TELANGANA MOVEMENT - DEMAND FOR A SEPARATE STATE

                                                                                                    BANDARU NITIN

                                                                                      ME10B150                                                                                       FORMATION OF THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Andhra Pradesh emerged as the first linguistic state on November 1, 1956. The years 1947 to 1956 were very crucial in the history of Andhra Pradesh. When India got independence on August 15, 1947, the three main regions of Andhra Pradesh – Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana were not part of Andhra Pradesh state. Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema belonged to Madras Presidency as a province of British India. Telangana was part of Hyderabad state, which was an independent native Indian state. Hyderabad State was the most important native state and was administered directly by the Governor General of India. The ruler of Hyderabad State was considered the most senior or superior native Indian ruler. Hyderabad state included Telangana, 4 Kannada districts in Gulbarga division & 4 Marathi districts in Aurangabad division.

There was a big difference between these two regions. Unlike Madras Presidency, Hyderabad state was not under direct British rule. The law of Madras Presidency rested upon the laws passed by the British Parliament. In contrast, Hyderabad state had its own law. English was the official language of Madras Presidency, where as it was Urdu for Hyderabad state. Hyderabad state had its own financial, military, judicial, police, general, public works and revenue departments.

The administration of Rayalseema and Coastal Andhra mostly followed the current system in India that was derived from British administration systems, whereas Hyderabad State followed the Moghul administration systems (with changes made over time).

Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema form Andhra State

Potti Sri Ramulu one of the prominent leaders of the separate Andhra movement, took indefinite fasting from October 19, 1952 demanding for a separate Andhra state from the Madras state for the Telugus. On December 15, Potti Sri Ramulu breathed his last breath in the fasting camp. As the news of his death broke, violence spread all over the southern parts of the country. As a result of Potti Sri Ramulu’s sacrifice, the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the Andhra state consisting eleven districts of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema on October 1, 1953 with Kurnool as its capital city.

However, Telugu speaking people demanded for their long cherished Visalandhra formation, but people of Hyderabad state were unanimous in their demand for splitting the state into three parts. The Government of India , vide Ministry of Home Affairs resolution, dated December 29, 1953, appointed the “States Reorganization Commission” headed by Justice S. Fazal Ali with H.N. Kunzru and K.M. Panikkar as members. The Commission, after consultations and interactions with various groups of people, found the public will in favour of linguistic reorganization. Based on the recommendations, the States Reorganization Act was passed by the Parliament and came into effect on November 1, 1956.

Telangana districts outside the city of hyderabad were educationally backward compared to Andhra state. The educationally backward people of Telangana felt that they may be exploited by the more advanced people of Andhra state. Telangana region had a higher per capita revenue than Andhra state, telangana leaders feared that unification of the two states would result in the exchange of settled sources of revenue like the water resources of Krishna and Godavari rivers. Considering the lag in education and employment lev­els, they felt that a merger with coastal Andhra would result in diversion of resources, employment and educational opportunities for the Telangana people. They believed that when plans for future development would be taken into account, they may not receive adequate consideration.

To convince the leadership of Telangana to merge with Andhra state and form the new state, a non-binding agreement was reached between the leaders of both sides. The agreement provided safeguards with the purpose of preventing discrimination against Telangana by the government of Andhra Pradesh. It was meant to give assurances to the people of the Telangana region in terms of power sharing, domicile rules for reservation in public employment, education and distribution of expenses of various regions. This agreement was known as the “Gentlemen's agreement”.

1.     There will be one legislature for the whole of Andhra Pradesh which will be the sole   law making body for the entire state and there be one Governor for the State aided and advised by the Council of Ministers responsible to the State Assembly for the entire field of Administration.

2.     For the more convenient transaction of the business of Government with regard to some specified matters the Telangana area will be treated as one region.

3.     For the Telangana region there will be a Regional Standing Committee of the state assembly consisting of the members of the State Assembly belonging to that region including the Ministers from that region but not including the Chief Minister.

