and Sulthan bathery. The national highways 181 and 766 are closed for private vehicles at night in stretch between Gundlupete and neighbouring states.. Only state government buses are allowed at night in these section of highway. Demographics According to the 2011 census Chamarajanagar district has a population of 1,020,791, roughly equal to the nation of Cyprus or the US state of Montana. This gives it a ranking of 441st in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 5.75%. Chamarajanagar has a sex ratio of 989 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 61.43%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 25.42% and 11.78% of the population respectively. The district has a high percentage of Scheduled Castes, with a population of 259,000, making up a quarter of the district's population. Having a large percentage of forest cover the district also has a high population of tribals, mostly the Nayakas but also forest tribes like the Soligas, Yeravas, Jenu Kurubas and Betta Kurubas. These tribals have their own languages and their total population is around 120,000, and make up 12% of the district population. Other communities include Lingayats, Muslims and Vokkaligas. At the time of the 2011 census, 86.10% of the population spoke Kannada, 4.58% Tamil, 4.42% Urdu and 3.29% Telugu as their first language. Crime Since much of the southern area of the district is dense forest, it provided good refuge to the notorious bandit Veerappan, responsible for the death of over a hundred policemen in both states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He was shot dead in an encounter with the specially formed Special Task Force (STF) on 18 October 2004, in Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu. He had been on the run for over two decades. The presence of illegal quarrying for black stone imposes a great threat to the forests in the region. Tourist attractions The main tourist attractions are Sri Chamarajeshwara temple in Chamarajanagar, Biligiriranga Hills, K Gudi, Male Mahadeshwara Hills, Gundal dam, Suvarnavati dam, Hogenakal Falls, Shivasamudram, Bandipur national park, Gopalaswamy Hills in Gundlupet and many. Notable people Dr.Rajkumar - actor Samsa - first historical playwright in Modern Kannada B. Rachaiah - politician B. S. Madhava Rao - mathematical physicist Nanjaiah Honganuru - noted folklorist and writer Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy - poet R. Dhruvanarayana - politician S. Mahendar