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Prakasam district is one of the thirteen districts in the coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It was formed in 1970 and reorganised in 2022 on April 4. The headquarters of the district is Ongole. It is located on the western shore of Bay of Bengal and is bounded by Bapatla district and Palnadu districts on the north, Nandyal district on the west, Kadapa and Nellore districts on the south. A part of north west region also borders with Nagarkurnool district of Telangana.[4] It is the largest district in the state with an area of 14,322 km² (5,530 sq mi) and had a population of 2,288,026 as per 2011 Census of India.[5]

Prakasam district
District of Andhra Pradesh
Clockwise from top-left: Bhairavakona Cave temples, Chili drying in Dornapala, Amy Bowen Memorial Church in Donakonda, Beach in Pakala, Cumbum Lake
Location of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh
Coordinates (Ongole): 15°20′N 79°33′E
Country	India
State	Andhra Pradesh
Region	Coastal Andhra
Established	1970
Reorganized	2022
Named for	Tanguturi Prakasam
Headquarters	Ongole
Mandalas	38
Government
• Collector	Sri.A S Dinesh Kumar, IAS[1]
• Superintendent of Police	Mallika Garg, ips
• Lok Sabha constituencies	Ongole,Bapatla
• Assembly constituencies	08
Area
• Total	14,322 km2 (5,530 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	2,288,026
• Density	160/km2 (410/sq mi)
• Urban	19.44%
Demographics
• Literacy	63.53%
• Sex ratio	981
Vehicle registration	AP-27 (former) AP–39 (from 30 January 2019)[3]
Major highways	NH-16
Website	prakasam.ap.gov.in

Etymology

The district was named after the patriot and first Chief Minister of Andhra State Tanguturi Prakasam, also known as Andhra Kesari, who was born in the village of Vinodarayunipalem. It was accordingly renamed as Prakasam District in the year 1972.[6]^{[citation needed]}

History

Prakasam district was originally constituted on 2 February 1970, carved out of Guntur, Nellore and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh.[7] It was carved out of three taluks of Guntur district, i.e. Addanki, Chirala, and Ongole, four taluks of Nellore district, i.e. Kandukur, Kanigiri, Darsi and Podili and three taluks of Kurnool district i.e. Markapur, Yarragondapalem and Giddaluru. It is one of the nine districts in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh.

Prakasam district used to be a part of the Red Corridor.^{[citation needed]}

Geography

Prakasam district occupies an area of 17,626 square kilometres (6,805 sq mi),[5] comparatively equivalent to Indonesia's Seram Island.[8]

This district is bounded by Nagarkurnool district in Telangana state at North.And surrounded by South of SPSR Nellore district , West of Nandyal district ,East of Palnadu district and Bapatla district.And The Bay of Bengal held on Southeast of this district.^{[citation needed]}

The only Municipal Corporation in Prakasam is Ongole. Some of the main towns in Prakasam district are Singarayakonda, Addanki, Inkollu, Markapur, Yerragondapalem, Podili, Darsi, Donakonda, Chirala, Kandukur, Pamuru, Parchur, Giddaluru, Dornala, Cumbum, Kanigiri, Chimakurthy and Martur. Markapur is India's main slate-manufacturing town and the home of the historic temple of Lord Chennakesava. Chimakurthi is known for its granite reserves. Dornala is also known as Diguva Srisailam, since it is very near the historic pilgrimage centre of Srisailam.^{[citation needed]}

Cumbum lake also known as Gundalakamma lake built on Gundalakamma rivulet upon Nallamala hills is one of the oldest man made lakes of Asia. The anicut was built by the Vijayanagar princess Varadharaj Amma. The lake in its present form is about 7 km (4.3 mi) long and on average, about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) wide. As per the Imperial gazette of India at the turn of the 20th century, the height of the dam was 57 feet (17 m) and the drainage area was 1,100 km² (420 sq mi). The direct irrigation land was about 10,300 acres (4,200 ha) in all. Cumbum lake is accessible both by the rail Guntur-Nandyal railway line and is situated about 108 km (67 mi) from Ongole. Although classified under the Coastal Andhra region, the district's western half has Rayalaseema like geography and climate, being somewhat arid.^{[citation needed]}

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1901	975,037	—
1911	1,068,743	+0.92%
1921	1,117,701	+0.45%
1931	1,205,223	+0.76%
1941	1,343,883	+1.09%
1951	1,463,737	+0.86%
1961	1,671,726	+1.34%
1971	1,919,995	+1.39%
1981	2,329,571	+1.95%
1991	2,759,166	+1.71%
2001	3,059,423	+1.04%
2011	3,397,448	+1.05%
source:[9]

