JAI TELANGANA, JAI JAI TELANGANA WWW.YUVATELANGANA.COMTo Hon. Sri Krishna Committee, Member Secretary, Room # 248, Vignan Bhavan Annexe, Moulana Azad Road, New Delhi- 110011 Respected Hon. Sri Krishna Committee Members, Subject: Submission of Memorandum demanding formation of the Telangana state Following is the representation on behalf of Yuva Telangana in support to the formation of state of Telangana. This report is comprehensive in its content and is comprehendible of the agony being faced by the people of Telangana, demanding a separate state. Little about us, Inspired by the words of Margaret Mead; ―Never doubt that a smallgroup of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing thatever has‖, we a group of energetic and aspiring like-minded committed youngsters, felt the need to support the cause of Telangana unequivocally as we saw the deprivation of fundamental rights of expression and association. With all our humane conscience, we would like to be grateful to the people from all walks of life who are striving for the cause of Telangana. On 5th Dec 09, we have united our voice and we have put our step forward confident, with a strong motivation of supporting the cause of Telangana to ornate it with its lost pride, privileges and prosperity which is possible only through the statehood for Telangana. History of Telangana: Historically, the region of Telangana was under the rule of the Nizam of Hyderabad who had a treaty with the British government to rule his kingdom with no external influence. The other two regions of the present Andhra Pradesh, i.e. Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema were under the direct rule of the British government and were a part of the erstwhile Madras state. When India got independence from the British in 1947 and the people of India were cherishing
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their first moments of freedom after a painful wait of 200 years, the people of Telangana whowere still under the Nizam rule were fighting their hearts out in what can be termed as the
biggest peasants‟ revolt till date, the Telangana Armed Struggle. In this movement, the peasants
and the civilians fought against the feudal Nizam government, the landlords and especially
against the Razakars whose brutal carnage and pillage of wealth led to the death of hundreds of
common people. Eventually, the Nizam had to relinquish his greed to have Hyderabad state as a
separate country against the wishes of the people, albeit it happened only after the Police Action
performed by the Government of India. The Hyderabad State got its freedom on September 17th
,
1948, more than a year after India got independence.
Vishalandhra Movement:
Meanwhile, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, which were a part of the erstwhile
Madras state, were fighting for a separate Andhra state on the same grounds for which the
present Telangana movement is going on: self-respect, self-rule and development. Once the
Andhra state was carved out in 1953, the people of Andhra started raising their voice to have all
the people speaking Telugu under one state-Vishaalandhra, which was derided by the then Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as a “tint of expansionist imperialism”. (Indian Express, Oct 17,
1953)
The First States Reorganization Commission (SRC) set up by the Indian government
under the supervision of Fazal Ali to restructure the states too warned against the merger and
argued that the then Telangana region with an area of 45,000 sq km, a population of 1.13 crore
and an annual revenue of Rs 17 crore would be a viable state. It also recommended a de-merger
in case the people of Telangana are not too pleased with the repercussions of the merger.
The people of Telangana were averse to the idea of Vishalandhra, as they were skeptical
that their employment and educational opportunities would be held at a stake in a unified state,
the reason being comparatively higher education standards for the Andhra people. Some of their
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apprehensions indeed came true, when some migrants from the Andhra region started occupyingseveral government positions, courtesy their knowledge of good administration skills and the
English language which was used in maintaining the records. It is also claimed that most of
these migrants settled down here and bought large areas of land using fake mulki certificates, a
„Mulki‟ meaning a local. The people started protesting in what was called as the Mulki
Movement and the government had to come down and take the necessary steps to review the
Muki rules and protect the interests of the locals. In spite of all these events, the Andhra Pradesh
state was formed on November 1st, 1956 against the wishes of the Telangana people on the
pretext of uniting people speaking the same Telugu language.
