What is "dakshina kannada"

n. A district in south-western India. Mangalore is its chief city and administrative headquarters.

Dakshina Kannada is a coastal district in the state of Karnataka in India. Sheltered by the Western Ghats on the east and surrounded by the Arabian Sea on the west, Dakshina Kannada receives abundant rainfall during the monsoon. It is bordered by Udupi District to the north, Chikkamagaluru district to the northeast, Hassan District to the east, Kodagu to the southeast, and Kasaragod District in Kerala to the south. The district has 2 agroclimatic divisions namely
1. Coastal region - consists of Mangalore and Bantwal taluks
2. Malnad region - consists of Puttur, Belthangady and Sullia taluks.
The district has 2 revenue subdivisions - Mangalore (consists of Mangalore, Bantwal, Moodabidri, Mulki and Vitla) and Puttur (consists of Puttur, Beltangady, Sullia and Kadaba). Mangalore city is the district headquarters of Dakshina Kannada. The district is divided into five talukas namely Mangalore, Bantwal, Puttur, Sullia, and Belthangady. It used to include 4 northern talukas, Udupi, Kundapur, Karkala and Byndoor, but these were separated in August 1997 to form Udupi district. Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod are often called Tulu Nadu, as Tulu is the majority language in the region. The Alupas ruled this region between the 8th and 14th century CE as a feudatory of all the major Kannada empires of those times and it is for this reason that the Tulu speaking districts are a part of Karnataka.

Important towns in Dakshina Kannada include Mangalore, Bantwal, Vittal, Puttur, Sullia, Surathkal, Moodabidri, Uppinangady, Venur, Mulki, Dharmasthala, Ujire, Belthangady and Subramanya. The district is known for pristine beaches, red clay roof tiles ( Mangalore tiles), cashew nut and its products, banking, education, healthcare and exotic cuisine.

According to 2011 Indian Census, the district ranks second in per capita income, second in HDI, first in literacy and third in sex ratio among all districts in Karnataka.

Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 28 Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament) constituencies in Karnataka, a state in southern India. This constituency was created as a part of the delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies in 2008. It first held elections in 2009 and its first member of parliament (MP) was Nalin Kumar Kateel of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). As of the latest elections in 2014, Kateel represents this constituency.