User:Santhoshp2004/Anakkara Idukki


 * 'This article is about Anakkara 8th Mile, in Idukki District, Kerala(India)''

Anakkara
Anakkara(in Malayalam:അണക്കര) is a village in the Indian state of Kerala's Idukki District. Anakkara is also the administrative capital of Chakkupallam Gram Panchayat and Anakkara Revenue Village. Situated at about 18 Kilometers from Thekkady wildlife sanctuary on the Kumily-Munnar state highway, Anakkara is a fast growing tourist destination as well. It is one of the 36 destinations identified by Government of India and United Nations Development Programme for exploring and promoting tourism potential of these unique destinations. Recently a new greenfield airport is being proposed by the state government and is currently under survey by the federal civil aviation authority Airports Authority of India

Etymology
Though there are no clear records available on the origin of the name Anakkara, it’s largely believed that it originated from Aana(meaning elephant in Malayalam) and Kara(meaning place in Malayalam) as the area was forest with wild animals such as elephants when the migrants first arrived in early 20th century.

Tourism
Anakkara is located near to many prominent tourist destinations in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Distance from Important places


 * Thekkady Periyar Wildelife Sanctury - 18 Kilo Meters
 * Cochin International Airport - 190 Kilo Meters
 * Kottayam Railway Station - 122 Kilo Meters
 * Munnar - 90 Kilo Meters
 * Madurai Airport - 150 Kilo meters
 * Kodaikanal - 100 Kilo Meters

Chellarkovil

Situated at the state border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, this place offers a perfect view of the planes of Tamil Nadu from atop the Western Ghats. Though hitherto unexplored, the place is a good destination for high-altitude sports such as trekking and para-gliding. Terrain is full of rocks, deep pits with no safety warnings or fences. Care must be taken while exploring this area.

Aruvikuzhi Falls

A stream falls from Chellarkovil into the planes of Tamil Nadu, giving the place a picture perfect view. However, this is a highly dangerous place with no safety warnings or fences. Utmost care should be taken while visiting this place, especially when you are trying to take that perfect picture of the water fall

Ottakathalamedu

Literally meaning "Hill with the shape of a camel's head", this is a peak about 1400m above sea-level. From here, tourists can get a panoramic view of the landscape of Anakkara and surrounding villages and also sunset.

Home Stays

Due to the increased tourism promotion efforts by government and non-governmental agencies in the recent past, there are a number of Homestay facilities that have come up in and around Anakkara. Some of them are started by traditional farming families in the village and hence offer visits to their spice plantations as well for the tourists. There are also some hotels in the village that offer food and accomodation facilities.

Spice Plantations

Anakkara is surrounded by many small and large scale cardamom and pepper plantations. Tourists can get a glimpse of farming, harvesting and processing of these spices by visiting the farms that offer plantation visits.

Tourists visiting Anakkara must also note that this is a remote village and may lack many of the infrastructures that they expect from a tourism center such as an Information Center, comfort stations, ATMs etc. Access is not a problem as Anakkara lies on the state highway connecting the state's two prominent tourist destinations of Thekkady and Munnar. There are a lot of taxis, auto-rikshaws available in the village.

Health Tourism and Ayurvedic therapy centers are also coming up in Anakkara.Sree Sankara Gardens is one such Ayurvedic treatment centers that attracts people from all over the world. Anakkara also has a government run primary health center and a hospital run by the nuns of Franciscan Clarist Congregation named Alphonsa Health Center.

Economy
From early 20th century, Anakkara and it's surroundings are home for a variety of agricultural crops such as cardamom, pepper,coffee, paddy and of late vanilla and other spices. Majority of the people are medium and small scale farmers with less than 10 Acres of land. Some of the low lying areas of Anakkara have paddy fields, a rarity in the hilly Idukki district. Most of the farmers cultivate multiple crops such as cardamom and pepper as primary crops and ginger, vanilla, coffee, nutmeg, bananas, vegetables etc as secondary crops.

Villagers also do dairy farming that contributes to the family income. Two of the state's prominent milk marketing companies – The Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) and Malanadu Milk Producers' Society have milk collection centers and processing plants in the village. There is also a state run veterinary hospital in the village.

There is also a small expatriate population from the village, with family members working in Gulf countries, Europe and the United States contributing to the village’s economy.

Education
Till the mid-1990s, the only educational institution in the village was the State Government High School. In 1994, Montfort Bros. of St.Gabriel, a catholic congregation started Montfort School Anakkara, now a leading English medium school in the district. The village also has another English medium school named Nalanda and a Church run school for special kids.

There are no higher education centers, professional colleges in Anakkara.

Religion and People
Majority of the village's population are descendants of farmers migrated from the planes of the state such as neighboring Kottayam district in the first half of 20th century. There are few indigenous tribes such as the Paliyas as well as a large Tamil speaking population who are either migrants or descendants of migrants who came as laborers in the spice plantations in the area from the neighboring Madurai and Theni districts of Tamil Nadu.

Religions, faith

People from all the three main religions in India - Hindus, Muslims and Christians - constitute the population of Anakkara. Prominent religious places in the village are


 * Siva Parvathi Hindu temple Anakkara
 * St.Thomas Forane Catholic church Anakkara
 * Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam Bhajana Madom, 7th Mile Anakkara
 * Sulthankada Mosque

There are a large number of Christian (protestant/non-protestant) congregations such as the Pentecostal groups, Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church etc run their churches, prayer halls in the village.