Raichur district ರಾಯಚೂರು ಜಿಲ್ಲೆ
—  district  —
Location of Raichur district in Karnataka and India
Coordinates	16°13′N 77°21′E / 16.21°N 77.35°E / 16.21; 77.35Coordinates: 16°13′N 77°21′E / 16.21°N 77.35°E / 16.21; 77.35
Country	India
State	Karnataka
Division	Gulbarga Division
Subdistrict(s)	Raichur, Sindhanur, Lingsugur, Manvi, Devadurga
Headquarters	Raichur
District collector	Anbukumar V, IAS
Parliamentary constituency	Raichur Lok Sabha constituency
Population • Density	1,669,762 (2001[update]) • 199 /km2 (515 /sq mi)
Sex ratio	0.983 ♂/♀
Literacy • Male • Female	48.8%  • 61.5% • 35.9%
Official languages	Kannada
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	8,386 square kilometres (3,238 sq mi)† • 400.0 metres (1,312.3 ft)
Climate • Precipitation	•      680.6 mm (26.80 in)
Codes • Pincode • 584101,584102,584103 • Telephone • +08532 • Vehicle • KA-36
ISO 3166-2	IN-KA-RA
Portal: Karnataka
Footnotes †Raichur district at a glance
Website	raichur.nic.in

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Raichur District (Kannada: ರಾಯಚೂರು ಜಿಲ್ಲೆ) is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in the northeast part of the state and is bounded by Yadgir district in the north, Bijapur and Bagalkot district in the northwest, Koppal district in the west, Bellary district in the south, Mahabubnagar and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh in the east.

Geography[link]

The district is bounded by the Krishna River on the north and the Tungabhadra River on the south. The wedge of land between the rivers is known as the Raichur Doab, after the city of Raichur. Bijapur and Gulbarga districts lie to the north across the Krishna River. Bagalkot and Koppal districts lie to the west. Across the Tungabhadra lies Bellary District of Karnataka to the southwest and Mahabubnagar of Andhra Pradesh to the southeast. Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh state lies to the east, and includes the lower portion of the Raichur-584 102.

Demographics[link]

According to the 2011 census Raichur district has a population of 1,924,773,^[1] roughly equal to the nation of Lesotho^[2] or the US state of West Virginia.^[3] This gives it a ranking of 246th in India (out of a total of 640).^[1] The district has a population density of 228 inhabitants per square kilometre (590 /sq mi) .^[1] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 15.27 %.^[1] Raichur has a sex ratio of 992 females for every 1000 males,^[1] and a literacy rate of 60.46 %.^[1]

Raichur District has five taluks: Raichur, Devadurga, Sindhanur, Manvi and Lingsugur. The capital of the district is the city of Raichur, which is 409 km from the state capital, Bangalore.

Tourism[link]

Among the historical attractions in the district is the Raichur Fort, built in 1294. Also notable is the nearby town of Anegundi, which has a number of monuments from the Vijayanagara empire, including the Ranganatha temple, Pampa Lake and Kamal Mahal, Jaladurga fort of Lingsugur taluk.

MahaLaxmi Temple is located in a nearby village, Kallur, at a distance of 20 km from Raichur. Sri Sugureshwara Temple (Lord Veerabadhra) is in Deosugur village at the bank of river Krishna, about 18 km from Raichur. Both temples are easily accessible at all times via bus routes.

Economy[link]

Raichur Thermal Power Station

The Raichur Thermal Power Station at Shaktinagar in this district provides a large portion of the electricity consumption in Karnataka.

Raichur District is one of few places in India with gold resources. Hatti Gold Mines are situated in Raichur District, around 90 km away from Raichur city. All the five talukas mentioned above are very well irrigated, with water from the Tungabhadra Dam on the Tungabhadra River, and Narayanpura Dam on the Krishna River. Raichur is known for its paddy fields and its rice is of extremely superior quality. Raichur has numerous rice mills which export high quality rice to different countries. It also has a good trading market in cotton industry.

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Raichur one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).^[4] It is one of the five districts in Karnataka currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).^[4]

References[link]

• India Post pincode search

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Raichur district

• Official website of Raichur district
• Website of Raichur City Corporation
• Map of Raichur district

	Bijapur district	Yadgir district	Gulbarga district
	Bagalkot district		Mahbubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh
		Raichur district    East
	Koppal district	Bellary district	Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh

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B. S. Yeddyurappa
B.S. Yeddyurappa
25th Chief Minister of Karnataka
In office 30 May, 2008 – 31 July, 2011
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	D.V.Sadananda Gowda
Constituency	Shikaripur
24th Chief Minister of Karnataka
In office November 12, 2007 – November 19, 2007
Preceded by	H. D. Kumaraswamy
Succeeded by	President's rule
Personal details
Born	(1943-02-27) 27 February 1943 (age 69) Bookanakere, Mandya
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)	Late Mythradevi
Religion	Hinduism
Website	http://yeddyurappa.in
As of May 28, 2008 Source: [1]

Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa (Kannada: ಬೂಕನಕೆರೆ ಸಿದ್ಧಲಿಂಗಪ್ಪ ಯಡಿಯೂರಪ್ಪ, Born 27 February 1943^[1]) is an Indian politician and was the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka. He is a popular leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and represents Shikaripura in the Karnataka legislative assembly. He became the Chief Minister of Karnataka after the BJP's hisctoric victory in the 2008 Karnataka Assembly election. He is the first person from the BJP to become the Chief Minister of a South Indian state.^[2] Yeddyurappa is a popular leader of the dominant Lingayat Community and is regarded as one of the very few leaders in Karnataka with a mass following^{[citation needed]}.

Personal life[link]

Yeddyurappa was born on 27 February 1943 in a village called Bookanakere in K.R.Pet taluk of Mandya district.^[3][4] His parents were Siddalingappa and Puttathayamma. They belonged to the Lingayat community. He was named after the presiding deity of a Shaivite temple built by the great saint Siddalingeshwara at Yediyur in Tumkur district.^[5] His mother died when he was four.^[2] He completed his Pre-University College education from PES college, Mandya.

In 1965, he was appointed as a first-division clerk in the social welfare department but instead shifted to Shikaripura where he joined as a clerk at Veerabhadra Shastri's Shankar rice mill. In 1967, Yeddyurappa married Mythradevi, the daughter of the rice mill owner.^[6] He later set up a hardware shop in Shimoga. Yeddyurappa has two sons, Raghavendra and Vijayendra and three daughters, Arunadevi, Padmavati and Umadevi.^[7] In 2004, his wife died due to cardiac arrest.^[8] In 2007, he changed the spelling of his name to its current spelling from the earlier "Yediyurappa" following the advice of his astrologers.^[9]

Political career[link]

Yeddyurappa's stint in public life began when he was appointed as Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Shikaripur unit in 1970. In 1972, he was elected to the Shikaripura Town Municipality and was also appointed as the President of the Taluk unit of the Jana Sangh.^[7] In 1975, he was elected President of the Town Municipality of Shikaripura. He was imprisoned during the Emergency in India and lodged in the Bellary and Shimoga jails. In 1980, he was appointed President of the Shikaripura taluk unit of the BJP and later went on to become the president of BJP's Shimoga district unit in 1985. In 1988, he became the State President of the BJP in Karnataka. He was first elected to the lower house of the Karnataka Legislature in 1983 and has since represented the Shikaripura constituency six times. He has been a member of the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth and Thirteenth Legislative Assemblies (lower house) of Karnataka. Following the 1994 state assembly elections, he became the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. In 1999, he lost the elections but was nominated by the BJP to become a member of the legislative council (upper house) of Karnataka.^[1] Again, He was re-elected in 2004 and became the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly during the chief ministership of Dharam Singh.

His first stint in power was when he helped Janata Dal (Secular) leader H. D. Kumaraswamy to bring down the coalition government headed by Dharam Singh and form an alternative government with BJP. An agreement was made between the JD(S) and BJP, which specified that H. D. Kumaraswamy would be the Chief Minister for the first 20 months, after which Yeddyurappa would become the Chief Minister for the remaining 20 months. Yeddyurappa became the Deputy Chief Minister as well as the finance minister in Kumaraswamy's Government. He was credited with presenting good Budgets and for initiating various welfare programs such as Bhagyalakshmi scheme, Bicycles for students, Ban on arrack and Farm loan waiver.

However in October 2007, when it was Yeddyurappa's turn to become Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy relinquish his post. This forced Yeddyurappa and all the ministers from his party to resign and on 5 October, the BJP formally withdrew the support to the Kumaraswamy government. Karnataka came under President's rule which was revoked on 7th November as the JD(S) and the BJP decided to bury their differences and this paved the way for Yeddyurappa to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Yeddyurappa was sworn in as the 25th Chief Minister of Karnataka on 12 November 2007. However, JD(S) refused to support his government over disagreement on sharing of ministries which resulted in his resignation as Chief Minister on 19th November 2007.

