th Telangana - 29 Sta te of India
Telangana came into existence as the 29th state of India on June 2 and TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) was sworn in as its first Chief Minister, capping the decades-old struggle in the region for carving out a separate state from Andhra Pradesh. 60-year-old KCR took oath as chief minister along with his son KT Rama Rao, nephew T Harish Rao and nine others administered by Governor ESL Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan.
Nine other cabinet ministers were sworn in the new state - Mohammed Mahmood Ali, T Rajaiah, Nayani Narasimha Reddy, Eatela Rajender, Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy, T Padma Rao, P Mahender Reddy, Jogu Ramanna and G Jagadish Reddy.
Celebrations erupted in the state to mark the historic event that came after a long-drawn-out process of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The swearing-in ceremony was not without controversies, as chief minister-designate of successor state of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu skipped it, in what is seen as first signs of discord between the two "regional satraps".
Welcoming the formation of Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised complete central support to help take the state to newer heights of progress. He congratulated KCR on becoming the first Chief Minister of the 29th state and expressed best wishes to its people.
Earlier, Narasimhan was sworn in as the first governor of Telangana. Andhra Pradesh high court chief justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta administered the oath to Narasimhan, who will be the common Governor of Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad will be the joint capital of Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana is bordered by the states of Maharashtra to the north and north-west, Karnataka to the west, Chattisgarh to the north-east, Andhra Pradesh to the south and east and Odisha to the east.
Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Warangal, Nizamabad, Khammam, Karimnagar and Adilabad are the seven major cities in the state, with Hyderabad being the capital and the largest city in Telangana. Final mapping of Telangana has not been done till date.
Fact file
Established 2 June 2014 Capital Hyderabad Largest City Hyderabad Districts 10 Government • Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan • Chief minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (TRS) • Legislature Bicameral (119+40 seats) • Lok Sabha constituencies 17 • High Court High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad Area Rank 12 Population (2011) • Total 35,286,757 • Rank 12 th • Density 310/km 2
16 th Lok Sabha Elections
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 16 May, 2014 created an electoral record by becoming the first party in 30 years to win a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha. The party won 282 seats, comfortably above the half-way mark of 272 in the 545-member Lok Sabha, whose 543 members are elected and two are nominated. The alliance it leads—National Democratic Alliance (NDA)—has 336 seats in the lower house of the Parliament.
This is in sharp contrast to the mere two seats the party won in the 1984 general elections, its first after coming out of the shadow of the Janata Party, into which the erstwhile Jana Sangh had merged to jointly fight the 1977 general election after the emergency was lifted.
The Congress, in fact, had swept the 1984 polls, riding a sympathy wave following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and led by her son Rajiv Gandhi, for a record tally of 414 seats.
This time around, it has been the Congress's worst performance in the 16 general elections held so far, with the party likely to notch up only 44 seats. Congress could not even open its account in seven states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Goa, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. It won only two seats in UP - Nehru-Gandhi family pocket (Rae Bareli and Amethi). Union ministers Sachin Pilot, Jitendra Singh, Chandresh Kumari, Namonarayan Meena and Girija Vyas, and six sitting Congress MPs including CP Joshi, also tasted defeat.
In 2009, the Congress had won 206 seats with its vote share being 28.5 percent.
BJP's amazing showing in Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar along with Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh contributed in Modi becoming the next Prime Minister of India.
The BJP had won 58 seats in 1998 in UP when it was catapulted to power. This time BJP has won an unprecedented 71 seats in UP and its ally Apna Dal won two seats. Modi's close aide Amit Shah is being credited as being the man who turned around the crucial state for the BJP. In Bihar the BJP and its allies won 31 seats (BJP on its own 22 seats). Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats. In Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha, the BJPs march was halted by regional strongholds AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and BJD, respectively.
In the outgoing Lok Sabha, BJP had 116 members on a national vote share of 18.8 percent. The Congress had 206 members with a vote share of 28.55 percent. In the 2014 polls, the BJP has got a vote share of 31.4 percent against 19.5 percent of Congress.
BJP has surely come a long way from a party of two Lok Sabha members in 1984. At the height of its popularity during Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, considered to be BJP's tallest leader, the party got 182 seats in 1998 and 1999. This was in the backdrop of the Ayodhya movement and the Rath Yatra undertaken by the LK Advani.
16th Lok Sabha Elections
The 16th Lok Sabha elections saw the highest ever turnout in India for any general election. A total of 551.3 million people—or 66.38% of the total electorate—came out to vote in an election spread a little over a month. More than 550 million votes were cast in the elections that began on 7 April and concluded on 12 May.