As of the 2011 census of India, the district had a population of 3,397,448 with a density of 193 persons per sq.km. The total population constitute, 17,14,764 males and 16,82,684 females –a ratio of 981 females per 1000 males. The total urban population is 664,582 (19.56%).[10]^: 20 There are 19,04,435 literates with a literacy rate of 63.08%.[10]^: 21 After bifurcation the district had a population of 22,88,026. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 537,159 (23.48%) and 88,209 (3.86%) of the population respectively.[2]^: 77–81

At the time of the 2011 census, 93.88% of the population spoke Telugu and 5.05% Urdu as their first language.[12]

Economy

The Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP) of the district is ₹35,962 crore (US$4.5 billion) and it contributes 6.9% to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). For the FY 2013–14, the per capita income at current prices was ₹85,765 (US$1,100). The primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the district contribute ₹12,875 crore (US$1.6 billion), ₹7,897 crore (US$990 million) and ₹15,190 crore (US$1.9 billion), respectively.[13] The major products contributing to the GVA of the district from agriculture and allied services are, tobacco, paddy, chillies, batavia, milk, meat and fisheries. The GVA to the industrial and service sector is contributed from construction, minor minerals, unorganised trade and ownership of dwellings.[13]

Industries

The district has many service industries such as industrial testing, electrical appliance repair, clinical laboratories, servicing of computer hardware, tourism, and hospitality. Major exports from the district include seafood, processed tobacco, granite blocks, granite monuments and yarn.[14] There are many industries of food and agriculture, mineral, chemical, leather, plastic and rubber, engineering, cotton and textiles, electronic products. All these industries deal with prawn and fish processing and canning, dairy products, the granite industry, pharmaceuticals, tanning, fishing nets, surgical cotton, etc. Forest-based industries produce Ayurvedic medicines, essential oil (Palm Rose Oil), wooden furniture, wooden toys, bamboo products, etc.[15]

Mining

This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2021)

The district leads in granite mining in the state with discovery of Galaxy Granite in the Chimakurthy area of the district. Good deposits of coloured granites are located occur around Uppumaguluru and Kodidena.[15] The minerals found in the district are Baryte, iron ore, quartz, and silica sand. In 2010-11, 4,300 tonnes of Baryte, 22,722 tonnes of quartz, 2,24,075 tonnes of silica sand and 400 tonnes of iron ore were produced.[15]

Granite barons in Prakasam district sold ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 as the natural stone material was widely used in the construction of the sports village. The famous Black Galaxy granite, Black pearl, Steal Grey and English Grey processed in the SEZ make it to, among other countries, the U.S., Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria. Processing of granite was insignificant in the district before 2010. But now after the setting up of 13 export oriented units within the SEZ and five elsewhere in the district, at least 60% of the decorative stone material is processed here. Over 500 to 600 containers of the material are shipped from the SEZ every month to other countries, the U.S. alone accounting for 20%.

Tourism

The Bhairava Kona cave temples are 8th-century single rock-cut cave temples (similar to Mahabalipuram) for Lord Shiva.[16][17]

Cumbum Tank is one of the oldest man-made lakes in Asia. The anicut was built by the Vijayanagar Princess Varadharajamma (also known as Ruchidevi), wife of Sri Krishna Devaraya. The length of this tank is 7 km (4.3 mi) and width is 3 km (1.9 mi). It has received World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS) tag in the year 2020 by UNESCO.[18]

Administrative divisions

The District comprises three Revenue divisions viz., Ongole, Kanigiri and Markapur.

38 Mandals. ‘1’ Municipal Corporation i.e., Ongole, ‘1’ Municipality i.e., Markapur and ‘5’ Nagarapanchayats Chimakurthy, Giddalur, Podili, Darsi and Kanigiri in the District.

Ongole division consists of ‘12’ mandals, Kanigiri division with ‘13’ mandals and Markapur division with ‘13’ mandals. Thus, a total of 38 mandals besides 1 Municipal Corporation, 1 Municipality, 5 Nagara Panchayats and 715 Gram Panchayats are existing in the district. ‘750’ Inhabited Revenue villages are existing in the district. They have been constituted into 734 Gram Panchayats.[10]

Mandals

The list of 38 mandals in Prakasam district under three revenue divisions are listed in the following table:[19]

