Telangana
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Classified as a semi-arid region with a predominantly hot and dry climate, Telangana is not amongst the most fertile regions of the country. | Classified as a semi-arid region with a predominantly hot and dry climate, Telangana is not amongst the most fertile regions of the country. | ||
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| + | ==The Inevitability Of Telangana== | ||
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| + | Redrawing Andhra Pradesh’s map stems from the Congres’s electoral compulsions | ||
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| + | Kingshuk Nag | ||
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| + | [http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2013/08/01&PageLabel=20&EntityId=Ar02000&ViewMode=HTML The Times of India] 2013/08/01 | ||
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| + | Following the integration of 550 princely dominions into the Indian Union in 1956, language was chosen as the basis on which the new states were created. The only exception was the Hindi heartland which was so vast that it was considered prudent to create several states. | ||
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| + | Implicit in the creation of linguistic states was the belief that language is the basis of culture. If the same language was spoken across a state it meant that it represented homogenous culture. But this was a faulty belief to start with. In fact, Andhra Pradesh was the first state that was created on a linguistic basis. The state was created much against the wishes of the people of Telangana. They did not want the region to be merged with the Andhra state (formed in 1953 after separation from Madras state) as they felt that Andhra’s culture was different from Telangana. | ||
| + | === The people Andhra and Telangana: differences between=== | ||
| + | They roughly spoke the same language but the Sanskritised Telugu of Andhra was different from the Telugu of Telangana that was influenced by Dakhni, an admixture of Urdu, Telugu, Marathi and Kannada. Besides, the cultures of the two people were different and so were their festivals and food habits. | ||
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| + | Coupled with this cultural disconnect were the different endowments of the two people. Under the Madras presidency during British rule, the people of Andhra were educated in English, but the Nizam’s state that governed the Telangana region used Urdu as the medium of instruction and administration. | ||
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| + | As a result of the sophisticated irrigation systems the British introduced in the Andhra region farming prospered and farmers reaped surpluses which they reinvested. This led to a culture of entrepreneurship and risk-taking among the wealthy. In sharp contrast, the feudal zamindari system, based on exploitation rather than enterprise, dominated the Nizam’s territory. | ||
| + | ===Which was the Andhra Telugus’ main city?=== | ||
| + | The formation of Andhra Pradesh was the result of a merger between two regions – Telangana and Andhra. But it was in essence an unequal marriage. Since the Andhra region had no large cities (prior to their separation from Madras state, the Andhra Telugus treated Madras city as their own), the capital was located in the Nizam’s Hyderabad, a sprawling, well-planned city. | ||
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| + | After Andhra Pradesh’s creation, the rush of migration from the hinterland to the capital also sparked an influx of Telugus from Andhra to Hyderabad. Two factors added to this impetus. First, with the downfall of the Nizam, a large section of the Muslim elites emigrated to Pakistan, Europe and even North America. They left behind vast, prime real estate that was purchased cheap by the rich Andhra folks. | ||
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| + | Secondly, as English was the language of governance across other states, the authorities insisted that the positions of officers and clerks would be filled by importing qualified people from Andhra. The local folk, though cultured, had no knowledge of English. To add insult to injury, the migrants from Andhra looked down on Telangana’s denizens – as though lack of English knowledge was a sign of their illiteracy and absence of culture an indicator of their indolence. | ||
| + | === The first movement for Telangana=== | ||
| + | The first movement for Telangana, which began in 1969 on the Osmania University campus, continued intermittently for two years. Indira Gandhi crushed the Telangana cause with an iron hand. Although the movement fell flat the spirit of Telangana’s people, spurred by narratives of economic exploitation, invasion of their land and cultural subjugation, stayed alive. | ||
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| + | At the same time, the steady inflow of people from Andhra into Hyderabad and the overwhelmingly large population in that region aided in the narrative of domination. Politically, this meant that the Andhra region was more influential in terms of the number of legislators it sent to the assembly. The passage of time neither diminished the sentiment in Telangana nor caused the proliferation of a common culture. | ||
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| + | The movement for Telangana’s statehood revived with the creation of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand in 2000. This time, the political movement was spearheaded by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). The Congres allied with the TRS in the 2004 elections to defeat the Telugu Desam Party which was in power for two terms and appeared invincible. But once in power, the Congres showed little resolve to create Telangana. By the time of the 2009 general elections, the Congres had gone back on its promise. | ||
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| + | The Congres’s decision now to create Telangana arises out of political compulsions: non-fulfilment of its promise would mean certain rout in the region in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. There are renewed demands for the formation of new states and they will certainly gain momentum in the days to come. The pulls and pressures from various quarters will become increasingly strong, especially in the event of another coalition government at the Centre after the 2014 elections. | ||
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=== Natural resources=== | === Natural resources=== | ||
But it does have its share of natural resources and notably contains 20% of the country's coal deposits. | But it does have its share of natural resources and notably contains 20% of the country's coal deposits. | ||
Revision as of 15:07, 3 August 2013
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly |
The Times of India 2013/07/31 [1] [2] [3]
Contents |
Telangana
Telangana will be 29th state, Hyderabad to be common capital for 10 years
PTI | Jul 30, 2013
NEW DELHI: Telangana is the 29th state of India comprising 10 districts with plenty of water and some other natural resources in a backward region lacking development that was at the heart of the separate state demand.
