Archive for the ‘Krishna’ tag
Telangana – A new state in India
On December 9, 2009 (i.e. today) Indian government agreed to create a new state. It will be called Telangana and will be carved out of the current state of Andhra Pradesh (see right image – Telangana is marked in white). The division had been called on by Telangana supporter for a very long time and most recently activities had become quite volatile. In fact, the leader of the movement has been on an indefinite hunger strike for the past 10 days. Finally the government had to give in and accept the demand.
But what is the reason for this uproar? Why do some people want a separate state and not be a part of the larger whole? Haven’t we read than co-operation is better for all players involved? The answer lies in the fairness principle.
Long before, Telangana used to be a separate state. In 1953 the government of India merged the then Andhra state and Telangana state into one big entity called Andhra Pradesh. The reason it was done was because then Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to create states based on linguistic lines. Both Andhra and Telangana had predominantly Telugu speaking population. He had also appointed a committee to oversee the matter. Even then Telangana did not want to be a part of Andhra. The issue was resources and revenue sharing. From Wikipedia:
The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs, particularly in government and education.
The committee hence, rightfully so, suggested not to merge the two states. The central government decided not to follow the suggestion and combined the states. They additionally negotiated an agreement that provided reassurances to the Telangana people as well to Andhra people in terms of power sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions. This agreement is known as Gentlemen’s agreement of Andhra Pradesh (1956).
Well, it seems that the “Gentlemen’s agreement” did not live up to its nature and hence all problems began again. This time though, after careful deliberation and discussions, the government of India has decided to split the states back to their original forms.
