ANDHRA PRADESH

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:55:32 +0100

Andhra Pradesh (IPA: [ˌɑːndrə prəˈdɛʃ]; Telugu: ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్, Āndhra Pradēś, [ˈaːndʱrʌ prʌˈdeːɕ] ^[?], translation: Province of Andhras), abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad. The State has the second longest coastline (972 km) among all the States in India. ^[1]

Andhra Pradesh lies between 12°41' and 22°N latitude and 77° and 84°40'E longitude, and is bordered by Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in the north, the Bay of Bengal in the East, Tamil Nadu to the south and Karnataka to the west. Andhra Pradesh is historically called the "Rice Bowl of India". More than 77% of its crop is rice; Andhra Pradesh produced 17,796,000 tonnes of rice in 2006.^[2] Two major rivers, the Godavari and the Krishna run across the state. The small enclave (12 sq mi (30 km²)) of the Yanam district of Puducherry (Pondicherry) state lies in the Godavari Delta in north-east of the state.

Historically the region comprising the state was known as Andhraapatha, Andhradesa, Andhraavani, and Andhra vishaya.^[3] Andhra Pradesh was formed from Andhra State on November 1, 1956.

History

Main article: History of Andhra Pradesh

An Andhra Kingdom was mentioned in the Sanskrit epics such as Aitareya Brahmana (B.C.800) and Mahabharata.^[4] The Natyasastra of Bharatha (1st Century B.C) also mentioned the "Andhra" race.^[5] The roots of the Telugu language have been traced to inscriptions found at Bhattiprolu.^[6]

Megasthenes, who visited the Court of Chandragupta Maurya (B.C.322–297), mentioned that Andhra country had 3 fortified towns and an army of 100,000infantry, 200 cavalry and 1,000 elephants. Buddhist books reveal that Andhras established their kingdoms on the Godavari belt at that time. Asoka referred in his 13th rock edict that Andhras were his subordinates.^[7]

Inscriptional evidence shows that there was an early kingdom in coastal Andhra ruled by Kuberaka,^[8] with Pratipalapura (Bhattiprolu) as his capital. Around the same time Dhanyakatakam/Dharanikota (present day Amaravati) appears to have been an important place, which was visited by Gautama Buddha. According to the ancient Tibetan scholar Taranatha: "On the full moon of the month Chaitra in the year following his enlightenment, at the great stupa of Dhanyakataka, the Buddha emanated the mandala of 'The Glorious Lunar Mansions' (Kalachakra)".^[9]^[10]

Kakatiya sculpture at Warangal.

The Mauryans extended their rule over Andhra in 4th century BCE. With the fall of the Mauryan Empire Andhra Satavahanas became independent in 3rd century BCE. After the decline of the Satavahanas in 220 CE, Ikshvaku dynasty, Pallavas, Ananda Gotrikas, Vishnukundinas, Eastern Chalukyas and Cholas ruled the Telugu land. Inscriptional evidence of Telugu language was found during the rule of Renati Cholas (Kadapa region) in 5th century CE.^[11] During this period Telugu emerged as a popular medium undermining the predominance of Prakrit and Sanskrit.^[12] Telugu was made the official language by the Vishnukundina kings who ruled from their capital Vinukonda. Eastern Chalukyas ruled for a long period after the decline of Vishnukundinas from their capital in Vengi. As early as 1st century CE, Chalukyas were mentioned as being vassals and chieftains under the Satavahanas and later under Ikshvakus. The Chalukya ruler Rajaraja Narendra ruled Rajahmundry around 1022 CE.