The jewel in the crown is the city of Hyderabad, which may for some time, at least 10 years to start with, be the joint capital for the rest of Andhra.
With a population of over 3.5 crore in 2013, the new state comprising mostly the areas of the princely Nizam state will have 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 assembly seats.
The Telangana movement
The demand for a separate identity for Telangana is virtually as old as the state of Andhra Pradesh, which came into existence in November 1956 through the States Reorganisation Act.
The united Andhra Pradesh government’s website said: "Telangana agitation was started by the people of the region when they felt that Andhra leaders had flouted the Gentlemen's Agreement which facilitated the formation of Andhra Pradesh.
"In the beginning, the movement demanded the implementation of the safeguards agreed upon earlier, but later it wanted the separation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh."
Territory
The new Telangana state comprises of the 10 districts of Hyderabad, Medak, Adilabad, Khammam, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy and Warangal.
According to the Backward Regions Grant Fund 2009-10, 13 districts in united Andhra Pradesh have been identified as being backward, of which nine are in Telangana.
Classified as a semi-arid region with a predominantly hot and dry climate, Telangana is not amongst the most fertile regions of the country.
The Inevitability Of Telangana
Redrawing Andhra Pradesh’s map stems from the Congres’s electoral compulsions
Kingshuk Nag
The Times of India 2013/08/01
Following the integration of 550 princely dominions into the Indian Union in 1956, language was chosen as the basis on which the new states were created. The only exception was the Hindi heartland which was so vast that it was considered prudent to create several states.
Implicit in the creation of linguistic states was the belief that language is the basis of culture. If the same language was spoken across a state it meant that it represented homogenous culture. But this was a faulty belief to start with. In fact, Andhra Pradesh was the first state that was created on a linguistic basis. The state was created much against the wishes of the people of Telangana. They did not want the region to be merged with the Andhra state (formed in 1953 after separation from Madras state) as they felt that Andhra’s culture was different from Telangana.
The people Andhra and Telangana: differences between
They roughly spoke the same language but the Sanskritised Telugu of Andhra was different from the Telugu of Telangana that was influenced by Dakhni, an admixture of Urdu, Telugu, Marathi and Kannada. Besides, the cultures of the two people were different and so were their festivals and food habits.
Coupled with this cultural disconnect were the different endowments of the two people. Under the Madras presidency during British rule, the people of Andhra were educated in English, but the Nizam’s state that governed the Telangana region used Urdu as the medium of instruction and administration.
As a result of the sophisticated irrigation systems the British introduced in the Andhra region farming prospered and farmers reaped surpluses which they reinvested. This led to a culture of entrepreneurship and risk-taking among the wealthy. In sharp contrast, the feudal zamindari system, based on exploitation rather than enterprise, dominated the Nizam’s territory.
Which was the Andhra Telugus’ main city?
The formation of Andhra Pradesh was the result of a merger between two regions – Telangana and Andhra. But it was in essence an unequal marriage. Since the Andhra region had no large cities (prior to their separation from Madras state, the Andhra Telugus treated Madras city as their own), the capital was located in the Nizam’s Hyderabad, a sprawling, well-planned city.
After Andhra Pradesh’s creation, the rush of migration from the hinterland to the capital also sparked an influx of Telugus from Andhra to Hyderabad. Two factors added to this impetus. First, with the downfall of the Nizam, a large section of the Muslim elites emigrated to Pakistan, Europe and even North America. They left behind vast, prime real estate that was purchased cheap by the rich Andhra folks.
Secondly, as English was the language of governance across other states, the authorities insisted that the positions of officers and clerks would be filled by importing qualified people from Andhra. The local folk, though cultured, had no knowledge of English. To add insult to injury, the migrants from Andhra looked down on Telangana’s denizens – as though lack of English knowledge was a sign of their illiteracy and absence of culture an indicator of their indolence.
The first movement for Telangana
The first movement for Telangana, which began in 1969 on the Osmania University campus, continued intermittently for two years. Indira Gandhi crushed the Telangana cause with an iron hand. Although the movement fell flat the spirit of Telangana’s people, spurred by narratives of economic exploitation, invasion of their land and cultural subjugation, stayed alive.
