Chittoor district


Chittoor district, is one of the four districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The district headquarters is located at Chittoor. It has a population of 4,170,468 according to 2011 census of India. Chittoor district has many major temples including Tirupati, Srikalahasti, Kanipakam, and other temples. It lies in the Poini river valley of southernmost Andhra Pradesh along the Chennai – Bangalore section of Chennai-Mumbai highway. Chittoor district is a major market centre for mangoes, grains, sugarcane, and peanuts. Sricity integrated business city lies in Satyavedu mandal; it acts as a major industrial hub for Chittoor district as well as Andhra Pradesh as a whole.

Etymology

The district derived its name from its headquarters Chittoor.

History

After the Indian independence in 1947, Chittoor became a part of the erstwhile Madras state. The modern Chittoor District was formerly North Arcot District, which was established by the British in the 19th century had Chittoor as its headquarters. On 1 April 1911, district was split into Chittoor District and North Arcot District.
Chittoor District was formed on 1 April 1911, taking Chittoor, Palamaneru, Chandragiri from the then North Arcot District of Madras State and Madanapalli, Vayalpadu from Kadapa and Punganur, Sri Kalahasti, Karvetinagar from Zamindari tahsils of the Chittoor district to form united Chittoor district. In 1960, 319 villages in Chittoor district were added into Chingleput District now Kanchipuram district and Thiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu and subsequently Sathyavedu and Kuppam of Chingleput District was transferred to Chittoor district on linguistic basis based on the Act called The Andhra Pradesh And Madras Act, 1959.
Chandragiri, a suburban area of Tirupati served as fourth capital of Vijayanagar empire.

Geography

Chittoor is a part of Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. The district occupies an area of. The district is bounded by Anantapur District to the northwest, Kadapa District to the north, Nellore District to the northeast, Krishnagiri District, Vellore District, Tirupathur district and Tiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu state to the south, and Kolar District of Karnataka state to the west. Chittoor district lies extreme south of the Andhra Pradesh state approximately between 12°37′ - 14°8′ north latitudes and 78°3′ - 79°55′ east longitudes. Thirty percent of the total land area is covered by forests in the district. Mango and tamarind groves surround the city of Chittoor, and cattle are raised in the district. The soils in the district constitute red loamy 57%, red sandy 34% and the remaining 9% is covered by black clay black loamy, black sandy and red clay Chittoor is 160 km from Chennai, 180 km from Bangalore and 590 km from Hyderabad.

Hydrology

The important rivers in the district are Ponnai and Swarnamukhi rivers which originate in eastern ghats. Other rivers include Kusasthali, Beema, Bahuda, Pincha, Kalyani, Araniyar and Pedderu. None of the rivers are perennial. Main rivers include Swarnamukhi, Kalangi, Papaghni, Koundinya, Paleru, Arani, Pinchcha, Cheyyeru, Neeva and Kusasthali

Climate

The temperature in the western parts of the district like Punganur, Madanapalle, Horsley Hills are relatively lower than the eastern parts of the Chittoor District. This is because of the higher altitude of the western parts compared to the eastern parts. The summer temperatures touches 46 °C in the eastern parts whereas in the western parts it ranges around 36° to 38 °C. Similarly the winter temperatures of the western parts are relatively low ranging around 12 °C to 14 °C and in eastern parts it is 16 °C to 18 °C.
Chittoor district receives an annual rainfall of 918.1 mm. The South West Monsoon and North East Monsoon are the major sources of rainfall for the district. On average the district receives 438.0 mm of rainfall through the South West Monsoon and 396.0 mm from North East Monsoon. The rainfall received by the district in the years 2002 and 2003 are 984.2 mm and 934 mm respectively.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Chittoor district has a population of 4,174,064. This gives it a ranking of 47th in India and 6th in its state. The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 11.33%. Chittoor has a sex ratio of 1002 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 72.36%.
In 2007–2008 the International Institute for Population Sciences interviewed 1010 households in 38 villages across the district. They found that 92.7% had access to electricity, 99.6% had drinking water, 33.3% toilet facilities, and 53.8% lived in a pucca home. 29.3% of girls wed before the legal age of 18 and 88.2% of interviewees carried a BPL card.
Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and English are official languages.

Divisions

The district is divided into 3 revenue divisions viz., Chittoor, Tirupati and Madanapalle. Each revenue division is divided into mandals. The district has 66 mandals under these 3 revenue divisions. There are 2 Municipal Corporations of Chittoor and Tirupati and 6 municipalities of Madanapalle, Punganur, Palamaner, Nagari, Srikalahasti and Puttur in the district.
NoChittoor DivisionMadanapalle DivisionTirupati Division
1BangarupalemB.KothakotaBuchinaidu khandriga
2ChittoorBaireddipalleChandragiri
3Gangadhara NelloreChinnagottigalluKVB Puram
4GudipalaChowdepalleNagalapuram
5IralaYerravaripalemPakala
6KarvetinagarGangavaramPitchatur
7NagariGudupallePulicherla
8NarayanavanamGurramkondaRenigunta
9NindraKalakadaSathyavedu
10PalasamudramKalikiriSrikalahasti
11PenumuruKambhamvaripalleThottambedu
12PuthalapattuKuppamTirupati
13PutturKurabalakotaTirupati
14RamachandrapuramMadanapalleVaradaiahpalem
15SrirangarajapuramMulakalacheruvuYerpedu
16ThavanampalleNimmanapalli
17Vadamalapetapalamaner
18VedurukuppamPeddamandyam
19VijayapuramPeddapanjani
20YadamariPeddathippasamudram
21Piler
22Punganur
23Ramakuppam
24Ramasamudram
25Rompicherla
26Sadam
27Santhipuram
28Somala
29Thamballapalle
30Valmikipuram
31Venkatagirikota

Politics
There are 14 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly MLA constituencies in Chittoor district.

Economy

The Gross District Domestic Product of the district is and it contributes 6.6% to the Gross State Domestic Product. For the FY 2013–14, the per capita income at current prices was. The primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the district contribute, and respectively. The major products contributing to the GVA of the district from agriculture and allied services are, sugarcane, groundnut, tomato, mango, milk, meat and fisheries. The GVA to the industrial and service sector is contributed from construction, electricity, manufacturing, education and ownership of dwellings.
In 2006 the Indian government named Chittoor one of the country's 250 most backward districts. It is one of the thirteen districts in Andhra Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.

Notable people

The district has road connectivity by means of national and state highways. The main part of the
National Highways runs through Chittoor City National Highway 69 and National Highway 40 that connects the main metro cities of South India from Bangalore to Chennai. National Highway 71 connecting Madanapalle and Nayudupeta; NH 716 connecting Chennai in Tamil Nadu passes through the district. The total road length of state highways in the district is.

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 6,100 schools. They include, 45 government, 4,507 mandal and zilla parishads, 2 residential, 1,268 private, 17 model, 20 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, 158 municipal and 84 other types of schools. The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 562,504. Chittoor district is home to the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory of the Department of Space. The lab is involved in carrying out fundamental and applied research in Atmospheric and Space Sciences.

Temples

There are forty-three temples under the management of Endowments Department