Gentlemen’s Agreement:
At the time of the merger, there were vast differences between the people of both the
regions. By virtue of being under the British rule, the people of Andhra were far more educated
and intelligent when compared to their Telangana counterparts. Also, Urdu was the medium of
instruction in the Hyderabad state, which hampered the educational and employment
opportunities for the Telangana people. Another glaring difference was that Telangana state
inherited surplus revenue, thanks to the Hyderabad state being the only surplus state at the time
of Independence. On the other hand, Andhra state was facing financial difficulties and also
infrastructural issues in their capital city, Kurnool. Keeping these things in mind and to protect
the interests of the people of Telangana, a Gentlemen‟s Agreement was signed by the leaders of
both the regions at the time of the merger to ensure fair share of resources and opportunities for
the people of Telangana. All the main points cited in this agreement were violated as soon as the
state was formed. The subsequent governments too took no interest in conforming to the terms
and conditions cited in the Gentlemen‟s agreement. Various reports identified various violations
in implementing the Gentlemen‟s agreement, but no action was ever taken to counter them. This
led to the increasing discontent among the people of Telangana and numerous agitations have
spurred since then as a consequence of the violation of this agreement.
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Narasimha Rao, the then Chief Minister hailing from Telangana to resign. Presidents‟ rule wasimposed and later on another new agreement was made called the 6-Point Formula to prevent
such agitations from occurring in the future. The only point from these 6 points that was
implemented was the 6th
point, the one which was beneficial to the Andhra people. The people of
Telangana and their rights were once again marginalized.
The people of Telangana have time and again suffered exploitation in various aspects.
We have emphasized the significant concerns in the subsequent topics.
Education:
As discussed in this document previously, Telangana and Andhra have vast disparities in
education. At the time of the merger, the people of Andhra were far more educated and had
better administrative skills when compared to those of Telangana. Urdu being the first language
for Hyderabad state till then didn‟t help the people‟s cause either as most of the administrative
work was held in English right after the independence. The promises made in the Gentlemen‟s
agreement to minimize these differences were never addressed, making it tougher for the people
to get educated and get proper employment.
Though there has been some growth in the educational opportunities over the past 50
years, the reality is that it is more of a general growth of the whole state rather than the growth
taking place due to ample opportunities provided by the government. Even after all these years,
Telangana still remains the lowest when we compare the literacy rates of all the three regions.
Taking into consideration that Telangana attributes to around 40% of the state‟s population, the
amount of money spent on the infrastructure and facilities for education is far less in Telangana
when compared to the other two regions.
This abuse of funds has a telling effect on the primary school education in particular, as
the number of dropouts increase. This is reflected when we compare the primary education for
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the aided schools in all the three regions, and is evident that the enrollment of students and the percentage of teachers in Telangana is much less. Same is the case for higher secondary
education. .
The range of injustice pertaining to education increases as we delve into details of higher
education. All the major national level and state level Universities in Telangana region have been
moved to in and around Hyderabad, on the pretext that they can be more accessible for the
people of the whole state. On the other hand, the other two regions enjoy a fair share of having
the national level and state level Universities, despite being far away from the capital. It is a
known truth that the Technological University started in Warangal, the Open University
originally proposed at Nagarjuna Sagar have been shifted to Hyderabad for better accessibility.
The same case does not hold true for the Andhra universities such as NTR Health University
established in Vijayawada, Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapee started in Tirupathi etc. The Six point
formula resulted in the establishment of the University of Hyderabad to safeguard the interests of
the future of Telangana. The sole purpose of starting this University has been dishonored.
Most of the major universities in Telangana have either been built in the Nizam era like
the Osmania University, Gandhi Medical University or with the funds from the central
government. In any case, all these major universities other than the NIT Warangal and Kakatiya
University, Warangal are located in Hyderabad and there is no preference given whatsoever to
the locals of the region. Compare this to the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema who have a local
quota in the universities located in the respective regions.
There is a vast disparity in the funds allocated and used for the universities between
Telangana and Andhra. The gross injustice meted out in the name of education is clearly evident
when we compare the funds allocated to the new universities established recently in these
regions. Where funds amounting to Rs. 343 crore were allocated to the two universities set up in
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Kadapa district, only Rs. 27 crore was allocated to the five universities of the Telangana regionin the last budget. The new universities set up in Telangana such as the Telangana University,
Palamoor University are suffering due to the non availability of funds, almost nonexistent faculty
and virtually nothing spent on the infrastructure and facilities.
This equation worsens when the medical colleges come into picture. Both the medical
colleges in Hyderabad i.e. Gandhi Medical College and Osmania Medical College were built
before Andhra Pradesh was formed. Again, the Telangana students come under the general quota
and share the same privilege as the people from the other two regions when seats for these
colleges are allocated. The only other Government Medical College in Telangana is the
Kakatiya Medical College, which was built in the late 50s. Over a span of 50 years, not even one
Government Medical College has been established in Telangana.
