Andhra Pradesh was formed on 1st November, 1956. It is the fifth largest State with an area of 2,76,754 sq. km, accounting for 8.4 % of India's territory. The State has the longest coastline (972 km) among all the States in India. Andhra Pradesh Historically, the earliest mention of the Andhras appeared in the Aitareya Brahmana (B.C.800). It was called Dakshina Padh during those days. Megasthenese, who visited the Court of Chandragupta Maurya (B.C.322 - 297), mentioned that the Andhra country had 30 fortified towns and an army of 1,00,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 elephants. Buddhist books reveal that the Andhras established their kingdoms on the Godavari belt at that time. Asoka referred in his 13th rock edict to the Andhras. Telugu is the official language and Nannaya's (1022--1063) translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata is the earliest piece of Telugu literature as yet discovered. The diction is so masterly that historians think that there must have been earlier works in Telugu.
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Andhra Pradesh a rich cultural, religious and literary tradition with major contributions to Carnatic Music, where Telugu became the preferred language: for composing classical music in South India and to Classical dance through Kuchipudi. The State has also had a large number of eminent poets right from Nannaya to the modern times.
The 17th century was the golden age of Urdu, with poets like Mohammed Quli, Mulla Wajhi, and Sheikh Ahmed contributing to the literature. Some of the prominent religious towns and temples
include Tirupati, Annavaram, Bhadrachalam, Basara, Ahobilam, Srisailam, Mantralayam and Kalahasti.
Administrative excellence, which for instance, was seen during the Kakatiya and the Vijayanagar dynasties. Some of the country’s leading educational Institutions like CCMB, ICRISAT, ISB, IIIT, University of Hyderabad and NIT, Warangal are located in Andhra Pradesh. A strong base in Information Technology with perhaps the largest pool of trained software professionals in the country.
It ranks 2nd in the country in mineral wealth and has good hydroelectric potential, some which has been tapped. It has about one third of India's limestone, at about 30 billion tonnes. The state
ranks first nationwide in hydro electricity generation with national market share of over 11% Recent discoveries of abundant natural gas off the coast near the Godavari basin. Compared to most States, Andhra Pradesh has a good quality road network, rail connectivity (except for some tribal regions), sea ports and air connectivity. However, given the growing aspirations of people, this needs to be further built up.
However, recently the performance has been very good. Andhra Pradesh achieved a record growth rate of 10.37 per cent. This is 1.57 per cent higher than that of the previous year. According to data released by the Central Statistical Organization, Andhra Pradesh has crossed the national average growth rate of 8.73 per cent. For the first time in its history, Andhra Pradesh has achieved double-digit growth. Industrial investments in the state rose to Rs.12,350 crores during the last three and half years up to 2006-07, generating additional employment to 172,616 persons, as against an investment of Rs.4,524 crores during 2001-04. According to a Reserve Bank of India report released in August, 2007, Andhra Pradesh ranked second among the states in the country for total investment
intentions for 2006-07, next only to Gujarat.
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Agriculture, a traditional area of strength, recorded a growth rate of 8.38 per cent as against the national average of 2.59 per cent. This offset the below average growth rates in the last decade. Performance in the social sector has lagged behind resulting in poor quality of services in health and education. The amount of total foreign direct investment between 1991 and 2002 was Rs. 13092 crores. Andhra Pradesh attracted FDI equivalent to $138 million recently and entered the list of top 5 States in India.
Transparency India ranks Andhra Pradesh as the 4th best State in terms of corruption perception [4]. Perhaps the largest number of students studying in elite Institutions like the IITs and IIIT are from
Andhra Pradesh. IT exports reached Rs.19,000 million in 2006 - 2007 and ranked fourth in India. The service sector of the state already accounts for 43% of the GSDP and employs 20% of the work force.
Andhra Pradesh is thus poised to make significant progress on various fronts. The people of Andhra Pradesh are enthusiastic about moving ahead as reflected in the vision that emerged from this study. In particular the younger generation is eager to make progress and is upbeat about the future. They are also interested in contributing to the development of the State.
Andhra Pradesh Vision 2025
The vision that emerged was holistic and inclusive. It embraced economics, society, culture, environment and good governance. It also made special efforts to address the issues of poverty and human development, regional imbalances and eliminating discrimination based on gender, caste or religion. There was a strong consensus on universal primary education, inclusive growth, sustainability in development, and ensuring that the fruits of development spread to all the Districts. Thefollowing vision therefore emerged.
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