Chittoor

For the district information, see Chittoor district.

చిత్తూరు Chittoor
చిత్తూరు Chittoor Location of చిత్తూరు Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh and India
Coordinates	13°12′00″N 79°07′00″E / 13.2000°N 79.1167°E / 13.2000; 79.1167
Country	India
State	Andhra Pradesh
District(s)	Chittoor
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 333 m (1,093 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 517001,517002 • Telephone • +8572

Chittoor (Telugu: చిత్తూరు) also known as Chittur, is the headquarters and the second biggest town of Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India.

District, Geography and location

Chittoor lies on the banks of Ponnai river at the southernmost part of Andhra Pradesh. The Chittoor district (Area 15,359 km², population 2,267,769-1991 census) is bounded by Anantapur District to the northwest, Cuddapah District to the north, Nellore District to the northeast, Vellore & Tiruvallur districts of Tamil Nadu state to the south, and Karnataka state to the southeast. The city is strategically located at the junction of Bangalore-Chennai national highway 4 and national highway 18. The town is famous for Kanipakam Vinayaka Temple which is located in IRALA Mandal and in addition, the district is known for Tirupati, and Sri Kalahasti temples. Chittoor's culture is the combination of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Demographics

Telugu is the official and principle language of the city, whereas Tamil is widely spoken and understood. There is a significant Muslim population that reside in the town. The town has a population 252,654 (2001 census). Chittoor town has a sex ratio of 1000: 985. The literacy rate of the town is 90.60%.^[1]

Economy

Though Chittoor is the district capital and houses many of district level government institutions, Tirupati holds the major economical activities of the district. Chittoor is predominantly an agro-market place for its district. It is a market center for mango, grain, sugarcane, and peanut. Industries include oilseed and rice milling. As the entry point for huge cluster of industries located in adjoining Vellore district esp. around Ranipet for Northern India, and strategically located in between Chennai and Bangalore, Chittoor boasts a busy logistics industry. It is quite common to see thousands of men and women from Chittoor travel to Tirupathi, Ranipet and Vellore for work and education, and this forms one of the major income to the city's population. State government's initiatives to develop the district making use of its proximity to two major business centers of the country - Chennai and Bangalore, is expected to improve the economy of the district as well as Chittoor to a great extent. Recent proposals of setting up of industrial parks around Tirupati by the state government and proposed upgradation of Tirupati Airport to International standards has given a significant boost to the region's economic activities. Chittoor's leading industry and largest employer is Amararaja Group employing over 3,600 people. It is home to NutrineConfectionaries, a major chocolate manufacturer in India, which was acquired by Godrej group in 2007. The ISRO Radar Center is located at Gadanki, on the Chittoor-Tirupati Highway. Poultry industry has a significant industry here, which is second only to Namakkal. Mango and tamarind groves surround the town of Chittoor, and cattle are raised in the district. It's also famous for mangos ( called as collector/totapari/chittoor variety) and jaggery. It exports nearly 500 Million Tonnes of Raw / Processed Pulp / Fruit to other countries. Around 200 small & medium scale granite industries function in and around Chittoor. Vijaya Diary was one of the federations to process milk on a large scale in the district. Incidentally, it is largest unit in the country after AMUL (Gujarat). Madanapalle is the center of an agricultural region noted for its fruits and vegetables, especially tomatoes. The district is also famous for hospitals like T.B.Sanitorium which is located in Arogyavaram, 5 km from Madanapalle, Apollo Hospital at Arragonda (as part of the out-reach scheme by Asia's largest private hospital chain Apollo Hospitals. Rishi Valley, near Horsely Hills is noted for its residential education Gurukula. One of India's greatest philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti chose this site to set up his Jiddu krishnamurti foundation as well as Rishi valley school, one of India's elite boarding schools.