The battle of Palnadu resulted in the weakening of Eastern Chalukyan power and emergence of the Kakatiya dynasty in the 12th and the 13th centuries CE. The Kakatiyas were at first feudatories of the Rashtrakutas ruling over a small territory near Warangal. All the Telugu lands were united by the Kakatiyas. In 1323 CE, Delhi Sultan Ghiaz-ud-din Tughlaq sent a large army under Ulugh Khan to conquer the Telugu country and capture Warangal. King Prataparudra was taken prisoner. Musunuri Nayaks recaptured Warangal from the Delhi Sultanate in 1326 CE and ruled for fifty years. Inspired by their success, the Vijayanagar empire, one of the greatest empires in the history of Andhra Pradesh and India, was founded by Harihara and Bukka, who served as treasury officers of the Kakatiyas of Warangal.^[13] In 1347 CE, an independent Muslim state, the Bahmani kingdom, was established in south India by Alla-ud-din Hasan Gangu as a revolt against the Delhi Sultanate. The Qutb Shahi dynasty held sway over the Andhra country for about two hundred years from the early part of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century.^{[citation needed]} In Colonial India, Northern Circars became part of the British Madras Presidency. Eventually this region emerged as the Coastal Andhra region. Later the Nizam had ceded five territories to the British which eventually emerged as Rayalaseema region. The Nizams retained control of the interior provinces as the Princely state of Hyderabad, acknowledging British rule in return for local autonomy. Meanwhile, the French had occupied Yanam (Yanaon), in the Godavari Delta, and (save for periods of British control) would hold it until 1954.

India became independent from the United Kingdom in 1947. The Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain his independence from India, but the people of the region launched the movement to join the Indian Union. The state of Hyderabad was forced to become part of the Republic of India in 1948 after Operation Polo which lasted 5 days and had popular support from the people of the Hyderabad State.

In an effort to gain an independent state, and protect the interests of the Telugu people of Madras State, Amarajeevi Potti Sriramulu fasted until death. Public outcry and civil unrest after his death forced the government to announce the formation of a new state for Telugu speaking people. Andhra attained statehood on 1 October 1953, with Kurnool as its capital.

On 1 November 1956, Andhra State merged with the Telangana region of Hyderabad State to form the state of Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad, the former capital of the Hyderabad State, was made the capital of the new state Andhra Pradesh. Yanam was relinquished by the French in 1954, but one condition of the treaty was the retention of the district's separate and distinct identity, which also applied to the other South Indian enclaves constituting today's puducherry state.

[edit] Geography and Climate

Geographically, Andhra Pradesh is composed of most of the eastern half of the Deccan plateau and the plains to the east of the Eastern Ghats. The northern part of the plateau is generally considered as the telangana region and the southern part is known as rayalaseema^[14]. These two regions are separated, roughly, by the river Krishna. The plains to the east of Eastern ghats form the coastal plain region. The Eastern ghats are discontinuous and have local names for individual sections. The kadapa basin^[15] formed by two arching branches of the eastern ghats is a mineral rich area. The coastal plains are, for a major part, delta regions formed by the rivers Godavari, Krishna, and Penner. The Eastern ghats are a major dividing line in the state's geography. The ghats become more pronounced towards the south and extreme north of the coast. The Eastern ghat region also is home to dense tropical forests, while the vegetation becomes sparse as the ghats give way to the deccan plateau, where shrub vegetation is more common. Most of the coastal plains are put to intense agricultural use. West and South west parts of andhra pradesh have semi-arid conditions.

The climate of Andhra Pradesh varies considerably, depending on the geographical region. The major role in determining the climate of the state is played by monsoons. Summers last from March to June. In the coastal plain the summer temperatures are generally higher than the rest of the state, with temperature ranging between 20°C and 41°C^[16].

July to September is the season for tropical rains in Andhra Pradesh. The state receives heavy rainfall during these months. About one third of the total rainfall in Andhra Pradesh is brought by the North-East Monsoons. October and November see low-pressure systems and tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal which, along with the north-east monsoon, bring rains to the southern and coastal regions of the state. Winters in Andhra Pradesh are pleasant. November, December, January and February are the winter months in Andhra Pradesh. Since the state has a long coastal belt the winters are not very cold in those regions. dlkfjlkjdfsThe range of winter temperature is generally 13°C to 30°C^[17].

[edit] Divisions

Andhra Pradesh districts map

Andhra Pradesh can be divided into three regions, namely Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana.^[18]

Andhra Pradesh has 23 districts: Adilabad, Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, East Godavari, Guntur, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Krishna, Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Sri Potti Sreeramulu Nellore, Nizamabad, Prakasam, Rangareddy, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Warangal and West Godavari.

Each district is divided into multiple mandals and each mandal is a group of a few villages.

