TELANGANA MOVEMENTS IN ANDHRA PRADESH

HISTORY OF TELANGANA
At the time of independence there were more than 500 independent princely states. With enormous effort of the government of independent India all the princely states except Hyderabad state were merged into Indian union without usage of iron and spilling blood. It is the greatest unification of those many states in the history of mankind without exerting army power.   

 Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII refused to merge Hyderabad with India. Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel decided to annex the state of Hyderabad. He sent the Indian army on 1st September 1948 and the Hyderabad State Forces were defeated within five days. Following the Gentlemen's agreement, the central government established a unified Andhra Pradesh on November 1, 1956 which includes area of telugu speaking people in Hyderabad state and the Andhra state (Which formed by the ‘fast unto death by Potti Sri Ramulu’ in 1953, with Kurnool as its capital).

    Before the formation of vishalandhra(Andhra Pradesh) the states reorganization commission considered the opinions of both andhras and telanganas for unifying all telugu speaking areas into a state. Andhras showed very high fovour in making a larger state with all telugu speaking people.There were no much negative response from the telangana side. few people opposed the unification.They had many concerns as their lands were not as developed as the british ruled parts got devoloped. On 1 November 1956 state reorganization commission formed Andhra Pradesh bringing all telugu speaking people under one state. That was done considering the opinions of the telangana people. after lot many discussions state src gave a  detailed discussion on the subject, the Commission expressed different viewpoints in its report, giving several pros and cons of the two possibilities, such as:-                                 

i) The creation of Vishalandhra is an ideal to which numerous individuals and public bodies, both in Andhra and Telangana, havebeen passionately attached over a long period of time, and unless there are strong reasons to the contrary, this sentiment is entitled to consideration.

ii) Another advantage of Vishalandhra will be that the development of Krishna and Godavari rivers will thereby be brought under unified control. The Krishna and Godavari projects rank amongst the most ambitious in India. They have been formulated after prolonged period of inactivity, Since Telangana as part of Vishalandhra will benefit both directly and indirectly from this development, there is a great deal to be said for its amalgamation with the AndhraState.

 iii) The case for Vishalandhra thus rests on arguments which are impressive. The considerations which have been urged in favour o fa separate Telangana State are, however, not such as may be lightly brushed aside.

Iv) One of the principal causes of opposition to Vishalandhra also seems to be the apprehension felt by the educationally-backward people of Telangana that they may be swamped and exploited by the more advanced people of the coastal area.

source: report about conditions in Andhra Pradesh by Srikrishna committee. 

The report adds the Telangana district outside the city of Hyderabad education is woefully backward……the real fear of the people of Telangana is that if they join Andhra they will be unequally placed in relation to the people of Andhra and in this partnership the major partner will derive all the advantages immediately while Telangana itself may be converted into a colony by the enterprising coastal Andhra.

  The only major problem for unification was due to the fear of telangana leaders that their lands may become colonies for advanced people of coastal andhra. 

  

 At this point the central government and src felt it is necessary to formulate some safeguard policies in the intrest of telangana as a result a meeting of the representatives of both the regions was held in Delhi,  on February 20, 1956. The two groups  were represented by their top state leadership in the Governments and the Pradesh Congress Committees in equal numbers (four each) from both the regions. After discussion the central government formulated a safe guard policy for telangana  popularly known as Gentlemen‟s Agreement 1956. It constitutes following points.

1. The expenditure of the Central and General Administration of the State should be borne proportionately by the two regions and the balance of income from Telangana should be reserved for expenditure on the development of Telangana area. This arrangement will be reviewed after five years and can be continued for another five years if the Telangana members of the Assembly so desire.

2. Prohibition in Telangana should be implemented in the manner decided upon by the Assembly members of Telangana.

3. The existing educational facilities in Telangana should be secured to the students of Telangana and further improved. Admission to Colleges, including technical institutions in the Telangana area, should be restricted to the students of Telangana area, or they later should have admission to the extent of onethird of the total admission in the entire state, whichever course is advantageous to Telangana students.