#	Kanigiri Division	Markapuram Division	Ongole Division
1	Podili	Markapuram	Mundlamuru
2	Hanumanthunipadu	Giddalur	Kondapi
3	Veligandla	Bestavaripeta	Zarugumalli
4	Kanigiri	Racherla	Thallur
5	Pedacherlopalle	Komarolu	Singarayakonda
6	Chandrasekharapuram	Cumbum mandal	Ongole
7	Pamur	Ardhaveedu	Kothapatnam
8	Konakanamitla	Yerragondapalem	Santhanuthalapadu
9	Darsi	Pullalacheruvu	Naguluppalapadu
10	Donakonda	Tripuranthakam	Maddipadu
11	Kurichedu	Dornala	Chimakurthy
12	Marripudi	Pedda Araveedu	Tanguturu
13	Ponnaluru	Tarlupadu

Parliament segments

Ongole (Lok Sabha constituency), Bapatla (Lok Sabha constituency)

Assembly segments

Ongole and Bapatla Lok Sabha constituency presently comprises the following Legislative Assembly segments:[20]

Constituency number	Name	Reserved for (SC/ST/None)	Parliament
107	Santhanuthalapadu	SC	Bapatla Lok Sabha constituency
102	Yerragondapalem	SC	Ongole Lok Sabha constituency
103	Darsi	None	Ongole Lok Sabha constituency
108	Ongole	None	Ongole Lok Sabha constituency
110	Kondapi	SC	Ongole Lok Sabha constituency
111	Markapuram	None	Ongole Lok Sabha constituency
112	Giddalur	None	Ongole Lok Sabha constituency
113	Kanigiri	None	Ongole Lok Sabha constituency

Erstwhile Talukas in Prakasam district

In 1978, the number of talukas in Prakasam was increased from 9 to 17. Later in 1985, 17 Talukas were divided into 56 mandals.^{[citation needed]}

S.No.	Separated from	Erstwhile talukas in newly formed Prakasam district 1971	Newly formed Talukas in 1978	Newly formed Mandals in 1985
1	Guntur district	Ongole	Ongole	Ongole, Tangutur, Kothapatnam
			Maddipadu	Maddipadu, Chimakurthy, Santhanuthalapadu
2		Chirala	Chirala	Chirala, Vetapalem, Chinganjam, Naguluppalapadu
			Parchur	Parchur, Karamchedu, Inkollu
3		Addanki	Addanki	Addanki, Korisapadu, Janakavaram Pungaluru
			Santhamaguluru	Santhamaguluru, Ballikuruva, Martur, Yeddanapudi
4	Kurnool District	Giddalur	Giddalur	Giddalur, Racherla, Komarolu
			Bestavaripeta	Ardhaveedu, Cumbum, Bestavaripeta
5		Markapuram	Markapuram	Markapuram, Peda araveedu, Dornala
			Yerragondapalem	Yerragondapalem, Pullalacheruvu, Tripuranthakam
6	Nellore District	Podili	Podili	Podili, Marripudi, Konakanamitla [part]
			Tarlupadu	Tarlupadu, Konakanamitla [part]
7		Darsi		Donakonda, Kurichedu,
			Darsi	Darsi, Mundlamuru, Thallur
8		Kanigiri	Kanigiri	Kanigiri, Hanumanthunipadu, Veligandla, Pedacherlopalle [part]
			Pamuru	Pamuru, Chandrasekharapuram, Pedacherlopalle [part]
9		Kandukur	Kandukur	Kandukur, Ulavapadu, Gudluru, Lingasamudram, Voletivaripalem
			Kondapi	Kondapi, Zarugumilli, Singarayakonda, Ponnaluru

Towns in Prakasam District

Municipal Bodies in Prakasam district.

S.No.	Towns	Civic status of Town	Municipality Formation Year	No. of Wards	2011 Census Population	2001 Census Population	1991 Census Population	1981 Census Population	1971 Census Population	1961 Census Population	1951 Census Population
1	Ongole	Municipal Corporation	1876	50	208,344	153,829	128,648	85,302	53,330	35,804	27,810
2	Chirala	Municipality Grade - 1	1948	33	162,471	129,242	1,08,467	72,040	54,487	45,410	37,729
3	Markapuram	Municipality Grade - 2	1964	35	72,573	58,462	45,563	34,381	22,263	16,665	11,794
4	Addanki	Nagar Panchayat	2011	20	48,022	35,019	24,0448	16,618	10,223	7,438	12,075
5	Kanigiri	Nagar Panchayat	2011	20	37,420	31,122	21,098	16,717	11,430	9,529	8,321
6	Giddalur	Nagar Panchayat	2011	20	35,150	26,977	23,707	19,188	14,830	12,084	8,074
7	Darsi	Nagar Panchayat	2020	20	33,418	25,907	-	-	-	-	-
8	Poidili	Nagar Panchayat	2020	20	31,145	26,665	-	-	-	-	-
9	Chimkurthy	Nagar Panchayat	2011	20	30,279	22,042	-	-	-	-	-

