Manju Karishma Sakhrani

Section C Roll No 91

Telangana

‘To be or not to be, that is the question’

Telangana, or ‘Land of Telugu people’ has long been in the eye of
controversy mainly due to movements or agitations demanding for a
separate State. Presently, amidst a lot of violence and protests, a
committee has been formed to decide the feasibility of forming a new
state called ‘Telangana’. This decision has led to numerous debates as to
whether the state of Telangana should be formed or not.

Telangana is the largest of the three districts in Andhra occupying an area

of 8,14,800 km2. It consists of the Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad,
Medak, Warangal, Khammam, Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Nalgonda, and
Mahaboobnagar districts. More than 80% of Telangana people speak
Telugu. Telangana has its own distinctive culture and identity, the most
prominent being the Hyderabadi Culture.9 out of 10 districts(except
Hyderabad district) in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh are
recognized by the Government of India as backward.

Historical Overview till the Current Situation

Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest State in the Indian Union. It consists of
three distinct regions, namely, Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana.
Andhra and Rayalaseema were part of the Madras province of the British
Empire. For approximately 400 years, Telangana was part of the
Hyderabad State, an independent kingdom ruled by the Nizams and
Muslim Dynasties.

Post Independence, Andhra and Rayalaseema were separated from

Madras State in 1953. Andhra state (Andhra and Rayalaseema) was the
first state that was formed purely on linguistic nationality, like many
European states. Andhra merged with Telangana in 1956, based on their
linguistic and national affinity, to form the present state of Andhra
Pradesh with Hyderabad as the capital city. However, this has resulted in
major agitations like’ Jai Telangana’ in 1969 and ‘Jai Andhra’ 1972, both
demanding for separate states.

In 2004, political parties promised the people a separate state of

Telangana. This was done for political gain. All this then escalated into
various protests which turned so violent that in 2009 the state
government declared that it had no objection, in principle, to the
formation of separate Telangana. Instability in the State continued and
also included political leaders going on strike. On the 3rd February 2010,
the government announced the 5 member committee that would look into
the issue of Bifurcation of the state. Till date this issue is causing unrest
with some people supporting and some against the bifurcation. This issue
has also led to around 250 people committing suicide.

Strengths of creating Telangana

1. Telangana people claim to be looked down upon by other regions.

Once the state of Telangana is formed, the discrimination will
lessen.

2. The differences in allotments of budgets will not arise.

3. As Hyderabad is well developed, it creates the booster which would

hopefully help develop other regions of Telangana.

4. The Telangana plateau is drained by two major rivers, the Godavari

and the Krishna. This thus makes the region very well drained and
fertile.

5. The Telangana region currently has 45% of the forest area in the
state is. This is spread across five districts. Thus one could say that
this new state will have a rich variety of flora and fauna. This will
also constitute an important part of the biodiversity of the state.

6. 20% of the coal deposits in the country are in Telangana region.

Singareni Collieries excavate Coal and use it for industrial purposes
and for thermal power stations. The coal supplied from this region,
and the power produced is supplied to entire south India.

7. Large limestone deposits are present in the region, which cater to

cement factories. This has the potential to greatly develop, and in
turn, increase the employment and revenue of the state.

8. Other mineral resources like bauxite and mica are present in large
quantities. Thus mining and other related industries could be further
developed.

9. The people of Telangana can build dams across rivers like the
Godavari and Krishna. Thus they will be able to receive the benefits
of irrigation and irrigation based programmes. This will greatly help
develop agriculture in the region. However, due to this, water supply
to Andhra might be cut off to a great extent.
 10. Hyderabad is present in this region. Thus there is a lot of
scope for the development of the IT industry.

11. A lot of the higher educational institutions are located around

Hyderabad. Allocation and reservation of seats for students from the
Telangana region will also increase. The formation of a new state
also gives them a great opportunity to increase the literacy rates of
the people.

12. Tourism as an industry can flourish as there are a lot of tourist

destinations in this area.

13. On becoming a separate state, they will have a new state

government, in which the representatives of the people will run the
government. This has long been a grievance of the people which will
be fixed.

14. Lastly, and most importantly, the formation of a new state gives a
unique opportunity to develop and bring forward not only the area
but the people living there as well.

Weaknesses of creating Telangana

1. The river water of Godavari may be obstructed from reaching the

andhra region causing projects like Polavaram to be of less utility.
This would cause major losses as the purpose of setting up the
project will not be achieved.

2. Regional differences between people are bound to still arise.

3. Large areas of forests may be cut up and destroyed for the

development of new towns and cities.

4. Another problem that could be faced is discrimination of people

based on their regions.

5. A huge amount of money will be required to create a new head

quarter for the state. A lot of capital will also be needed for building
its assembly, high court and other public departments.

6. Large sums of money will also be required for developing the new
state.

7. The region of Telangana has huge areas which are Naxal belts. This
may hamper the development of the new state.

8. In trade Telangana heavily loses to andhra since the major port

trade comes from Vizag.
9. There will be some negative effect on Krishna-Godavari delta area
as this area lies at the Telangana-Andhra border. This will be more
of grid lock where it will be difficult to undertake any new irrigation
projects on these rivers as both parties are suspicious of each other.

10. There is a lot of distrust in the region due to which industries like IT,
commerce and trade, and many other industries suffer. Another
problem that stems up is lack of investments for various projects
and industries.

Conclusion and Analysis

Although there are more pros than cons in creating the state of
Telangana, this is mostly in benefit of that particular state, and will not
be beneficial to the union of India. One could sat that the state of
Telangana shouldn’t be formed.Formation and development of
Telangana as a state would require a lot of money. Instead of splitting
the state into two, special projects and capital could be allotted in the
development of the region as well as people. These could be
periodically checked upon. As for reservation of seats for the people in
not only the government but also industries and educational
institutions, a committee could be set up. This committee could also
see to the development of the people as well. Also, the creation of
another new state will just further divide the country and also pave
way for the bifurcation of other large states. This may come to harm
the unity and integrity of the nation.