district. The river Kaveri flows south and southwest hugging the district's borders with Karur and Erode. The other rivers flowing through the district are Aiyaru, Karaigottan Aaru and Thirumanimutharu. Irrigation The district is situated in the dividing portion of two watersheds between Cauvery and the Vellar System with the Taluks of Attur, Rasipuram and Namakkal on the East and Salem, Omalur and Mettur on the West. Mettur East Bank canal irrigates Pallipalayam Block with an area of 4,585 Ha. Rajavaikal canal irrigates an area of 4,215 Ha. Mohanur vaikal irrigates about 355 Ha. Kumarapalayam vaikal irrigates about and Poiyeri vaikal irrigates about . Demographics According to 2011 census, Namakkal district had a population of 1,726,601 with a sex-ratio of 986 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. 40.32% of the population lived in urban areas. A total of 150,699 were under the age of six, constituting 78,754 males and 71,945 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 20.00% and 3.30% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the district was 68.12%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The district had a total of 475,511 households. There were a total of 898,245 workers, comprising 152,497 cultivators, 228,614 main agricultural labourers, 35,156 in house hold industries, 422,885 other workers, 59,093 marginal workers, 5,976 marginal cultivators, 25,112 marginal agricultural labourers, 3,641 marginal workers in household industries and 24,364 other marginal workers. At the time of the 2011 census, 87.08% of the population spoke Tamil, 8.97% Telugu, 2.07% Kannada and 1.05% Urdu as their first language. Politics |} Industry and economy Agriculture The main occupation for most of the people in the district is agriculture, with a gross cropped area of around 336,700 Ha, out of which about 60,939 Ha are irrigated and about 80,598 Ha are rainfed. The cultivation generally depends on monsoon rains, wells, and tanks. Major soil in this district is red soil (77%). Nearly 90 percent of the cultivated area is under food crops. The principal cereal crops of this district are paddy, cholam, cumbu and ragi. Panivaragu, Kuthiraivali, Samai Varagu and Thinai are some of the millets cultivated. Among pulses, the major crops are redgram, blackgram, greengram and horsegram. Among oil, seeds, groundnut, castor, and gingelly (sesame) occupy important places. Of the commercial crops, sugarcane, cotton and tapioca are some of the important. Using tapioca as raw material about 350 factory