20 Surprising Facts About Kerala

20 Surprising facts about Kerala

• Kerala receives the first monsoon rainfall in India.  The south-West Monsoon hits Kerala usually around the 1^st of June arriving in Mumbai about 10 days later and in Delhi by the end of June.

• Kerala has the highest literacy rate in India. In 1991, Kerala became the first fully literate state in the whole of India.
• Kerala has the highest HDI (Human Development Index) in India.
• Kerala has the lowest population growth rate in India.
• Kerala is the most biodiverse state in India. Around 25% of India’s 15,000 plant species are found in Kerala. Kerala is famous for its elephants,  leopards, Nilgiri tahr, monkeys and giant squirrels, as well as Bengal Tigers.
  

  Photo byDhruvaraj S on Flickr

• Kerala has the Lowest maternal mortality rate in India as well as the lowest Infant mortality rate (12 per 1,000 ) The rate for all of India is 44!
• Kerala’s sex ratio is higher than that of the rest of India and is the only state where women outnumbered men.
• Kerala is known for its tea, coffee, spices and coconuts but it’s also the largest producer of rubber and black pepper in India

• Kerala was the first state in India to offer free cancer treatment to the poor, via a program called Sukrutham.
• The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English and Malayalam.
• Due to a comparatively strong Union presence, strikes, protests and marches are relatively common in Kerala
• The “Kerala phenomenon” or “Kerala model of development” of very high human development and in comparison low economic development has resulted from a strong service sector.
• In 1957, Kerala democratically elected a Marxist government. The Communist Party in Kerala functions within a liberal democracy and is regularly re-elected to power.
• Kerala’s famous backwaters aren’t confined to one area. Kerala actually has 3 backwater areas. One area centres on Ashtamudi lake around Kollam. Another is centred around the picturesque Vembanad lake near Alleppey, Cochin and Kottayam. The third area is the lesser known Kannur-Valiyaparambu backwaters near Kannur and Kasargod. Taken together the backwaters cover almost half of the length of Kerala.
• Kerala is the only state in India where Ayurveda is still a mainstream medicine.
• Kerala has the earliest  Church, Mosque and Synagogue in the Indian Sub-continent
• Kerala; The Land of Coconuts, uses so many coconuts that it has to import some from neighbouring Tamil Nadu for its own use.
• Cochin airport is the first airport in the world to run completely on solar power.
• In 1860, Thalasery In Kerala was the first place in India to play Cricket
• Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala is the richest Hindu temple in the world.