dharwad from Bombay State; the Kannada-majority districts of Bidar, Raichur, and Gulbarga from the Hyderabad State; and the province of Coorg. Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka in 1973. The Union territory of Puducherry was created in 1954, comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichérry, Karaikal, Yanam, and Mahé. The Laccadive Islands, which were divided between South Canara and the Malabar districts of Madras State, were united and organised into the union territory of Lakshadweep. Goa was created as a union territory by taking military actions against the Portuguese by the government of India, later it has been declared as a state due to its drastic growth. Telangana was created on 2 June 2014 by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh; and it comprises ten districts of the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh.


title: South India

text: South India is a peninsula in the shape of an inverted triangle bound by the Arabian Sea on the west, by the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Vindhya and Satpura ranges on the north. The Narmada river flows westwards in the depression between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges, which define the northern spur of the Deccan plateau. The Western Ghats run parallel to the Arabian Sea along the western coast and the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea forms the Konkan region. The Western Ghats continue south until Kanyakumari. The Eastern Ghats run parallel to the Bay of Bengal along the eastern coast and the strip of land between them forms the Coromandel region. Both mountain ranges meet at the Nilgiri mountains. The Nilgiris run in a crescent approximately along the borders of Tamil Nadu with northern Kerala and Karnataka, encompassing the Palakkad and Wayanad hills and the Sathyamangalam ranges, extending to the relatively low-lying hills of the Eastern Ghats on the western portion of the Tamil Nadu–Andhra Pradesh border, forming the Tirupati and Annamalai hills.


title: South India

text: The low-lying coral islands of Lakshadweep are situated off the southwestern coast of India. The Andaman and Nicobar islands lie far off the eastern coast. The Palk Strait and the chain of low sandbars and islands known as Rama's Bridge separate the region from Sri Lanka, which lies off the southeastern coast. The southernmost tip of mainland India is at Kanyakumari where the Indian Ocean meets the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.


title: South India

text: The Deccan plateau is the elevated region bound by the mountain ranges. The plateau rises to in the north and to more than in the south, forming a raised triangle within the downward-pointing triangle of the Indian subcontinent's coastline. It also slopes gently from West to East resulting in major rivers arising in the Western Ghats and flowing east into the Bay of Bengal. The volcanic basalt beds of the Deccan were laid down in the massive Deccan Traps eruption, which occurred towards the end of the Cretaceous period, between 67 and 66 million years ago. Layer after layer was formed by the volcanic activity that lasted 30,000 years; and when the volcanoes became extinct, they left a region of highlands with typically vast stretches of flat areas on top like a table. The plateau is watered by the east-flowing Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, and Vaigai rivers. The major tributaries include the Pennar, Tungabhadra, Bhavani, and Thamirabarani rivers.


title: South India

text: The region has a tropical climate and depends on monsoons for rainfall. According to the Köppen climate classification, it has a non-arid climate with minimum mean temperatures of . The most humid is the tropical monsoon climate characterized by moderate to high year-round temperatures and seasonally heavy rainfall above per year. The tropical climate is experienced in a strip of south-western lowlands abutting the Malabar Coast, the Western Ghats; the islands of Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar are also subject to this climate.


title: South India

text: A tropical wet and dry climate, drier than areas with a tropical monsoon climate, prevails over most of the inland peninsular region except for a semi-arid rain shadow east of the Western Ghats. Winter and early summer are long dry periods with temperatures averaging above ; summer is exceedingly hot with temperatures in low-lying areas exceeding ; and the rainy season lasts from June to September, with annual rainfall averaging between across the region. Once the dry northeast monsoon begins in September, most precipitation in India falls in Tamil Nadu, leaving other states comparatively dry. A hot semi-arid climate predominates in the land east of the Western Ghats and the Cardamom Hills. The region – which includes Karnataka, inland Tamil Nadu and western Andhra Pradesh – gets between of rainfall annually, with hot summers and dry winters with temperatures around . The months between March and May are hot and dry, with mean monthly temperatures hovering around , with precipitation. Without artificial irrigation, this region is not suitable for agriculture.


title: South India

text: The southwest monsoon from June to September accounts for most of the rainfall in the region. The Arabian Sea branch of the southwest monsoon hits the Western Ghats along the coastal state of Kerala and moves northward along the Konkan coast, with precipitation on coastal areas west of the Western Ghats. The lofty Western Ghats prevent the winds from reaching the Deccan Plateau; hence, the leeward region (the region deprived of winds) receives very little rainfall. The Bay of Bengal branch of the southwest monsoon heads toward northeast India, picking up moisture from the Bay of Bengal. The Coramandel coast does not receive much rainfall from the southwest monsoon, due to the shape of the land. Tamil Nadu and southeast Andhra Pradesh receive rains from the northeast monsoon. The northeast monsoon takes place from November to early March, when the surface high-pressure system is strongest. The North Indian Ocean tropical cyclones occur throughout the year in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, bringing devastating winds and heavy rainfall.


title: South India

text: There is a wide diversity of plants and animals in South India, resulting from its varied climates and geography. Deciduous forests are found along the Western Ghats while tropical dry forests and scrub lands are common in the interior Deccan plateau. The southern Western Ghats have rain forests located at high altitudes called the South Western Ghats montane rain forests, and the Malabar Coast moist forests are found on the coastal plains. The Western Ghats is one of the eight hottest biodiversity hotspots in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: South India

text: Important ecological regions of South India are the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve – located at the conjunction of Karnataka, Kerala and, Tamil Nadu in the Nilgiri Hills – and the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve - located at the conjunction of Kerala and, Tamil Nadu in the Agastya Mala hills - and the Cardamom Hills of Western Ghats. Bird sanctuaries – including Thattekad, Kadalundi, Vedanthangal, Ranganathittu, Kumarakom, Neelapattu, and Pulicat – are home to numerous migratory and local birds. Lakshadweep has been declared a bird sanctuary by the Wildlife Institute of India. Other protected ecological sites include the mangrove forests of Pichavaram, and the backwaters of Pulicat lake, in Tamil Nadu; and Vembanad, Ashtamudi, Paravur, and Kayamkulam lakes in Kerala. The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 10,500 km of ocean, islands and the adjoining coastline including coral reefs, salt marshes and mangroves. It is home to endangered aquatic species, including dolphins, dugongs, whales and sea cucumbers.


