Ballari (Kannada:[bɐɭːaːri], formerly Bellary[6]) is a city in the Ballari district in 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'. Ballari is also the headquarters for Karnataka Gramina Bank which almost has more than 1100 + branches in Karnataka.[7]
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 (3.2km) and a height of 480 feet (150m). The length of this rock from north-east to south-west is about 1,150ft (350m). 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
The climate is a hot semi arid one (BSh), primarily due to the rain shadow effect of the Western Ghats, but monsoons still influence the weather here, with light rain throughout the year, and a slight increase during the summer and autumn.
Climate data for Bellary (1981–2010, extremes 1901–2012)
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]
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, 1.69% Tamil, 0.85% Marwari and 0.50% Lambadi.[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]
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