Hyderabad is the capital and, along with the adjoining twin city Secunderabad, is the largest city in the state. Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh's main seaport, is the second largest city of the state and is home to the Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command. Vijayawada due to its location and proximity to major rail and road routes is a major trading center and the third largest city .Nellore ,andhra pradesh's largest port (krishnapatnam) Other important cities and towns are: Kakinada, Warangal, Guntur , Tirupati, Rajahmundry, Ongole, Kurnool, Anantapur, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Eluru.

[edit] Demographics

	Telugu	Other languages	Total
Hindu	82%	2%	84%
Muslim	1%	8%¹	9%
Christian	4%	1%	5%
Other religions	0.5%	0.5%	1%
Total	88.5%	11.5%	100%
Note 1: mainly Urdu

[hide]Population Trend
Census	Pop.	%±
1961	35,983,000	—
1971	43,503,000	20.9%
1981	53,550,000	23.1%
1991	66,508,000	24.2%
2001	75,727,000	13.9%
Source:Census of India^[19]

Telugu is the official language of the state, spoken by 88.5% of the population. Telugu is the third most spoken language in India.^[20] The major linguistic minority groups in the state include the speakers of Urdu (8.63%) and Hindi (0.63%) and Tamil (1.01%).^[21] The Indian government designated Telugu as a classical and ancient language on November 1, 2008.^[22]

Other languages spoken in Andhra Pradesh by less than 1% each are Kannada (0.94%), Marathi (0.84%), Oriya (0.42%), Gondi (0.21%) and Malayalam (0.1%). Languages spoken by less than 0.1% are the states residents include Gujarati (0.09%), Savara (0.09%), Koya (0.08%), Jatapu (0.04%), Punjabi (0.04%), Kolami (0.03%), Konda (0.03%), Gadaba (0.02%), Sindhi (0.02%), Gorkhali/Nepali (0.01%) and Khond/Kondh (0.01%).

The main ethnic group of Andhra Pradesh is the Telugu people who primarily are Dravidians.

[edit] Economy

Main articles: Economy of Andhra Pradesh and Software industry in Andhra Pradesh

Agriculture has been the chief source of income for the state's economy. Four important rivers of India, the Godavari , Krishna ,Penna and Thungabhadra flow through the state, providing irrigation. Rice, sugarcane, cotton, mirchi (chilli pepper), mango and tobacco are the local crops. Recently, crops used for vegetable oil production such as sunflower and peanuts have gained favour. There are many multi-state irrigation projects in development, including Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects and Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, the world's highest masonry dam.^[23]^[24]

Cyber towers at Hyderabad, the state capital and largest city in the state.

The state has also started to focus on the fields of information technology and biotechnology. In 2004–2005, Andhra Pradesh was at the fifth position in the list of top IT exporting states of India. The IT exports from the State were Rs.82,700 million in 2004–2005 ($ 1,800 million).^[25] The IT sector is expanding at a rate of 52.3% every year. The IT exports reached Rs.190,000 million ($4.5 billion) in 2006–2007, contributed to 14 per cent of total IT exports of the nation and ranked fourth in India.^[26] The service sector of the state already accounts for 43% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) and employs 20% of the work force.^[24] The state capital, Hyderabad is considered to be bulk drug capital of the country. 50% of the top 10 companies in Pharmaceutical field are from the state. The state also commands a very prominent place in the infrastructure space, with many companies from the state being up there at the fore-front.

Andhra Pradesh is a mineral rich state, ranking second in India in terms of mineral wealth. The state has about one third of India's limestone reserves, estimated at about 30 billion tonnes.The Krishna Godavari basin has huge reserves of natural gas and petroleum reserves. The state is also blessed with huge amount of coal reserves.^[24]

The state ranks first nationwide in hydro electricity generation with national market share of over 11%.

Andhra Pradesh's GSDP for 2005 was estimated at $62 billion in current prices. This is a chart of trend of GSDP of Andhra Pradesh at market prices estimated by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees. Accordingly, the state ranks fourth in terms of overall GSDP,^[27] and fourth in per capita GSDP among the major states of India. According to another metric, the state ranks third in terms of Gross State Product among all the states of the Indian Union.^[28]