title: South India

text: South India is home to one of the largest populations of endangered Bengal tigers and Indian elephants in India, being home to one-third of the tiger population and more than half of the elephant population, with 14 Project Tiger reserves and 11 Project Elephant reserves. Elephant populations are found in eight fragmented sites in the region: in northern Karnataka, along the Western Ghats, in Bhadra–Malnad, in Brahmagiri–Nilgiris–Eastern Ghats, in Nilambur–Silent Valley–Coimbatore, in Anamalai–Parambikulam, in Periyar–Srivilliputhur, and in Agasthyamalai Other threatened and endangered species found in the region include the grizzled giant squirrel, grey slender loris, sloth bear, Nilgiri tahr, Nilgiri langur, lion-tailed macaque, and the Indian leopard.


title: South India

text: South India has an extensive road network with of National Highways and of State Highways. The Golden Quadrilateral connects Chennai with Mumbai via Bangalore, and with Kolkata via Visakhapatnam. Bus services are provided by state-run transport corporations, namely the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, Telangana State Road Transport Corporation, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, and Puducherry Road Transport Corporation.


title: South India

text: The Great Southern of India Railway Company was founded in England in 1853 and registered in 1859. Construction of track in the Madras Presidency began in 1859 and the link from Trichinopoly to Negapatam and a link from Tirur to the Port of Beypore at Kozhikode on the Malabar Coast, which eventually got expanded into the Mangalore-Chennai line via Palakkad Gap were opened in 1861. The Carnatic Railway Company was founded in 1864 and opened a Madras–Arakkonam–Conjeevaram–Katpadi junction line in 1865. These two companies subsequently merged in 1874 to form the South Indian Railway Company. In 1880, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, established by the British, built a railway network radiating from Madras. In 1879, the Madras Railway constructed a line from Royapuram to Bangalore; and the Maharaja of Mysore established the Mysore State Railway to build an extension from Bangalore to Mysore. In order to get access to the west coast, Malabar region of the country through Port of Quilon, Maharajah Uthram Thirunal of Travancore built the Quilon-Madras rail line jointly with the South Indian Railway Company and the Madras Presidency. The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway was founded on 1 January 1908 by merging the Madras Railway and the Southern Mahratta Railway.


title: South India

text: On 14 April 1951, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway, and the Mysore State Railway were merged to form the Southern Railway, in the first zone of Indian Railways. The South Central zone was created on 2 October 1966 as the ninth zone of Indian Railways and the South Western zone was created on 1 April 2003. Most of the region is covered by the three zones, with small portions of the coasts covered by East Coast Railway and Konkan Railway, In 2019, the Government of India announced the formation of the South Coast Railway zone in the southeast, with headquarters at Visakhapatnam.


title: South India

text: Metro rail is operated by Namma Metro in Bangalore, Chennai Metro in Chennai, Kochi Metro in Kochi and Hyderabad Metro in Hyderabad. Chennai MRTS provides suburban rail services in Chennai and was the first elevated railway line in India. Hyderabad MMTS provides the suburban rail services in the city of Hyderabad.


title: South India

text: Quilon Aerodrome at Kollam, was established under the kingdom of Travancore in 1920, but it was closed in 1932. In March 1930, a discussion initiated by pilot G. Vlasto led to the founding of the Madras Flying Club, which became a pioneer in pilot training in South India. On 15 October 1932, Indian aviator J. R. D. Tata flew a Puss Moth aircraft carrying mail from Karachi to Juhu aerodrome, Bombay; and the aircraft continued to Madras, piloted by Neville Vincent, a former Royal Air Force pilot and friend of Tata. Kannur had an airstrip used for commercial aviation as early as 1935 when Tata airlines operated weekly flights between Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram – stopping at Goa and Kannur. Chennai International Airport and Trivandrum International Airport, both inaugurated in 1932 and now managed by the Airport Authority of India, are among the oldest existing airports in South India.


title: South India

text: There are 11 international airports, 2 customs airports, 15 domestic airports, and 11 air bases in South India. Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kochi international airports are amongst the 10 busiest in the country. Chennai International Airport serves as the Southern Regional Headquarters of the Airports Authority of India, the Southern Region comprising the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, and the union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.


title: South India

text: The Southern Air Command of the Indian Air Force is headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram, and the Training Command is headquartered at Bengaluru. The Air Force operates eleven air bases in Southern India including two in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In the region, the Indian Navy operates airbases at Kochi, Arakkonam, Uchipuli, Vizag, Campbell Bay, and Diglipur.


title: South India

text: A total of 89 ports are situated along the southern seacoast: Andaman and Nicobar (23), Kerala (17), Tamil Nadu (15), Andhra Pradesh (12), Karanataka(10), Lakshadweep (10), Pondicherry (2). Major ports include those at Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Mangalore, Tuticorin, Ennore, Kakinada, and Kochi.


title: South India

text: The Kerala backwaters are a network of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes, and inlets, a labyrinthine system formed by more than 900 km of waterways. In the midst of this landscape, there are a number of towns and cities, which serve as the starting and endpoints of transportation services and backwater cruises. Vizhinjam International Seaport also called The Port of Trivandrum is a mother port under construction on the Arabian Sea at Vizhinjam in Trivandrum, India. Once completed, it is estimated that this port will handle over 40% of India's transshipments, thereby reducing the country's reliance on ports at Dubai, Colombo, and Singapore.


title: South India

text: The Eastern Naval Command and Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy are headquartered at Visakhapatnam and Kochi, respectively. In the region, the Indian Navy has its major operational bases at Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Kochi, Karwar, and Kavaratti.


title: South India

text: After independence, the economy of South India conformed to a socialist framework, with strict governmental control over private sector participation, foreign trade, and foreign direct investment. From 1960 to 1990, the South Indian economies experienced mixed economic growth. In the 1960s, Kerala achieved above-average growth while Andhra Pradesh's economy declined. Kerala experienced an economic decline in the 1970s while the economies of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh consistently exceeded national average growth rates, due to reform-oriented economic policies. As of March 2015, there are 109 operational Special Economic Zones in South India, which is about 60% of the country's total. As of 2019–20, the total gross domestic product of the region is ₹67 trillion (US$946 billion). Tamil Nadu has the second-highest GDP and is the second-most industrialised state in the country after Maharashtra. With the presence of two major ports, an international airport, and a converging road and rail networks, Chennai is referred to as the "Gateway of South India."


title: South India

text: Over 48% of South India's population is engaged in agriculture, which is largely dependent on seasonal monsoons. Frequent droughts have left farmers debt-ridden, forcing them to sell their livestock and sometimes to commit suicide. Some of the main crops cultivated in South India include paddy, sorghum, pearl millet, pulses, ragi, sugarcane, mangoes, chilli, and cotton. The staple food is rice; the delta regions of Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri are among the top rice producing areas in the country. Areca nut, coffee, tea, turmeric and other spices, and rubber are cultivated in the hills, the region accounting for 92% of the total coffee production in India. Other major agricultural products include poultry and silk.


