Adilabad

Adilabad District (Telugu: ఆదిలాబాదు జిల్లా, Urdu: آدل آباد ضلع) is a district in Andhra Pradesh, India. The district headquarters is at Adilabad town. A famous Temple of the Goddess Saraswathi, the Hindu Goddess of Education, is located here in the town of Basara.

History and formation

The Adilabad district was named after the ruler of Bijapur Sultanate, Ali Adil Shah. The district was for long not a homogeneous unit and its component parts were ruled at different periods by dynasties namely, the Mauryas, Satavahanas, Vakatakas, Chalukyas of Badami, Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas of Kalyani, Mughals, Bhosle Rajes of Nagpur and Asaf Jahis, besides the Gond Rajas of Sirpur and Chanda.
Originally this was a sub-district named Sirpur-Tandur which was created in A.D. 1872 with Edlabad (Adilabad), Rajura and Sirpur as its constituent talukas. In 1905, an independent district with headquarters at Adilabad was formed.

Geography

The district is situated between 77.46' and 80.01', of the eastern longitudes and 18.40' and 19.56', of northern latitudes.
The district is situated on the northern boundary of Andhra Pradesh, forming a border with the Yeotmal and Chanda districts of Maharashtra on the north, east and western borders and Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts of Andhra Pradesh on the southern border.
The district occupies an area of 16,128 km² and is the fifth largest in Andhra Pradesh, occupying 5.90 percent of the area in Andhra Pradesh. It is however,the second largest district in the Telangana of the inhabited and 167 unihabited village and 11 Towns. The district has population of 2079098 which accounts for 3.13% of the total population of the State.
The Sahyadri parvat or Satnala range traverses the district from the north-west to the south-east for about 281.5 kilometers. In this range the Mahbubghat is the highest peak.
The most important river that drains the district is the River Godavari. The Penganga River, Wardha and Pranahita also drain the region. The Kadam and the Peddavagu are tributaries of the Godavari. There are also streams like Satnala, Swarnavagu, and Suddavagu which drain the district. The Godavari which is the largest river in peninsular India raises in the Western Ghats and enters this district near Basara in Mudhole Taluk. This mighty river forms the southern boundary of the district separating it from Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts. The Penganga forms part of the northern boundary of the district in Adilabad, while the Wardha and the Pranahita from the northern and eastern boundaries of the district.

Demography

• Area of Adilabad district is 16,128 km².
• Adilabad district has a population of 2,488,003 of which 660,017 (26.53%) is urban as of 2001.^[1]
• The increase in population during decennial ending 1991 over 1981 is 26.85%.
• Males constitutes 1,250,958 and females 1,237,045 of the population.
• The district is made up of a predominantly rural (73.52%) population.
• Males outnumber females in the ratio 1000:980
• The percentage of literate population (27.8%) is lower than the rest of the state (59.8%).
• The density of population of the district is 129 persons per km². as against the State average of 241 persons per km².
• Out of the total population of the district, 3.86 Lakhs persons are Scheduled Castes and 3.55 Lakhs persons are Scheduled Tribes forming 18.57% and 17.08% of the total population respectively. Most numerous among the Scheduled Tribes are the Raj Gonds.
• The total number of workers is 9,34,335 constituting 44.93% of the total population as against the state average of 45.27%. Out of the total main workers, cultivators form 34.09% and agricultural labourers form 34.88%.
• Main Religions are Hindus 2,207,843, Muslims 236,844 (9.52%), Buddhists 24,392.
  

 

Marathi Minority

The Marathi speaking population makes up close to 40% of the total population. They are divided in to ethnic groups like Malis, Vanjaris, Marathas and Kunbis. The mandals with substantial Marathi population includes Mudhole, Bhanisa, Kuntala, Tanur, Boath, Bazarhatnoor, Ichoda, Gudihatnoor, Indervelli, Bela, Narnoor, Wankidi, Asifabad, Kagaznagar, Bejjur, Sirpur and Koutala.

Climate

There is a meteorological observatory at Adilabad. The climate of the district is characterized by hot summer and in general dry except during the south-west monsoon season.
The rainfall in the district, in general increases from the south-west towards the north east. About 85% of annual rainfall is received during the south-west monsoon season. The normal Annual rainfall of the district is 1044.5 mm.
The cold weather commences towards the end of November. December is generally the coldest month, with the mean daily maximum temperature at about 29 C and the minimum daily is 15 C although temperatures below 10 C are recorded almost each winter.
The relative humidities are high generally during the south-west monsoon season. The air is generally dry during the rest of the year

Agriculture

Agriculture is the main occupation of the people in the district. The geographical area of the district is 4,004,035 acres (16,203.75 km²). The land used under different types is : forest land 42.8%, land put to non-agricultural uses 3.7% and Net agricultural area 35.4%.

The predominant Crop grown in the district is Jowar which accounts for 31.8% of the total cropped area.
Paddy accounts for 10.8%, pulses and non-food crops for 34.7% of the total cropped area.
Adilabad ranks first in revenue generation from mineral deposits in Andhra Pradesh. It is well endowed with rich reserves of coal, iron ore, lime stone and clays.