TELANGANA

Every other day newspapers carry articles about protest,agitation and violence in AP on account of Telangana issue.Both pro and anti telangana activists are on strikes , protesting hard to ensure that the center listens to their demands.But the question that every one's asking why so much protests,so much violence?To find the answer we need to look back at the history of this region.


Since early times Hyderabad(Golconda) had been an independent state.But Aurangzeb captured it and Mughals ruled over it for a brief period. After the disintegration of Mughals ,Hyderabad state again came into existence with Hyderabad as its capital and telangana region as its empire.Even after the arrival of British empire ,Hyderabad enjoyed its autonomy.While coastal andhra and rayalseema were parts of Madras Presidency.After independence ,Nizam of Hyderabad wanted Independence of Hyderabad,like the king of kashmir, but the Indian army intervened to merge Hyderabad with India.Hyderabad state consisted of telangana region with Hyderabad as its capital.But things took a turn in 1953,when Potti Sreeramulu died in a hunger strike demanding creation of Andhra state.The central govt. appointed States Reorganisation Commission(SRC) to create states on linguistic basis .But telangana people opposed this move of the central govt., because they feared people of andhra who had access to higher standards of education under British rule would have an unfair advantage in seeking govt jobs.They also feared that the planned irrigation projects on Krishna & Godavari would benefit Andhra more.Although Telangana was less developed it had a larger revenue base., which they feared would be used for development of coastal andhra. This is the point where seeds of trouble were sown.The then PM, Jawaharlal Nehru made a strategic error by merging the two sides on the condition that equal development will occur on both sides,if disparity is observed then the two sides can spilt after 1961.But equal development never occurred ,today 9 out of 10 districts of Telangana are backward.The developed one being Hyderabad district.About 20% of total govt. employees ,10% employees in Secretariat and less than 5% of department heads of AP govt. are from Telangana.So, since 1971 pro telangana activists are fighting hard for a separate state with Hyderabad as its capital.


This argument is absurd on the ground that rayalseema and coastal andhra people have contributed a lot to the present day Hyderabad. But, today Hyderabad is losing its shine due to this violence.IPL matches have been shifted from Hyderabad.Foreign and Domestic investors are fleeing from hyderabad.People prefer to invest in backward districts of AP than investing in hyderabad,this is tarnising its image.I dont think this situation can anyway help Telangana people.Pro Telangana activists should fight not for a separate state but for economic development of that region,their MP's should lobby hard for industrialisation of the region.People should facilitate industrial growth.Central govt. should ensure that some concrete steps are taken in this regard and past mistakes are not repeated.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TELANGANA REGION IS THE SOLUTION ,DIVISION ISN'T