Lakshadweep – Smallest Union Territory Of India
Lakshadweep is one of the seven union territories of India and also the smallest union territory of India. A group of islands 300km from the coast of kerala forms the lakshadweep out of which only 10 are inhabited. Lakshadweep is derived from the sanskrit word lakshadweepa which means one hundred thousand islands. The islands are connected to India using
ships and flights from kerala. Kavaratti is the capital of lakshadweep and the largest city of lakshadweep is Andrott.
The official language is Malayalam due to its close proximity to Kerala. Other language spoken by around 15% of the population is Mahl. Population is over 60,000 with the majority are made up of Malayali(the same as that of kerala) and the rest are Mahl. About 90% of the population are Muslims.
Agriculture is the major occupation in lakshadweep and coconut cultivation forms the bulk of it. It is important to note that lakshadweep produces the largest quantity of coconuts in India. Lakshadweep’s area is pretty
small of about 32 square kms.
Lakshadweep is administered by the Indian government appointed administrator. One member of parliament is elected from lakshadweep. Apart from this there is also a panchayat raj system in lakshadweep.