Geography and climate
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Geographically, Andhra Pradesh is composed of most of the eastern half of the Deccan plateau and the plains to the east of the Eastern Ghats. Andhra Pradesh is divided into three regions. The northern part of the plateau is the Telangana region and the southern part is known as Rayalaseema. These two regions are separated by the River Krishna. The third region is Coastal Andhra.[21] The plains to the east of Eastern Ghats form the Eastern coastal plains. The Eastern Ghats are discontinuous and individual sections have local names. The Kadapa Basin[22] formed by two arching branches of the Eastern Ghats is a mineral rich area. The coastal plains are for the most part delta regions formed by theGodavari, Krishna, andPenner rivers. The Eastern Ghats are a major dividing line in the state's geography. The Ghats become more pronounced towards the south and extreme north of the coast. The Eastern Ghat region is home to dense tropical forests, while the vegetation becomes sparse as the Ghats give way to the Deccan Plateau, where shrub vegetation is more common. Most of the coastal plains are put to intense agricultural use. The west and southwest parts of Andhra Pradesh have semi-arid conditions.
The climate of Andhra Pradesh varies considerably, depending on the geographical region. Monsoons play a major role in determining the climate of the state. Summers last from March to June. In the coastal plain, the summer temperatures are generally higher than the rest of the state, with temperature ranging between 20 °C and 41 °C.[23]
July to September is the seasons for tropical rains in Andhra Pradesh. The state receives heavy rainfall from Southwest Monsoon during these months. About one third of the total rainfall in Andhra Pradesh is brought by the Northeast Monsoon. October and November see low-pressure systems and tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal which, along with the Northeast Monsoon, bring rains to the southern and coastal regions of the state. November, December, January, and February are the winter months in Andhra Pradesh. Since the state has a long coastal belt the winters are not very cold. The range of winter temperature is generally 12 °C to 30 °C.[23]
Hyderabad is the capital and, along with the adjoining twin city Secunderabad, is the largest city in the state.Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh's main seaport, is the second largest city and is home to the Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command. Due to its location and proximity to major rail and road routes, Vijayawada is a major trading center and is the third largest city of the state, followed by Tirupati,Rajahmundry, Warangal, Kakinada and Guntur. Other important cities of the state are Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa, and Karimnagar.
[edit]Demographics
| [hide]Population Trend | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1961 | 35,983,000 | ||
| 1971 | 43,503,000 | 20.9% | |
| 1981 | 53,550,000 | 23.1% | |
| 1991 | 66,508,000 | 24.2% | |
| 2001 | 75,727,000 | 13.9% | |
| 2011 | 84,655,533 | 11.8% | |
| Source:Census of India[24] | |||
Telugu is the official language of the state, spoken by 83% of the population. Major linguistic minority groups include Urdu (8.63%), Hindi (3.23%), and Tamil (1.01%).
Other languages spoken in Andhra Pradesh by less than 1% each are Marathi (0.8%), Kannada(0.74%), and Oriya (0.44%). Languages spoken by less than 0.2% of the population include Malayalam (0.08%),Gujarati (0.06%), Bengali (0.05%), Gorkhali/Nepali (0.03%), Punjabi (0.01%) and Sindhi(0.01%).[25]
The main ethnic group of Andhra Pradesh is the Telugu people, who are primarily Dravidians.
Andhra Pradesh ranks tenth compared to all Indian States in the Human Development Index scores[26] with a score of 0.416.
The National Council of Applied Economic Research district analysis in 2001 reveals that Khammam,Krishna, West Godavari, Chittoor, and Medak are the five districts with the highest Human Development Indexscores in ascending order in rural AP. The data show that the poor make up 16.3 per cent of the total population in rural AP and expenditure on consumption is around 13.5 per cent of the total consumption expenditure. The female literacy rate is 0.66 compared to male literacy rate in rural AP. The district-wise variations for poverty ratio are high and low for the ratio of female/male literacy rate.[27]
[edit]Economy
Main article: Economy of Andhra Pradesh
| Year | State GDP ( MM) |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 81,910 |
| 1985 | 152,660 |
| 1990 | 333,360 |
| 1995 | 798,540 |
| 2000 | 1,401,190 |
| 2007 | 2,294,610 |
Andhra Pradesh's GSDP for 2010 was estimated at $100.35 billion in current prices. The state ranks third in terms of overall Gross State Product among all the states of the Indian Union.[28] In terms of per capita GSDP the state compares very favorably with other large states. In the 2010 list by Forbes Magazine, there are Seven from Andhra Pradesh among the top 100 richest Indians.[citation needed]
Agriculture has been the chief source of income for the state's economy. Andhra Pradesh is an exporter of many agricultural products. Four important rivers of India, theGodavari, Krishna, Penna, and Thungabhadra flow through the state, providing irrigation. Rice, sugarcane,cotton, Chili pepper, mango, and tobacco are the local crops. Recently, crops used for vegetable oil production such as sunflower andpeanuts have gained favour. There are many multi-state irrigation projects in development, including Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects and Nagarjuna Sagar Dam.[29][30]
The service sector of the state accounts for 43% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) and employs 20% of the work force.[30]Andhra Pradesh economy has registered over 5.5% annual economic growth rate during the last two decades.[citation needed] The state is one of the most industrially developed states of India.[citation needed]
Andhra Pradesh ranks second in India in terms of mineral wealth. The state has about one third of India's limestone reserves, estimated at about 30 billion tonnes. The Krishna Godavari Basin has huge reserves of natural gas and petroleum. The state has a large amount of coal reserves.[30] The state ranks first nationwide in hydro electricity generation, with a national market share of over 11%. Andhra Pradesh has the second largest power generating utility in the country, with an installed capacity of around 10,650 MW. The two cheapest sources of thermal power generation – coal and natural gas – are in abundance.[citation needed]
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