Kolar District : Case Study

  The  Kolar  District is located in the southern plains region 
  of the  Karnataka  State, India.  It lies  between 770 21' to 
  780 35' east  longitude and 120 46' to 130 58' north latitude 
  and extends over an area of  8,225 sq. km. The population was 
  16.99 lakhs in 1991 (as per census report).For administrative 
  purposes the  District has been divided into 11 Taluks. There 
  are  15 towns and 3,325 inhabited villages  in the District. 

  Kolar belongs to the semi arid zone of Karnataka. In the semi 
  arid  zone  apart  from the  year to year fluctuations in the 
  total  seasonal  rainfall, there are also large variations in 
  the time of  commencement of rainfall  adequate for sowing as 
  well as in the distribution  of  drought  periods  within the 
  crop  growing   season.  Kolar  district   depends  upon  the 
  distribution of rainfall  during the  southwest and northeast 
  monsoon  seasons. Out of about  280 thousand hectares of land 
  under  cultivation  35% is under  well and  tank  irrigations. 
  There are about  951 big  tanks and  2934 small  tanks in the 
  district. 

  The  average  population  density  of  the  district is 2.09 
  persons/hect (rural)  and  2.69  persons/hect  (rural+urban). 
  The  population  density  ranges from 1.44 (Bagepalli), 1.69 
  (Gudibanda),  1.70 (Srinivaspura)  to  the  maximum  of 2.55 
  (Kolar). While, the population density in taluks lies within 
  this  range - Bangarapet (2.52),  Malur (2.38), Gauribidanur 
  (2.36),  Sidlaghatta  (2.16),  Chintamani  (2.10),  Mulbagal 
  (2.04), Chikkaballapur (1.92). The average livestock density 
  of  the  district is  0.81. It  ranges  from 0.68 (Bagepalli, 
  Malur), 0.70 (Kolar) to a  maximum  of  1.09  (Gauribidanur). 
  Extent  of  forest  cover in the  district is about 6.5%. It 
  ranges from 1.71 % (Bangarpet),  2.3% (Malur), 2.78% (Kolar) 
  to 15% (Srinivaspura)  and  20% (Chikballapur).  Taluks  are 
  grouped in to  three groups ( <10 %, 10-20%, and >20% cover) 
  based  on  percentage  of  forest  cover . Chikballapur  and 
  Bagepalli have forest cover > 20%, Gudibanda and Srinivaspur   
  are in the range 10 - 20% while remaining taluks have forest 
  cover < 10%.