Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Bifurcating Andhra Pradesh

#Telugu #Telangana #Andhra #Rayalaseema

Mā Telugu Talliki Mallepūdanḍa,
Mā kannatalliki mangaḷāratulu



Did you notice, it is first time since Indian independence, a region consisting of state capital is demanding for a separate state while the regions (read Andhra & Rayalseema) farther from the state capital want a united Andhra Pradesh. Attribute that to the Telugu Unity they crave for.

A bit of re-cap, Justice Shri Krishna commission appointed by the same UPA govt few years back, toured all areas of Andhra Pradesh, did a detailed study of social, financial, geographical & political conditions of the state and concluded in its report that, Telangana is not the only region with backwardness parameters and infact, Rayalseemsa & Northen Andhra are more backward. 

IIIT, PSUs, DRDO, BHEL,ECIL,ICRISAT, the National Geophysical Research Institute, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Mineral Development Corporation etc...
-- The list is long and all these were alloted to and built in Hyderabad and no region or individual had qualms.  Over 57 years, other regions (read Andhra & Rayalseema) have made sacrifices for their capital city - Hyderabad. Taxes paid from all towns, gram panchayats in all districts were utilized for Hyderabad's sheen and development. People from all regions migrated to Hyderabad, became entrepreneurs, took jobs and became integral part of the city's growth engine. 

It took 57 years and IT boom of 90s for today's Hyderabad. Today,Hyderabad has ISB, Infosys' biggest campus in India (Uppal), Microsoft's only Development Centre other than Redmond to mention a few. Undoubtedly, every Telugu heart filled with pride for their capital, the crown Jewel of Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad !! 

Today, exports from Hyderabad alone are worth Rs.40,000 crores (while rest of AP sums up to Rs.1000 crores) !!  There is no need to establish explicitly, people of Andhra & Rayalseema have equal rights on Hyderabad as people of Telangana. 

How can this feat (of building a capital city like Hyderabad) be re-done in 10 years?? Unless for a practical joke, UPA's decision doesn't make sense to any sensible and rational thinking individual. Yesterday's announcement of dividing Andhra Pradesh and acceding Hyderabad to seperate Telangana state is an epitome of insensitivity and stupidity.  

4 comments:

  1. what do you think are people really interested in united state? i dont think so.. if the same govt declares Hyd as a UT then i dont feel any seemandhra politicians will grib about..
    As far as revenue expenditure, below 25% is want comes to telanagana regions as compared to 50% to andhra region... still there is lot of procedural to form a state.. the division favours congress in next election... so lets wait...

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  2. Hey Purna,

    Thanks for the comment!

    I guess you asked me what makes me think people are really interested in united state.
    Well,I wrote about, what people from Andhra & Rayalseema regions aspire in my post, and it doesn't take much effort for any one following current affairs (read "Samaikya Andhra" movement) to understand this.
    I also would like to share with you, there are people from Telangana too who want an united state. (Please note, I'm not saying every one). Not sure, if you heard about "Visalandra Mahasabha" (http://www.visalandhra.org/). It fights for an united state and it has people from all regions including Telangana. They also claim their voice is not heard bcoz they are not loud & violent.

    And secondly, I have to admit I didn't quite get your point on Hyderabad & UT status.

    And regarding the numbers on revenue expenditure you shared, I believe I'm not qualified to comment on them right now.But I'm of opinion that, in democracy for injustice of any form in allocations from govt to any region,elected representatives of that region are answerable to the affected people and, injustice directly shows the incompetence or hidden corruption of elected representatives.
    Nevertheless, I'll study more for myself on this issue of revenue allocations to Telangana region and let you know my comments soon.

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  3. The separatists began their agitation with the claim that Telangana region has been neglected, that it was backward, and that it was exploited. That was the overture to their concert of propaganda. They were emphatic about their claims as long as those claims went unchallenged. Nalamotu Chakravarthy’s book My Telugu Roots was perhaps the first work that challenged those claims of economic exploitation and backwardness. His book conclusively showed that the region is not backward (no more backward or no less prosperous than any other region in the state) and in fact has registered impressive growth in every sector of economic activity since the formation of Andhra Pradesh state in 1956. That Chakravarthy hails from Telangana region is significant. Separatists could not tarnish his work as a biased interpretation of data by someone unsympathetic to the interests of his own region. They could not come up with a cogent rebuttal of his argument. Therefore, a cowardly physical assault on Chakravarthy was the only thing that they could do to lend force to their claims. They began to lose their cool as they began to lose their argument. Justice Srikrishna Committee also rubbished the ‘economic backwardness – exploitation’ argument in its report. The argument that jobs of Telangana people were taken away, that there was theft of irrigation water, and that the successive governments neglected the region, that agreements were violated and other related claims and allegations were proved to be simply incorrect and untrue.

    Sources:-
    http://www.visalandhra.org/2013/01/20/introduction-to-the-book-refuting-an-agitation/
    http://www.visalandhra.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Refuting-An-Agitation.pdf

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