Tourism

Chittoor district boasts few of the finest ancient/modern temples of the country such as Tirumala, Kanipakam and Sri Kalahasti. Other temples are also famous like Nagalapuram, Valmikipuram, Tharigonda & Karvetinagaram. Along with the adjoining Vellore district (esp. after the unveiling of Sripuram Golden Temple), Chittoor district forms one of the biggest tourism cluster in the country. Also, enormous Archeological finding in the region marks the region on the maps of Historians. Huge collection of antiques mostly with modern Tamil and old Telugu scripts which date back to early as 10th century have been unearthed from the region, can be found in various museums in Tirupati, Chittoor and Vellore. Tirupati temple is the most visited and richest temple in India, often receiving 200,000 visitors a day. Horsley Hills, formerly called Enugu Mallamma Konda, is a summer resort located near the town of Madanapalle and Chembakur. It is known to some as the "Andhra Ooty". Gurramkonda, in the western part of the district, is an historic center, with an old fort and a sultan's palace called the Rangini Mahal. Other notable places in the district are Ardhagiri, Chandragiri .

1. Chittoor has Ram Vilas Sabha which is the oldest drama club in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
2. A musical night conducted by great musician Sri Bala Murali garu in 1967
3. Ram Vilas Sabha is located beside Lakshmi Talkies, one of the oldest cinema Theatre in South India
4. Chittoor has Premala Talkies constructed in 1941 before Independence which is the first cinema theatre in entire Rayalaseema region

Concerns

The large workforce, predominantly low skilled; involved in logistics sector, and huge tribal population across the district; forms a significant reason for this fact. Initiatives taken by NGOs and Government organizations have given hope to make the situation better in recent years.

1. Due to the dry geography of the region, esp. during dry monsoon years, farmers have been repeatedly advised to cultivate dry crops; which in turn has seen least reaction.
2. The tourism infrastructure setup here is quite below the national index, which can be improved to host increasing tourist inflow.
3. The much discussed Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor might improve the economical status of the region, but not much activities have been seen on regard to this after the principal acceptance by the Prime Minister in 2008.
4. Every Hindu should come to Chittoor district at least once since for the purpose of Tirumala, Kanipakam, Sri Kalahasti (Dakshina Kasi)

Educational Institutions

Chittoor is home of many reputed educational institutions. The notable ones are:

High Schools and Junior Colleges:

• SMS High School (Thapovanam)-Sanscrit School in Chittoor Town
• Sri Devi English Medium School, Greams pet, Chittoor
• Camford group of Schools, Chittoor & Madanapalle
  • GANGANAPALLE WEST CAMPUS
  • KONGAREDDY PALLI EAST CAMPUS
  • HORSLEY HILLS GLOBAL CAMPUS
• B.V.Reddy School, Chittoor.
• GEMS, Chittoor.
• P.N.C.Municipal High School, Santhapet, Chittoor.
• Kings English Medium School, Chittoor
• Municipal High School, Greamspet, Chittoor
• Good Shepherd Senior Secondary School, Chittoor
• Vidya Vihar High School, C.B Road, GreamsPet, Chittoor
• Sri Vivekanada Educational Academy, Chittoor (Junior college)
• B.Z. High School, Chittoor.
• Sherman Girls High School, Chittoor.
• S.V.Z.P High School, Kanipakam, Chittoor.
• PCR Govt Junior College, Chittoor.
• Varadappa Naidu Municipal School, Chittoor.
• B.S. Kannan Govt High School and Junior College.
• Sri Vani Vidyalaya,Santhapet, Chittoor.
• Sir C.R.Reddy High School,Chittoor.
• Little Flower High School, Chittoor.
• PCR Govt High School, Chittoor
• VCR Degree College, Chittoor.
• Sri Harsha E M School, Chittoor
• Devi Bala Mandir High School, Santhapet, Chittoor.
• Sri Balaji English Medium High School, Santhapet, Chittoor.
• Municipal High School, Kattamanchi, Chittoor.
• Crist English Medium School,Kattamanchi, Chittoor.
• Lords English Medium School,Kattamanchi, Chittoor.
• Nalanda English Medium School, Kattamanchi, Chittoor.
• Margadarsi English Medium High School

Higher Education Institutions:

• P.V.K.N Govt Degree College, Chittoor, 517001 (NAAC Certified)
• Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering and Technology (SVCET), Chittoor.
• Sreenivasa Institute of Technology and Management Studies (SITAMS), Chittoor^[2]

Assembly Constituency

Chittoor is an assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh. There are 1,74,663 registered voters in Chittoor constituency in 1999 elections.