4. Retrenchment of services should be proportionate from both regions if it becomes inevitable due to integration.

5. Future recruitment to services will be on the basis of population from both regions.

6. The position of Urdu in the administrative and judicial structure existing at present in the Telangana area may continue for five years, when the position may be revised by the Regional Council. So far as recruitment to services is concerned, knowledge of Telugu should not be insisted upon at the time of recruitment, but they should be required to pass a prescribed Telugu test in two years time after appointment.

7. Some kind of domicile rules e.g., residence for 12 years should be provided in order to secure the prescribed proportion to recruitment of services for Telangana area.

8. Sales of agricultural lands in Telangana area to be controlled by the Regional Council.

9. A Regional Council will be established for the Telangana area with a view to secure its all-round development in accordance with its needs and

requirements.

10. The Regional Council will consist of 20 members as follows:

   --9 members of the Assembly, representing each district of Telangana, to

be elected by the Assembly members of the Telangana districts

separately.

   --6 members of the Assembly or the Parliament, elected by the Telangana

representatives in the Assembly.

   --5 members from outside the Assembly to be elected by the Telangana

members of the Assembly.

11. (a) The Regional Council will be a statutory body empowered to deal with and decide about matters mentioned above, and those relating to planning and development, irrigation and other projects, industrial development within the general plan and recruitment to services in so far as they relate to Telangana area. If there is difference of opinion between the views of the Regional Council and the Government of the state, a reference may be made to the Government of India for final decision.
     (b) Unless revised by agreement earlier, this arrangement will be reviewed at the end of ten years.
12. The Cabinet will consist of members proportionately 60:40 per cent for
Andhra and Telangana respectively. Out of the 40 per cent Telangana Ministers, one will be a Muslim from Telangana.
13. If the Chief Minister is from Andhra, the Deputy Chief Minister will be
from Telangana and Vice versa. Two out of the following portfolios will be
assigned to Ministers from Telangana:
(a) Home (b) Finance (c) Revenue (d) Planning and Development and (e)
Commerce and Industry.
14. The H.P.C.C. President desires that the P.C.C. should be separate for
Telangana up to the end of 1962. A.P.C.C. President has no objection.

Functions of Regional Standing Committee as mentioned by gentle men’s agreement: 

1. There will be one legislature for the whole of the Andhra Pradesh state,

which will be the sole law-making body for the entire state, and there will be

one Governor for the state, aided and advised by a Council of Ministers,

responsible to the state Assembly for the entire field of administration.

2. For a more convenient transaction of business of the Government with

regard to some specified matters, the Telangana area will be treated as a

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 the 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 questions 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 final and binding.

6. The regional committee will deal with the following matters:-

i) Development and economic planning within the framework of the

general development plans and policies formulated by the State

Legislature;

ii) Local Self-Government, that is to say, the constitutional powers of

Municipal Corporations, Improvement Trusts, District Boards, and other

district authorities for the purpose of local self-Government or village

administration;

iii) Public Health and sanitation, local hospitals and dispensaries;

iv) Primary and Secondary education;

v) Regulation of admissions to the educational institutions in the Telangana region;

vi) Prohibition;

vii) Sale of agricultural land;

viii) Cottage and Small Scale Industries; and

ix) Agriculture, Co-operative Societies, Markets and Fairs.

Unless revised by agreement earlier, this arrangement will be reviewed after ten years.

source: report about conditions in Andhra Pradesh by Srikrishna committee. 

  In this agreement the leaders made the problem even worse by formulating a regional committee.while they were negotiating for the unification the only problem was telangana region was not devoloped as coastal region. But the discussions never done about the future of undeveloped regions in andhra state regions. instead of thinking about the undeveloped regions of andhra state they created provisions for telangana people to keep remaindering them that were not in andhra so they are some how different from people in other parts of Andhra Pradesh. In the place of regional committee they could formulate a ministry that works on finding the undeveloped regions in the whole state and that takes actions to improve the lives of people in those regions by developing education and infrastructure and providing safeguards in employment, that would have solved the problem of regionalism for ever and would have contributed for contributed for well spread development. 