Education creates opportunities and when the education in Telangana has been neglected
for such a long time, it has showed a direct consequence on the industrial, economical and
cultural development of Telangana.
Employment:
Employment has been another major area in which Telangana was discriminated and was
denied its fair share of allowance. The Mulki rules which were brought into effect during the
period of Nizams to protect its people from discrimination in employment were supposed to be
continued even after the merger in 1956. Mulki rules were laid taking into consideration the huge
educational disparities between the regions prior to the merger. This was one of the many
assurances broken starting from the very initial days of the merger.
As predicted by many before merger, fake Mulki certificates were used acquire the jobs
allocated for Telangana. Claiming the superiority of English education in Andhra to that of Urdu
education in Telangana, many administrative jobs in the initial years of grabbed by the people
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In 1956, when Telangana was merged with Andhra to form Andhra Pradesh, the regionwas a buzz of activity with several large thriving industries, prominent ones being Azam Jahi
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Contrast this with the Government‟s patronage and wholeheartedness in reviving the sick Vizag Steel Plant at a cost of 1,500 crores. It would have taken this amount to revive many of the
industries in Telangana, and would have saved the livelihood of over one lakh families.
This biased approach of the government and its inclination towards Andhra was a major
blow to the industires in Telangana. With the resources and the scope for growth, Telangana
could illustrate an incredible industrial growth as a separate state.
Irrigation:
Telangana land has a mixture of very fertile soils suitable for cultivation and Agriculture
has always been the primary occupation for the people here. Two major rivers Krishna, Godavari
and their numerous tributaries cover every district in Telangana. Most of cultivable land and all
the villages of Telangana would have been provided with irrigation and drinking water had the
water been properly utilized.
Telangana contains 68.5% of Catchment area for Krishna in Andhra Pradesh. Around
70% of the cultivable land through this catchment area is in Telangana. Telangana should get at
least 68% of the share if either catchment area is taken as the principal criterion for allocation of
waters between different regions of the state or cultivable area, rainfall, subsoil levels of water,
backwardness. But the allocation made for the projects in the Telangana region was only around
32%. If the actual utilization of water is taken into account it is only about 10%.
While 181.2TMC of water is allocated to Prakasam Barrage (Only used by Coastal
Andhra), 330TMC of water is being supplied and the extra 150TMC is being provided to Delta
Region in the name of generation of Electricity in Nagarjuna Sagar.The water used in the Power
generation was supposed to be sent back to Nagarjuna Sagar using Reversible turbines. But, the
tail pond through which was it was possible was not built and hence the water which was
supposed to be used in Telangana through Nagarjuna Sagar is now being used in Delta region.
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Srisailam Project which was originally a power project is now converted into amultipurpose project. Yet the Telangana region does not get even a single drop of water from it.
It has only a right bank canal to facilitate irrigation in the Rayalaseema region. Further, its
capacity has been increased by 3 times when compared to what was originally contemplated. But
the left bank canal meant for the benefit of Telangana region has been abandoned. The canal
which is now styled as the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) and rechristened as Alimineti
Madhava Reddy Project is a misnomer. It is neither on the left bank of Srisailam Project nor does
it draw water from the Srisailam Reservoir.
Jurala Project which is the first project on river Krishna meant for Telangana is the
smallest of all the projects built on this river. The Bachawat Tribunal allocated just 17.5 TMC ft.
water for this project, and the state government reduced its storage capacity to 11 TMC ft. But
the actual utilization so far has not been more than 2 TMC ft.
Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme, taken up before the formation of Andhra Pradesh by the
then government of Hyderabad was envisaged to provide irrigation facilities to 87500 acres in
Mahabubnagar district of Telangana region. The Bachawat Tribunal also allocated 15.90 TMC
ft. of water for this project. This water has to pass through a canal in Raichur district of
Karnataka State. After the formation of Andhra Pradesh some landlords of Kurnool district have
not been allowing this water to reach Mahabubnagar. As a result, the land which was to be
irrigated by this facility has become more or less a desert. Consequently, out of nearly 35 lakh
acres being irrigated under the projects built on river Krishna, hardly 5 lakh acres are benefited
in the Telangana region and rest in the other regions.
