Prakasam district

Prakasam district is one of the twelve districts in the coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It was formed in 1970 and reorganised on 4 April 2022. 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 in the north, Nandyal district in the west, Kadapa and Nellore districts in the south. A part of north west region also borders with Nagarkurnool district of Telangana. It is the largest district in the state with an area of 14322 km2 and had a population of 22,88,026 as per 2011 Census of India.

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.

History
Prakasam district was originally constituted on 2 February 1970, carved out of Guntur, Nellore and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh. 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 undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Naxalite activity in Prakasam district used to be high during 2000s.

Geography
Prakasam district occupies an area of 14,322 km2. This district is bounded by Nagarkurnool district of Telangana state in the north, SPSR Nellore district in the south, Nandyal district in the west, Palnadu and Bapatla districts in the east, and the Bay of Bengal in the southeast.

The Nallamalas and the Veligondas are the major hill ranges in the district. The Nallamalas consist of a range of continuous fairly steep hills with an average elevation of about 620 meters above sea level. There are two passes in the Nallamalas namely, the Nandi Kanuma and Manbala Kanuma. The Nandi Kanuma passes from Bellary (in Karnataka) via Kurnool, Dornala, and Yerragondapalem to Markapur. The portions of Veligondas stand prominently as two continuous parallel ranges of fairly steep hills running in a north-south direction with a wide valley in between. The water from the eastern range of hills drains in a northerly direction to the Gundlakamma river.

The district has 50 kilometres of coastline. Kothapatnam of Kothapatnam Mandal and Pakala of Singarayakonda Mandal are prominent beaches. Gundlakamma, Musi and Paleru are the major rivers in the district. Smaller rivers such as the Thammileru, Sagileru and Gudisileru and streams like Ogeru vagu, Nallavagu and Vedimangala Vagu also flow in the district. The Gundlakumma river flows for a length of 220 kilometres in the district. Thippayapalem Reservoir, Duvvaleru Project, Cumbum tank and Bhavanasi tanks are constructed on this river.

Climate
The district has a moderate climate in the coastal areas and a hot climate in the non-coastal areas. The normal maximum and minimum temperatures recorded in the district are 40.20 C and 20.30 C respectively. The maximum temperature is usually recorded in the months of April - June. The district receives its rainfall mostly from South West and North-East monsoon. The normal rainfall is 366.2 mm and 384.7 mm respectively.

Flora and Fauna
The total forest area is 4,42,073 Ha. which forms 30.86% of the total geographical area. Orchids, casuarinas and cashew plantations are common in the coastal areas. The Nallamalla forest has wildlife including tigers.

Irrigation
Nagarjuna Sagar Project and Krishna Western Delta are major irrigation projects. Mopadu Reservoir, Paleru-Bitragunta Anicut, and Cumbum Tank are major sources of medium irrigation. 798 minor irrigation tanks support an ayacut of 89,267 Hectares.

Mineral resources
Chimakurthi is known for its granite reserves. Markapur is India's main slate-manufacturing town. The minerals found in the district are Baryte, iron ore, quartz, and silica sand.

Demographics
As of the 2011 census of India, the undivided 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%). There are 19,04,435 literates with a literacy rate of 63.08%.

After bifurcation, the district had a population of 22,88,026, of which 444,865 (19.44%) lived in urban areas. Prakasam district had a sex ratio of 971 females per 1000 males. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 537,159 (23.48%) and 88,209 (3.86%) of the population respectively.

At the time of the 2011 census, 93.88% of the population spoke Telugu and 5.05% Urdu as their first language in the undivided district

Economy
The Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP) of the undivided district is inr 359620000000 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 inr 85765. The primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the district contribute inr 128750000000, inr 78970000000 and inr 151900000000, respectively. 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.

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. 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.

Mining
The district leads in granite mining in the state with discovery of Galaxy Granite in the Chimakurthy area of the district.

Parliament segments
Ongolu Parliamentary constituency, from this constituency Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy (Telugu Desam Party) was representing, won in 2024 and 2019.

Bapatla Parliamentary constituency (sc) (partial), from this constituency Tenneti Krishna Prasad (Telugu Desam Party) was representing, won in 2024.

