Prakasam District (Telugu: ప్రకాశం జిల్లా) is an administrative district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in India. The district headquarters is located at Ongole City. The district occupies an area of 17,626 km² and has a population of 3,059,423 of which 15.28% were urban as of 2001 Census.

It was named as prakasam district on 12 May 1972, in memory of the great patriot and Andhra Leader, Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu, also known as Andhra Kesari (Lion of Andhra ) who was born in Vinodarayunipalem village near Ammanabrolu of this district.

Prakasam District's past stretches back to the days when it was ruled by the Mauryas from 250 B.C. the rise of the Satavahanas saw Buddhism flourish in the region and the construction of several stupas. The Ikshvaku and Vijayanagar Kings,the Kakatiyas, the Qutub Shahis,the Mughals, the Addanki Reddys,the Chundi Rajas, the ongole Samsthanam Kings and the Pellur Rajas later followed these rulers.

The Prakasam district was originally constituted on the 2 February 1970, carved out of Guntur, Nellore and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh. It was carved out of three taluks of Guntur District, i.e. Addanki, Chirala and Ongole, four taluks of Nellore district, i.e. Kandukur, Kanigiri, Podili and Darsi and three taluks of Kurnool district i.e. Markapuram, Cumbum and Giddaluru. It is one of the nine districts in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh.

Panabaka Lakshmi (born 6 October 1958) is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. She represents the Bapatla constituency of Andhra Pradesh and is a member of the Indian National Congress.

Panabaka Lakshmi was born in Gudiwada and married to Krishnaiah.

She also represented Nellore in 14th Lok Sabha. She is currently the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles.

She was married to a navy officer but divorced him after 3 years. After her divorce she pursued her education after which she got married to panabaka krishnaiah with whom she has two daughters.