Splitting States – The New Story of India!
Dec 17th, 2009 | By Shakthi | Category: Affairs
Every country is conveniently divided into states/provinces to facilitate governance and administration. So is India. Some of the states of India are older than independent India, and some are relatively new. Together, they all represent the country of India. But off late, states have become tools at the hands of politicians to further their own personal ambitions and greed for power. The demands for separate states have become more and more vocal, from all corners of the country, and each one of them has either History, or Geography, or Economics to back their claims. They either lean on linguistic differences, administrative issues, or imbalance of funds to back themselves up. I am sure that Sardar Patel must be squirming in his heavenly abode on seeing all this. Almost all his efforts to unify the country are being negated zone-wise now. The worst aspect of this story is that the ruling alliance used statehood promises to lure regional separatists into their fold, and get to power .
The day when you wake up and find that your city, no, your street has become a state unto itself is not a big impossibility now. But I would not simply close my eyes, and oppose or condemn anyone who asks for a separate state. We need to look at the history and the legitimacy of the demand, examine both these factors carefully and consider the sentiments and stifled voices of the people in that region. Only then can we make a call about any demand for statehood of any region. This brings us to the most hyped – and in the news – subject of Telangana. Let us look at it in detail .
A few facts about Telangana first. This state was ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad, and was never under British Rule. Hyderabad was always a part of the state, and was, in fact, its capital. When the agitation to separate Andhra from the then Madras state picked up steam, and Potti Sreeramulu gave up his life fasting, the original demand for Madras as the capital was changed, and what is now coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema were merged with Telengana to form Andhra Pradesh . Right from that time, a very virulent and often vehement movement to separate Telangana, so as to facilitate proper balance of resources and development, has been in force and many people have laid their lives down for it. So if the Gen Y and Gen X are thinking that KCR fasting for a week brought this state about magically, they are grossly mistaken.
But sadly, many a politician has picked up the jingoism and tokenism.
There are state requests, and bandh calls, and fasts, springing up everywhere and people are being misled by selfish politicians to believe that this will benefit them. This is a sad trend and I fully hold the ruling UPA responsible for first promising, then conveniently forgetting, and finally – at a totally wrong time – giving in to the demand. What they have done is glorified the wrong people and set a wrong precedent. There are many other pressing things crying for attention – the looming threat of terror, the economy, the climate and so on. They are using this as a diversionary measure to keep people distracted, and I admit that they are succeeding to a large extent. People have forgotten starvation deaths, and are now making starvation a fashion statement or a tool.
We need to wake up and stop getting into this vicious circle, and focus more on getting our country to its due destination in the global arena. That would be possible only and only if we stand together and not split ourselves on languages/zones/religion lines. I am keeping my fingers crossed in the anticipation that we, the people, are capable of thinking beyond the differences. How about you ? Think about it
Telangana is one of the major backward regions of Andhra, though it has the largest number of districts in Andhra Pradesh. To say that the demand for sepration is not justified, would be incorrect. Why is that after years of neglect when a region demands for a seprate state that the govt. finally wakes up to the situation? Some of the main points being raised by people from Telangana, Sample some of these points.
* Nagarjuna sagar dam is built in Nalgonda district which is in Telangana but majority of the water from the dam is used for Krishna and Guntur district. The original dam was supposed to be build much ahead of its present location but the location was changed so that it falls in the Telangana region. Due to the construction of the dam several hectares of Lime stone mines vanished as part of the dam back waters. Everyone know that lime stone is used for producing cement. Even the natural resources were not allowed to remain.
* Two major rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra enter the state of AP in the district of Mahaboobnagar(the biggest district in Telangana) but the district always remains the worst draught hit areas along with Anantapur because there is no project and process with which the water can be utilized. The plans for utilization has been pending for decades.
* RDS (Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme) is build in Mahaboobnagar to provide water to 85000 hectares of land in the district. The leaders of Rayalaseema blasted the gates of RDS and water is supplied to KC (Kurnool-Cudapah) canal while only remaining water, if any, is supplied to the lands in Mahaboobnagar.