Assembly segments
Ongole and Bapatla Parliament constituency presently comprises the following Legislative Assembly segments:

Administrative divisions
The District comprises three revenue divisions viz., Ongole, Kanigiri and Markapur. There are a total of 38 mandals, with 12 in Ongole division, 13 in Kanigiri division and 13 in Markapur division. Ongole mandal is proposed to be divided into Ongole Urban and Ongole Rural mandals in 2023.

Urban administrative divisions of Panchayatraj include Ongole (Municipal Corporation),  Markapur (Municipality) and 5 Nagar panchayats for  Chimakurthy, Giddalur, Podili, Darsi and Kanigiri.

The rural administrative divisions of Panchayatraj include 715 Gram Panchayats. There are about 769 Inhabited Revenue villages in the district.

Mandals
The list of 39 mandals in Prakasam district under three revenue divisions are listed in the following table:
 * 1) Kanigiri revenue division
 * 2) Chandrasekharapuram
 * 3) Darsi
 * 4) Donakonda
 * 5) Hanumanthunipadu
 * 6) Kanigiri
 * 7) Konakanamitla
 * 8) Kurichedu
 * 9) Marripudi
 * 10) Pamur
 * 11) Pedacherlopalle
 * 12) Podili
 * 13) Ponnaluru
 * 14) Veligandla
 * 15) Markapur revenue division
 * 16) Ardhaveedu
 * 17) Bestavaripeta
 * 18) Cumbum
 * 19) Dornala
 * 20) Giddalur
 * 21) Komarolu
 * 22) Markapuram
 * 23) Pedda Araveedu
 * 24) Pullalacheruvu
 * 25) Racherla
 * 26) Tarlupadu
 * 27) Tripuranthakam
 * 28) Yerragondapalem
 * 29) Ongole revenue division
 * 30) Chimakurthy
 * 31) Kondapi
 * 32) Kothapatnam
 * 33) Maddipadu
 * 34) Mundlamuru
 * 35) Naguluppalapadu
 * 36) Ongole Rural
 * 37) Ongole Urban
 * 38) Santhanuthalapadu
 * 39) Singarayakonda
 * 40) Tanguturu
 * 41) Thallur
 * 42) Zarugumalli

Transport
The total road length of state highways in the undivided district is 1184 km. 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 the cities of Howrah and Chennai, a part of Asian Highway Network AH45.

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

Education
The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the state's School Education Department. 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. The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 562,510. The total number of students enrolled in primary, upper primary and high schools of the district are 461,065.

Rajeev Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Ongole campus is at Santhanuthalapadu. Andhra Kesari University was approved in 2021.

Tourism


The Bhairavakona cave temples in the district are 8th-century single rock-cut cave temples (similar to Mahabalipuram) for Lord Shiva. Other religious places include the Sri Bala Tripuranthakeswara and Sri Bala Tripurasundaridevi temples at Tripuranthakam and the Chenna Kesava temple in Markapur.

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 and width is 3 km. It has received World Heritage Irrigation Structure (WHIS) tag in the year 2020 by UNESCO.

Some notable people

 * Tanguturi Prakasam: a freedom fighter who was also the first Chief Minister of Andhra State and Chief Minister of Madras Presidency.
 * U. Aswathanarayana: director of the Mahadevan International Centre for Water Resources Management in India.
 * Bhanumathi Ramakrishna: a film actress who was also a producer, director and singer.
 * D. Ramanaidu: a film producer
 * Tottempudi Krishna: a film director and editor
 * Tottempudi Gopichand: a film actor known for his antagonistic roles in the films, Jayam (2002) and Varsham (2004)
 * Giri Babu: a film actor
 * Raghu Babu: a film actor and comedian in Telugu cinema
 * Dharmavarapu Subramanyam: a comedian in Telugu cinema
 * Pullela Gopichand: an all-england champion and national badminton coach
 * Yarlagadda Nayudamma: a consultant paediatric surgeon. 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: a BJP politician.
 * Mokshagundam Viswesvarayya: A prominent Civil Engineer who built and planned many projects like the Tirupati ghat roads and more.