List of Elected Members:^[3]

• 1955 - P. Chinnamma Reddy (INC)
• 1962 - C D Naidu(Swatantra Party)
• 1967 - D. Anianeyulu Naidu (INC)
• 1972 - D. Anianeyulu Naidu (INC)
• 1978 - N.P.Venkateswara Chowdary
• 1983 - Jhansi Laxmi (TDP)
• 1985 - R. Gopinathan (Indian National Congress)
• 1989 - C K Jayachandra Reddy (C K Babu) (Independent)
• 1994 - C K Jayachandra Reddy (C K Babu) (Indian National Congress)
• 1999 - C K Jayachandra Reddy (C K Babu) (Indian National Congress)
• 2004 - A.S.Manohar (TELUGU DESAM PARTY)
• 2009 - C K Jayachandra Reddy (C K Babu) (Indian National Congress)

Parliamentary Constituency

List of Elected Members:^[4]

• 1977 - P. RAJAGOPAL NAIDU (Indian National Congress)
• 1980 - P. RAJAGOPAL NAIDU (Indian National Congress I)
• 1984 - N.P.JHANSI LAKSHMI (Telugu Desam Party)
• 1989 - GNANENDRA REDDY (Indian National Congress)
• 1991 - M. GNANENDRA REDDY (Indian National Congress)
• 1996 - N.RAMAKRISHNA REDDY (Telugu Desam Party)
• 1998 - NUTHANAKALVA RAMAKRISHNA REDDY (Telugu Desam Party)
• 1999 - NOOTHANA KALVA RAMAKRISHNA REDDY (Telugu Desam Party)
• 2004 - D.K. AADIKESAVULU (Telugu Desam Party
• 2009 - NARAMALLI SIVA PRASAD (Telugu Desam Party)

Polling Percentage

• 2009 - 80.63 %

Notable personalities from Chittoor district

• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (the then President& Vice president of India) had completed his school education in P.M.high School, near by Gajulamandyam,Renigunta in this district. Before becoming the president he was the Vice Chancellor of Andhra University, Visakhapatnam
• Sri. K. Sabha (Noted Writer, Poet, Journalist and Social worker)
• Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
• Chittoor Subramaniam Pillai, a Carnatic musician who studied under Kanchipuram Naina Pillai was born in Chittoor. He was renowned for his unfaltering laya and had a rich and powerful voice.
• Jiddu Krishnamurti, World Renowned philosopher and Popular Spiritual preacher is from Madanapalle town.
• Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy, Educationalist, Founder & Vice-chancellor of Andhra University, Visakhapatnam
• Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman of Apollo Hospitals
• Krishna A Maddipatla, Director, NY State Education Department (BPSS) Reference: [1]
• Chittoor V. Nagaiah, Actor in First TELUGU film was born here, popularly known as Chittoor Nagaiah. He did a great contribution to early Telugu film industry.

1. Raja Rathnam in Madanapalle, Congress senior leader where in his house Hand symbol for Indira Congress in 1979 was elected due to the cleavage of Reddy Congress and Indira Congress and Indira Gandhi came to his house when Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi studied in Rish Valley
2. Sri V.Krishnaiah Naidu, Senior Advocate in Chittoor, President of Acharya Vinobha Bhave Welfare Association in Chittoor District
3. Sri K.Narayana Swamy, Senior Congress leader, Tirupati Congress Secretary and worked as a magistrate elected by Governor of AP
4. Tollywood Megastar Padma Sri Chiranjeevi who made the rise of Indian Dance elected as MLA of Tirupati
5. Sri B.V . Vardhana Senior Advocate Son of Freedom fighter B K Parthasarthi Naidu Senior Advocate Held a record of being Public Procecutor for 15 Years

References