title: South India

text: South India's urban centres are significant contributors to the Indian and global economy. According to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad are the South Indian cities most integrated with the global economy. Bengaluru is classified as an alpha world city, while Chennai and Hyderabad are beta world cities.


title: South India

text: Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Visakhapatnam, and Thiruvananthapuram are amongst the major information technology (IT) hubs of India, with Bengaluru known as the Silicon Valley of India. The presence of these hubs has spurred economic growth and attracted foreign investments and job seekers from other parts of the country. Software exports from South India grossed over in fiscal 2005–06.


title: South India

text: Salem Steel Plant (SSP), a unit of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), is a steel plant involved in the production of stainless steel. It is located along the Salem — Bangalore National Highway 44 in the foothills of Kanjamalai in Salem district, Tamil Nadu, India. The plant has an installed capacity of 70,000 tonnes per annum in its cold rolling mill and 3,64,000 tonnes per annum in the hot rolling mill. It also has the country's first stainless steel blanking facility.


title: South India

text: Chennai, known as the "Detroit of Asia", accounts for about 35% of India's overall automotive components and automobile output. Coimbatore supplies two-thirds of India's requirements of motors and pumps, and is one of the largest exporters of wet grinders and auto components, as well as jewellery. Andhra Pradesh is emerging as another automobile manufacturing hub.


title: South India

text: Another major industry is textiles with the region being home to nearly 60% of the fiber textile mills in India.


title: South India

text: Tourism contributes significantly to the GDP of the region, with three states – Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana – among the top 10 states for tourist arrivals, accounting for more than 50% of domestic tourist visits.


title: South India

text: As per the 2011 census of India, the estimated population of South India was 252 million, around one fifth of the total population of the country. The region's total fertility rate (TFR) was less than the population replacement level of 2.1 for all states, with Kerala and Tamil Nadu having the lowest TFRs in India at 1.7. As a result, from 1981 to 2011 the proportion of the population of South India to India's total population has declined. The population density of the region is approximately 463 per square kilometer. Scheduled Castes and Tribes form 18% of the population of the region. Agriculture is the major employer in the region, with 47.5% of the population being involved in agrarian activities. About 60% of the population lives in permanent housing structures. 67.8% of South India has access to tap water, with wells and springs being major sources of water supply.


title: South India

text: After experiencing fluctuations in the decades immediately after the independence of India, the economies of South Indian states have, over the past three decades, registered growth higher than the national average. While South Indian states have improved in some of the socio-economic metrics, poverty continues to affect the region as it does the rest of the country, although it has considerably decreased over the years. Based on the 2011 census, the HDI in the southern states is high, and the economy has grown at a faster rate than those of most northern states.


title: South India

text: As per the 2011 census, the average literacy rate in South India is approximately 80%, considerably higher than the Indian national average of 74%, with Kerala having the highest literacy rate of 93.91%. South India has the highest sex ratio with Kerala and Tamil Nadu being the top two states. The South Indian states rank amongst the top 10 in economic freedom, life expectancy, access to drinking water, house ownership, and TV ownership. The poverty rate is at 19% while that in the other Indian states is at 38%. The per capita income is , which is more than double of the other Indian states (). Of the three demographically related targets of the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations and expected to be achieved by 2015, Kerala and Tamil Nadu achieved the goals related to improvement of maternal health and of reducing infant mortality and child mortality by 2009.


title: South India

text: The largest linguistic group in South India is the Dravidian family of languages, of approximately 73 languages. The major languages spoken include Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam. Tulu is spoken by about 1.5 million people in coastal Kerala and Karnataka; Konkani, an Indo-Aryan language, is spoken by around 0.8 million people in the Konkan coast (Canara) and Kerala; Kodava Takk is spoken by more than half a million people in Kodagu, Mysore, and Bangalore. English is also widely spoken in urban areas of South India. Deccani Urdu is spoken by around 12 million Muslims in southern India. Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Konkani, and Deccani Urdu are listed among the 22 official languages of India as per the Official Languages Act (1963). Tamil was the first language to be granted classical language status by the Government of India in 2004. Other major languages declared classical are Kannada (in 2008), Telugu (in 2008), and Malayalam (in 2013) These four languages have literary outputs larger than other literary languages of India.


title: South India

text: Evidence of prehistoric religion in South India comes from scattered Mesolithic rock paintings depicting dances and rituals, such as the Kupgal petroglyphs of eastern Karnataka, at Stone Age sites.


title: South India

text: Hinduism is the major religion today in South India, with about 84% of the population adhering to it, which is often regarded as the oldest religion in the world, tracing its roots to prehistoric times in India. Its spiritual traditions include both the Shaivite and Vaishnavite branches of Hinduism, although Buddhist and Jain philosophies were influential several centuries earlier. Ayyavazhi has spread significantly across the southern parts of South India. Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy is prominent among many communities.


title: South India

text: Shaivism developed as an amalgam of pre-Vedic religions and traditions derived from the southern Tamil Dravidian Shaiva Siddhanta traditions and philosophies, which were assimilated in the non-Vedic Shiva-tradition. The religious history of South India is influenced by Hinduism quite notably during the medieval century. The twelve Alvars (saint-poets of Vaishnavite tradition) and sixty-three Nayanars (saint poets of Shaivite tradition) are regarded as exponents of the "bhakti" tradition of Hinduism in South India. Most of them came from the Tamil region and the last of them lived in the 9th century CE.


title: South India

text: About 11% of the population follow Islam, which was introduced to South India in the early 7th century by Arab traders on the Malabar Coast, and spread during the rule of the Deccan Sultanates, from the 17th to 18th centuries. Muslims of Arab descent in Kerala are called Jonaka Mappila.


title: South India

text: About 4% follow Christianity. According to tradition, Christianity was introduced to South India by Thomas the Apostle, who visited Muziris in Kerala in 52 CE and proselytized natives, who are called Nazrani Mappila.


title: South India

text: Kerala is also home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, who are supposed to have arrived on the Malabar coast during the reign of King Solomon.


title: South India

text: South India consists of the five southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, as well as the union territories of Puducherry, and Lakshadweep. Puducherry and the five states each have an elected state government, while Lakshadweep is centrally administered by the president of India. Each state is headed by a Governor who is appointed by the President of India and who names the leader of the state legislature's ruling party or coalition as chief minister, who is the head of the state government.


title: South India

text: Each state or territory is further divided into districts, which are further subdivided into revenue divisions and "taluk"s / "Mandal"s or "tehsil"s. Local bodies govern respective cities, towns, and villages, along with an elected mayor, municipal chairman, or panchayat chairman, respectively.


