Ballari

This article is about the city in Karnataka, India. For the district, see Ballari District.

Ballari
City
Ballari city
Ballari in Karnataka
Coordinates: 15°06′N76°55′E / 15.100°N 76.917°E / 15.100; 76.917
Country	India
State	Karnataka
District	Ballari
Government
• Type	Municipal Corporation
• Body	Ballari City Corporation
• Mayor	Shwetha B
•  Commissioner	G Khaleel Sab [1]
Area
•  City	167.38 km2 (64.63 sq mi)
• Rural	1,609.68 km2 (621.50 sq mi)
Elevation	485 m (1,591 ft)
Population  (2011)
•  City	410,445 [2]
• Rank	95th (India) 5th (Karnataka)
•  Rural	360,484
Demonym	Ballarians
Time zone	UTC+05:30 (IST)
Postal Index Number	583101, 583102, 583103, 583104, 583105, 583152 [3]
Telephone code	(+91)8392
ISO 3166 code	IN-KA
Vehicle registration	KA-34
Official language	Kannada [4]
Sex ratio	1.04 [5] ♂/♀
Literacy	79% [5]
Website	ballaricity.mrc.gov.in

Ballari (formerly Bellary ^[6] ) in the eponymous Ballari district, is a city in the state of Karnataka, India.

Ballari houses many steel plants such as JSW Vijayanagar, one of the largest in Asia. Ballari district is also known as the ‘Steel city of South India’. ^[7]

History

Main article: History of Bellary

Core area of Western Chalukya monuments, roughly corresponding to Sindavadi-1000

Madras province (South), 1909 showing Ballari

Ballari was a part of Rayalaseema (Ceded Districts) which was part of Madras Presidency till 1 November 1956.

The Ballari city municipal council was upgraded to a city corporation in 2004. ^[8]

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India approved a proposal ^[9] to rename the city in October 2014 and Bellary was renamed to "Ballari" on 1 November 2014. ^[10]

Geography

Ballari Fort

Ballari is located at 15°09′N76°56′E / 15.15°N 76.93°E / 15.15; 76.93 . The city stands in the midst of a wide, level plain of black cotton soil. ^[11] Granite rocks and hills form a prominent feature of Ballari. The city is spread mainly around two hills of granite composition, the Ballari Hill and the Kumbara Gudda.

Ballari Hill has a circumference of nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) and a height of 480 feet (150 m). The length of this rock from north-east to south-west is about 1,150 ft (350 m). To the east and south lies an irregular heap of boulders, to the west there is an unbroken monolith, and the north is walled by bare, rugged ridges. ^[11]

Kumbara Gudda looks like the profile of a human face from the south-east. It is also known as Face Hill. ^[11]

Climate

Climate data for Bellary (1981–2010, extremes 1901–2012)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	37.6 (99.7)	40.5 (104.9)	43.0 (109.4)	45.4 (113.7)	44.6 (112.3)	44.7 (112.5)	39.5 (103.1)	39.0 (102.2)	38.4 (101.1)	39.0 (102.2)	38.4 (101.1)	35.6 (96.1)	44.7 (112.5)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	31.4 (88.5)	34.4 (93.9)	38.1 (100.6)	40.4 (104.7)	39.6 (103.3)	35.3 (95.5)	32.7 (90.9)	31.9 (89.4)	32.3 (90.1)	31.8 (89.2)	30.8 (87.4)	30.2 (86.4)	34.1 (93.4)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	15.6 (60.1)	18.1 (64.6)	21.1 (70.0)	23.9 (75.0)	24.4 (75.9)	23.3 (73.9)	23.0 (73.4)	22.7 (72.9)	21.9 (71.4)	20.9 (69.6)	18.3 (64.9)	15.6 (60.1)	20.7 (69.3)
Record low °C (°F)	7.0 (44.6)	8.5 (47.3)	10.0 (50.0)	13.0 (55.4)	14.5 (58.1)	14.8 (58.6)	15.5 (59.9)	15.0 (59.0)	15.0 (59.0)	12.5 (54.5)	8.4 (47.1)	8.0 (46.4)	7.0 (44.6)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	2.9 (0.11)	2.3 (0.09)	6.0 (0.24)	17.2 (0.68)	54.3 (2.14)	59.2 (2.33)	42.6 (1.68)	70.0 (2.76)	111.0 (4.37)	89.0 (3.50)	39.5 (1.56)	5.5 (0.22)	499.5 (19.67)
Average rainy days	0.5	0.2	0.6	1.5	3.4	3.8	3.8	4.7	5.4	5.8	2.4	0.5	32.7
Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST)	43	37	30	29	34	50	56	58	58	62	56	50	47
Source: India Meteorological Department [12] [13]

Demographics

Ballari Fort

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1931	47,573	—
1941	56,148	+18.0%
1951	70,332	+25.3%
1961	85,673	+21.8%
1971	125,183	+46.1%
1981	201,579	+61.0%
1991	245,391	+21.7%
2001	316,766	+29.1%
2011	410,445	+29.6%
Source: [14]

Religions in Ballari City (2011) [15]
Religion			Percent
Hinduism			70.33%
Islam			26.53%
Christianity			1.71%
Jainism			0.79%
Other or not stated			0.65%

According to the 2011 Census of India, the urban population of Ballari was 410,445; of whom 206,149 were male and 204,296 female. 280,610 of the population were literate and 52,413 of the population were under 7 years of age. ^[16] The population in 2001 was recorded as 316,766. ^[17]

Languages

Languages of Ballari City (2011) ^[18]

   Kannada (42.06%)

   Telugu (25.03%)

   Urdu (24.35%)

   Hindi (3.04%)

   Marathi (1.75%)