Telangana contains 79% of catchment area for Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. Over 70% of
the cultivable land in Godavari Basin in Andhra Pradesh is in Telangana. Based on these figures,
atleast 1000TMC out of 1480TMC of Godavari Water allocated to Andhra Pradesh should be
utilized in Telangana. Before the merger, Hyderabad State planned projects allocating over
845TMC of water for the benefits of its people, but they were never completed as planned.
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The Bachawat tribunal allocated 1480 TMC ft. of Godavari river water to AndhraPradesh, but half of this water is yet to be utilized. The Coastal Andhra region has been the major
beneficiary of the water already utilized. Under the Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage in
Dhawaleswaram more than 12 lakh acres of land is getting irrigation facilities with nearly half of
it growing more than one crop. But in the Telangana region, the area irrigated with the Godavari
waters is not even 5 lakh acres.
The other two major projects proposed on river Godavari are Ichampally and Polavaram.
Ichampally is meant for Telangana and Polavaram for Coastal Andhra. Prima-facie it appears to
be fair. But the facts are different. The irrigation potential of Polavaram Project would be 6 to 7
times more than the irrigation potential of Ichampally. Further, Ichampally is going to be
primarily a power project because of the inter-state issues involved. If that is going to happen,
Ichampally would ultimately become a balancing reservoir to ensure a perennial flow of water
into Polavaram first and Dawaleswaram next. Consequently Telangana would be permanently
doomed. Also, The Polavaram project will sacrifice over 200 villages of Khammam district to
irrigate and enrich the Andhra fields in Godavari, Krishna and Vizag districts and as a bonus
provide drinking water to the city of Vizag and a continuous supply of water to the Vizag Steel
Plant. This scourge of Telangana, called Polavaram will bring desolation and despair to over
2,00,000 Telangana people by submerging their lands and indirectly affect the livelihood and
future of another 10,00,000 people living in the upstream areas.
The other projects that are talked about are Sri Ram Sagar Project Stage II, Sri Ram sagar
Flood Flow Canal and barrages at Yellampalli and Dummagudem. Even if they are completed –
which is a big if- all of them put together will not have a capacity to utilize more than 50 TMC ft.
of water.
Because of the factors enumerated above the benefit of irrigation through the canal
system under major irrigation projects is accruing substantially, i.e. 76.99%, to the Coastal
Andhra region. While the share of Telangana is just 15.88%, the remaining 7.13% goes to the
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the state government to address the farmers. Various development projects taken up whichseemed very fancy by the name but proved no worth like the SEZ (special elimination zones).
Many tragic stories have surfaced up to the news channels and yet the ignorance continues.
“He spared his life so that we could live on his ex gratia” – Wife of a dead farmer
These disheartening stories have never awakened the governments of the state. The
farmer suicides were at the highest number of 2321 in 04-05. Congress government was the
ruling party then. The major factor influencing the farmer suicides is the money lender. Money borrowed with high interests has made the farmers expect farm profits which are dependent on
the natural resources. Yielding to the pressures, farmers are taking the extreme step of suicides.
The DCCB‟s have always promised to deliver huge short term loans and have ended up give
only a mere share of their promises. 2000 crores of short term loans were promised and only 213
crores have been disbursed to the farmers. The interest rates on these loans are also at a striking
high level accounting to 15 %. Chidambaram announced low interest rates to farmers 7% during
all budgets, but the viable implementation has never touched the grounds.
Of the many factors, which are leading to the farmers suicides,
Farmers now are bound to dig their bore wells deeper and deeper to see a drop of water,
which would cost every penny he earns.
Power supply is never reliable.
Fake pesticides, low quality seeds, royalty seeds at sky high prices are making farmer‟s
life miserable.
Government aid is untimely, no credits given and local lenders pressure of pay backs.
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Government has never tried to eliminate the market adverse linkages to the farmers in termsof fake components being sold to the farmers looting their hard earned money. The education of
the children of farmers is out of question.
Statistics according to an RTI act filed indicate that the number of farmer suicides in
Telangana during 2004-06 is around 2500 according to the government figures. This number
does not include the no. of famer suicides which were rejected to be accounted for since the
farmer did not have any agricultural land in his name.