title: South India

text: South India elects 132 members to the Lok Sabha, accounting for roughly one-fourth of the total strength. The region is allocated 58 seats in the Rajya Sabha, out of the total of 245.


title: South India

text: The state legislatures of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are unicameral, while Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana have bicameral legislatures. States with bicameral legislatures have an upper house (Legislative Council) with members not more than one-third the size of the Assembly. State legislatures elect members for terms of five years. Governors may suspend or dissolve assemblies and can administer when no party is able to form a government.


title: South India

text: Politics in South India is characterized by a mix of regional and national political parties. The Justice Party and Swaraj Party were the two major parties in the erstwhile Madras Presidency. The Justice Party eventually lost the 1937 elections to the Indian National Congress, and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari became the Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency.


title: South India

text: During the 1920s and 1930s, the Self-Respect Movement, spearheaded by Theagaroya Chetty and E. V. Ramaswamy (commonly known as Periyar), emerged in the Madras Presidency. In 1944, Periyar transformed the party into a social organisation, renaming the party Dravidar Kazhagam, and withdrew from electoral politics. The initial aim was the secession of Dravida Nadu from the rest of India upon Indian independence. After independence, C. N. Annadurai, a follower of Periyar, formed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1948. The Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu led to the rise of Dravidian parties that formed Tamil Nadu's first government, in 1967. In 1972, a split in the DMK resulted in the formation of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by M. G. Ramachandran. Dravidian parties continue to dominate Tamil Nadu electoral politics, the national parties usually aligning as junior partners to the major Dravidian parties, AIADMK and DMK.


title: South India

text: Indian National Congress dominated the political scene in Tamil Nadu in the 1950s and 1960s under the leadership of K. Kamaraj, who led the party after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru and ensured the selection of Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi. Congress continues to be a major party in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala. The party ruled with minimal opposition for 30 years in Andhra Pradesh, before the formation of the Telugu Desam Party by Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao in 1982. Two prominent coalitions in Kerala are the United Democratic Front, led by the Indian National Congress, and the Left Democratic Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). For the past fifty years, these two coalitions have been alternately in power; and E. M. S. Namboodiripad, the first elected chief minister of Kerala in 1957, is credited as the leader of the first democratically elected communist government in the world. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) are significant parties in Karnataka.


title: South India

text: C. Rajagopalachari, the first Indian Governor General of India post independence, was from South India. The region has produced six Indian presidents, namely, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, V. V. Giri, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, R. Venkataraman, K. R. Narayanan, and APJ Abdul Kalam. Prime ministers P. V. Narasimha Rao and H. D. Deve Gowda were from the region.


title: South India

text: South Indian women traditionally wear a "sari", a garment that consists of a drape varying from to in length and to in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff, as according to Indian philosophy, the navel is considered as the source of life and creativity. Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the "Silappadhikaram", describes women in exquisite drapery or sari. Madisar is a typical style worn by Brahmin women from Tamil Nadu. Women wear colourful silk sarees on special occasions such as marriages.


title: South India

text: The men wear a "dhoti", a long, white rectangular piece of non-stitched cloth often bordered in brightly coloured stripes. It is usually wrapped around the waist and the legs and knotted at the waist. A colourful "lungi" with typical batik patterns is the most common form of male attire in the countryside.


title: South India

text: People in urban areas generally wear tailored clothing, and western dress is popular. Western-style school uniforms are worn by both boys and girls in schools, even in rural areas.


title: South India

text: Calico, a plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton, was originated at Calicut (Kozhikode), from which the name of the textile came, in South India, now Kerala, during the 11th century, where the cloth was known as "Chaliyan". The raw fabric was dyed and printed in bright hues, and calico prints later became popular in the Europe.


title: South India

text: Rice is the diet staple, while fish is an integral component of coastal South Indian meals. Coconut and spices are used extensively in South Indian cuisine. The region has a rich cuisine involving both traditional non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes comprising rice, legumes, and lentils. Its distinct aroma and flavour is achieved by the blending of flavourings and spices, including curry leaves, mustard seeds, coriander, ginger, garlic, chili, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, cumin, nutmeg, coconut, and rosewater.


title: South India

text: The traditional way of eating a meal involves being seated on the floor, having the food served on a banana leaf, and using clean fingers of the right hand to take the food into the mouth. After the meal, the fingers are washed; the easily degradable banana leaf is discarded or becomes fodder for cattle. Eating on banana leaves is a custom thousands of years old, imparts a unique flavor to the food, and is considered healthy.


title: South India

text: "Idli", "dosa", "uthappam", "Pesarattu", "appam", "pongal", and "paniyaram" are popular breakfast dishes in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. Rice is served with "sambar", "rasam", and "poriyal" for lunch. Andhra cuisine is characterised by pickles and spicy curries. Famous dishes are "Pesarattu", "Ulava charu", "Bobbatlu", "Pootharekulu", and "Gongura". Chettinad cuisine is famous for its non-vegetarian items, and Hyderabadi cuisine is popular for its "biryani". "Neer dosa", "Chitranna", "Ragi mudde", "Maddur vada", "Mysore pak", "Obbattu", "Bisi Bele Bath", "Mangalore buns", "Kesari bat", "Akki rotti" and "Dharwad pedha" are famous cuisines of Karnataka. Udupi Cuisine, which originates from Udupi located in the Coastal Kanara region of Karnataka is famous for its vegetarian dishes.


title: South India

text: Coconut is native to Southern India and spread to Europe, Arabia, and Persia through the southwestern Malabar Coast of South India over the centuries. Coconut of Indian origin was brought to the Americas by Portuguese merchants. Black pepper is also native to the Malabar Coast of India, and the Malabar pepper is extensively cultivated there. During classical era, Phoenicians, Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and Chinese were attracted by the spices including Cinnamon and Black pepper from the ancient port of Muziris in the southwestern coast of India.


title: South India

text: During Middle Ages prior to the Age of Discovery which began with the end of the 15th century CE, the kingdom of Calicut (Kozhikode) on Malabar Coast was the centre of Indian pepper exports to the Red Sea and Europe at this time with Egyptian and Arab traders being particularly active. The Thalassery cuisine, a style of cuisine originated in the Northern Kerala over centuries, makes use of such spices.


title: South India

text: The traditional music of South India is known as Carnatic music, which includes rhythmic and structured music by composers such as Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Tyagayya, Annamacharya, Baktha Ramadasu, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Shyama Shastri, Kshetrayya, Mysore Vasudevachar, and Swathi Thirunal. The main instrument that is used in South Indian Hindu temples is the "nadaswaram", a reed instrument that is often accompanied by the thavil, a type of drum instrument.