4.     . Legislation relating to specified matters will be referred to the Regional committee. In respect of specified matters proposals may also be made by the Regional Committee to the State Government for legislation or with regard to the question of general policy not involving any financial commitments other than expenditure of a routine and incidental character.

5.     The advice tendered by the Regional Committee will normally be accepted by the Government and the State Legislature. In case of difference of opinion, reference will be made to the Governor whose decision will be binding.

6.     The Regional Committee will deal with following matters:
--Development and economic planning within the framework of the general development plans formulated by the State Legislature.

--Local Self Government, that is to say, the Constitutional powers of Municipal Corporations, Improvement Trusts, District Boards and district authorities for the purpose of Local Self Government or Village Administration.

--Public health and sanitation, local hospitals and dispensaries.

--Primary and secondary education.

--Regulation of admission to the educational institutions in the telangana region.

--Prohibition— Sale of agricultural lands.

--Cottage and small scale Industries, and Agriculture, Cooperative Societies, Markets and Fairs. Unless revised by agreement earlier this arrangement will be reviewed after ten years.

7.     . Domicile Rules: A temporary provision be made to ensure that for a period of five years, Telangana is regarded as a unit as far as recruitment to subordinate services is concerned; posts borne on the cadre of these services may be reserved for being filled up by persons who satisfy the domicile conditions as prescribed under the existing Hyderabad Mulki Rules. ( 12 years of Stay in Telangana area).

8.     Distribution of expenditure between Telangana and Andhra Regions--- Allocation of expenditure with the resources of the state is a matter which falls within the purview of the State Government and the State Legislature. Since, however, it has been agreed to the representatives of Andhra and Telangana that the expenditure of the new state on central and general administration should be borne proportionately by the two regions and the balance of income should be reserved for expenditure on the development of Telangana area, it is open to the state government to act in accordance with the terms of agreement in making budgetary allocations. The Government of India propose to invite the attention of the Chief Minister of Andhra to this particular understanding and to express the hope that it will be implemented.

9.     The existing educational facilities including Technical Education in Telangana should be secured to the students of Telangana and further improved.

10. The cabinet will consist of members in proportion of 60:40 percent for Andhra and Telangana respectively, out of 40 % of Telangana ministers, one will be a Muslim from Telangana. If the Chief Minister is from one region the other region should be given Dy Chief Ministership.

The alleged violations and non-implementation of some of the provisions of this agreement are cited as one of the reasons for demands for separate statehood of telangana. Also the debate on the name of the state and the location of benches of high court further created tensions among people belonging to the two regions. Telangana has also alleged political domination by the more prosperous and enterprising coastal Andhra side and the politically stronger factionist Rayalaseema region. Telangana leaders and people have argued that political provisions in the Gentlemen’s agreement were never adhered to and the region has been granted less space in political representation during the post merger period.

There was widespread unrest in the state in the first two decades after the formation of Andhra Pradesh due to ‘Jai Telangana’ movement in 1969 and ‘Jai Andhra’ movement in 1972.

Of all the points included in the “gentlemen’s agreement”, there were mainly three points which were considered to be of immense political and socio-economic importance. These points were

1.     The political issues relating to representation of Telangana in the power sharing structure.

2.     The socioeconomic issues relating to the utilization of revenue surpluses/apportioning of budget for the Telangana region.

3.     Proper sharing of employment and educational opportunities in the state.

There were occasional rumblings of dissatisfaction and discontent among the telangana leaders regarding the above mentioned points and finally the bubble burst in 1969.

JAI TELANGANA MOVEMENT OF 1969

In the years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, people of Telangana expressed dissatisfaction over how the agreements and guarantees were implemented. Discontent with the 1956 Gentleman's agreement intensified in January 1969, when the guarantees that had been agreed on were supposed to lapse.

                        An agitation that began in December, 1968, initially based on discontent in service and employment matters and further covering financial matters called “Telangana revenue surpluses”, quickly spread like wild fire all over Telangana area with devastating effect.