    After formation of the Regional Committee the differences in the development of the Telangana and rest of Andhra Pradesh became good play toy in the hands of politicians.In 1959Regional Committee brought to central government that the rules in the Gentle man's agreement were not implemented and that non-mulkis (non-locals) were being appointed to post intended for mulkis (telangana locals). The state government appointed non-mulkis because their were no mulkis qualified for the job. For better governance state government appointed non-mulkis. let us compare the state with a bridge if there are no good engineers or technology we import the technology and appoint some engineer from abroad if we be very arrogant and appoint an inefficient local person, the bridge would not be built or it may falls after it's construction. So, for good governance efficient persons should be taken. Meanwhile the low grade posts can be locked for locals. 

Jai Telangana agitation

      
An agitation that began in December, 1968, few demanded safeguard and few demanded separate state. Agitation initially based on discontent in service and employment matters and further covering financial matters called “Telengana revenue surpluses”, quickly spread like wild fire all over Telangana area with devastating effect. The agitation, the effects of which will be covered in the later , spanned nearly a year and ended in late 1969, came to be known as “Jai Telangana agitation”. During the agitation prime minister at that time appointed a committee.

Considering the report given by the committee central government in February 1970 announced a series of measures called Eight point plan to resolve the problems , which included,
 

· “Methods of recruitment and principles to be followed in making the appointments to subordinate services and posts ( that is to say, services  and posts appointments to which are not notified in the Official Gazette  but including any service of Tahsildars) under the State Government in Telangana region).” 

· “Securing provision of adequate employment opportunities to the people  of the Telangana region in the State Government, Quasi Government  Institutions, statutory authorities and corporate bodies in the Telangana region.” 

· University education in addition to the existing primary and secondary education; Medium and Heavy industry in addition to the existing small scale industries. 

· “Development and economic planning within the plan allocation for the Telangana Region as formulated by the State Legislature”. 

The order also provided:

· “in the annual financial statement details regarding the receipts and expenditure in relation to the Telangana region and rest of the State (RoS) shall be shown in separate columns for facility of reference and consideration by the regional Committee”;

The order also: 

· modified the earlier rule which has restricted the Regional Committee to matters not involving any financial commitment by introducing the words “is in conformity with the overall financial arrangement contemplated in the annual Budget or in the Five Year Plan pertaining to the Telangana Region”.

In addition: 

· The Government was to furnish periodic progress reports to the Regional Committee which would submit its views to the Assembly;

It was also provided that:

· the state Government was unable to accept any recommendation of the Regional Committee, the Chief Minister would first endeavor to arrive at an agreement by discussion with the Chairman of the Regional Committee and the matter would then be referred to the Governor, if no such agreement was found possible. The decision of the Governor shall be final and binding on the Council (in this case committee) and action shall be taken accordingly. Accordingly, the Governor would make an annual Report to the President so as to keep the Central Government informed about the working of the Regional Committee.

Above changes led to establishment of peace in the state of Andhra Pradesh temporarily.

The whole intention of central government was to close the telangana leader's mouths did not look into the problem to solve it completely . The central government gave more powers to regional committee further increasing the regionalism in the telangana people. The eight point plan includes
 

"-university education in addition to the existing primary and secondary education; Medium and Heavy industry in addition to the existing small scale industries. 

-Development and economic planning within the plan allocation for the Telangana Region as formulated by the State Legislature”.

  This is for developing the telangana so called under developed region.But how is telangana special how it is different from rayalaseema districts and northern coastal districts which are not developed compared to other regions of Andhra Pradesh. The central government did not look in to the issue deeply it just gave more powers to regional committee. 

