Anantapur district officially: Anantapuramu district is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. The district headquarters is located at Anantapur city. It is one of the driest places in

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union terr ...

census of India The decennial Census of India has been conducted 16 times, as of 2021. While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881. Post 1949, it has been conducted by ...

, it was the largest district in the state by area and with a population of 4,083,315. Later in the year 2022, as part of re-organisation of districts,

Sri Sathya Sai district Sri Sathya Sai district is a district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Its headquarters is at Puttaparthi. It was formed on 4 April 2022 from the Dharmavaram, Penukonda, Kadiri revenue divisions and a new Puttaparthi revenue division, ...

was carved out and so its area and population reduced by half.

Etymology

The name Anantapur was named after a big tank called ''Anantasagara''. It existed during reign of

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Mahar ...

, which was named after ''Ananthamma'', wife of Bukkaraya, one of the founders of the empire.

History

Gooty fort was a stronghold of the Marathas, but was taken from them by

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the att ...

. In 1789 it was ceded by his son

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

to the Nizam of Hyderabad, and in 1800 the nizam ceded the surrounding districts to the British in payment for a subsidiary British force. In 1882, Anantapuram district was formed by carving out from Bellary district.

Geography

It is one of the largest district of Andhra Pradesh district in spanning an area of , comparatively equivalent to Japan's Shikoku Island. It is bounded on the north by Kurnool district and

Nandyal district Nandyal district is a district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.Nandyal as its administrative headquarters, it was formed on 4 April 2022 to become one of the resultant twenty-six districts and one of the district in Rayalaseema region. ...

, on the east by

YSR district Kadapa district (officially: YSR district; formerly: Cuddapah district) is one of the twenty six districts in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. On 19 August 2005 nomenclature of “Cuddapah” has been changed as “Kadapa” by the Governm ...

, and South by

and on the southwest and west by

Chitradurga district Chitradurga district is an administrative district of Karnataka state in southern India. The city of Chitradurga is the district headquarters. Chitradurga gets its name from Chitrakaldurga, an umbrella-shaped lofty hill found there. Tradition ...

And Bellary district in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

state. It is part of Rayalaseema region on the state. Its northern and central portions are a high

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

, generally undulating, with large

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

rocks or low hill ranges rising occasionally above its surface. In the southern portion of the district the surface is more hilly, the plateau there rising to . above the sea. Six rivers flow within the district: Penna, Chithravathi,

Vedavathi The Vedavathi is a river in India. It rises from the Bababudanagiri Mountains of Western Ghats and flows through the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The Vedavathi is also called the Hagari in Bellary District of Karnataka and parts of A ...

, Papagni, Swarnamukhi, and Thadakaleru. The district receives an average annual rainfall of 381 millimetres. Anantapur district mostly falls under the rainshadow region of the Western Ghats, with a

Hot semi-arid Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places *Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand ** Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...

climate.

Red soil Red soil is a type of soil that typically develops in warm, temperate, and humid climates and comprise approximately 13% of Earth's soils. It contains thin organic and organic-mineral layers of highly leached soil resting on a red layer of alluv ...

and vertisol are the most common soils. The driest parts of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

after the

Thar desert The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 20th-largest desert, ...

are in this region, as well as adjoining

and

Ballari district Bellary, officially known as Ballari (pronounced ), is a major district in Karnataka. It is located at north-eastern part of Karnataka. This district belongs to Kalyana-Karnataka. This district was one of the biggest districts in Karnataka u ...

, and parts of Kurnool district and Kadapa district. Anantapur city is from

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

, from

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

, and from the neighbouring state capital of Bengaluru. Anantapur connects Hyderabad and Bangalore through

National Highway 7 The following highways are numbered 7. For roads numbered A7, see list of A7 roads. Route 7, or Highway 7, may refer to: International * Asian Highway 7 * European route E07 * European route E007 Afghanistan * Kunduz-Khomri Highway (A7) Al ...

. Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru is the nearest international airport to Ananthapuramu town. Other small-scale domestic airports are there in neighboring districts of Kurnool and Kadapa which are around 150 km and 200 km away respectively.

Demographics

, Anantapur district has a population of 4,081,148 with 9,68,160 households, ranking it as the 7th most populous district in the state. It is the largest district in the state with an area of . Anantapur has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species dev ...

of 977 females for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 64.28%. Urban population in the district is 28.9% of total population. After bifurcation Anantapur district had a population of 22,41,105. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 3,34,142 (14.91%) and 70,161 (3.13%) of the population respectively.

Language

At the time of the 2011 census, 84.59% of the population spoke

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

, 9.64%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and 1.42% Lambadi as their first language.