title: South India

text: South India is home to several distinct dance forms such as Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Andhra Natyam, Kathakali, Kerala Natanam, Koodiyattam, Margamkali, Mohiniaattam, Oppana, Ottamthullal, Theyyam, Vilasini Natyam, and Yakshagana. The dance, clothing, and sculptures of South India exemplify the beauty of the body and motherhood.


title: South India

text: Films done in regional languages are prevalent in South India, with several regional cinemas being recognized: Kannada cinema (Karnataka), Malayalam cinema (Kerala), Tamil cinema (Tamil Nadu), and Telugu cinema (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana). The first silent film in South India, "Keechaka Vadham", was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1916. Mudaliar also established Madras's first film studio. The first Tamil talkie, "Kalidas", was released on 31 October 1931, barely seven months after India's first talking picture, "Alam Ara".


title: South India

text: Swamikannu Vincent built the first cinema studio of South India, at Coimbatore, introducing the "tent cinema", which he first established in Madras and which was known as "Edison's Grand Cinemamegaphone". Filmmakers K Balachandar, Balu Mahendra, Bharathiraaja, and Mani Ratnam in Tamil cinema; Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N. Karun, John Abraham, and G. Aravindan in Malayalam cinema; Girish Kasaravalli , Girish Karnad and P. Sheshadri in Kannada cinema; and K. N. T. Sastry and B. Narsing Rao in Telugu cinema produced realistic cinema in parallel with each other throughout the 1970s.


title: South India

text: South Indian cinema has also had an influence on politics of Tamil Nadu. Prominent film personalities such as C N Annadurai, M G Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi, N. T. Rama Rao, and Jayalalithaa have become chief ministers of South Indian states. As of 2014, South Indian film industries contribute to 53% of the total films produced in India.


title: South India

text: South India has an independent literary tradition dating back over 2500 years. The first known literature of South India is the poetic Sangam literature, which was written in Tamil 2500 to 2100 years ago. Tamil literature was composed in three successive poetic assemblies known as Tamil Sangams, the earliest of which, according to ancient tradition, were held on a now vanished continent far to the south of India. This Tamil literature includes the oldest grammatical treatise, "Tholkappiyam", and the epics "Silappatikaram" and "Manimekalai". References to Kannada literature appear from the fourth century CE. Telugu literature inscriptions. Poets such as Annamacharya made many contributions to this literature. A distinct Malayalam literature came about in the 13th century.


title: South India

text: South India has two distinct styles of rock architecture, the "Dravidian" style of Tamil Nadu and the "Vesara" style of Karnataka.


title: South India

text: "Koil", Hindu temples of the Dravidian style, consist of porches or "mantapas" preceding the door leading to the sanctum. Monumental, ornate gate-pyramids, or "gopurams" – each topped by a "kalasam", or stone finial – are the principal features in the quadrangular enclosures that surround the more notable temples along with pillared halls. A South Indian temple typically has a water reservoir called the "Kalyani" or "Pushkarni".


title: South India

text: The origins of the "gopuram" can be traced back to early structures of the Pallavas. Under the Pandya rulers in the twelfth century, gateways had become the dominant feature of a temple's outer appearance, eventually overshadowing the inner sanctuary which became obscured from view by the "gopuram"s colossal size.


title: South India

text: The Architecture of Kerala is a unique architecture that emerged in the southwestern part of India, which is in its striking contrast to Dravidian architecture, which is normally practised in other parts of South India. It has been performed/followed according to Indian Vedic architectural science ("Vastu Shastra").


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax (or consumption tax) used in India on the supply of goods and services. It is a comprehensive, multistage, destination-based tax: comprehensive because it has subsumed almost all the indirect taxes except a few state taxes. Multi-staged as it is, the GST is imposed at every step in the production process, but is meant to be refunded to all parties in the various stages of production other than the final consumer and as a destination-based tax, it is collected from point of consumption and not point of origin like previous taxes.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: Goods and services are divided into five different tax slabs for collection of tax: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. However, petroleum products, alcoholic drinks, and electricity are not taxed under GST and instead are taxed separately by the individual state governments, as per the previous tax system. There is a special rate of 0.25% on rough precious and semi-precious stones and 3% on gold. In addition a cess of 22% or other rates on top of 28% GST applies on few items like aerated drinks, luxury cars and tobacco products. Pre-GST, the statutory tax rate for most goods was about 26.5%, Post-GST, most goods are expected to be in the 18% tax range.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The tax came into effect from 1 July 2017 through the implementation of the One Hundred and First Amendment of the Constitution of India by the Indian government. The GST replaced existing multiple taxes levied by the central and state governments.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The tax rates, rules and regulations are governed by the GST Council which consists of the finance ministers of the central government and all the states. The GST is meant to replace a slew of indirect taxes with a federated tax and is therefore expected to reshape the country's $2.4 trillion economy, but its implementation has received criticism. Positive outcomes of the GST includes the travel time in interstate movement, which dropped by 20%, because of disbanding of interstate check posts.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The reform of India's indirect tax regime was started in 1986 by Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Finance Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government, with the introduction of the Modified Value Added Tax (MODVAT). Subsequently, Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and his Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, initiated early discussions on a Value Added Tax (VAT) at the state level. A single common "Goods and Services Tax (GST)" was proposed and given a go-ahead in 1999 during a meeting between the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his economic advisory panel, which included three former RBI governors IG Patel, Bimal Jalan and C Rangarajan. Vajpayee set up a committee headed by the Finance Minister of West Bengal, Asim Dasgupta to design a GST model.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The Asim Dasgupta committee which was also tasked with putting in place the back-end technology and logistics (later came to be known as the GST Network, or GSTN, in 2015). It later came out for rolling out a uniform taxation regime in the country. In 2002, the Vajpayee government formed a task force under Vijay Kelkar to recommend tax reforms. In 2005, the Kelkar committee recommended rolling out GST as suggested by the 12th Finance Commission.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: After the defeat of the BJP-led NDA government in the 2004 Lok Sabha election and the election of a Congress-led UPA government, the new Finance Minister P Chidambaram in February 2006 continued work on the same and proposed a GST rollout by 1 April 2010. However, in 2011, with the Trinamool Congress routing CPI(M) out of power in West Bengal, Asim Dasgupta resigned as the head of the GST committee. Dasgupta admitted in an interview that 80% of the task had been done.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The UPA introduced the 115th Constitution Amendment Bill on 22 March 2011 in the Lok Sabha to bring about the GST. It ran into opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties and was referred to a Standing Committee headed by the BJP's former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. The committee submitted its report in August 2013, but in October 2013 Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi raised objections that led to the bill's indefinite postponement. The Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh attributed the GST Bill's failure to the "single handed opposition of Narendra Modi".


