Chittoor district

Etymology

The district derived its name from its headquarters Chittoor.

History

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 provinces to form united Chittoor district. Later in the Apri1 1 1960 319 villages of chittoor district were added into the then Kanchipuram districtand Thiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu through the demands of Ma. Po. Si. and other leaders.

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 15,359 square kilometres (5,930 sq mi). The district is bounded by Anantapur District to the northwest, Kadapa District to the north, Nellore District to the northeast, Krishnagiri District, Vellore 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 (From June to September) and 396.0 mm from North East Monsoon (From October to December). 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 4,170,468. This gives it a ranking of 47th in India (out of a total of 640)and 6th in its state. The district has a population density of 275 inhabitants per square kilometre (710/sq mi) . 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 (permanent) home. 29.3% of girls wed before the legal age of 18 and 88.2% of interviewees carried a BPL card.

Telugu is both the official and spoken language in the district. A large number of Tamil speakers are concentrated in the district due to its ancient close proximity with separated from Tamil Nadu.

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.

Politics

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

Economy

In 2006 the Indian government named Chittoor 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).

Notable people

Transport

The total of core road network of the district is 1,102.545 km (685.090 mi). It includes, 448.665 km (278.788 mi) of existing and a proposed length of 653.880 km (406.302 mi).

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 (KGBV), 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 (NARL) of the Department of Space. The lab is involved in carrying out fundamental and applied research in Atmospheric and Space Sciences.