Ramanagara

Ramanagara district was carved out of the erstwhile Bengaluru Rural district on 23 August 2007, comprising Ramanagara, Channapatna, Kanakapura and Magadi taluks. Ramanagara is a town and a city municipal council in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is also the headquarters of Ramanagara district.The town was known as Shamserabad at the ruling time of  Tippu Sultan. It was then called Closepet, after Sir Barry Close (1756–1813) in pre-Independence times. This name is retained in  geology. Then Closepet was called as Ramanagara. Ramanagara’s name was based on the historical story of the Ramayana.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Ramanagara had a population of 79,365. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Ramanagara has an average literacy rate of 69.22%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 67%, and female literacy is 58%. In Ramanagara, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Economy

Ramanagara is well known for its sericulture, and is nicknamed Silk Town and Silk City . The silk produced in this region forms the input for the famous Mysore Silk. Ramanagara is the largest market for silk cocoons in Asia. 50 tonnes of cocoon a day arrive at the town. Ramanagara has extensive granite sites.

Closepet granites

The Closepet granites are a major geological feature of this region and are from the Lower Proterozoic era. This belt of rocks extends in the north-south direction in 50 km belt. This belt has younger potassic granites and is believed to separate two distinct crustal blocks of Archaean age. The block to the west has low-grade granite-greenstone belts with iron-manganese ores and to the east are younger gneisses of granitic and granodioritic composition with gold-bearing schist belts.