                        The influx of the people from coastal Andhra into the city of Hyderabad in the formative years, after the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, had created its own social tensions. Slowly, the discontent spread to the government officials and unemployed youth, who got the feeling that they were neglected and exploited by the domineering officials of the coastal Andhra region and, particularly, the more enterprising people from the coastal Andhra area. One of the main causes of dissatisfaction of the people of Telangana was that a large number of persons from coastal Andhra region were appointed to the posts belonging to them on the ground that qualified personnel from Telangana were not available. In order to draw the attention of the Government to their grievances, the people of Telangana began to organize protest meetings and observed Telangana Safeguards Day on July 10, 1968.

                    An insignificant event in 1969 acted as a trigger for a massive student uprising in Nizam Telangana.It is reported that the agitation and discontent of the people at large manifested itself when a student in Khammam went on a hunger strike in January, 1969. By the middle of January, the agitation gained momentum and spread to other districts and students also got involved in the movement. While one section of the students demanded full implementation of “safeguards”, the other section demanded bifurcation of the state. The non-gazetted officers from Telangana joined the movement with the demand for the immediate repatriation to coastal Andhra region, of about six thousand coastal Andhra employees occupying the Telangana posts. The agitation took a violent turn in certain areas. The state government immediately responded by convening a meeting of the all-party political leaders of the state

on January 18-19, 1969.

                          The two important issues agitating the Telangana people, namely, the repatriation of coastal Andhra officials from Telangana and the quantum of surplus revenue of Telangana, were discussed. It was announced that the quantum of Telangana surpluses would be decided by a senior officer appointed for the purpose and the coastal Andhra officials would be repatriated by providing jobs in the coastal Andhra area. Unfortunately, the police firing on the agitating students on January 20, 1969, further provoked the students, leaving the proposed government action decided in the all party meeting and the appeal for peace. On January 22, the agitation became violent all across Telangana, resulting in heavy damage to public property. The agitation spanning nearly for a year from December, 1968, to November, 1969, resulted in colossal damage to public and private property, loss of precious life and injury to several people across the districts. Appropriate police action was taken to control the law and order situation. Estimates varied on the extent of damage and loss of life. In order to diffuse the situation, in the initial stages itself, the Government issued a Government Order assuring to remove/move all non mulki officials from their current positions and set a dead line for the same as February 28, 1969.

The Telangana agitation did not achieve its important goal of a separate state, but secured assurance of safeguards for the region. During this period, the Government promised to correct what critics saw as a violation of the promises of the Gentleman's agreement in the areas of jobs, budget allocations, and educational facilities.

JAI ANDHRA MOVEMENT OF 1972

On the announcement of these decisions, particularly the one pertaining to repatriation of employees of coastal Andhra/Rayalaseema from Telangana region, violence erupted in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

          After the trifurcation of Hyderabad state in 1956, the Mulki rules continued to be in force in the Telangana region. As a result, the people of coastal Andhra region found it difficult to enter into government services in the Telangana region. They nurtured a feeling that they faced discrimination in their own state and that too in their own state capital. As a consequence, some of the coastal Andhra employees challenged the validity of the Mulki Rules in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. On February 14, 1972, the high court held that the Mulki Rules were not valid and operative after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state. The High Court Judgment stirred the Andhra Pradesh Government and was a rude shock to the Telanganites as they were always insisting on enforcement of the Mulki Rules. The government to the Supreme Court against the ruling of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Further, the government also announced that it would go ahead with the regionalization of services and take the required steps in order to safeguard the interests of Telanganites in the matter of employment. On October 3, 1972, the Supreme Court gave its verdict reversing the A.P High Court decision and holding that Mulki Rules were valid and were in force. This judgment stirred the people in coastal Andhra region who felt that they were reduced to the status of second class citizens in their own state capital. Therefore to safeguard their dignity, they preferred to sever their connection with Telanganites. This led to the “Jai-Andhra agitation”.

The Jai Andhra agitation spread like a wild fire and paralyzed the administration. It continued for more than two months, resulting in damage to public and private property, loss of human life and injury to several people across the districts. Taking all these aspects into consideration, including the intensity of the agitation, President‟s Rule was imposed in the state in January, 1973.

