About Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is the 4th biggest state in India. It was Amarajeevi Potti Sri Ramulu who fasted until death in an effort to gain an independent state, and protect the interests of the Telugu people of the then Madras presidency. His death was followd by a huge Public outcry and civil unrest which forced the government to announce the formation of a new state for Telugu speaking people. Andhra attained statehood on 1st October 1953 with Kurnool as its capital.

On 1st November 1956, Andhra State merged with the Telangana region of Hyderabad State to form the state of Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad, the former capital of the Hyderabad State, was made the capital of the new state Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh today has 23 districts namely Adilabad, Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, East Godavari, Guntur, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Krishna, Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Prakasam, Rangareddy, Srikakulam, Sri Potti Sreeramulu Nellore, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Warangal and West Godavari

Andhra Pradesh has a Legislative Assembly of 294 seats, the Legislative Council of 90 members. The state has 60 members in the Parliament of India. 18 in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House and 42 in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House.

Agriculture is the main source of income for the state's economy. The Godavari , Krishna and Thungabhadra are three important reivers that flow through the state, providing irrigation. Rice, Sugarcane, Cotton, Mirchi (chilli pepper), Mango and Tobacco are the local crops. Recently, crops used for vegetable oil production such as sunflower and peanuts have gained favour.

There are two seasons namely Rabi & Khariff during which cultivation is done. In certain regions around the delta of river Godavari & Krishna, cultivation is done in 3 seasons too.

Off late IT, ITES, Bio-Technology are slowly becoming main stream of income in the cities. With the establishment of Multi-National Companies and formation of SEZ's, the youth of Andhra are provided with jobs in different IT sectors. Companies like Microsoft, GE, Google, HSBC, Deloitte have established their centers here which have huge employee base. Indian companies like Wipro, Infosys, Mahindra-Satyam have also established their SEZ's around Hyderabad thereby providing employement to thousands of engineers.

Prior to formation of Andhra Pradesh, the transport system here was known as Nizams Railway & Road Transport which later split into two parts. APSRTC - Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation and South Central Railways which is the part of Indian Railways.

APSRTC today is the biggest road tranport system in India and considered to be one of the biggest in the world with a fleet of 25000 buses. Around 1.5 crore people use its services every day. Almost every corner of the state is connected by today by their service. In the bigger cities like Hyderabad, Vijawada, Vishakapatanam, Tirupathi & Warangal local buses also ply on vaarious routes providing good transport system. Over one lakh emplpoyees work in this corporation which makes it one of the biggest public corporations in India. Different categories of buses offer services & ticket price is accordingly fixed. Its revenue per annum is close to 5000 crores.

SCR as it is popularly known has its head quarters in Secunderabad. All of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Maharastra & Karnataka come under its jurisdiction. Lot of express trains originate in Secunderabad and lot of express trains like Rajdhani pass through secunderabad. Most of the track have been elecitified. All major towns and cities in AP are connected well by the railway network. Vijayawada is one of the biggest junctions in this network.