District Profile

Kurnool District is a district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, located in the west-central part. The city of Kurnool is the headquarters of the district. It has a population of 4,053,463 of which 28.35% were urban as of 2011. It occupies 10th and 2nd place in terms of area in Largest Districts of India [4] accounting for 17,658 square kilometres (6,818 sq mi) and 53rd place in terms of Population in India. Telugu is the official as well as the most widely spoken language in Kurnool. Languages such as Kannada and Urdu are spoken by a tiny minority of the population in Kurnool District.

History

Palaeolothic era

The Ketavaram rock paintings are dated back to the Paleolithic era (located at a distance of 18 km (11 mi) from Kurnool). Also the Jurreru Valley, Katavani Kunta and Yaganti in Kurnool District have some important rock art's and painting's in their vicinity, may be dated back to 35,000 to 40,000 years ago.

Buddhism and Jainism

Belum Caves are geologically and historically important caves in the district. There are indications that Jain's and Buddhist monks were occupying these caves centuries ago. Many Buddhists relics were found inside the caves. These relics are now housed in Museum at Ananthapuramu. Archaeological survey of India (ASI) also found remnants of vessels, etc. of pre-Buddhist era and has dated the remnants of vessels found in the caves to 4500 BC.

Medieval era

In 12th century AD, the Odders, who carted stones for the construction of the temple at Alampur, Mahaboobnagar District in T.S., on the left bank of the River Thungabhadra, used the site where the town now stands as a stopping place before crossing the Tungabhadra. They greased their cart wheels with grease supplied by local grease merchants and called the place 'Kandanavolu' which in course of time came to be known as Kurnool.

Of historical interest are the ruins of a royal fort dating back to the medieval kingdom of Vijayanagar, which flourished from the 14th to the 16th century. Several Hindu Temple's as Ahobilam, Mahanandi, Yaganti, Srisailam, Kolimigundla, Omkaram were developed during the era of Vijayanagar Dynasty.

Several Persian and Arabic inscriptions which throw light on various aspects of historical interests are found here. In Kurnool there are 52 dargahs (shrines) located around the Thungabhadra and Hundari rivers. A very famous and lengthy K.C. Canal starts in Kurnool and ends in Cuddapah. It is around 300 km (190 mi) long. In Kurnool city there are a number of ancient temples, churches and mosques. Kurnool city, known as the gateway to the Rayalaseema, on N.H.44 (Kanyakumari to Varanasi) on the banks of the Rivers Thungabhadra and the Hundri was the capital of the first linguistic state in free India, Andhra State from 1 Oct. 1953 to 31 Oct. 1956. As such it has some historical buildings.

Kurnool has freedom fighters like Vuyyalawada Narsimha Reddy, Gadicharla Harisarvothama Rao. Zilla Grandhalaya Samstha (ZGS) and the District Central Libray (DCL), Kurnool, building near the old Bus stand is named 'GADICHARLA HARISARVOTHAMA RAO SMARAKA BHAVANAMU". It is the second district, apart from Nellore (Bejawada Gopal Reddy 'Andhra state' & Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy), which has contributed two Chief Ministers to Andhra Pradesh: Damodaram Sanjeevaiah (1st dalit Chief Minister of India and A.P),Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy. 10th Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao was elected as member of parliament from Nandyal constituency with over 6 lakh (600,000) majority, a world record.

Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy (Ananthapur District) was elected from the Dhone assembly constituency in 1962 general elections and became the Chief Minister of AP. Again in 1977 general elections to the Lok Sabha, he won from the Nandyal Parliamentary constituency and became the speaker of the Lok Sabha. However he resigned and became the 6th President of the Republic of India. In 1970, part of Kurnool district was split off to become part of Prakasam district. Kurnool District is currently a part of the Red Corridor.

Geography

Kurnool district occupies an area of approximately 17,658 square kilometres (6,818 sq mi),comparatively equivalent to New Caledonia. The village of Ternekal lies within this region. Kurnool is surrounded by districts of Mahbubnagar district of Telangana to the north, Anantapur Dsitrict, Kadapa District to south, Praksam District to east and Bellary of Karnataka to the west. The Nallamalas and Erramalas mountain ranges in the district run parallel from the North to South. The ranges divide the district into two tracts crossed by the Krishna and Pennar rivers. The North Pagidyala mandal is about 1000 above sea level. From this height the ground slopes to the South along the river Kundu until it traverses into the Pennar valley. Major part of its tract is black soil. Between the Erramalas and Nallamalas lies the Eastern part of the district comprising numerous villages and towns

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Kurnool district has a population of 4,046,601, roughly equal to the nation of Liberia[13] or the US state of Oregon.This gives it a ranking of 54th in India (out of a total of 640).The district has a population density of 229 inhabitants per square kilometre (590 /sq mi) .Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 14.65%. Kurnool has a sex ratio of 984 females for every 1000 males,and a literacy rate of 61.13%.

From the years the people can be divided broadly divided into landlords and agricultural labors. The communities are affectionate to one another and loyal to their landlord. Even today the rural population are agricultural labors without any sizeable land holdings.That's why Kurnool District is known for the effective implementation of The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGS) among all districts of Andhra Pradesh and even India. In recent times there has been massive migration of rural population to cities like Guntur, Bellary and Bangalore.

Today one can find hundreds of villages in the western part of the district going empty. Long-term steps need to be implemented to provide rural employment by setting up rural industries. What is needed is good and sustained school education for the children.