In Karnataka's 2008 Assembly elections, Yeddyurappa contested from Shikaripura against former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa of the Samajwadi Party. The Indian National Congress and JD(S) backed Bangarappa, but despite this, Yeddyurappa won the seat by a of more than 45,000 votes. He also led the BJP to a historic victory in the state and Karnataka became the gateway for the BJP in south India. He took the oath of office as Chief Minister on 30th May 2008.^[10]

His Government undertook many developmental works and also initiated various welfare schemes. The Global Investors Meet in 2010 brought in commitments for investment of Rs. 5 Lakh Crore. He also, gave much preferance to Kannada culture and language and also conducted a successful "Vishwa Kannada Sammelana" in 2011. Yeddyurappa gave a huge boost to friendly ties with neighbouring states when he invited Tamil Nadu Chief minister Karunanidhi for unveiling the statue of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore followed by the unveiling of the statue of Kannada poet Sarvajna in Chennai. In December 2008, Yeddyurappa was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Saginaw Valley State University, USA.^[11][12][13]

Although he was a popular leader, he had to face numerous revolts from with his party over his style of functioning^{[citation needed]}. He was also criticised for generously giving away huge sums of public money to religious institutions and temples, which however earned for him the support of the seers and the devout.

In November 2010, Allegations surfaced against Yeddyurappa that he had used his position as Chief Minister to favour his sons in the allotment of prime land in Bangalore.^[14] In response, on 5 February 2011, Yeddyurappa publicly declared his assets, and then challenged the opposition parties to find any "black money".^[15] However, the Karnataka Lokayukta ^[16] investigating the illegal mining case submitted its report ^[17] indicting Yeddyurappa for illegally profiteering from land deals in Bangalore and Shimoga,^[18] and also in connection with the illegal iron ore export scam in Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka.^[19] Following much pressure from the BJP central leadership,^[20] he announced his decision to quit.^[21] Finally, He resigned on 31st July 2011.^[22]

Exonerated involvement in mining scam[link]

Allegations were made against him that he had used his official position to favour his sons in the allotment of land in Bangalore. One acre of land at Rachenahalli in Bangalore was purchased by his family for Rs 40 lakh (approx US$ 95,000) and was re-sold to a mining company for Rs. 20 crore ($ 4.8 million), resulting a significant profit. ^{[23][24][25][26][27][28] [29]} To refute the charges, Yeddyurappa declared his assets estimated at Rs. 11 crore ^[30] – including 2.5 kg of gold and 76 kg of silver – to show that neither he nor his family members were involved in any financial irregularities. His assets were declared to be Rs. 1.82 crore in 2008, indicating a 500 % increase in two years. ^[30][31]

Political drama continued in the State after he challenged his rival H.D.Kumaraswamy to swear in front of Lord Manjunatha at Dharmasthala over the graft issue when Kumaraswamy claimed that the Chief minister had tried to buy peace with him. Although Kumaraswamy accepted the challenge, the whole Dharmasthala show down turned out to be a flop show^{[32][33][34][35]} after Yeddyurappa backed of following the advice of his party national president, Nitin Gadkari, who was concerned with the mixing of temples with politics. ^[36]

In January 2011, two lawyers of the Karnataka High Court Sirajin Basha and K N Balraj approached the Governor seeking his permission to prosecute Chief minister Yeddyurappa and the Governor H.R. Bhardwaj sanctioned their request. ^[37]

The Lokayukta report submitted on 27 July 2011 stated that there is sufficient evidence to indict Yeddyurappa and recommended his prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act over various land deals.^[38] In addition, it also stated that there is evidence to prove that he had granted illegal mining licenses to mining companies and benefited through them. ^[39]

The Lokayuta Report caused demands from within his party for his resignation, which he initially resisted.^[20][40] However, Following the submission of the Lokayukta report, he resigned on 31st July 2011. ^[41]

After accepting the Lokayukta report, Governor Bhardwaj again approved the prosecution of Yeddyurappa ^[42] and the Karnataka High Court also allowed the police to question him. ^[43][44]

Yeddyurappa was arrested^[45] on the evening of 15th Oct 2011, hours after an arrest warrant in two cases of corruption for illegally denotifying land in and around Bangalore.^[46][47] Later, He was granted bail on 8th November 2011 after spending 23 days in jail.^[48]

However in March 2012,the High Court of Karnataka quashed the FIR registered against him regarding the Mining scam. A division bench comprising Justices Bhakstavatsala and Govindaraju passed the order stating that "Suspicion cannot be a ground to tarnish the image and reputation of a person who is holding a Constitutional post. Even during the course of argument, a specific question was put to Lokayukta counsel to produce any material to connect the petitioner for alleged offences, but he was mum and did not indicate any favours shown by Yeddyurappa as the chief minister to any mining company".^[49] In May 2012, the Supreme Court, temporarily stayed the case on this matter and ordered an official CBI enquiry, to be completed within three months.^[50]

See also[link]

• List of Chief Ministers of Karnataka
• List of politicians in India charged with corruption

References[link]