The Telangana Movement refers to a separatist movement organized to support the creation of a new state of Telangana, from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh in South India. The proposed new state corresponds to the Telugu-speaking portions of the erstwhile princely state ofHyderabad State. The Union Cabinet on 7 February 2014 unilaterally cleared the Bill for the creation of Telangana, clearing the way for its introduction in Parliament. This has been one of the most controversial movements in South India On 18 February, Lok Sabha passed the Bill with Voice Majority. Subsequently, the bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on 20 February 2014.As per the bill, Hyderabad will be the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for the first 10 years. The appointed day for the creation of Telangana State is 2 June 2014. However the residual state of Andhra Pradesh is left with a deficit budget and no capital.
History
In December 1953, the States Reorganization Commission was appointed to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines.The commission, due to public demand, recommended disintegration of Hyderabad state and to merge Marathi speaking region with Bombay state and Kannada speaking region with Mysore state. The States Reorganisation Commission(SRC) discussed pros and cons of the merger of Telugu speaking Telangana region of Hyderabad state with Andhra state. Para 374 of the SRC report said "The creation of Vishalandhra is an ideal to which numerous individuals and public bodies, both in Andhra and Telangana, have been passionately attached over a long period of time, and unless there are strong reasons to the contrary, this sentiment is entitled to consideration". Discussing the case of Telangana, para 378 of the SRC report said "One of the principal causes of opposition of 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 areas." In its final analysis SRC recommended against the immediate merger. In para 386 it said "After taking all these factors into consideration we have come to the conclusions that it will be in the interests of Andhra as well as Telangana, if for the present, the Telangana area is to constitute into a separate State, which may be known as the Hyderabad State with provision for its unification with Andhra after the general elections likely to be held in or about 1961 if by a two thirds majority the legislature of the residuary Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such unification."
After going through the recommendations of the SRC, the then Central Government led by Jawaharlal Nehru decided to merge Andhra state and Telangana to form Andhra Pradesh state on 1 November 1956 after providing safeguards to Telangana in the form of Gentleman's agreement.
Arguments of the Telangana proponents
Telangana is the largest of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh state, covering 41.47% of its total area. It is inhabited by 40.54% of the state's population. The following is the breakup of Andhra Pradesh's revenue by region
| Source | Percentage of Total Revenue |
|---|---|
| Telangana(including Hyderabad) | 61.47% |
| Telangana(excluding Hyderabad District, but including parts of GHMC in suburbs) | 24.3% |
| Hyderabad District | 37.17% |
| Coastal Andhra | 14.71% |
| Rayalaseema | 3.90% |
| Central Government | 19.86% |
Note: The income generated by the capital city of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh is a complex issue with income being generated from all regions. This has caused a lot of confusion in region-wise income distribution. Also, after the bifurcation, companies will pay their portion of taxes to Telangana or Seemandhra or both, depending on where they operate(Before bifurcation, lot of companies were paying their taxes in capital city Hyderabad even for their operations in Seemandhra).
Proponents of a separate Telangana state cite perceived injustices in the distribution of water, budget allocations, and jobs. Within the state of Andhra Pradesh, 68.5% of the catchment area of the Krishna River and 69% of the catchment area of the Godavari River are in the plateau region of Telangana and flowing through the other parts of the state into bay of Bengal.Telangana and non coastal parts of Karnataka and Maharastra states form Deccan Plateau. Telangana supporters state that the benefits of irrigation through the canal system under major irrigation projects is accruing substantially, 74.25%, to the Coastal Andhra region, while the share to Telangana is 18.20%. The remaining 7.55% goes to the Rayalaseema region.
As per Volume-II of Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal Award - "The area which we are considering for irrigation formed part of Hyderabad State and had there been no division of that State, there were better chances for the residents of this area to get irrigation facilities in Mahboobnagar District. We are of the opinion that this area should not be deprived of the benefit of irrigation on account of the reorganisation of States.
The share of education funding for Telangana ranges from 9.86% in government-aided primary schools to 37.85% in government degree colleges. The above numbers include the expenditure in Hyderabad. Budget allocations to Telangana are generally less than 1/3 of the total Andhra Pradesh budget. There are allegations that in most years, funds allocated to Telangana were never spent. Since 1956, Andhra Pradesh government established 11 new medical colleges in the state. 8 were in Seemandhra and 3 were in Telangana. Telangana was not compensated for lost opportunities because of inward migration of lot of students into Hyderabad from Seemandhra.According to Professor Jayashankar only 20% of the total Government employees, less than 10% of employees in the secretariat, and less than 5% of department heads in the Andhra Pradesh government are from Telangana; those from other regions make up the bulk of employment.He also alleged that the state was represented by Telangana chief ministers for only 6 1/2 years out of over five decades of its existence, with no chief minister from the region being in power continuously for more than 2 1/2 years.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.
According to the Backward Regions Grant Fund 2009–10, 13 backward districts are located in Andhra Pradesh: nine (all except Hyderabad) are from Telangana and the rest are from other regions.
Proponents of a separate Telangana state feel that the agreements, plans, and assurances from the legislature and Lok Sabha over the last fifty years have not been honoured, and as a consequence Telangana has remained neglected, exploited, and backward. They allege that the experiment to remain as one state has proven to be a futile exercise and that separation is the best solution.
Note: The above content has been sourced from news articles and articles. It can only be regarded as opinions of a few people rather than solid facts.
Views of political parties
(a) Parties which were in favor of Telangana state before 9 December 2009, but changed the stand to neutral on 10 December 2009, the day the process for formation of Telangana state was announced by central government and later retracted on 23 December.
(b) After 9 December 2009, Jagan Mohan Reddy as a Congress MP opposed the Telangana state formation. After he formed the YSR Congress party, it adopted a neutral stand.
(c) The Praja Rajyam Party of actor-politician Chiranjeevi was against the division of the state, but merged into the Congress in 2011.
(d) The Lok Satta adds that it will welcome the formation of a separate state as part of a comprehensive and amicable solution. It,however,states that the real issue is to improve the lives of people irrespective of the formation of a separate state.
(e) During the all party meeting on 28 December 2012, TDP representatives gave a letter signed by its president to Home minister of India which said that the party had never withdrawn its letter to Pranab Mukherjee in 2008 which supported Telangana state formation.
(f) MIM wants the state to remain united. If division is unavoidable, the party wants a separate state of Rayala-Telangana with Telangana & Rayalseema regions along with Hyderabad as capital. They oppose Hyderabad being declared as a union territory.
(g) Congress working committee took the decision for the formation of Telangana state on 30 July 2013.
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