Port Blair
City
Clockwise from top:
Aerial view of Port Blair, Seaside Road, Port Blair Science Centre, Cellular Jail, Jaljeevshala Aquarium, Beach in Port Blair
Port Blair is located in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Port Blair
Port Blair
Location in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Port Blair is located in Bay of Bengal
Port Blair
Port Blair
Port Blair (Bay of Bengal)
Coordinates: 11°40′06″N 92°44′16″E / 11.66833°N 92.73778°E / 11.66833; 92.73778
Country India
Union Territory Andaman and Nicobar Islands
DistrictSouth Andaman
Government
 • TypeMayor–Council
 • BodyPort Blair Municipal Council
Area
[1][2]
 • Total41 km2 (16 sq mi)
Elevation
16 m (52 ft)
Population
 (2011)[1][2][3]
 • Total140,572[3]
Time zoneUTC+5.30 (IST)
ClimateAm

Port Blair (pronunciationⓘ) is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (tehsil) of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South Andaman and is the territory's only notified town.

Port Blair serves as the entry point for visiting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is connected with mainland India by both air and sea. It is a two to three-hour flight from mainland India to Port Blair's Veer Savarkar International Airport, and three to four days by sea to reach Kolkata, Chennai, or Visakhapatnam from Haddo Wharf in the city. It is home to several museums and a major naval base INS Jarawa of the Indian Navy, along with sea and air bases of the Indian Coast Guard, Andaman and Nicobar Police, Andaman and Nicobar Command, the first integrated tri-command of the Indian Armed Forces and the Indian Air Force.[4]

The historic Cellular Jail is in the city, and nearby small islands such as Corbyn's Cove, Wandoor, Ross Island, Viper Island were once home to British colonists.[5] Port Blair has been selected as one of the cities to be developed as a smart city under the Smart Cities Mission.[6]

Andaman Club in Port Blair

The city was named after Captain Archibald Blair, a British colonial navy official of the East India Company.

History

The Ross Island Prison Headquarters, 1872

Pre-history

The indigenous inhabitants are the Andamanese. Radiocarbon dating studies of the kitchen refuse dumps from the mounds excavated by the Anthropological Survey of India at Choladari near Port Blair indicate human occupation for at least 2,000 years,[7][8] although they are likely to have diverged from the inhabitants of the mainland significantly earlier.

Modern history

In 1789 the Government of Bengal established a penal colony on Chatham Island in the southeast bay of Great Andaman, named Port Blair in the honour of Archibald Blair of the East India Company. After two years, the colony moved to the northeast part of Great Andaman and was named Port Cornwallis after Admiral William Cornwallis. However, there was much disease and death in the penal colony, and the government ceased operating it in May 1796.

In 1824 Port Cornwallis was the rendezvous of the fleet carrying the army to the First Anglo-Burmese War. In the 1830s and 1840s, shipwrecked crews who landed on the Andamans were often attacked and killed by the natives, alarming the British government. In 1855, the government proposed another settlement on the islands, including a convict establishment, but the Indian Rebellion of 1857 forced a delay in its construction.

However, since the rebellion provided the British with a lot of new prisoners, it made the new Andaman settlement and prison an urgent necessity. Construction began in November 1857 at the renovated Port Blair, avoiding the vicinity of a salt swamp which seemed to have been the source of many of the old colony's problems. The penal colony was originally on Viper Island. The convicts, mostly political prisoners, suffered life imprisonment at hard labour under cruel and degrading conditions. Many were hanged, while others died of disease and starvation. Between 1864 and 1867 a penal establishment was also built with convict labour on the northern side of Ross Island.[9] These structures now lie in ruins.[10]

As the Indian independence movement continued to grow in the late 19th century, the enormous Cellular Jail was constructed between 1896 and 1906 to house Indian convicts, mostly political prisoners, in solitary confinement. The Cellular Jail is also known as Kala Pani (translated as "Black Waters"), a name given to it due to the torture and general ill-treatment towards its Indian convicts.

The airport at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar's capital, has been named Veer Savarkar International Airport. The commemorative blue plaque on India House fixed by the Historic Building and Monuments Commission for England reads "Vinayak Damodar Savarkar 1883–1966 Indian patriot and philosopher lived here."

In World War II the islands were occupied by the Japanese on 23 March 1942 without opposition from the garrison. From 1943 to 1944, Port Blair served as the headquarters of the Azad Hind government under Subhas Chandra Bose. British forces returned to the islands in October 1945.[11]

Although affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Port Blair survived sufficiently to act as a base for relief efforts in the islands.

