Telangana Issue After Holding Consultations with Leaders from Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra Regions for Over Two Months
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Telangana What is Telangana? Telangana refers broadly to the parts of the state that formed the erstwhile Hyderabad state. Telangana is a region in the present state of Andhra Pradesh, India and formerly was part of Hyderabad state which was ruled by Nizam. It is bordered with the states of Maharashtra on the north and north-west, Karnataka on the west, Chattisgarh on the north-east and Orissa to the east. Andhra Pradesh State has three main cultural regions of which Telengana is one part and others include Coastal Andhra region on the east and Rayalaseema region on the south. The Telangana region has an area of 114,840 square kilometres (44,340 sq mi), and a population of 35,286,757 (2011 census) which is 41.6% of Andhra Pradesh state population. The Telangana region comprise of 10 districts: Adilabad, Hyderabad, Khammam, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy, and Warangal. The Musi River, Krishna and Godavari rivers flow through the region from west to east. Historical Perspective The ruler of India’s largest princely state, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, was not willing to acede either to India or Pakistan in 1947. Then the Telangana Rebellion started, which was a peasant revolt which was later supported by the Communists. It took place in the former princely state of Hyderabad between 1946 and 1951. This was led by the Communist Party of India. The revolt began in the Nalgonda district and quickly spread to the Warangal and Bidar districts. Peasant farmers and labourers revolted against the local feudal landlords (jagirdars and deshmukhs) and later against the Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII. The initial aims were to do away with illegal and excessive exploitation meted out by these feudal lords in the name of bonded labour (Vetti Chakiri). The most strident demand was for all debts of the peasants to be written off. [7] [8] When India became independent from the British Empire in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad did not want to merge with Indian Union and wanted to remain independent under the special provisions given to princely states. He even asked for a corridor, a passage from India. Rebellion had started throughout the state against the Nizam's rule and his army, known as the Razakars. The Government of India annexed Hyderabad State on 17 September 1948, in an operation by the Indian Army called Operation Polo. When India became independent, Telugu-speaking people were distributed in about 22 districts, 9 of them in the former Nizam's dominions of the princely state of Hyderabad, 12 in the Madras Presidency (Northern Circars), and one in French-controlled Yanam. The Central Government appointed a civil servant, M. K. Vellodi, as First Chief Minister of Hyderabad State on 26 January 1950. He administered the state with the help of bureaucrats from Madras State and Bombay State. In 1952, Dr. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was elected Chief minister of Hyderabad State in the first democratic election. During this time there were violent agitations by some Telanganites to send back bureaucrats from Madras state, and to strictly implement rule by natives of Hyderabad. Meanwhile, Telugu-speaking areas in the Northern Circars and Rayalaseema regions were carved out of the erstwhile Madras state on the fast unto death by Potti Sri Ramulu to create Andhra State in 1953, with Kurnool as its capital. Nehru chose to ignore Sriramulu’s fast. On the 56th day of his fast unto death, Sriramulu died and violence erupted.In December 1953, the States Reorganization Commission was appointed to study the creation of states on linguistic basis.[16] The States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) was not in favour of an immediate merger of Telangana region with Andhra state, despite their common language.Paragraph 382 of the States Reorganisation Commission Report (SRC) said "opinion in Andhra is overwhelmingly in favour of the larger unit; public opinion in Telangana has still to crystallize itself. Important leaders of public opinion in Andhra themselves seem to appreciate that the unification of Telangana with Andhra, though desirable, should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to take a decision about their future".The people of Telangana had several concerns. The region had a less-developed economy than Andhra, but with a larger revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic beverages), which people of Telangana feared might be diverted for use in Andhra. They feared that planned irrigation projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately, even though people of Telangana controlled the headwaters of the rivers. It was feared that the people of Andhra, who had access to higher standards of education under the British rule, would have an unfair advantage in seeking government and educational jobs.The commission proposed that the Telangana region be constituted as a separate state with a provision for unification with Andhra state, after the 1961 general elections, if a resolution could be passed in the Telangana state assembly with a two-thirds majority. The Chief Minister of Hyderabad State, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, expressed his view that a majority of Telangana people were against the merger. He supported the Congress party's central leadership decision to merge Telangana and Andhra despite opposition in Telangana. Andhra state assembly passed a resolution on 25 November 1955 to provide safeguards to Telangana. The resolution said, "Assembly would further like to assure the people in Telangana that the development of that area would be deemed to be special charge, and that certain priorities and special protection will be given for the improvement of that area, such as reservation in services and educational institutions on the basis of population and irrigational development." Telangana leaders did not believe the safeguards would work. With lobbying from Andhra Congress leaders and with pressure from the Central leadership of Congress party, an agreement was reached between Telangana leaders and Andhra leaders on 20 February 1956 to merge Telangana and Andhra with promises to safeguard Telangana's interests. Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru initially was skeptical of merging Telangana with Andhra State, fearing a "tint of expansionist imperialism" in it. He compared the merger to a matrimonial alliance having "provisions for divorce" if the partners in the alliance cannot get on well. Following the Gentlemen's agreement, the central government established a unified Andhra Pradesh on November 1, 1956. The agreement provided reassurances to Telangana in terms of power-sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions. Anti-Nehru politics emerged with the repression of the Telengana movement; many within the Congress Party extended their hands to leftists. But within a few years, Andhra Pradesh was rocked by political turmoil. Between 1969 and 1972, the state witnessed two separate movements- ‘ Jai Telangana’ and ‘Jai Andhra’. The Telangana leaders accused Andhra leaders of flouting the gentlemen’s agreement. Andhra leaders retaliated by saying the ‘Mulkis’ policy was discrimination against them. In 1919’ the Nizam had issued a decree stating that only ‘Mulkis’, that is people born in the state or those who had lived there for atleast 15 years, were eligible for public appointment in the state. Domiciled ‘Mulkis’ were also required to have an affidavit that they would never return to their native places. After the merger, the people of Hyderabad wanted this rule to be observed, while the people of coastal Andhra and other parts of the state were against it. The movement which started with the demands of safeguarding the interests of the people of the erstwhile Hyderabad state soon started demanding a separate state. On January 10, 1973, president’s rule was imposed, but soon the matter was resolved for the time being. What are the grievances of the people of Telangana and why they want it to be a separate state? 1.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. A clarification was sought by the Committee about the basis for deciding grants to private colleges. The response from the Higher Education Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh is given in Appendix 3.16. It confirms that the aid to the private colleges in Telangana is much less than that in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. 2.Another issue brought up here is regarding the distribution of the location of the state universities/institution facilities 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 is pointed out that JNTU originally proposed to be located in Warangal was shifted to Hyderabad and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University located in Nalgonda district was also shifted within two months to Hyderabad. The reason given was that state level universities should be located in the state capital; however, this principle was not followed in the case of many state level universities/institutions that were started in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. The new IIT was proposed to be setup in the temple town of Basar in Adilabad district but later shifted to Medak district near Hyderabad. It is asserted that indirect benefits in terms of employment and development of the area around a state level institute/university are denied to the 9 districts of Telangana while 4 state level institutions have been located in one town (Tirupati) of district Chittoor in Rayalaseema region.