New State Telangana

• Background: Historical Evolution of the Telangana Movement (Free Available)

• Main Demands (Free Available)

• Telangana Movement History: In Brief (Free Available)

• Major Developments (Only for Online Coaching Members)

• Creation of Telangana (Only for Online Coaching Members)

• Telangana Present Form (Only for Online Coaching Members)

On June 2014, a significant event took place in the Constitutional history of India. Telangana became the 29th state of the Indian Union. It consists of the ten north-western districts of Andhra Pradesh, with Hyderabad as its capital. As of now, Hyderabad will serve as the joint capital for Andhra Pradesh as well as Telangana for a period of 10 years.

The birth story of the Telangana is itself ridden with conflicts and struggles, which incorporate in itself a number of dimensions, ranging from the issues of rights to economic exclusion. The dynamics that were involved in the creation of the state is bound to have a bearing on the politcs of both- the center and the state.

However, the genesis of the Telangana movement lies deep into the history of the region itself.

Background: Historical Evolution of the Telangana Movement

The Telangana region was merged with Andhra state, while formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh. However, there have been some communist-led peasant revolts in the Telangana region since 1946. After the 1952 elections, Dr. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was elected as the Chief Minister of the Hyderabad State. However, some sections of the Telangana region started to protest against the outsider-bucreaucrats, and demanded to implement the ‘Mulki-rules’, that is, ‘local jobs for locals only’. This mulki movement was mainly spearheaded by the student community, against the outsiders.

The State Reorganization Commission (SRC) of 1953 recommended reorganization of the state on linguistic lines. As a result of the political pressures, the commission recommended disintegration of Hyderabad state, and favored merging of the Marathi-speaking regions with Bombay state, and Kannada-speaking regions with Madras stae.

The Commission did not favor an immediate merger of the Telangana region with Andhra state, despite of the common language, as the political opinion in Telangana had not crystallized in favor of the merger. The main concerns of the Telangana region were that- economically, Telangana was not much developed, as compared to the Andhra region. However, Telangana constituted a tax-rich region. Thus, there were concerns in the Telangana region that the funds of the state would be diverted for the use of Andhra.

Further, it was feared that the funds of the major development projects would not benefit Telangana region in any substantial way. Similarly, people feared that the people of Andhra would eat away the resources and job opportunities of the Telangana region, putting the latter in the disadvantaged position.

The Commission had then proposed for the constitution of Telangana as a separate state, with a provision for unification with Andhra state, only after the 1961 general elections. However, this could not happen, as Andhra and Telangana region mere merged. The Andhra state assembly passed a resolution, on November 25, 1955, to provide safeguards to Telangana region. But, there always existed a suspicion over the effectiveness of such safeguards.

A strong lobby of Andhra Congress leaders and Central leadership of Congress pressed for an agreement between the Telangana leaders and Andhra leaders, on February 20, 1956, to merge Telangana and Andhra with promises to safeguard Telangana’s interest. This was referred to as the ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’. The agreement followed the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh itself. Thus, the recommendations of the States’ Reorganization Commission (SRC) were overlooked and Telangana was merged into Andhra Pradesh without taking the consent of the Andhra Assembly.

Jawaharlal Nehru was initially skeptical of the merger of Telangana with Andhra State. He compared the merger to a matrimonial alliance having “provisions for divorce”. However, 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.

However, in 1969 agitation started after students felt betrayed by the provisions of interest safeguard. In a series of violent protests, about 369 students were killed in police firing.

Main Demands

Telangana is the largest of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh, covering about 41.47% of its total area. It is inhabited by 40.54% of the state’s population, and contributes about 76% of the state’s revenues. Proponents of the separate Telangana state cite the perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocation, and jobs. Many activists argue that the benefits of irrigation through the canal system under major irrigation projects is accuring substantially to the Coastal Andhra region, while the share of Telangana is significantly low, despite the fact that the a substantial part of the catchment area of the major rivers fall in the Telangana region.

In the field of education, funding for Telangana is substantially low, as compared to the other parts of Andhra Pradesh. Budget allocations to Telangana region has been generally less than 1/3rd of the total Andhra Pradesh budget. Also, there have been frequent complaints of funds misappropriation and lack of fund spending.

In terms of employment, the representation of the people of Telangana has been abysmally low, with only 20% of the total government employees coming from Telangana. As per Srikrishna Committee on Telangana, Telangana held the position of CM for 10.5 years while Seema-Andhra region held it for 42 years.

Proponents of Telangana state feel that the agreements, plans and assurances from the legislature and Lok Sabha over the last 5 odd decades have not been honored, and as a result Telangana has remained neglected, exploited and backward. They argue that the experiment to remain as one state has proven to be a futile exercise and that separation is the best solution.

Telangana Movement History: In Brief

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