Development:
The under-development of Telangana region can be easily observed with a naked eye and
is self explanatory with all the statistics and surveys conducted so far. But, a few detractors are
cleverly using growth rates to prove that Telangana is more developed than its counter parts. The
very fundamental flaw in this is that the comparisons made merely based on their percentages are
always wrong, because percentages always have a base and without looking at the base on which
they are calculated, there is every chance they present much skewed picture and can even
mislead.
Also while calculating the averages for GDP and other figures, GHMC should be
excluded to get a clearer picture of development in the other districts of Telangana, which is very
poor. The growth and investment in GHMC has been more at the cost of other districts of
Telangana while the global nature of GHMC made its benefits accessible to the rest of the
districts in Andhra Pradesh equally.
As on March 31st 2006, the combined GDP of all Telangana districts including
Hyderabad, Medak & Rangareddy (most parts of these 3 districts form the GHMC area) is Rs
99,462.81 Crores. Excluding these 3 districts, it stands at Rs 57121.27 Crores. The average for
these 7 districts comes to nearly Rs 8,100 crores per district and the GDP of the 7 Telangana
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The Per Capita income of AP in 2005-06 was Rs 26,211. 5 out of 10 Telangana districts fell below this average. Out of the other 5 which are above this average, 3 of them form the GHMC
area.
The Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme of Govt of India which is designed to
redress regional imbalances in development says, “9 of the 13 most backward districts in AP
are in Telangana. 9 out of 10 Telangana districts (barring Hyderabad) are most backward
as recognized by Govt of India.”
Telangana Culture:
Telangana region has a separate history, which it has built over the past few centuries. It
has a distinct identity and culture, thanks to its independent existence. The most prominent
culture identified here, especially in and around Hyderabad is the Deccani or Hyderabadi culture.
This culture is a fusion of essentially the Hindu and the Muslim cultures of the people living
here. The influence of this culture on the people here is so huge that a new dialect has evolved
here which is the language Telugu interspersed with liberal dosage of words from Urdu.
The Telangana region is famous for its religious harmony. Peoples ranging from various
communities such as Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, Marvadis, Gujratis, Maradis, and
Buddhists etc have been living here happily and peacefully. The best part of Telangana culture is
that it can be identified as their own by the people of different communities, languages living
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The religious harmony of Telangana can be understood by looking at the festivalscelebrated by the people here. People here celebrate a Diwali festival with as much verve as they
celebrate a Ramzan. The Muslims here celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi with as much happiness as
the Hindus celebrate the “Peerla Panduga” (Mohurrum). Other Hindu and Muslim festivals
such as Holi, Rakhi are also celebrated with equal enthusiasm as in northern India.
Differences between Telangana and Andhra Cultures:
People‟s poet and freedom fighter Kaloji Narayan Rao quotes “Telangana language is
different, Telangana lifestyles are different" when he compares the cultures of Telangana with
that of Andhra.
Telangana culture differs in many ways from Andhra culture even though they speak the
same language. As a matter of fact, the premise of being the same language albeit having
different dialects is the only common factor between Telangana and Andhra people. The festivals
here are very much different from Andhra festivals. It is not that some of the festivals are the
common in both the places, but this should be attributed more to the whole-heartedness of the
people of Telangana who have embraced Andhra festivals and cultures over a period of time,
The less said about the adaptability of the Andhra culture in embracing the Telangana culture the
better, as Andhra people didn‟t even try to adopt Telangana‟s culture and its festivals. Many
Telangana festivities are not found in Andhra region such as Holi, Bathkamma, Bonalu,
Kolatam, etc.
In the name of cultural unity and Telugu pride, Andhra rulers have tried to impose its
culture particularly in terms of language and food habits. The government public distribution
system in Andhra supplies only rice whereas the rain-fed areas of Telangana cultivates bajra,
jowar, raagi and such other food grains. This has resulted in extra pressure on Telangana
peasantry to grow only rice at the expense of their indigenous crops.
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The main concern of the Telangana people is that their language is termed to be impureand is mocked by the people from the other regions of Andhra Pradesh. The truth is that the way
Telugu is spoken and written in all 23 districts of current Andhra Pradesh state differs. There is a
mix of Urdu words in Telangana Telugu which Andhra people term as impure. The Andhra
people find it tough to explain how Telugu can be purified using few English words on one hand
and unpurified using few Urdu words.