As a result of these developments, and gradual loss of public support, Congressmen from both sides realized the futility of their demand for bifurcation. They wanted a face saving formula to put an end to their agitational approaches.

Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi again intervened, and after a series of discussion with leaders of both the regions, evolved a consensus through the “Six Point Formula”. The Six point formula, in a way, tried to address comprehensively the elements of the “Gentlemen‟s Agreement” and find enduring answers to the problems, and at the same time endeavour to achieve “emotional integration” of the people of Andhra Pradesh.

On 21 September 1973, a political settlement was reached with the Government of India with a Six-Point  Formula. It was agreed upon by the leaders of the two regions to prevent any recurrence of such agitations in the future.

1.   Accelerated development of the backward areas of the State, and planned development of the State capital, with specific resources earmarked for these purposes; and appropriate representation of such backward areas in the State legislature, along with other experts, should formulate and monitor development schemes for the areas. The formation at the State level of a Planning Board as well as Sub-Committees for different backward areas should be the appropriate instrument for achieving this objective.

2.   Institution of uniform arrangements throughout the State enabling adequate preference being given to local candidates in the matter of admission to educational institutions, and establishment of a new Central University at Hyderabad to argument the exiting educational facilities should be the basis of the educational policy of the State.

3.   Subject to the requirements of the State as a whole, local candidates should be given preference to specified extent in the matter of direct recruitment to (i) non-gazetted posts (other than in the Secretariat. Offices of Heads of Department, other State level offices and institutions and the Hyderabad City Police) (ii) corresponding posts under the local bodies and (iii) the posts of Tahsildars, Junior Engineers and Civil Assistant Surgeons. In order to improve their promotion prospects, service cadres should be organised to the extent possible on appropriate local basis up to specified gazetted level, first or second, as may be administratively convenient.

4.   A high-power administrative tribunal should be constituted to deal with the grievances of services regarding appointments, seniority, promotion and other allied matters. The decisions of the Tribunal should ordinarily be binding on the State Government. The constitution of such a tribunal would justify limits on recourse to judiciary in such matters.

5.   In order that implementation of measures based on the above principles does not give rise to litigation and consequent uncertainty, the Constitution should be suitably amended to the extent necessary conferring on the President enabling powers in this behalf.

6.   The above approach would render the continuance of Mulki Rules and Regional Committee unnecessary.

The period of 1973-1975  witnessed two important milestones; one was the abolition of the Mulki Rules on December 31, 1973, through the Mulki Rules Repeal Act, 1973, which received President‟s assent on December 31,1973, and the other was the abolition of the Telangana Regional Committee from January 1, 1974, under a Presidential Order issued on December 10, 1973.

There was a certain amount of discontent among the people of telangana region on the abolition of TRC.People believed that the Six Point Formula (SPF) was more state-centric as compared to the Gentlemen’s Agreement, which was primarily Telangana-centric. The SPF, however, by and large, found its way for public acceptance and the dilemma that faced the leadership at the time of the formation of the state (in 1956) in the continuing thinking of reconfiguration of the state and retaining the identity of a separate Hyderabad/Telangana got diffused to a large extent.

During 1973-1982, the Governments were headed by Telangana leadership. Telangana leaders claimed that the policies of the successive Governments, since 1982, were not generally in favour of equitable development of Telangana. In this context, accusations were made that, during this period, large areas of resourceful land, including wakf lands in and around Hyderabad, were acquired at much cheaper prices for and by people not belonging to Telangana region at a great advantage to them ignoring the interest of the locals. Although the industrial and economic developmental base that was created by these people, using these lands, contributed to general economic and industrial growth and incidental employment benefits, the higher end dividends in terms of incomes and jobs and other similar avenues in these attractive efforts were taken away again by people belonging to coastal Andhra regions, leaving the locals with lower-end jobs and less attractive opportunities.

The demand for separate Telangana stayed dormant during 1982-2000 period.