Climate

Port Blair has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification Am), with little variation in average temperature and large amounts of precipitation throughout the year. All months except January, February and March receive substantial rainfall.

Climate data for Port Blair (1981–2010, extremes 1901–present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 32.7
(90.9)		 34.6
(94.3)		 35.4
(95.7)		 36.4
(97.5)		 36.4
(97.5)		 35.6
(96.1)		 32.8
(91.0)		 32.5
(90.5)		 35.4
(95.7)		 35.6
(96.1)		 34.0
(93.2)		 35.4
(95.7)		 36.4
(97.5)
Mean maximum °C (°F) 30.7
(87.3)		 31.4
(88.5)		 33.1
(91.6)		 33.8
(92.8)		 33.3
(91.9)		 31.3
(88.3)		 30.8
(87.4)		 30.5
(86.9)		 30.7
(87.3)		 31.1
(88.0)		 31.2
(88.2)		 30.6
(87.1)		 34.0
(93.2)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 29.5
(85.1)		 30.2
(86.4)		 31.3
(88.3)		 32.3
(90.1)		 31.2
(88.2)		 29.8
(85.6)		 29.4
(84.9)		 29.2
(84.6)		 29.2
(84.6)		 29.7
(85.5)		 29.8
(85.6)		 29.5
(85.1)		 30.1
(86.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) 26.0
(78.8)		 26.3
(79.3)		 27.2
(81.0)		 28.2
(82.8)		 27.7
(81.9)		 26.9
(80.4)		 26.6
(79.9)		 26.5
(79.7)		 26.2
(79.2)		 26.4
(79.5)		 26.8
(80.2)		 26.4
(79.5)		 26.8
(80.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 22.4
(72.3)		 22.1
(71.8)		 22.7
(72.9)		 24.1
(75.4)		 24.2
(75.6)		 23.9
(75.0)		 23.8
(74.8)		 23.6
(74.5)		 23.0
(73.4)		 23.0
(73.4)		 23.3
(73.9)		 23.0
(73.4)		 23.3
(73.9)
Mean minimum °C (°F) 18.8
(65.8)		 19.4
(66.9)		 20.0
(68.0)		 22.2
(72.0)		 21.9
(71.4)		 20.9
(69.6)		 21.4
(70.5)		 21.1
(70.0)		 21.1
(70.0)		 21.4
(70.5)		 21.1
(70.0)		 19.6
(67.3)		 18.1
(64.6)
Record low °C (°F) 14.8
(58.6)		 15.9
(60.6)		 16.2
(61.2)		 17.3
(63.1)		 17.1
(62.8)		 14.6
(58.3)		 18.0
(64.4)		 17.4
(63.3)		 16.8
(62.2)		 17.8
(64.0)		 17.3
(63.1)		 16.2
(61.2)		 14.6
(58.3)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 32.1
(1.26)		 16.8
(0.66)		 32.5
(1.28)		 75.8
(2.98)		 368.8
(14.52)		 448.2
(17.65)		 442.5
(17.42)		 446.4
(17.57)		 458.3
(18.04)		 301.4
(11.87)		 242.4
(9.54)		 103.2
(4.06)		 2,968.3
(116.86)
Average rainy days 1.4 1.0 1.6 4.1 15.9 18.8 18.6 19.1 18.8 15.5 11.6 4.5 130.8
Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST) 74 72 72 74 81 84 84 85 87 85 82 75 80
Mean monthly sunshine hours 266.6 265.6 266.6 237.0 158.1 90.0 102.3 99.2 117.0 167.4 189.0 241.8 2,200.6
Mean daily sunshine hours 8.6 9.4 8.6 7.9 5.1 3.0 3.3 3.2 3.9 5.4 6.3 7.8 6.0
Source 1: India Meteorological Department[12][13][14][15]
Source 2: Tokyo Climate Center (mean temperatures 1981–2010)[16]

Tourism

Port Blair being the capital city of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is the entry point for all tourism related activities. Tourists first have to arrive to Port Blair before progressing on to any other islands in Andaman. At Port Blair, the major tourist places to visit are the Cellular Jail, Corbyns Cove Beach, North Bay Island, Ross Island renamed to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island, Chidiatapu, Wandoor and other museums that are present within city limits. Entry charges are applicable to some of the tourist places.[17]

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1951 7,789—    
1961 14,075+80.7%
1971 26,218+86.3%
1981 49,634+89.3%
1991 74,955+51.0%
2001 99,984+33.4%
2011 108,058+8.1%
Source: Government of India[18]

As of 2011 India census,[19] Port Blair had a population of 100,608. Males constitute 52.92% (53,247) of the population and females 47.07% (47,361). 9.3% of the population is under the age of 6 years.

