Ethnic groups of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act. Andhra Pradesh is bordered by the Bay of Bengal to the east, Karnataka to the west, Maharashtra to the north-west, Orissa to the north-east, Chhattisgarh to the north and Tamil Nadu to the south. The state covers an area of 106,195 sq mi (275,045 km²), or 5.83% of the total geographical area of India. It comprises 23 districts. Telugu is the primary official language of Andhra Pradesh and spoken as a native language by about 83.88% of the people. Other ethnic minorities in the state as of 2001 are Urdu people (8.63%), Tamil people (1.01%), Kannada people (0.80%), Marathi people (0.70%) and Odia people (0.44%).

Telugu people

The Telugu people form the dominant ethnic group in Andhra Pradesh, making up to 83.88% (As per 2001 census) ^[1] of the total population of the state. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language. Telugu is one of the official languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Andhra Pradesh.^[2]

Urdu

Urdu is one of the official languages of the state of Andhra Pradesh along with Telugu. It is spoken by 8.63% of the total population, majority of whom are Muslims . People who speak Urdu as their mother tongue mostly hail from the districts of Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Adilabad, Nizamabad, Warangal and Khamman in the Telangana region and few more districts, Kurnool, Ananthapur, Prakasam of Andhra Pradesh, which were part of the erstwhile Hyderabad state

Tamil people

As per 2001 census, speakers of Tamil language formed the third largest ethnic group in Andhra Pradesh (1.01% of the total population),.^[1] The speakers of Tamil language form the native ethnic group of Tamil Nadu, the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh.

Tamil people are largely concentrated in the southern districts of Chittoor and Nellore which border Tamil Nadu. The taluks of Kalahasti, Chandragiri, Chittoor, Ponganur, Puttur and Palamaner were separated from the Tamil-majority North Arcot district on 1 April 1911 to form Chittoor district. The taluk of Tirutani and Pallipattu sub-taluk of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh were transferred to Madras State in exchange for territories from the Chingelput (Chengalpattu) and Salem Districts on 1 April 1961 as per the Andhra Pradesh and Madras Alteration of Boundaries Act 1959.^[3][4]

Today,there are large Tamil populations in Chittoor, Puttur, Tirupathi, Tirumala and Satyavedu. Nellore, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam also have significant Tamil populations.

Kannadigas

According to the 2001 census, Kannada is the mother tongue of 0.80% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh. Kannadigas are mainly concentrated in the south-western districts of Chittoor, Anantapur, Kurnool, Medak and the third most spoken language in Hyderabad is Kannada.

Marathi people

According to the 2001 census, Marathi is spoken as mother tongue by 0.7% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh, 1.3 % of in Telangana population. Though there are substantial populations distributed all over the northwestern parts of the state, Marathis are mainly concentrated in South and north parts of the Telangana districts. Majorly in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Medak and Sangareddi districts. As well as Parts of Rayalaseema region and costal Andhra also found large number of Maratha origin population.

Odia people

Speakers of Odia language make up 0.44% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh. They are concentrated in the districts of Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram.

References