The  political party Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) was formed in 2000 with the main goal of achieving a separate state of telangana. In 2004 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the Congress and the TRS formed an electoral alliance because the central government promised to consider the demand for formation of telangana state at an appropriate time. A committee was formed for the same purpose but couldn’t arrive at any conclusion.Hence for the state assembly elections of 2009, TRS formed an alliance with TDP (Telugu desam party) known as ‘Mahakutami’ (grand alliance). But congress party managed to maintain its power at the state assembly.

          The present JAI TELANGANA movement which is going on started after the accidental demise of the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. On November 9, 2009, the TRS president Chandrasekhar Rao wrote to the President of India about his intention to go on fast-unto-death in order to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the people of Telangana for a separate state. A Joint Action Committee (JAC) was formed with the pro-separation members of the major political parties. The motive of JAC was to ensure that Telangana bill would be passed in the parliament. There is widespread agitation and violence in the state. JAC organized many events such as HUMAN CHAIN, RASTA ROKO, RAIL ROKO, CHALO ASSEMBLY, MILLION MARCH and so on. Many ministers resigned from their posts and many people committed suicide for this cause.An all-party meeting was held after which on 3rd February, the government announced the five-member Sri Krishna committee that would look into the issue, with a deadline of 31 December 2010. The Srikrishna committee on Telangana submitted its report to the Home Ministry of India on 30 December 2010. The committee put forward six solutions to the issue.

1.     Maintain status quo.

2.     Bifurcation of the State into Seemandhra and Telangana; with Hyderabad as a Union Territory and the two states developing their own capitals in due course.

3.     Bifurcation of State into Rayala-Telangana and coastal Andhra regions with Hyderabad being an integral part of Rayala-Telangana.

4.     Bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad Metropolis as a separate Union Territory. This Union Territory will have geographical linkage and contiguity via Nalgonda district in the south-east to district Guntur in coastal Andhra and via Mahboobnagar district in the south to Kurnool district in Rayalaseema.

5.     Bifurcation of the State into Telangana and Seemandhra as per existing boundaries with Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana and Seemandhra to have a new capital.

6.     Keeping the State united by simultaneously providing certain definite Constitutional/Statutory measures for socio-economic development and political empowerment of Telangana region – creation of a statutorily empowered Telangana Regional Council.

    

Political inequities and the desire for a greater share in political power, combined with the feeling that the historic Gentlemen’s Agreement was violated, feed into the movement.

There have been various grievances of the Telangana region asserting neglect and/or discrimination on economic, educational, employment, irrigation and other grounds. While the overall trend of economic development in the region has been found to be decent, given the low levels of development at the time of the merger and in some cases, even surpassing the rate of growth in the traditionally more prosperous Andhra region, some long standing grievances such as share in public employment and development of irrigation and educational facilities have been found to be genuine.

The main grievances of Telangana people that the political organizers are capitalizing upon are water, education and jobs. These demands represent the aspirations of three main constituencies most heavily invested in the demand for a separate state – farmers needing irrigation water in rain-fed areas; students demanding greater access to quality education to enable them to compete for jobs, and government

employees seeking promotions and a fair share of representation in administration.

Let us now look in detail the allegations made by people of telangana region and to what extent these allegations are true.

Economy and Equity Issues

ALLEGATIONS

One of the major arguments for a separate state of Telangana has been that since the formation of the state of AP, this region has been neglected and even discriminated against, resulting in economic and social hardship. Compared with coastal Andhra, it is alleged that Telangana has low per capita income, lower access to employment, lower business opportunities and low access to education and so on. It is also alleged that most of the higher level economic opportunities are appropriated by those belonging to coastal Andhra.

ANALYSIS

In recent years, however the shares of Telangana for many common development parameters are in league with the share of population / area, often being higher.

             Most of the economic and developmental parameters show that Telangana (excluding Hyderabad) is either on par with or a shade lower than coastal Andhra; but once Hyderabad is included, the situation in Telangana is far better. Additionally, the rate of growth of most of the parameters of development like Gross District Level Domestic Product (GDDP), share of income, Scheduled Commercial Bank (SCB) Credit has shown robust growth in Telangana. Coastal Andhra region record a per capita income of Rs.36496 followed by Telangana (including Hyderabad) with a per capita income of Rs.36082 (Rs.33771 excluding Hyderabad), and Rs.33056 in Rayalaseema at 2007-08 current prices. Telangana region has experienced unprecedented growth from 1993-94 onwards. Coastal Andhra has natural advantages and a long history of development in agriculture, but it is the Telangana region which has shown commendable growth in agriculture during the past three-four decades.