Erstwhile Talukas [Non-municipalities]

S.No.	Erstwhile Talukas	Civic status of Town	2011 Census Population	2001 Census Population
1	Pamuru	Census Town	20,000	15,245
2	Yerragondapalem	Grama Panchayat	19,398	15,269
3	Parchur	Grama Panchayat	13,375	13,379
4	Santhamaguluru	Grama Panchayat	9,687	7,916
5	Bestavaripeta	Grama Panchayat	7,606	6,526
6	Maddipadu	Grama Panchayat	6,480	4,713
7	Tarlupadu	Grama Panchayat	5,628	5,458
8	Kondapi	Grama Panchayat	4,928	4,393

Census Towns in Prakasam District.

S.No.	Town	Civic status of town	2011 Census Population	2001 Census Population	1991 Census Population	1981 Census Population
1	Singarayakonda	Census Town	19,400	16,686	13,909	10,204
2	Cumbum	Census Town	15,169	-	-	-
3	Mulaguntapadu	Census Town	7,145	-	-	-

• Vetapalem is included in Chirala town's population.

Transport

The total road length of state highways in the district is 1,184 km (736 mi).[21] The district is well connected by National highways, state highways and district roads as well. The NH 16 passes through Ongole which is the major highway connecting Howrah – Chennai, a part of Asian Highway Network AH45. APSRTC, a state government public bus transport operates services.

The district has a rail network of 406 km (252 mi). The entire rail network is under South Central Railway zone. Ongole is one of the main stations of this district and most of the stations are under Vijayawada railway division.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation, has granted site clearance for setting up of a Greenfield Airport at Ongole.^{[citation needed]}

Notable personalities

There are many noted people from the district including Tanguturi Prakasam, a freedom fighter who was also the Chief Minister of Andhra State and Chief Minister of Madras Presidency. Mirza Ghouse Baig, M.A.LL.B Retired District Judge a second world war veteran who led the mutiny against the Britishers at Ambala Cantt. U. Aswathanarayana who was a Director of the Mahadevan International Centre for Water Resources Management in India. From the film industry personalities include Bhanumathi Ramakrishna was a film actress who was also a producer, director and singer. D. Ramanaidu, film producer; Tottempudi Krishna, film director and editor; Giri Babu, film actor; Raghu Babu, film actor and comedian in Telugu cinema; Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, comedian in Telugu cinema. Pullela Gopichand, an all-england champion and national badminton coach; Yarlagadda Nayudamma is a consultant paediatric surgeon. He is the only Indian surgeon to have successfully separated three sets of Conjoined Twins fused at three different locations – head, thorax-abdomen and pelvis; Former HRD Minister in the UPA 2 government Daggubati Purandeswari daughter of N. T. Rama Rao and is married to Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, GVL Narsimha Rao are nationally visible faces from the villages in the district. Artists family of Thimmiri Narasimharao,( Thimmiri naresh babu, (tollywood art director) thimmiri raveendra(secretary of srusti art academy) thimmiri bhanuchandar (artist), battula vani ( drawing teacher).

Education

The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the state's School Education Department.[22][23] As per the school information report for the academic year 2015–16, there are a total of 4,311 schools. They include, 33 government, 2,949 mandal and zilla parishads, 1 residential, 1079 private, 10 model, 37 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), 50 municipal and 152 other types of schools.[24] The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 562,510.[25] The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 461,065.[25]

References

External links

• Official site

На других языках

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[de] Prakasam (Distrikt)

Prakasam (Telugu: ప్రకాశం జిల్లా) ist einer von 13 Distrikten des indischen Bundesstaats Andhra Pradesh. Der Verwaltungssitz ist die Stadt Ongole.

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- [en] Prakasam district

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[ru] Пракасам

Пракасам (телугу ప్రకాశం జిల్లా; англ. Prakasam) — округ на востоке индийского штата Андхра-Прадеш. Образован 2 февраля 1970 года из частей территорий округов Гунтур, Неллуру и Карнул. Административный центр — город Онголе. Площадь округа — 17 626 км². По данным всеиндийской переписи 2001 года население округа составляло 3 059 423 человека. Уровень грамотности взрослого населения составлял 57,4 %, что немного ниже среднеиндийского уровня (59,5 %). Доля городского населения составляла 15,3 %.

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