Counting of votes for 543 Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament) seats took place at 989 centers across the country. Of these 989 counting centers, maximum are in Andhra Pradesh at 168 followed by 98 in West Bengal, 76 in UP, 64 in Odisha, 51 in Assam and 48 in Maharashtra. 8,251 candidates, including top guns Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal were in the fray, in the largest-ever electoral exercise held in Indian history.
While national parties -- Congress, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPI (M) and NCP -- fielded a total of 1,591 candidates, the 47 state parties fielded 529 candidates. While the over 1,600 registered but unrecognised political parties fielded 2,897 candidates, 3,234 Independents were also in the fray.
Dhubri constituency in Assam, from where sitting MP Badruddin Ajmal has been re-elected, recorded the highest turnout at 88.22%, while Srinagar in the militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir saw the lowest polling at 25.86%.As per the final constituency-wise turnouts released by the Election Commission, as many as 69 constituencies saw turnout in excess of 80% while 165 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats saw a higher percentage of women electors exercising their franchise. The highest female voter turnout was recorded in Tamluk constituency in West Bengal, at 89.27%, which is better than the highest male voter turnout witnessed in Dhubri at 88.86%. Interestingly, the gender gap, or the difference between female turnout and male turnout, was the widest in Madhya Pradesh, with 66.12% male polling percentage against 56.58% female voter turnout.
Final results of 16 th Lok Sabha Polls Party Seats Party Seats Bharatiya Janata Party 282 Rashtriya Lok Samta Party 3 Indian National Congress 44 Indian National Lok Dal 2 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 37 Indian Union Muslim League 2 All India Trinamool Congress 34 Janata Dal (Secular) 2 Biju Janata Dal 20 Janata Dal (United) 2 Shivsena 18 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha 2 Telugu Desam 16 Apna Dal 2 Telangana Rashtra Samithi 11 Communist Party of India 1 Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party 9 All India N.R. Congress 1 Communist Party of India (Marxist) 9 Kerala Congress (M) 1 Nationalist Congress Party 6 Naga Peoples Front 1 Lok Jan Shakti Party 6 National Peoples Party 1 Samajwadi Party 5 Pattali Makkal Katchi 1 Shiromani Akali Dal 4 Revolutionary Socialist Party 1 Aam Aadmi Party 4 Sikkim Democratic Front 1 Rashtriya Janata Dal 4 All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Musliemeen 1 All India United Democratic Front 3 Swabhimani Paksha 1 Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party 3 Independent 3 Total seats 543
Dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha
President Pranab Mukherjee on 18 May, 2014 dissolved the 15th Lok Sabha with immediate effect, completing a formality before the constitution of the new House. The President 'dissolved the Lok Sabha in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sub-clause (b) of Clause (2) Article 85 of the Constitution. The five year term of the 15th Lok Sabha is due to expire on 31st May, 2014.
Reasons for Narendra Modi's victory
Indian voters have given the Bharatiya Janata Party and its lead candidate, Narendra Modi, a mammoth mandate for running the next government. Results announced after a five-week election contest gave the BJP a commanding lead for 282 of the 543 seats in Parliament. It was the first time in three decades that any single party in India has won a clear majority. Modi won in both the Vadodara and Varanasi constituencies from where he contested for election to the Lok Sabha.
Some of the factors that influenced BJP's decisive victory over India's dynastic Congress Party are as under:-
1. Economy
India's once-impressive economic growth averaging above 8 per cent over the last decade, slowed to below 5 per cent last year while inflation rocketed into double digits. Narendra Modi, who successfully led the state of Gujarat for 12 years, maintained a laser focus on the economy throughout the campaign, hammering the Congress party for stalled development projects while touting Gujarat as a model of success. In fact, Gujarat's growth has been mediocre compared with other Indian states. But Modi's message resonated with an electorate aching for change and upward mobility, and India's corporate leaders backed Modi as the decisive administrator needed to revive industrial growth.
2. Corruption
Indians are incensed over the enduring culture of corruption at every level of government, from bureaucrats who demand bribes for basic services to MPs embroiled in huge scandals involving public funds. Anti-graft protests encouraged a fierce anti-incumbency wave among voters and even inspired the launch of a new political party.
But, while some scandals have involved BJP members, Modi's reputation is largely unscathed. Voters believe Modi has the political strength to curb any corrupt tendencies within his government.
3. Youth
India's electorate is particularly young, with, half the country's 814 million voters under 35 and eager to secure employment with promise. They are also impatient with India's political tradition of whipping up communal loyalties to secure votes from certain socio-economic groups, castes or religions.