Language

Bengali is the most spoken language of the city, followed by Telugu, Hindi and Tamil.

Religion

Religion in Port Blair City (2011)
Religion Percent
Hinduism
 
 74%
Islam
 
 12.7%
Christianity
 
 12.4%
Others
 
 0.9%
Sri Vettimalai Murugan temple in Port Blair

The most common religion is Hinduism, followed by Christianity and Islam.

Literacy

Literacy in Port Blair
Literacy Percent
Male
 
 92.79%
Female
 
 86.73%
All
 
 89.76%

Port Blair has an average literacy rate of 89.76%, higher than the national average that is 74.04%. In Port Blair, male literacy is 92.79%, and female literacy is 86.34%.

Administration

The Port Blair Municipal Council, abbreviated as PBMC is the ruling civic body administering the city of Port Blair, the capital and the largest city in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The council came into existence on 2 October 1957 after the assent by the President of India to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Municipal Board’s) Regulation, 1957 Act on 11 March 1957. The council comprises a total of 24 wards after the recent delimitation and the expansion of the city limits with the merger of few other villages to the existing 18 wards previously.[20][21]

The recent elections for the council were held in 2022.[22][23] U. Kavitha from ward 24 a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party was elected as the chairperson for the first term which commenced from 16 March 2022.[24][25] On 14 March 2023, Telugu Desam Party councilor S. Selvi from ward 5 was elected as the chairperson for the second year term of commencing from 16 March 2023 as part of the joint candidature from the BJP-TDP Alliance.[26][27]


Port Blair Municipal Council
Type
Type
History
Founded2 October 1957 (2 October 1957)
Leadership
Chairperson
S. Selvi, TDP
since 16 March 2023
Secretary
Smitha R, IAS
Structure
Seats24
Political groups
Government (13)
  •   BJP (10)
  •   TDP (2)
  •   IND (1)

Opposition (11)

Elections
Last election
2022
Next election
2027
Meeting place
Indira Bhavan
Website
pbmc.gov.in

PBMC electoral history

Year BJP INC TDP DMK AIADMK IND Ref.
2015 11 6 2 1 1 3 [28]
2022 10 10 2 1 0 1 [29]
2015 PBMC Results[30]
# Winner Runner Up Margin
Candidate Party Votes Candidate Party Votes
1 S. Karunakaran Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 1,892 S. Shahul Hameed Indian National Congress 694 1,198
2 R. Someswara Rao Bharatiya Janatha Party 2,152 S. Jayakumaren Nair Indian National Congress 1,035 1,117
3 Ramjan Ali Independent 1,849 A. R. Andan Indian National Congress 1,753 96
4 E. Rani All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 851 Jameela Bibi Independent 584 267
5 S. Selvi Telugu Desam Party 1,105 A. Shanmugam Bharatiya Janata Party 742 363
6 Protima Banerjee Telugu Desam Party 1,369 K. Durga Bhavani Bharatiya Janata Party 438 931
7 K. Indra Pal Singh Bharatiya Janata Party 1,846 K. Ibrahim Telugu Desam Party 804 1,042
8 K. Ganeshan Indian National Congress 687 Ganesh Babu Telugu Desam Party 427 260
9 Anusia Devi Bharatiya Janata Party 901 R. Nagamma Indian National Congress 772 129
10 Sheela Singh Bharatiya Janata Party 1,063 Moti Chand Indian National Congress 855 208
11 P. Prathibha Rao Bharatiya Janata Party 803 Vinita Malhotra Indian National Congress 617 186
12 S. N. N. Gregory Bharatiya Janata Party 1,297 S. Muthuraman Indian National Congress 823 474
13 Upasana Prasad Indian National Congress 1,166 Ranjana Jha Bharatiya Janata Party 1,165 1
14 B. Eswar Rao Bharatiya Janata Party 1,210 Nand Kishore Indian National Congress 1,076 134
15 C. H. Babu Bharatiya Janata Party 1,210 B. Padmanabham Telugu Desam Party 823 387
16 S. Usha Bharatiya Janata Party 706 Zubaida Begum Indian National Congress 357 349
17 Dharmendra Narayan Independent 1,150 Pradeep Narayan Indian National Congress 497 653
18 Rubana Aziz Bharatiya Janata Party 2,248 Seena Meshack Indian National Congress 954 1,294
19 K. Muthu Indian National Congress 925 N. Venkat Ramana Bharatiya Janata Party 860 65
20 M. Arumugam Indian National Congress 1,259 P. Surendran Bharatiya Janata Party 952 307
21 K. Arubadi Bharatiya Janata Party 1,059 R. Vimod Indian National Congress 496 563
22 Vaishali Rani Dayal Indian National Congress 631 Uma Rani Bharatiya Janata Party 454 177
23 Yashwant Lall Bharatiya Janata Party 1,026 Sanjay Meshack Independent 696 330
24 N. K. Udhaya Kumar Bharatiya Janata Party 1,154 R. P. Arumugam Telugu Desam Party 884 270

