How Telangana became a separate state?
The history of dividing states between India is marked by language and culture. After independence, many states demanded separate statehood and Telangana was among them but the division does not result in a fruitful outcome.
Telangana got carved out from Madras in 1956 and was merged with Andhra Pradesh but this move of the government didn’t solve the problem of the people of Telangana for which they demanded a separate state.
The interests of the people were ignored in the state of Andhra Pradesh for the reasons of snatching away their jobs from them, not investing in their welfare, inadequate water supply, and no infrastructure development in their region.
In order to protect their interests, in 2013, a resolution was passed demanding a separate state by a congress working committee.
After so many hardships, the aspirations of the people of Andhra Pradesh finally met resulting in the formation of a new state for them. This was achieved after the passing of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 by the parliament of India.
The people of Telangana consider themselves as an internal colony as they face issues in social, linguistic, and economic like backwardness of the region, the minority they are victims of. Now the movement for a separate state has become widespread as the farmers, youth, and women of the state have joined hands for the upliftment of this movement.
Thus, on December 9, 2009, the movement reached its height making the announcement of forming Telangana by the Home Minister India, Mr. P Chidimbram.
The reason for getting the state separate from Andhra is because of differences in regions on the basis of economic and political development and cultural consciousness. The polity of Telangana is much older than even Andhra. The Telugu-speaking people of Andhra Pradesh were the portion of the feudality princely state of Hyderabad ad madras consisted of the people of Andhra which was ruled by the British colonial.
Other reasons which resulted in the formation of separate states are -
1. Development issue –
This issue has been at the forefront of any other issue. People state that Telangana people only receive 1/3 rd of the total contribution received for the development and welfare of the state of Andhra Pradesh. In education also, they receive only 9.86per cent support for primary schools and little support for government Degree College.
The discrimination is also on the basis of grants provided by the government for the state.
2. Power sector –
Power generation in the Telangana region always remained bogged down with controversies and over costing. One such example is that of a Srisailam Left bank, the project which remained uncompleted due to the scarcity of proper supply of power in the region.
3. Literacy sector –
The literacy rate is below average than the standard prescribed by the government of Andhra Pradesh. The dropout rates in primary schools increased manifold over the years.
Also, the educational sector faced discrimination in terms of the grant aided by the government for the private colleges.
4. Industrial sector –
Medium and large industries majorly located in Telangana were 75% were controlled by the Andhra entrepreneurs, remaining by the Telangana and formed the part of the backward district.
Agriculture though saw some improvement but still lagged in progress to Andhra.
5. Poverty and unemployment –
Telangana people faced poverty to a great extent as jobs were given only to the Andhra people and Telangana people were mostly engaged in the agriculture sector only. This unemployment resulted in poverty and a decrease in per capita consumption.
Finally, all these claims were considered, and in order to shift their status from backward, the separate state of Telangana came into existence on 2nd June 2014.
Conclusion
Telangana was one of the states which wanted to get a separate identity post-independence. The process for the same was filled with hardships. Several resolutions and movements took place in this fight to get Telangana a separate statehood.
Different claims were raised in order to convince the officials of the separation and in the end, it resulted in the creation of Telangana as a separate state and a separate identity in June 2014. This resulted in the formation of the new 29th state of India Telangana.