Dividing Andhra Pradesh leads to a greater loss to the Telugu community, not only local but also across the world with more corruption, overhead expenses for the redundant state infrastructure and more, says Satya Nemana
The current situation in Andhra Pradesh for separate Telangana and Rayala Seema is causing political and social instability leading to distress among people. Given the current situation, it is the best, if the Government forms a secondary advisory committee, address the issues of separatists and settle them on a mutually coordinated basis.
Dividing Andhra Pradesh leads to a greater loss to the Telugu community, not only local but also across the world with more corruption, overhead expenses for the redundant state infrastructure, lack of peace of mind, disputes on distribution of natural resources, disruption of life styles, more poverty, agony to common people, diluted attention towards AP progress because of lack of focused attention on priorities side tracked by vested interests of multiple political parties and administrative bodies, fighting with each other in the selfish motivations rather than people’s best interests. Let us save Andhra Pradesh from these political disasters and bring unity with diversity. Let us think of Andhra Pradesh future for the long term benefits of the state, rather than the misleading myths of separation, by restoring and safeguarding the unity and integrity.
This division of Andhra is triggered by some vested interests of a few political party leaders taking advantages of the Telangana people’s sentiments and setting up mind state for AP separation, which is causing agony among the common people, including the Students, who are being affected with more sufferings.
Arguments in favour of keeping the State United:
Proponents of the Samaikyandhra Movement argue that a division of the state will be detrimental to the other regions as majority of the state’s income comes from the capital Hyderabad and the implementation of welfare programmes would not be possible in other regions if the state is divided.g Students feel that in case of a division, educated youth of other backward regions like those in Rayalaseema will be denied employment opportunities.
Further, due to the division, many top engineering colleges under the purview of Osmania University will become unavailable for students of Andhra & Rayalaseema regions. Engineering graduates fear that several government and private institutions for training in job-oriented courses are located in Hyderabad and if the state is divided the residual state will not have any of these institutes. They also feel that losing a software hub like Hyderabad will cost a lot to the students. Medical students also fear that since 85 per cent of super specialty course seats were allotted to colleges in Telangana, students from other regions may not be able to pursue important PG courses like cardiology.
They also believe that the demand to carve out a separate state of Telangana is unreasonable, since far greater development took place in many towns and cities of Telangana region while other parts of the State were lagging behind in many aspects. This was validated by the Srikrishna Committee in its report. Similarly they also feel that the myth that smaller states develop faster is wrong, since many states are currently facing a whole lot of problems because of lack of sufficient resources and exploitation. They demand that a proper survey needs to be conducted to establish the backwardness of each region before taking a decision over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. They feel that all the areas of north Andhra region barring Visakhapatnam city would come under backward area.
Division of the state, they argue, would also result in water problems in Andhra & Rayalaseema since Telangana was on the upstream of Krishna & Godavari rivers. Farmers & water-users associations express fear that division of the state would render upland areas in Krishna delta into a desert and force farmers to migrate as daily wage earners.
People in Andhra & Rayalaseema regions express worries about the safety of their friends and relatives who have settled in the state capital, Hyderabad and the fear that they would be considered ‘non-locals’ in their own state. They also opine that they are not ready to lose Hyderabad since they had contributed more for the development of Hyderabad. Several people also mention that small states would lead to problems of Naxalism.
Eminent Journalist Kuldip Nayar also felt that small states do not necessarily bring about prosperity. He went on to say that the people in Punjab are now realising that bifurcation of the state was a big mistake. India’s social activist and anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare said that creation of Telangana state will not only encourage the demand for newer states, but also new districts which will weaken the country.
Sri Krishna Committee Report:
The five member committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna toured all the regions of state extensively and invited people from all sections of the society to give their opinion on the statehood. It received over one lakh petitions and representations from political parties, organisations, NGOs and individuals. It also held consultations with political parties and general public while also factoring in the impact of recent developments on different sections of people such as women, children, students, and minorities, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In a report submitted to the Home Ministry of India on 30 December 2010, the committee favored the option to keep the State united and providing for creation of a statutorily empowered Telangana Regional Council for socio-economic development and political development of Telangana region
Options suggested:
The Sri Krishna Committee submitted a comprehensive 461-page report after their detailed across the state which included consultations with various political as well as social groups.
The Committee’s report suggested 6 options.
1. Maintaining Status Quo – Keeping the Andhra Pradesh State as it is with no change in the Telangana, Seemandhra and coastal regions.
2. Bifurcating the state of Andhra Pradesh into Seemandhra and Telengana regions with both of them developing their own capitals in due course of time. Hyderabad to be converted to a Union Territory – This proposal was similar to the Punjab-Haryana-Chandigarh model.
3. Dividing Andhra Pradesh into two states – One of Rayala-Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital and second one of the Coastal Andhra Pradesh
4. Dividing Andhra Pradesh into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad Metropolis as a separate Union Territory that will be linked geographically to district Guntur in coastal Andhra via Nalgonda district in the southeast and via Mahboobnagar district in the south to Kurnool district in Rayalaseema
5. Bifurcation of the State into Telangana and Seemandhrâ as per existing boundaries with Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana and Seemandhra to have a new capital. This was the second most preferred option according to the report.
6. Keeping the State united and providing for creation of a statutorily empowered Telangana Regional Council for socio-economic development and political development of Telangana region. This was the most preferred option.
Considering the current situations and the past history of Andhra Pradesh social and economic conditions, it is best to go for the option-1 which is to stay united and continue with the status-quo. The more we continue with this separate Andhra movement, the more inconvenience it causes, leading to unrest and distress among students and common people disrupting their life styles.
Check http://www.AndhraPradeshNRI.org for more details.
(Author is an IT Professional living in New Jersey)
