Andhra Pradesh

The state of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) was formed on November 1, 1956 with Hyderabad as its capital by the State Reorganization Act. The Telugu speaking areas of the Madras Presidency and the Hyderabad State were merged to form this magnificent state of India. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is one of the coastal states of India and lies in the south-eastern part of the country. In fact, Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) has the second longest coastline amongst all the States in India which stretches about 972 kilometers (602 miles) in length. The geographic location of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) lies between 77 and 8441 E longitude and 1241 and 22 N latitude. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is bordered by Tamil Nadu in the south, the Bay of Bengal in the East, Karnataka in the West and Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha (formerly Orissa) in the North. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is also the state which has two major ports of India, Vishakhapatnam and Kakinada, and three minor ports located at Krishnapatnam (also known as Nellore), Machilipatnam and Nizampatnam (also called Guntur). Godavari and Krishna are the two major rivers which run across Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). Telugu is the official language of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) and Urdu occupies the stand of the second official language of the state at some areas. Apart from Telugu and Urdu some of the other common languages spoken in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) are Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and English. In the census which was conducted in year 2001, about ten-thousand residents of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) declared English to be their first language. Rice is the most cultivated crop in the state which accounts to more than 75% of the total crop cultivated in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). It is because of this reason that Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) was known as the Rice Bowl of India in the British history of India.

Current Statistics of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.)

Area (Km Km) 275,045

Population HDI

GDP (in US$ millions)

GDP per capita (US$) 1,077

Tax Revenues (US$ Billion) 71.79

Literacy Rate (2011 Census) 67.7 %

84,665,533 0.572 100, 350

According to an analysis conducted by The National Council of Applied Economics, Khammam, Krishna, West Godavari, Chittoor and Medak are the regions of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) with highest Human Development Index (HDI) scores with Khammam being the region having highest HDI score. As per current statistics, almost 16.3% of the state population lives in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). In these rural areas, the literacy rate of female in state is 0.66 as compared to that of the male literacy rate.

Languages of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.):

Telugu is the official and the most widely spoken language of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). Apart from Telugu, Urdu, Hindi and Tamil are the major languages spoken in this part of India. Marathi, Kannada, Oriya are the other languages which are spoken by considerable population of the state of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). The table below represents the language and the corresponding percentage of state population speaking that language.

Language Corresponding Population

Telgu 83 %

Urdu 8.63 %

Hindi 3.23 %

Tamil 1.01 %

Marathi 0.8 %

Kannada 0.74 %

Oriya 0.44 %

Apart from the above mentioned languages, some other languages like Malayalam and Punjabi are also spoken in this region of India, Andhra Pradesh (A.P.), by a very small proportion of the state population. The table representing these languages along with the corresponding percentage of the population speaking them is as follows:

Language Corresponding Population

Malayalam 0.08 %

Gujarati 0.06 %

Bengali 0.05 %

Nepali 0.03 %

Punjabi 0.01 %

Sindhi 0.01 %

Religions of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.):

India is a secular country and so is this region of India. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) has people belonging to almost every religion practiced in India, but the majority of population in this state follows Hinduism. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is known for its numerous Hindu religious pilgrims including the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple of Tirupati which is the most visited religious site of any faith in the world. Islam is also practiced by a major segment of the state population. The state capital city of Hyderabad has a strong Sufi influence and is a known place for various Islamic monuments.

History of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.):

Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) was under the rule of the Mauryan Empire during the fourth century BC. After the downfall of the Mauryan Empire in third century BC rule of Satavahanas came into existence in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) followed by the Ikshvaku Dynasty, Pallavas, Ananda Gotrikas, Rashtrakutas, Vishnukundinas, Eastern Chalukyas, and Cholas after its downfall in 220 AD. It was during this period that Sanskrit and Prakrit supplanted and Telugu emerged as a popular language in this region of India. During the fifth and the sixth century AD the Vishnukundina rulers made Telugu as their official language. The helm of this region of India moved into the hands of Kakatiya dynasty after the battle of Palnadu in 1182 AD which weakened the Eastern Chalukya dynasty. Warangal was then captured by the Delhi Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq in year 1323 AD which was recaptured by Musunuri Nayaks in 1326 AD and he