Education

B.Ed

  • Tagore Government College of Education

Degree

Engineering

Law

Medicine

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Port Blair City".
  2. 1 2 "Port Blair Info" (PDF).
  3. 1 2 "Census of India Search details". censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Andaman and Nicobar command". NIC. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  5. ↑ "The Cool, Wild and Very Remote Andaman Islands". Andamansguide. New York Times. 22 November 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  6. ↑ Khanna, Pretika (24 May 2016). "13 cities included in Phase 1 of Smart Cities Mission". LiveMint. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  7. ↑ Ghai, Rajat (27 November 2018). "Leave the Sentinelese alone". downtoearth.org.in. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  8. ↑ US Man's Body Should Be Left Alone, As Should The Andaman Tribe: Experts, NDTV, 27 November 2018.
  9. ↑ "The Hindu : Notorious once, it stands shrouded in silence now". Archived from the original on 27 December 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) T. Ramakrishnan, "Notorious Once, It Stands Shrouded in Silence"
  10. ↑ http://www.galenfrysinger.com/ross_island.htm Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Ross Island
  11. ↑ Jayant Dasgupta (2002). Japanese in Andaman & Nicobar Islands: red sun over black water. Manas Publications. ISBN 978-81-7049-138-5.
  12. ↑ "Station: Port Blair Climatological Table 1981–2010" (PDF). Climatological Normals 1981–2010. India Meteorological Department. January 2015. pp. 619–620. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  13. ↑ "Extremes of Temperature & Rainfall for Indian Stations (Up to 2012)" (PDF). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  14. ↑ "Port Blair Climatological Table 1981–2010". India Meteorological Department. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  15. ↑ "Table 3 Monthly mean duration of Sun Shine (hours) at different locations in India" (PDF). Daily Normals of Global & Diffuse Radiation (1971–2000). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  16. ↑ "Normals Data: Port Blair - India Latitude: 11.67°N Longitude: 92.72°E Height: 79 (m)". Japan Meteorological Agency. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  17. ↑ "Port Blair Andaman Islands".
  18. ↑ "Census Tables". censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  19. ↑ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 16 June 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  20. ↑ sanjib (5 March 2015). "Port Blair city all set for expansion; PBMC to have 24 wards". ANDAMAN SHEEKHA. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  21. ↑ "Port Blair City Limit to be Expanded". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  22. ↑ "Panchayat, Municipal Polls In Andaman and Nicobar Islands On Sunday". NDTV.com. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  23. ↑ "Panchayat and Municipal Elections-2022 BJP & Congress win 10 seats each, TDP bags 2, DMK & Independent Candidate won 1 seat each in Municipal Election :: The Daily Telegrams". dt.andaman.gov.in. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  24. ↑ sanjib (16 March 2022). "U Kavitha from BJP elected as Chairperson of Port Blair Municipal Council for the first year term". ANDAMAN SHEEKHA. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  25. ↑ PTI (17 March 2022). "BJP councillor elected new chairperson of Port Blair Municipal Council". ThePrint. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  26. ↑ sanjib (14 March 2023). "Mrs. Selvi elected as Chairperson of PBMC". ANDAMAN SHEEKHA. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  27. ↑ Karthick, Tarun (14 March 2023). "TDP Councillor Selvi from Ward Number 5 is the Next PBMC Chairperson". Nicobar Times. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  28. ↑ "Results of Panchayat & Municipal Elections 2015 Declared". www.andamanchronicle.net. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  29. ↑ PTI (17 March 2022). "BJP councillor elected new chairperson of Port Blair Municipal Council". ThePrint. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  30. ↑ "Election Department". db.and.nic.in. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
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