Jai Andhra movement

Agitations in coastal region known as Jai Andhra movement

The enforcement of mulki rules in telangana region resulted in discomfort of seemandhra people as they were finding it difficult to enter in to the governmental services in the capital Hyderabad. In 1972 Supreme Court gave its verdict that mulki rules were valid and were in force. As a result in jai Andhra agitation started spreading like fire and paralyzing the government. Due to this president rule was enforced

in January 1973.   In the meanwhile The Andhra Pradesh High Court on February 16, 1973, declared that people from outside who came to Telangana and settled there could also be Mulkis and not only those who were born and brought up in Telangana. As a result of this decision, the Telangana people claimed that they lost the benefit of the Mulki Rule. In another development , on July 11, 1973, the Andhra Pradesh High Court gave another verdict that Mulki Rules would apply to initial recruitment and nor for subsequent stages of promotion, seniority, reversion, retrenchment or ousting from service, whether temporary or permanent. It did not satisfy the people in Andhra region. Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi again intervened, and after aseries of discussion with leaders of both the regions, evolved a agreement through "Six Point Formula" with  highlighting the following :

(1) Constitution of a Planning Board at the state Level as well as Sub-Committees for different backward areas.

(2) Preference to local candidates in the matter of admission to educational institutions and establishment of a new Central University at Hyderabad.

(3) Preference to specified extent to local candidates in the matter of direct recruitment and organization of local cadres.

(4) Constitution of Administrative Tribunal.

(5) Amending Constitution suitably for the above purpose.

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

 

This was a good measure because it gives the possibility for establishment of SUB-COMMITTEES for different backward areas. In a country like ours variations are common so we can not keep dividing the states that is not rational instead we need to formulate our policies to mitigate the variations for common good and the development of nationalism in place of regionalism. The six point formula replaced Regional Committee and Mulki rules that were responsible for the rise of regionalism. And it broaden the idea of local committee for development planning to all areas of Andhra Pradesh.   

Economic profile in different regions of Andhra Pradesh

Per capita DDP in different regions of Andhra Pradesh

We see a substantial increase of per capita DDP of Hyderabad it is at the cost of PCDDPs of all other regions.Percentage increase in the PCDDP of Andhra Pradesh from 1993-94 to 2007-08 is 115.039 where as that of telangana exc Hyderabad is 121.552 and for coastal Andhra it is 108.95.

So here we see telangana got 121.552% increase in PCDDP.This is the highest in all the regions. If we assume that the rate of increase of development is dependent of existing level of development than telangana got more benefits than costal Andhra. But I cannot conclude it just by observing one parameter.

Let us observe the figure

 

Source: Report on conditions in Andhra Pradesh by Srikrishna committee

According to figure taken form Report on conditions in Andhra Pradesh by Srikrishna committee it is clear that the per-capita income of well off section people increased a lot so, the income distribution is very poor in this region but the percentage of increase in the per-capita DDP was highest of all regions

Now let us observe an another figure that is gini coefficient in all regions.

Let us observe the figure

Gini coefficient indicated a large increase in telangana region in most of the socio-religious category.

By observing above information.

It is clear that the telangana is producing good amount of GDP but the only problem is the distribution is highly unfavorable to poor sections. The separation of the state in to telangana and andhra may increase these economical differences extensively.

     The same conditions exits in many parts of non-telangana regions of Andhra Pradesh. So telangana is no special to be considered as a special case. many variations exits different regions of andhra pradesh because of geography, culture, historical aspects.

politics 


  Even the ruling party congress  does not appear to have a clear idea that are they for the separate telangana or against separate state. TDP is being almost neutral or against the separation. TRS is the main political party working for the separation.



         I conclude this here. Every state in India has inequality in one form or the other due to geographical cultural differences So, we can not keep dividing the states. In order to mitigate the variations some safeguards are essential for locals in large states and, all types of reservation should be cancelled for high grade employment for better governance. These safeguards should not be such that to induce regionalism. If we observe gini coefficient and per-capita DDP it is clear that there is good increase in per-capita DDP in telangana with simultaneous increase in gini coefficient towards 1 . So the rich in the telangana are directly responsible for the problems of poor people in telangana beacouse they are main producers on DDP in telangana as it is clear from the above data. So Central Government should look in to the topic as a national issue because there are agitations for the separate state in many other parts of India. What ever the government does may be rational or may be by considering the people's emotions , It should be done as early as possible..


jai hind 




--Saran Kumar