4. Technology
The BJP and Modi ran a breathless and tech-savvy campaign that dazzled and engaged voters directly through social media. Modi snapped campaign selfies that went viral and even appeared as a holograph at campaign events. He has been tweeting daily for years. By contrast, his main rival from the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, shunned Twitter himself while his party took to the site only this year.
5. Infrastructure
India's crumbling roads and ports, plus lack of adequate electricity supply, were high on the list of problems that make business projects hard to get off the ground. They are also of paramount importance to voters, one-third of who now live in cities.
In Gujarat, Modi made infrastructure improvements a priority, building thousands of kilometres (miles) of highways and attracting investment to build up the country's largest modem port. He promised to bring the same focus if elected prime minister.
The country is looking forward to Narendra Modi to lead India to becoming a burgeoning economy with stability, development, growth and social upliftment as thrust areas.
International Comparison Program (I CP ) -India Becomes rd 3 Largest Economy
India emerged as the world's third-largest economy in 2011 in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) from being the tenth largest in 2005, moving ahead of Japan, while the US remained the largest economy closely followed by China, according to a World Bank report released (International Comparison Program report) on 29 April, 2014.
PPP is used to compare economies and incomes of people by adjusting for differences in prices in different countries to make a meaningful comparison.
India's share in World GDP in terms of PPP was 6.4% in 2011 compared with China's. 14.9% and the US' 17.1%. The survey covered 199 economies.
Despite high inflation in India in recent years, prices in the country are still well below those in advanced economies, explaining the higher ranking for India on the PPP measure. But according to the International Monetary Fund (IMP), India's economy is 12th largest and only about a third of Japan's in terms of absolute unadjusted dollars. When combined, the 12 largest economies accounted for two-thirds of the world economy and 59 per cent of the population, it said.
The purchasing power parity based world GDP amounted to USD 90,647 billion, compared with USD 70,294 billion measured by exchange rates, it said, adding that the share of middle-income economies in global GDP is 48 per cent when using PPPs and 32 per cent when using exchange rates.
The six largest middle-income economies - China, India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico - account for 32.3 per cent of world GDP, whereas the six largest high-income economies - US, Japan, Germany, France, UK and Italy - account for 32.9 per cent, the report said.
In terms of per capita GDP, even in PPP terms, India ranks very low at 127 in the 199-country ranking. In the latest ranking, India's economy was 37.1% of the US economy compared with 18.9% in 2005
China and India make up two-thirds of the Asia and the Pacific economy, excluding Japan and South Korea, which are part of the OECD comparison. Russia accounts for more than 70 per cent of the CIS, and Brazil for 56 per cent of Latin America. South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria account for about half of the African economy.
At 27 per cent, China now has the largest share of the world's expenditure for investment (gross fixed capital formation) followed by the US at 13 per cent. India, Japan and Indonesia follow with 7 per cent, 4 per cent, and 3 per cent, respectively. China and India account for about 80 per cent of investment expenditure in the Asia and the Pacific region.
Russia accounts for 77 per cent of CIS, Brazil for 61 per cent of Latin America and Saudi Arabia 40 per cent of Western Asia.
The report said low-income economies, as a share of world GDP, were more than two times larger, based on PPPs, than respective exchange rate shares in 2011. Yet, these economies accounted for only 1:5 per cent of the global economy, but nearly 11 per cent of the world population.
Roughly 28 per cent of the world's population lives in economies with GDP per capita expenditure above the USD 13,460 world average and 72 per cent are below that average.
The five economies with the highest GDP per capita are Qatar, Macao, Luxembourg, Kuwait and Brunei. The first two economies have more than USD 100,000 per capita, the report said.
Eleven economies have more than USD 50,000 per capita, while they collectively account for less than 0.6 per cent of the world's population. The US has the 12th highest GDP per capita.
Eight economies– Malawi, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Niger, Burundi, Congo, Dem. Rep., Comoros and Liberia - have a GDP per capita of less than USD 1,000.
The five economies with highest actual individual consumption per capita are Bermuda, US, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and Luxembourg.
Key findings of the ICP report
• Six of the world's twelve largest economies were in the middle income category (based on the World Bank's definition). When combined, the twelve largest economies account for two thirds of the world economy, and 59 percent of the world population.
• The PPP-based world GDP amounted to $90,647 billion, compared to $70,294 billion measured by exchange rates.
• Middle income economies' share of global GDP is 48 percent when using PPPs and 32 percent when using exchange rates.
• Low income economies, as a share of world GDP were more than two times larger based on PPPs than respective exchange rate shares in 2011. Yet, these economies accounted for only 1.5 percent of the global economy, but nearly 11 percent of the world population.
• Roughly twenty-eight percent of the world's population lives in economies with GDP per capita expenditures above the $13,460 world average and 72 percent are below that average.