successfully ruled over the province for next fifty years. Taking inspiration from them, Harihara and Bukka, treasury officers of Kakatiyas, founded the Vijayanagara Empire which was one of the greatest Empires not only in the history of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.), but also in the entire history of India. In 1347, Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah established an independent Muslim state in a revolt against Delhi Sultanate. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) was then ruled by the Qutb Shahi dynasty for about two hundered years during the sixteenth and the seventeenth century. After the annexation of India by the British, the areas of coastal Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) became a part of the Madras Presidency of Britain while the Nizams retained a local autonomy over the interior provinces as the Princely state of Hyderabad. After India got its independence in 1947, the Nizams wanted to remain independent from India, but this was opposed by the people belonging to the province and a movement broke out. Finally, with Operation Polo in 1948, the Princely state of Hyderabad was forced to become a part of the Republic of India. Telugu speaking people of the region demanded an independent statehood based on the linguistic and to achieve this objective Potti Sreeramulu fasted until he died in 1952. Finally, Andhra was given statehood on 1st November 1953 and Kurnool was made its capital. Later in 1956, under the State Reorganization Act, the Telugu speaking areas of the former Hyderabad state and Madras State were merged to form the state of VishalAndhra with Hyderabad as its capital and was named as Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). In late 1960s several movements initiated to divide Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) into two different states of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) and Telengana which are continuing till date.

Economy of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.):

The state gross domestic product of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) was recorded to be 100.350 billion USD in current prices, making it the third largest contributing state in the overall GDP of India. The per capita GSDP of this state is also reasonably high when compared to the other large states of India. According to the list issued by Forbes Magazine in year 2010, there are seven names from Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) in the top 100 richest people of the world. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is fortunate to have good irrigation facilities powered by four major rivers of the state (i.e. Krishna, Penna, Godavari and Thungabhadra). Proper irrigation makes agriculture the major source of income to Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). Major crops grown in state are rice, sugarcane, chili pepper, cotton, tobacco and mangos. Sunflower and peanuts are also grown over a large area for the production of vegetable oils. Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects and the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam are the two irrigation projects which have futhar inproved the irrigation in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is a mineral rich state which ranks second in India in terms of mineral wealth. The state is known for its reserves of coal, limestone, petroleum and natural gas.

Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) has at about 30 billion tones reserves of limestone making it the largest contributor of limestone in India producing one-third of the total limestone in India. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is also one of the most industrially developed states in India. The statistics recorded an annual growth rate of 5.5% in state over a period of past two decades. Service sector contribute about 43% in the economy of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) with only 20% of the population employed in this sector. IT (Information Technology) export from Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) contribute to 14% of the total IT export of India which ranks 4th nationwide. The growth of IT industry in state is magnificent with a growth rate of about 53%. Biotechnology is another sector which is growing at a good pace in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.), is sometimes also referred as the bulk drug capital of India. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is one of the power rich states of India with the second largest power generating utility and ranks first in the country in terms of hydro electricity generation. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) also has coal and natural gas reserves in abundance making it also a favorable site for thermal power generation. The total installed capacity of power generation in state is 10,650 MW.

Tourism in Andhra Pradesh (A.P.):

Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) is one of the tourism rich states of India. It is promoted as the Koh-iNoor of India by its tourist department. The major attraction of tourism in region is its religious sites. Some of the famous religious pilgrim centers of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) are Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati, Srisailam in Nallamala Hills, Shiv temple at Amaravati, Ramappa and Thousand Pillars temple in Warangal and the numerous Buddhist sites at Amaravati, Nagarjuna Konda, Bhattiprolu, Ghantasala, Nelakondapalli, Dhulikatta, Bavikonda, Thotlakonda, Shalihundam, Pavuralakonda, Sankaram, Phanigiri and Kolanpur. Of these religious pilgrim centers is Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is the most visited religious site of any religion in the world. Limestone caves at Borra, waterfall at Ettipota, rich flora and fauna at Talakona, Araku Valley, Kailashagiri Park in Vishakhapatnam and the beaches of Vishakhapatnam are the other nonreligious tourist attractions of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.). Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) has many known museums which are also a key source of tourist attraction to this state of India. These museums include the Salar Jung Museum of Hyderabad, Archaeological Museum at Amravati, Victoria Jubilee Museum in Vijaywara, Visakha Museum and INS Kursura S20 in Vishakhapatnam. INS Kursura S20 is the only submarine museum of its kind in India.

Some famous monuments of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) include the Golconda Fort, Chandragiri Fort, Charminar, Falaknuma Palace and Chowmahalla Palace. These monuments are visited by a huge number of history and archeological lovers of India and abroad.