Economy

The Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP) of the district is and it contributes 6.8% to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). For the FY 2013–14, the

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

at current prices was . The primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the district contribute , and respectively to the GDDP. Agriculture and allied services

Paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *An ethnic slur for an Irishman Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon * Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black-faced s ...

and

Groundnut Groundnut may refer to: * Seeds that ripen underground, of the following plants, all in the Faboideae subfamily of the legumes: ** ''Best Basketball Player'', Obinna Udunni ** ''Arachis villosulicarpa'', a perennial peanut species ** ''Vigna subt ...

are major agricultural crops in the district. When it comes to horticulture Banana and Papaya are heavily cultivated. Industries Industries like

Construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

s, Manufactures and

Electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describe ...

are major contributors for GVA. Anantapur has a major potential for development of industry due to its strategic location between Bengaluru –

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and Bengaluru –

routes and availability of vast tracts of land. In 2006 the Indian government named Anantapur one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the thirteen districts in Andhra Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF). Minerals Anantapur is a major producer of dolomite and iron ore minerals. Power plants Solar thermal power plant of 50 MW was commissioned at this village under

Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission The National Solar Mission is an initiative of the Government of India and State Governments to promote solar power. The mission is one of the several policies of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. The program was inaugurated as the J ...

which was named as Megha Solar Plant. It is one of the 7 solar thermal plants in the country. Tadipatri region in Anantapur is an industrialised town famous for Granite and Cement production. Ultra Tech Cements a unit of Industrial major Larsen & Toubro has a major Cement production unit near the town. Agriculture The

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

is principally agrarian with a developing industrial sector. Anantapur receives very less rainfall due to its location in the rain shadow area of Indian Peninsula. Prominent crops include groundnut, sunflower,

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

chillies Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for t ...

, sesame, and

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

Silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exc ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

quarrying,

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

and

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

. Anantapur town is known as Groundnut City in reference to the neighbouring Bengaluru being called as Garden City. Religious tourism The Gooty Fort, also known as Ravadurg, is a ruined fort located on a hill in the

Gooty Gooty ( ) is a town in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Gooty mandal in Anantapur revenue division. The town is renowned for the Gooty hill fort. Geography Gooty is located at , at a dis ...

town of Anantapur

, India. The word Gooty (locally pronounced "Gutti") is derived from the town's original name, Gowthampuri. It is one of the centrally protected Monuments of National Importance.

Administrative divisions

The District has three Revenue Divisions: Anantapur, Guntakal and

Kalyandurg Kalyandurg is a town in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters for Kalyandurg mandal and Kalyandurg revenue division. The discovery of diamond-bearing Kimberlites in Kalyandurg area, is one of the clust ...

. These revenue divisions are further divided into 31 mandals. The mandals of the district are listed in the following table:

Parliament segments

Anantapur (Lok Sabha constituency), Hindupur (Lok Sabha constituency)

Assembly segments

Anantapur and Hindupur Lok Sabha constituency comprises the following Legislative Assembly segments:

Erstwhile Talukas in District

Towns in District

The Following are the towns in old district.

Transport

The total road length of

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

s in the district is , the longest in the state. It has a total Rail Network of which is Broad gauge and is Meter gauge. The major railways stations are , , Ananthapuramu, Tadipatri railway stations.

Education

The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the ''School Education Department'' of the state. As per the school information report for the academic year 2015–16, there are a total of 5,024 schools. They include, 28 government, 3,435 mandal and zilla parishads, 4 residential, 1,154 private, 25 model, 62 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), 261 municipal and 55 other types of schools. The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 563,710. The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 563,266. When it comes to Union (Central) government schools, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) is located nearby Lepakshi, Sri Satyasai district but it serves both Sri Satyasai and Ananthapuramu districts as Lepakshi was part of Ananthapuramu district earlier and after bifurcation, a new JNV is yet to be established in new Ananthapuramu district. Also there are three Central schools (Kendriya Vidyalayas) in the district, located in Guntakal, Gooty and Ananthapuramu. Anantapur is an important education centre with many educational, schools, colleges and universities situated in the district. Anantapur city has become a major hub with many education institutions situated in its vicinity. Some of the institutions include

Sri Krishnadevaraya University Sri Krishnadevaraya University is a public university in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India, founded on 25 July 1981. The university is named after a patron of learning and the arts, Sri Krishnadevaraya, of the Vijayanagara empire The V ...

, JNTU Ananthapur, Sri Sathya Sai University, Government Medical College, Government polytechnic anantapur,

Srinivasa Ramanujan Institute of Technology Srinivasa Ramanujan Institute Of Technology (SRIT) is a private college in Rotarypuram, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was founded in 2008 by Sambasiva Reddy Aluru. The college is affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological Universi ...

, Government Polytechnic Hindupur, Gates Institute of Technology, Central University of Andhra Pradesh, Dalavai Chalapathi Rao

Temples

The following sixty five temples under the management of Endowments Department

Notable people

* Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, President of India, Lok sabha Speaker, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Central Minister * T. Nagi Reddy, Communist leader * Syed Shahabuddin (cricketer), first class crickter * Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma, singer * Sujeeth, director, writer

References

External links

District official website
{{Authority control Districts of Andhra Pradesh Rayalaseema 1882 establishments in India