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government was elected into power. With the consequential dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha, the GST Bill – approved by the standing committee for reintroduction – lapsed. Seven months after the formation of the then Modi government, the new Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the GST Bill in the Lok Sabha, where the BJP had a majority. In February 2015, Jaitley set another deadline of 1 April 2017 to implement GST. In May 2016, the Lok Sabha passed the Constitution Amendment Bill, paving way for GST. However, the Opposition, led by the Congress, demanded that the GST Bill be again sent back for review to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha due to disagreements on several statements in the Bill relating to taxation. Finally, in August 2016, the Amendment Bill was passed. Over the next 15 to 20 days, 18 states ratified the Constitution amendment Bill and the President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to it.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: A 21-member selected committee was formed to look into the proposed GST laws. After GST Council approved the Central Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The CGST Bill), the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The IGST Bill), the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The UTGST Bill), the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to the States) Bill 2017 (The Compensation Bill), these Bills were passed by the Lok Sabha on 29 March 2017. The Rajya Sabha passed these Bills on 6 April 2017 and were then enacted as Acts on 12 April 2017. Thereafter, State Legislatures of different States have passed respective State Goods and Services Tax Bills. After the enactment of various GST laws, Goods and Services Tax was launched all over India with effect from 1 July 2017. The Jammu and Kashmir state legislature passed its GST act on 7 July 2017, thereby ensuring that the entire nation is brought under a unified indirect taxation system. There was to be no GST on the sale and purchase of securities. That continues to be governed by Securities Transaction Tax (STT).


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The GST was launched at midnight on 1 July 2017 by the President of India, and the Government of India. The launch was marked by a historic midnight (30 June – 1 July) session of both the houses of parliament convened at the Central Hall of the Parliament. Though the session was attended by high-profile guests from the business and the entertainment industry including Ratan Tata, it was boycotted by the opposition due to the predicted problems that it was bound to lead for the middle and lower class Indians. The tax was strongly opposed by the opposing Indian National Congress. It is one of the few midnight sessions that have been held by the parliament - the others being the declaration of India's independence on 15 August 1947, and the silver and golden jubilees of that occasion. After its launch, the GST rates have been modified multiple times, the latest being on 22 December 2018, where a panel of federal and state finance ministers decided to revise GST rates on 28 goods and 53 services.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: Members of the Congress boycotted the GST launch altogether. They were joined by members of the Trinamool Congress, Communist Parties of India and the DMK. The parties reported that they found virtually no difference between the GST and the existing taxation system, claiming that the government was trying to merely rebrand the current taxation system. They also argued that the GST would increase existing rates on common daily goods while reducing rates on luxury items, and affect many Indians adversely, especially the middle, lower middle and poorer income groups.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The single GST subsumed several taxes and levies, which included central excise duty, services tax, additional customs duty, surcharges, state-level value added tax and Octroi. Other levies which were applicable on inter-state transportation of goods have also been done away with in GST regime. GST is levied on all transactions such as sale, transfer, purchase, barter, lease, or import of goods and/or services.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: India adopted a dual GST model, meaning that taxation is administered by both the Union and state governments. Transactions made within a single state are levied with Central GST (CGST) by the Central Government and State GST (SGST) by the State governments. For inter-state transactions and imported goods or services, an Integrated GST (IGST) is levied by the Central Government. GST is a consumption-based tax/destination-based tax, therefore, taxes are paid to the state where the goods or services are consumed not the state in which they were produced. IGST complicates tax collection for State Governments by disabling them from collecting the tax owed to them directly from the Central Government. Under the previous system, a state would only have to deal with a single government in order to collect tax revenue.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: India is a member of World Customs Organization (WCO) since 1971. It was originally using 6-digit HSN codes to classify commodities for Customs and Central Excise. Later Customs and Central Excise added two more digits to make the codes more precise, resulting in an 8 digit classification. The purpose of HSN codes is to make GST systematic and globally accepted.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: HSN codes will remove the need to upload the detailed description of the goods. This will save time and make filing easier since GST returns are automated.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: If a company has turnover up to in the preceding financial year then they did not mention the HSN code while supplying goods on invoices. If a company has turnover more than but up to , then they need to mention the first two digits of HSN code while supplying goods on invoices. If turnover crosses then they shall mention the first 4 digits of HSN code on invoices.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The GST is imposed at variable rates on variable items. The rate of GST is 18% for soaps and 28% on washing detergents. GST on movie tickets is based on slabs, with 18% GST for tickets that cost less than ₹100 and 28% GST on tickets costing more than ₹100 and 28% on commercial vehicle and private and 5% on readymade clothes. The rate on under-construction property booking is 12%. Some industries and products were exempted by the government and remain untaxed under GST, such as dairy products, products of milling industries, fresh vegetables & fruits, meat products, and other groceries and necessities.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: Checkposts across the country were abolished ensuring free and fast movement of goods. Such efficient transportation of goods was further ensured by subsuming octroi within the ambit of GST.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The Central Government had proposed to insulate the revenues of the States from the impact of GST, with the expectation that in due course, GST will be levied on petroleum and petroleum products. The central government had assured states of compensation for any revenue loss incurred by them from the date of GST for a period of five years. However, no concrete laws have yet been made to support such action. GST council adopted concept paper discouraging tinkering with rates.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: An e-Way Bill is an electronic permit for shipping goods similar to a waybill. It was made compulsory for inter-state transport of goods from 1 June 2018. It is required to be generated for every inter-state movement of goods beyond and the threshold limit of .