* 3 TMC of water from Gandipet is sufficient to supply drinking water to Hyderabad. Every year 1700 TMC of water is wasted and is flown into Bay of Bengal from river Godavari. Starting from Nizambad to Bay of Bengal there is no project allowed to build on Godavari. If it is built leaders in Godavari districts fear that the fertile lands in the area may fall short of water. If the Godavari water is utilized properly, there will be no scarcity for food grains in our state.
* In Telangana regions, only few areas cultivate one crop a year and very rarely two crops a year while most of the land doesn’t even cultivate single crop. In both the Godavari districts, Krishna and Guntur district, two crops a year is common and there are times where even 3 crops a year are cultivated. The only reason is WATER.
* 33% of the population in Mahaboobnagar district have left the district for livelihood to different parts of the state due to draught and majority of them are working as daily labour. No other district has so many people who fled the home place due to lack of livelihood and working as daily labour.
* There are 25 plus government degree colleges in Krishna, Kadapa and Guntur district while there is not even a single government degree college in Ranga Reddy district.
* Dairy development corporation of AP purchases milk from farmers across the state for distribution. For the same milk, in Andhra, the government pay Rs. 24 to the farmers and in Telangana they pay Rs. 22 per litre. Partiality is shown even in milk.
* In between 2005-2008 government sold lands worth Rs. 20000 crores in and around Hyderabad which was utilized to build projects in Rayalaseema and Andhra.
* Not even a single project was completed in Telangana in the last 5 years while several projects were completed in Andhra and Rayalaseema.
It is always an emotive issue for the people of state when a part of a state asks for a seperate state but then this feeling stems from years of mis-governance and apathy. To blame the politicians is an easy way out when one main region of the state is left under devloped. I can speak from the example of my state Himachal Pradesh which was carved out from the state of Punjab in early 1970s. Had we not got a separate state then we would have ended up just like Uttrakhand which finds itself in a lurch after years of neglect by the bigger states.
@NITYIN you have a valid point and I agree with you . Telangana is a long standing issue/debate . But I am pained by the other people who don’t understand that but just want to ask for one state for each politician . Nicely written comment . Thanks !
Informative & thought provoking article. If we want to grow as a powerful country,we’l have to forget our religion,region & political differences and resolve them. If this is not done,then the day is not far,where we’l actually require a visa to go to Bombay.
@Shweta – You are right , currently you need a passport to go to Kashmir BTW . Sad state of affairs where we let ourselves be divided by petty means . Thanks for the comment .
Brilliantly written and thought provoking
completely agree wid you sir..we need to objectively look at the demand for separate states if it facilitates adequate allocation of resources and faster development of the region ,,I don’t think anybody would have a problem..but if the demand stems from political opportunism then we gotta be careful
@Rahul – yes , we need to see the whole picture and not have a narrow outlook while at the same time not allowing selfish and seperatist forces to influence us . Thanks for the comment
@Jyotishko – Thank u . I am planning a follow up with the details of other state demand too .Pls do keep reading and guiding me
We have yet again shown that the enemy lies within. We have wasted & continue to waste immense amount of time, productivity on this issue & such other related so called religious issues. How can we protect ourseleves from our so called enemies if we do not even have the willingness to be one and walk along as one nation. I can tell you from my own personal experience that India has become a ridicule. You may ask why do I need to take such ridicule, sadly a fact that we are divided is staring right at out face, and how can any of us deny that.
Equality of opportunities & Human Rights is not about demanding separate States. A wrong precedent has been set & the glorious politicians continue to fool the public. Yes some of us voted them but we as an educated class can surely influence people to change ridiculous events like this.
Why is it so important for most Indians to know if the other is from Madras, Delhi, Bombay ………We pride ourselves in our diversity, ability to speak several Indian languages but does this all boil down to how divided we are. We talk about racism but are we not creating a perfect platform for our youngsters to differentiate 1 Indian from the other?
I am not for this & I have no empathy for the history since it h us wrong & has set a bad precedent!
I urge you to use your writing passion and get the support of like minded people to atleast try to stop such events.
You have raised the issue, let it not die like the Mumbai incident which has got wrapped in a political entangle!
Thank you
@Lalitha – Thanks for your valid and correct thoughts . I think you have a correct feeling/point and I agree that divisions are killing us and we need to wake up fast before it is too late !
very very very nicely written, thought provoking and informative, keep writing 🙂
@harshita – Glad that you like it and I will keep writing as long as there are great folks like u reading what I write .