Telangana region is found to be relatively less serviced by commercial banks and associated credit, and this region is found to have had relatively low levels of financial devolution at the panchayat level. But due to concentration of services such as education and health facilities, and services sector employment in Hyderabad city, other parts of Telangana are under-serviced.

EDUCATION

At the time of formation of Andhra Pradesh it was assured that disparities on the levels of development, including education, in different regions of the state would be removed in about five years. But even after forty years, the percentage of literate population in Telangana continues to be the lowest in the state i.e. 37.00 as compared to 46.22 in Coastal Andhra, 44.96 in Rayalaseema and 71.52 in the capital city. People belonging to telangana region feel that compared to coastal Andhra, Telangana is educationally backward and that this will only be rectified in an autonomous state.

In correspondence with the population ratio, at least 40 per cent of the students enrolled at different levels of education should be from the Telangana region, but they never constituted more than 30 or 32 per cent of the total enrolment. Thus many groups argue that seats available to the students in Telangana region in professional colleges, particularly medicine and dentistry are less than in proportion to their population.

School education

People allege there is discrimination right from school level in the form of differential pass marks required for Hindi and English which tend to place coastal Andhra students in an advantageous position.

College education

Many groups argue that the government has discriminated against the region by providing a huge chunk of aid to private colleges (Junior as well as Degree) in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema with very little to the private colleges in Telangana. They believe that grants made to regional universities have been discriminatory with per capita block grant to the universities in Telangana being less.

The Higher Education Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh confirms that the aid to the private colleges in Telangana is much less than that in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema but argues that it is a result of historical factors and that there is no intentional discrimination against any particular region. It also brings out that an attempt is being made to restore equity by having more government colleges in the Telangana region.

Another issue is regarding the distribution of the various institutions region-wise. While state level institutions are spread out in many districts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, in Telangana region they are located only in the capital city Hyderabad.

It needs to be clarified that since seats in the state level institutions are allocated to the students in the three regions in a pre-determined ratio (42% to students from Andhra University area, 36% to students from Osmania University area and 22% to students from Sri Venkateswara University area), the location of these does not in any way affect chances of getting admission into these on the basis of residence/schooling of students from any region.

Students/groups in Telangana do not go to the other regions for education while many students from the other two regions take admission in the regional institutions located in Telangana, particularly, those located in the capital city by virtue of shorter residency requirement (4 years of schooling under the Presidential order as against 15 years under the earlier Mulki rules) for qualifying as a local. It has been alleged that many admission seekers from other regions simply acquire fake certificates.

Medical Education 

There are nine government medical colleges in the state, out of which four are in the Coastal Andhra region, two in the Rayalaseema region, two in the capital city and only one in the Telangana region. As result, even students with high ranks cannot get seats.

Analysis

One of the most important findings is that youth literacy rate in Telangana which was behind those of the other two regions in 1983, is ahead of the other two regions in 2007, showing the highest percentage increase over the period. It had a literacy rate of 46% in 1983 and improved to 89% in 2007 – an increase of 93%.

Not only this, the number of years of schooling among the population aged 8-24 increased fastest in Telangana taking it from the third place in 1983 to first place in 2007 among the three regions.

However, Coastal Andhra Students from coastal Andhra are against bifurcation of the state. They feel that if the state is divided they would be deprived of the educational facilities present in and around Hyderabad. In Telangana state, students from coastal Andhra would become non-locals and consequently would not get seats in reputed institutions.