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: It is a paperless, technology solution and critical anti-evasion tool to check tax leakages and clamping down on trade that currently happens on a cash basis. The pilot started on 1 February 2018 but was withdrawn after glitches in the GST Network. The states are divided into four zones for rolling out in phases by end of April 2018.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: A unique e-Way Bill Number (EBN) is generated either by the supplier, recipient or the transporter. The EBN can be a printout, SMS or written on invoice is valid. The GST/Tax Officers tally the e-Way Bill listed goods with goods carried with it. The mechanism is aimed at plugging loopholes like overloading, understating etc. Each e-way bill has to be matched with a GST invoice.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: It is a critical compliance-related GSTN project under the GST, with a capacity to process 75 lakh e-way bills per day.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The five states piloting this project are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, which account for 61.8% of the inter-state e-way bills, started mandatory intrastate e-way bill from 15 April 2018 to further reduce tax evasion. It was successfully introduced in Karnataka from 1 April 2018. The intrastate e-way bill will pave the way for a seamless, nationwide single e-way bill system. Six more states Jharkhand, Bihar, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana will roll it out from 20 April 18. All states are mandated to introduce it by 30 May 2018.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) is a system in GST where the receiver pays the tax on behalf of unregistered, smaller material and service suppliers. The receiver of the goods is eligible for Input Tax Credit, while the unregistered dealer is not.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The central Government released Rs 35,298 crore to the state under GST compensation. For the implementation, this amount was given to the state to compensate the revenue. Central government has to face many criticisms for delay in compensation.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: This is a recent amendment in GST Taxation System. If a taxpayer opts for this scheme he will have to file GST Returns on Quarterly basis instead of regular monthly basis, but Tax payment will have to be done monthly. QRMP means quarterly return monthly payment.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: Revenue earned from GST (intra state transaction - seller and buyer both are located in same state) is shared equally on 50-50 basis between central and respective state governments. Example: if state of Goa has collected a total GST revenue (intra state transaction - seller and buyer both are located in same state) of 100 crores in month of January then share of central government (CGST) will be 50 crores and remaining 50 crores will be share of Goa state government (SGST) for month of January.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: For distribution of IGST (inter state transaction - seller and buyer both are located in different states) collection, revenue is collected by central government and shared with state where good is imported. Example: 'A' is a seller located in state of Goa selling a product to 'B' a buyer of that product located in state of Punjab, then IGST collected from this transaction will be shared equally on 50-50 basis between central and Punjab state governments only.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: GST Council is the governing body of GST having 33 members, out of which 2 members are of centre and 31 members are from 28 state and 3 Union territories with legislation. The council contains the following members (a) Union Finance Minister (as chairperson) (b) Union Minister of States in charge of revenue or finance (as member) (c) the ministers of states in charge of finance or taxation or other ministers as nominated by each states government (as member). GST Council is an apex member committee to modify, reconcile or to procure any law or regulation based on the context of goods and services tax in India. The council is headed by the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman assisted with the finance minister of all the states of India. The GST council is responsible for any revision or enactment of rule or any rate changes of the goods and services in India.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The GSTN software is developed by Infosys Technologies and the Information Technology network that provides the computing resources is maintained by the NIC. "Goods and Services Tax Network" (GSTN) is a nonprofit organisation formed for creating a sophisticated network, accessible to stakeholders, government and taxpayers to access information from a single source (portal). The portal is accessible to the Tax authorities for tracking down every transaction, while taxpayers have the ability to connect for their tax returns.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The GSTN's authorised capital is in which initially the Central Government held 24.5 percent of shares while the state government held 24.5 percent. The remaining 51 percent were held by non-Government financial institutions, HDFC and HDFC Bank hold 20%, ICICI Bank holds 10%, NSE Strategic Investment holds 10% and LIC Housing Finance holds 11% .


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: However, later it was made a wholly owned government company having equal shares of state and central government.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: Around 38 lakh new taxpayers have registered under GST regime and the total count has crossed one crore if we include the 64 lakh earlier ones. Total number of taxpayers were above 1.14 crore in October 2018.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: Technicalities of GST implementation in India have been criticized by global financial institutions/industries, sections of Indian media and opposition political parties in India. World Bank's 2018 version of India Development Update described India's version of GST as too complex, noticing various flaws compared to GST systems prevalent in other countries; most significantly, the second-highest tax rate among a sample of 115 countries at 28%.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: GST's implementation in India has been further criticized by Indian businessmen for problems including tax refund delays and too much documentation and administrative effort needed. According to a partner at PwC India, when the first GST returns were filed in August 2017, the system crashed under the weight of filings.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: The opposition Indian National Congress has consistently been among the most vocal opponents of GST implementation in India with party President, Rahul Gandhi, slamming BJP for allegedly "destroying small businessmen and industries" in the country. He went on to pejoratively dub GST as "Gabbar Singh Tax" after an ill-famed, fictional dacoit in Bollywood. Claiming the implementation of GST as a "way of removing money from the pockets of the poor", Rahul has called it as a "big failure" while declaring that if the Congress party is elected to power, it will implement a single slab GST instead of different slabs. In the run-up to the elections in various states of India, Rahul has intensified his "Gabbar Singh" criticisms on Modi's administration.


title: Goods and Services Tax (India)

text: According to an estimate, 230,000 small businesses shut down due to complications of compliance with the GST.


title: Polaris

text: Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris (Latinized to "Alpha Ursae Minoris") and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that fluctuates around 1.98, it is the brightest star in the constellation and is readily visible to the naked eye at night. The position of the star lies less than 1° away from the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. The stable position of the star in the Northern Sky makes it useful for navigation.


title: Polaris

text: As the closest Cepheid variable its distance is used as part of the cosmic distance ladder. The revised "Hipparcos" stellar parallax gives a distance to Polaris of about , while the successor mission "Gaia" gives a distance of about . Calculations by other methods vary widely.


title: Polaris

text: Although appearing to the naked eye as a single point of light, Polaris is a triple star system, composed of the primary, a yellow supergiant designated Polaris Aa, in orbit with a smaller companion, Polaris Ab; the pair is in a wider orbit with Polaris B. The outer pair AB were discovered in August 1779 by William Herschel, where the 'A' refers to what is now known to be the Aa/Ab pair.


title: Polaris

text: Polaris Aa is an evolved yellow supergiant of spectral type F7Ib with 5.4 solar masses (). It is the first classical Cepheid to have a mass determined from its orbit. The two smaller companions are Polaris B, a F3 main-sequence star orbiting at a distance of (AU), and Polaris Ab (or P), a very close F6 main-sequence star with a mass of . Polaris B can be resolved with a modest telescope. William Herschel discovered the star in August 1779 using a reflecting telescope of his own, one of the best telescopes of the time. In January 2006, NASA released images, from the Hubble telescope, that showed the three members of the Polaris ternary system.


title: Polaris

text: The variable radial velocity of Polaris A was reported by W. W. Campbell in 1899, which suggested this star is a binary system. Since Polaris A is a known cepheid variable, J. H. Moore in 1927 demonstrated that the changes in velocity along the line of sight were due to a combination of the four-day pulsation period combined with a much longer orbital period and a large eccentricity of around 0.6. Moore published preliminary orbital elements of the system in 1929, giving an orbital period of about 29.7 years with an eccentricity of 0.63. This period was confirmed by proper motion studies performed by B. P. Gerasimovič in 1939.


title: Polaris

text: As part of her doctoral thesis, in 1955 E. Roemer used radial velocity data to derive an orbital period of 30.46 y for the Polaris A system, with an eccentricity of 0.64. K. W. Kamper in 1996 produced refined elements with a period of and an eccentricity of . In 2019, a study by R. I. Anderson gave a period of with an eccentricity of .