   Tamil (1.69%)

  Others (2.08%)

Kannada is the largest language, spoken by 42.06% of the population. Telugu is the second-largest, spoken by 25.03%, and Urdu 24.35%. 3.04% of the population spoke Hindi, 1.75% Marathi and 1.69% Tamil. ^{[17] [18]}

Economy

Industries

Textiles and garments

• Cotton processing

With cotton being one of the major agricultural crops around Ballari historically, the city has had a thriving cotton processing industry in the form of ginning, spinning and weaving plants. The earliest steam cotton-spinning mill was established in 1894, which by 1901 had 17,800 spindles, and employed 520 hands. ^[11]

The city continues to thrive in this sector with one spinning mill and numerous cotton ginning and pressing mills, hand looms and power looms. ^[19]

• Garment manufacture

Ballari has a historic garment industry dating back to the First World War period, when the Marathi speaking "Darji" (tailor) community with its native skills in tailoring migrated from the current Maharashtra region to stitch uniforms for the soldiers of the colonial British Indian Army stationed at Ballari. After the war, the community switched to making uniforms for school children, and gradually the uniforms made here became popular all over the country. ^{[20] [21]}

Currently, Ballari is well known for its branded and unbranded denim garments, with brands like Point Blank, Walker, Dragonfly and Podium being successfully marketed nationally and internationally. ^[21] There are about 260 denim garment units in Ballari with nearly 3000 families working in these units. ^[19]

Transport

Ballari railway station platform 1

Roadways

National Highway 67 (India), National Highway 150A (India), State Highway 128 and State Highway 132 pass through the city.

Rail

There is Ballari Junction railway station on the Guntakal–Vasco da Gama section.

Air

The closest functional commercial airport is Jindal Vijaynagar Airport.

Notable people

See Category:People from Ballari

• Kolur Basavanagoud – Politician, Educationist, and Industrialist. He served as MP in 13th Lok Sabha from Ballari Lok Sabha constituency.
• Basavarajeshwari – Politician and Industrialist
• Ravi Belagere – Actor, writer, novelist, journalist, publisher of the Hai Bengaluru Tabloid
• Naveen Chandra – Actor in Telugu film industry
• Manjula Chellur −1st Woman Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court
• Nagarur Gopinath – One of the pioneers of cardiothoracic surgery in India, credited with the first successful performance of open heart surgery in India in 1962. Recipient of Padma Shri (1974) and Dr. B. C. Roy Award (1978)
• Jayanthi – cinema actress, born in Ballari
• K. C. Kondaiah – Politician and industrialist
• Arcot Ranganatha Mudaliar – Former Deputy Collector of Ballari, politician and theosophist. He served as the Minister of Public Health and Excise for the Madras Presidency from 1926 to 1928.
• A. Sabhapathy Mudaliar – Philanthropist; The Women & Children's Hospital or The District Hospital was initially named after him, following his donation of land and building to the hospital. ^[11]
• B Nagendra - Youth Welfare and Sports Minister of Karnataka
• Bellary Raghava (1880–1946) – Noted dramatist. The Raghava Kala Mandir auditorium in Ballari is named after him
• Suparna Rajaram – Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Stony Brook University
• Dharmavaram Ramakrishnamacharyulu (1853–1912) – Noted dramatist
• Bhargavi Rao – a Kannada-Telugu translator, winner of the prestigious Kendra Sahitya Academy award
• Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao (1854–1919) – Noted dramatist
• Gali Janardhan Reddy – Former minister and district in charge. He is one of the richest politicians in India
• B Sriramulu - Ex Minister of Health and Family Welfare of Karnataka
• Tekur Subramanyam – Indian Freedom Fighter, First post-independence MP of Ballari, elected thrice in a row since 1952, political secretary to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ^{[22] [23] [24]}
• Ibrahim B. Syed – Indo-American Radiologist
• Allum Veerabhadrappa - former minister, Government of Karnataka

References

General

1. "Bellary City Staff". Archived from the original on 20 May 2006. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
2. "Census Data Handbook 2011" (PDF). Retrieved 24 January 2024.
3. "Indiapost PIN Search for 'bellary'". Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
4. "50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India (July 2012 to June 2013)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
5. "District Census Handbook – Guntur" (PDF). Census of India. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner. p. 22. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
6. "Bangalore becomes 'Bengaluru'; 11 other cities renamed". The Economic Times. Bangalore. PTI. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
7. "Ballari District Profile". e-krishiuasb.karnataka.gov.in. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
8. "Karnataka. Bellary City Municipal Council upgraded to corporation". The Hindu . 26 September 2004. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
9. "Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs" (PDF).
10. New City, Names to Karnatka. "New name for cities". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
11. The Imperial Gazetteer of India, volume 7. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. pp. 158–176.
12. "Station: Bellary Climatological Table 1981–2010" (PDF). Climatological Normals 1981–2010. India Meteorological Department. January 2015. pp. 119–120. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
13. "Extremes of Temperature & Rainfall for Indian Stations (Up to 2012)" (PDF). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M90. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
14. "Census Tables". Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
15. "Table C-01 Population By Religious Community - Karnataka". Census of India.
16. "Census of India 2011". Census Commission of India. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
17. "Census of India 2001" (PDF). Census Commission of India. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
18. "C-16 City: Population by mother tongue". Office Of The Registrar General & Census Commissioner India. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
19. "Karnataka Handloom". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
20. "Bellary Portal". Archived from the original on 20 July 2002. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
21. "Jeans Industry in Bellary". Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
22. "This jailhouse has a rich past". 26 April 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
23. "A Congress bastion since 1952". Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
24. "Caste will play a vital role in Bellary" . Retrieved 4 June 2010.

External links

• Official website of Ballari City Corporation