At the same time, the steady inflow of people from Andhra into Hyderabad and the overwhelmingly large population in that region aided in the narrative of domination. Politically, this meant that the Andhra region was more influential in terms of the number of legislators it sent to the assembly. The passage of time neither diminished the sentiment in Telangana nor caused the proliferation of a common culture.
The movement for Telangana’s statehood revived with the creation of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand in 2000. This time, the political movement was spearheaded by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). The Congres allied with the TRS in the 2004 elections to defeat the Telugu Desam Party which was in power for two terms and appeared invincible. But once in power, the Congres showed little resolve to create Telangana. By the time of the 2009 general elections, the Congres had gone back on its promise.
The Congres’s decision now to create Telangana arises out of political compulsions: non-fulfilment of its promise would mean certain rout in the region in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. There are renewed demands for the formation of new states and they will certainly gain momentum in the days to come. The pulls and pressures from various quarters will become increasingly strong, especially in the event of another coalition government at the Centre after the 2014 elections.
Natural resources
But it does have its share of natural resources and notably contains 20% of the country's coal deposits.
Among other natural resources are mica and bauxite along with some limestone reserves.
The Naxalite movement
But given the lack of development, Telangana has served as a fertile ground for the Maoist insurgency to take root.
A clutch of leaders of the Naxalite movement hail from the region. Slain Maoist Kishanji, who was No.3 in the rebels' hierarchy, hailed from Karimnagar district.
Hyderabad
With the inclusion of Hyderabad, Telangana would find itself in control of one of the primary centres of India's tech story.
Offices of major national and international corporates houses are present in Hyderabad, drawing people from across the country to the city.
The people of Telangana argue that the seat of the Nizams was always an integral part of their region.
The Telangana agitation, as they point out, was started by the people of the region who complained that "Andhra" leaders had flouted the "Gentlemen's Agreement" which had facilitated the formation of the state, in November 1956.
Telangana: Economy
T will rank high on GDP table: Srikrishna report
Subodh Ghildiyal | TNN
The Times of India 2013/07/31
New Delhi: Telangana will be an economically viable state, with or without Hyderabad. This was the opinion of the Srikrishna Commission, which studied the vexed issue of Telangana statehood and made a regionwise study of economic parameters in Andhra Pradesh before concluding the new state would be able to sustain itself economically.
The official study attested to the claims of viability made by T-proponents — the sheer size of Telangana with 10 districts and 17 Lok Sabha seats makes it an independent entity.
Telangana would rank 15th among 29 states in terms of GDP and would be above Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and the north-eastern states. This is without the jewel in the crown, Hyderabad, which is an employment and investment hub.
The per capita income in Telangana is “a notch higher” than the national average while with Hyderabad, it would rank 13th in GSDP and also in per capita terms.
The statistics may not tell the complete, or real, story but they do point to the potential of the proposed state, a reason why the commission vouched for its viability.
The T-advocates have long said an even-handed treatment would help the state exploit its irrigation and power potential and help increase farm output as well as industrialization in the dry patch of land.
In fact, Srikrishna Commission debunked the claim of “backwardness” as a reason for statehood, demonstrating that Rayalaseema was the worst off among the three regions of the state. In fact, while Telangana has a long distance to cover, statistics show it is not unviable in terms of economic parameters.
Instead, the challenge before Telangana would be to remove intra-regional disparity. Backwardness across Telangana is about the gap between “haves” and “have-nots” than about allround poverty.
Telangana will rank 15th among 29 states in terms of GDP and would be above Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and the north-eastern states
The high ratio of dalits, tribals (24.7%) and weaker OBCs in T-population shows that wealth is concentrated in fewer hands and requires serious steps to remove inequities.
Telangana: A Factfile
IANS | Jul 30, 2013
HYDERABAD: Here are some of the facts about Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region, which is all set to become a separate state.
- Telangana means "land of Telugus" and it was part of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad.
- Hyderabad State became part of India in 1948 after an operation by the Indian Army as Nizam wanted to keep the state independent. Telangana became a state of Telugu-speaking people and was known as Hyderabad State till 1956 when it was merged with Andhra State, carved out of Madras province, to form Andhra Pradesh.
- Number of districts in Telangana: 10 — Greater Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Khammam.
- Geography: Has contiguous area bordering coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema (parts of the existing Andhra Pradesh), Karnataka, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
- Area: 114,800 sq. km
- Population: About 35.28 million
- Languages spoken: Telugu and Urdu
- The region situated at a high altitude in an up-land area. Two major rivers Godavari and Krishna flow through the region but most of the land is arid.
- The region sends 119 members to the 294-member Andhra Pradesh assembly and also accounts for 17 of 42 Lok Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh.
See also
Telangana