title: Polaris

text: There were once thought to be two more widely separated components—Polaris C and Polaris D—but these have been shown not to be physically associated with the Polaris system.


title: Polaris

text: Polaris Aa, the supergiant primary component, is a low-amplitude Population I classical Cepheid variable, although it was once thought to be a type II Cepheid due to its high galactic latitude. Cepheids constitute an important standard candle for determining distance, so Polaris, as the closest such star, is heavily studied. The variability of Polaris had been suspected since 1852; this variation was confirmed by Ejnar Hertzsprung in 1911.


title: Polaris

text: The range of brightness of Polaris is given as 1.86–2.13, but the amplitude has changed since discovery. Prior to 1963, the amplitude was over 0.1 magnitude and was very gradually decreasing. After 1966, it very rapidly decreased until it was less than 0.05 magnitude; since then, it has erratically varied near that range. It has been reported that the amplitude is now increasing again, a reversal not seen in any other Cepheid.


title: Polaris

text: The period, roughly 4 days, has also changed over time. It has steadily increased by around 4.5 seconds per year except for a hiatus in 1963–1965. This was originally thought to be due to secular redward (lower temperature) evolution across the Cepheid instability strip, but it may be due to interference between the primary and the first-overtone pulsation modes. Authors disagree on whether Polaris is a fundamental or first-overtone pulsator and on whether it is crossing the instability strip for the first time or not.


title: Polaris

text: The temperature of Polaris varies by only a small amount during its pulsations, but the amount of this variation is variable and unpredictable. The erratic changes of temperature and the amplitude of temperature changes during each cycle, from less than 50 K to at least 170 K, may be related to the orbit with Polaris Ab.


title: Polaris

text: Research reported in "Science" suggests that Polaris is 2.5 times brighter today than when Ptolemy observed it, changing from third to second magnitude. Astronomer Edward Guinan considers this to be a remarkable change and is on record as saying that "if they are real, these changes are 100 times larger than [those] predicted by current theories of stellar evolution".


title: Polaris

text: Because Polaris lies nearly in a direct line with the Earth's rotational axis "above" the North Pole—the north celestial pole—Polaris stands almost motionless in the sky, and all the stars of the northern sky appear to rotate around it. Therefore, it makes an excellent fixed point from which to draw measurements for celestial navigation and for astrometry. The elevation of the star above the horizon gives the approximate latitude of the observer.


title: Polaris

text: In 2018 Polaris was 0.66° away from the pole of rotation (1.4 times the Moon disc) and so revolves around the pole in a small circle 1.3° in diameter. It will be closest to the pole (about 0.45 degree) soon after the year 2100. Because it is so close to the celestial north pole, its right ascension is changing rapidly due to the precession of Earth's axis, going from 2.5h in AD 2000 to 6h in AD 2100. Twice in each sidereal day Polaris' azimuth is true north; the rest of the time it is displaced eastward or westward, and the bearing must be corrected using tables or a rule of thumb. The best approximation is made using the leading edge of the "Big Dipper" asterism in the constellation Ursa Major. The leading edge (defined by the stars Dubhe and Merak) is referenced to a clock face, and the true azimuth of Polaris worked out for different latitudes.


title: Polaris

text: The apparent motion of Polaris towards and, in the future, away from the celestial pole, is due to the precession of the equinoxes. The celestial pole will move away from α UMi after the 21st century, passing close by Gamma Cephei by about the 41st century, moving towards Deneb by about the 91st century.


title: Polaris

text: during classical antiquity it was slightly closer to Kochab (β UMi) than to Polaris, although still about from either star. It was about the same angular distance from β UMi as to α UMi by the end of late antiquity. The Greek navigator Pytheas in ca. 320 BC described the celestial pole as devoid of stars. However, as one of the brighter stars close to the celestial pole, Polaris was used for navigation at least from late antiquity, and described as ἀεί φανής ("aei phanēs") "always visible" by Stobaeus (5th century), and it could reasonably be described as "stella polaris" from about the High Middle Ages. On his first trans-Atlantic voyage in 1492, Christopher Columbus had to correct for the "circle described by the pole star about the pole". In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, written around 1599, Caesar describes himself as being "as constant as the northern star", though in Caesar's time there was no constant northern star.


title: Polaris

text: Polaris was referenced in Nathaniel Bowditch's 1802 book, "American Practical Navigator", where it is listed as one of the navigational stars.


title: Polaris

text: The modern name "Polaris" is shortened from New Latin "stella polaris" "polar star", coined in the Renaissance when the star had approached the celestial pole to within a few degrees.


title: Polaris

text: Gemma Frisius, writing in 1547, referred to it as "stella illa quae polaris dicitur" ("that star which is called 'polar'"), placing it 3° 8' from the celestial pole.


title: Polaris

text: In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included "Polaris" for the star α Ursae Minoris Aa.


title: Polaris

text: In antiquity, Polaris was not yet the closest naked-eye star to the celestial pole, and the entire constellation of Ursa Minor was used for navigation rather than any single star. Polaris moved close enough to the pole to be the closest naked-eye star, even though still at a distance of several degrees, in the early medieval period, and numerous names referring to this characteristic as polar star have been in use since the medieval period. In Old English, it was known as "scip-steorra" ("ship-star")<nowiki></nowiki> ;


title: Polaris

text: In the Old English rune poem, the T-rune is apparently associated with "a circumpolar constellation", or the planet Mars.


title: Polaris

text: In the Hindu Puranas, it became personified under the name "Dhruva" ("immovable, fixed"). In the later medieval period, it became associated with the Marian title of "Stella Maris" "Star of the Sea" (so in Bartholomeus Anglicus, c. 1270s)


title: Polaris

text: An older English name, attested since the 14th century, is lodestar "guiding star", cognate with the Old Norse "leiðarstjarna", Middle High German "leitsterne".


title: Polaris

text: The ancient name of the constellation Ursa Minor, "Cynosura" (from the Greek "the dog's tail"), became associated with the pole star in particular by the early modern period. An explicit identification of Mary as "stella maris" with the polar star ("Stella Polaris"), as well as the use of "Cynosura" as a name of the star, is evident in the title "Cynosura seu Mariana Stella Polaris" (i.e. "Cynosure, or the Marian Polar Star"), a collection of Marian poetry published by Nicolaus Lucensis (Niccolo Barsotti de Lucca) in 1655.


title: Polaris

text: Its name in traditional pre-Islamic Arab astronomy was "al-Judayy" الجدي ("the kid", in the sense of a juvenile goat ["le Chevreau"] in Description des Etoiles fixes), and that name was used in medieval Islamic astronomy as well. In those times, it was not yet as close to the north celestial pole as it is now, and used to rotate around the pole.