         

IRRIGATION AND PROJECTS

One of the major grievances of the people of Telangana is regarding allocation and utilization of river waters. Various issues have been raised, alleging discrimination against Telangana in the distribution of river waters, inadequate mechanisms to address inter regional disputes over river water sharing and water use and part diversion of river Godavari to coastal Andhra and river Krishna to Rayalaseema to the detriment of the Telangana region. It has also been alleged that injustice has been done to Telangana in the implementation of various projects. Another allegation is that unviable projects

were formulated for Telangana like Ichampalli Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme etc. which were unlikely to succeed. The Polavaram project has been planned to benefit coastal Andhra at the cost of Telangana and the projects inherited from the erstwhile Hyderabad state have been abandoned.

Issues have also been raised about neglect of tanks, pointing out that the area irrigated by tanks in Telangana has gone down from 12 lakh acres to 5 lakh acres compelling the farmers to depend on ground water for their survival. Telangana groups have argued that while canal irrigation is with public investment, ground water development is with the farmers’ own resources which are impoverishing the farmers of Telangana, even leading to suicides in some cases. Some groups have pointed out that despite the largest catchment area amongst the three regions of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana has less irrigated land than coastal Andhra and that, if a separate Telangana is created the waters of Krishna and Godavari will be better utilized for agricultural production and creation of employment opportunities.

But the growth of agriculture in Telangana region has been comparable, if not better than coastal Andhra.

Now let us look at the issues in detail

1.     One of the grievances of Telangana region is that, although Telangana contributes most to the catchment area of Krishna and Godavari within the state, the allocations to the region are lower and not in the same proportion. Besides, they are not realizing even these lower allocations. In regard to the low allocations, as compared to the catchment area contributions, it is observed that by general convention, the allocations are based on the consideration of various factors like the contribution to the basin waters (where the catchment area will come into play), dependent population, developed usages, alternate sources, possibilities of use, etc. Catchment area cannot be the only criterion. In addition, Telangana, being at a higher level, has natural disadvantage in gravity canal irrigation from large projects.

2.     Another grievance of Telangana is that the construction of Srisailam Left Bank Canal Project has been purposely delayed by the Andhra PradeshbGovernment. This project involves a single tunnel of 40 kms length by boringbfrom only two faces, without adits. This project is difficult engineering wiseband would take considerable time.

3.     Telangana groups also have a view that, their traditional irrigation, based on numerous small tanks, has been purposely destroyed through neglect, non-allocation of funds, etc., causing major harm. As a result,  thenfarmers have to depend on groundwater irrigation and this is impoverishing the farmers.

There is a very large growth in the gross and net irrigation in Telangana, although, the minor surface irrigation has reduced. This is mainly due to the large increase in groundwater irrigation. Such a large increase would not have taken place if it was leading to the general impoverishing of all farmers.

4.     Regarding the Polavaram project on Godavari, the advocates for Telangana feel that, it is possible to have three barrages on Godavari, with little submergence, which would give similar benefits but inundate fewer Telangana habitations. In their view, this alternative is being ignored and the project is being constructed.

5.     Similarly, there is a grievance that the Inchampalli Project, which can benefit Telangana, is not being followed up. The Inchampalli high dam causes a huge submergence of forest land and displacement of tribal population. Hence, it is very unlikely to receive environment and forest clearance. This grievance, therefore, appears to be misconceived.
References : Sri krishna committee report

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Telangana people have always alleged that the more intellectual and enterprising people of coastal Andhra have stolen their jobs. This feeling of insecurity over employment has always remained in their minds. 

They allege that there is an imbalance in the appointments which has adversely affected the interests and prospects of aspirants from the Telangana region.

These feelings were one of the main reasons which triggered the ‘JAI TELANGANA MOVEMENT’ of 1969. With the abolishment of Mulki rules in 1973, any restrictions on people belonging to coastal Andhra getting employed in Hyderabad were removed. Hence many people shifted to Hyderabad for better prospects thereby competing with the locals for jobs. 

CONCLUSION

While some of the allegations made by the Telangana leaders are genuine, some of them have been misconceived. There are points in favor of keeping the state unified as well as bifurcating it. It is up to the government to decide as to what factors weigh more in comparison to others regarding the status of the state.