Rayalaseema
Encyclopedia : R : RA : RAY : Rayalaseema
Rayalaseema is an unofficial region of India's Andhra Pradesh state. It generally includes the districts of Kurnool, Kadapa (formerly known as 'Cuddapah'), Anantapur and Chittoor, parts of Prakasam and often Nellore.
Rayalaseema is widely thought to be underdeveloped compared to the Telangana and Coastal Andhra regions of the state. The growing movement in Telangana to secede from Andhra Pradesh, as well as southern India's long drought have caused several movements to coalesce around Rayalaseema's grievances. All of these movements are calling for greater official attention for the region, especially in the form of new water projects to harness the Krishna and Godavari rivers to the aid of the region's beleaguered farmers. If nothing is done in this respect, the secession of Telangana would almost certainly precepitate matters in Rayalaseema, especially if other demands, such as moving the capital of Andhra Pradesh to Rayalaseema, and for a stronger state commitment to regional development, are not met. Congress MP Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy of Kurnool, who hopes to unite the Rayalaseema movements, advocates the inclusion of Nellore and Prakasam districts of Coastal Andhra and even the Kannada-speaking district of Bellary in Karnataka into a separate Rayalaseema state.
Various organizations like Rayalaseema Hakkula Ikya Vedika are demanding the establishment of second capital in Kurnool. Kurnool is an important city in the Rayalaseema region. It was the Capital of Andhra State from 1st October 1953 to 1st November,1956 and at present is the headquarters of Kurnool District.
The name Rayalaseema was named in 1928 by Gadicherla Hari Sarvottama Rao, a famous freedom fighter in the Rayalaseema Region. Before 1928, the area was called as Guttha Seema (Ceded).
Though the area comprises of 4 to 5 districts, sevaral chief ministers came from this region. They include current Chief Minster Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Nara Chandrababu Naidu,Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy,Damodaram Sanjeevaiah (only Dalit CM of AP so far) and Neelam Sanjivareddy (First CM of AP).
Before 1928, the area was called as Guttha Seema.
See also
External links
Sources
- [Article] in the Deccan Herald on the Rayalaseema separatist movement
- [Article] on rediff news portal on political violence in Rayalaseema
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.