To add insult to injury, Telangana language is maligned in the Telugu films and shows to
such an extent that only villains, their chamchas and the comedians who play the hero‟s
sidekicks speak in Telangana dialect. This biased, negative portrayal has been continuing for the
past 50 years. The plight of Telangana people can be understood from the fact that they are
forced to laugh at their own slang in the movies.
Telangana people are often referred to as rustic and uncivilized by their “civilized”
Andhra “brothers”. They find it hard to comprehend that it is not language or land that make a
state, but the people and their culture make them a state. A state stands for people but not a land
mass. States formed on the basis of just a language is not the sole criteria where the cultures and
history of people of other regions is neglected. It is the right of the people to fight for their
identity which is in a deep crisis for the past 50 years.
Tourism:
Telangana has a rich history of 3000 years, and this can be seen in the ruins that dot the
districts of Warangal, Hyderabad and Nalgonda. The tourism potential of Telangana is immense.
It is bestowed with a bounty of cultural and religious relics and natural landscapes for adventure
sports. None of this has been advertised and publicized till date. For all those successive tourism
ministers of the Goverments that came in power, the tourist potential in Telangana started with
the Charminar and ended with the pearls in Hyderabad, with only minor mention of the
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Warangal fort and Salarjung Museum. In contrast to this, Vishakapatnam has been touted as amust visit tourist spot in Andhra Pradesh with its Arukku valley and Borra Caves.
In the last few decades the number of tourists visiting Vishakapatnam, Vijayawada, and
Chittor has increased at more than double the rate for Warangal and Nalgonda combined.
Warangal has a rich tapestry of historical relics, the architectural marvel of the 1000 pillar
temple, the Warangal fort, and the beauty of the stone carvings in Ramappa temple, it has the
potential to attract both foreign and domestic tourists. Not many people in the country know of
Nagarjuna Sagar Konda which is a manifestation of man‟s efforts to save his history and to
provide for water security of his progeny. It can with a little effort be integrated into the Buddhist
circuit, resulting in attracting the hordes of Buddhist pilgrims. Promoting tourism in Telangana,
would have enriched the State and provided a decent standard of living to its citizens. But, this
subject has never even been brought up by successive Governments of AP. Instead of investing
in the tourism potential of the Telangana region, the Government has been destroying the very
edifices that can earn revenue for the State of Telangana.
The Government in its haste to develop the connectivity to Vijayawada, has gone ahead
with starting work on building a 4 lane highway connecting it to Hyderabad. This Highway will
wipe out 26 historically significant archeological monuments. Beginning with the „kos minars‟
or milestones from the Qutub Shahi dynasty, Chalukyan and Kakatiya period temples, mosques
from the Mughal era, which can be creatively packaged and sold as a “Highway Tourism
Project” will be turned to dust. Most important of all, there‟s a 13th century Shiva temple from
the Kakatiya period, located just before Chityal, in Warangal having a „garba gruha‟,
„arthamandapa‟, „maha mandapa‟ and a four - pillared „Nandi mandapa‟, a part of the temple is
buried under the existing road, and needs to be excavated. The government instead of saving this
monument is intent on burying it still deeper into eternity by running a bull dozer over it.
Tourism in Telangana, is never been a subject of debate or interest, but it can bring an
undreamed prosperity to a State, as witnessed by Rajasthan, Kerala and now Gujarat. However,
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these states have been promoted by their leaders none of them have been crushed into the dustlike the history and culture of Telangana.
Tourism for Telangana state, will be one of the main sources of revenue, and it is
incumbent upon us to safe guard our monuments and heritage, and force the abandonment of this
Hyderabad-Vijayawada 4 lane highway.
Self Governance:
Telangana never had the chance to witness „Self -rule‟ being a minority and havingalways been hammered by its counterparts. The mere election of its MPs, MLAs and MLCs is
just not enough when the politics in the state is strictly divided on regional lines and while the
majority is working constantly for its vested interests suppressing the minority. The magnitude of
suppression was at such extent that even decisions of the institutions such as courts which are
supposed to safeguard the minorities and underprivileged were overturned with their superior
numbers. A classic example of this being the revoking of Supreme Court‟s decision to uphold the
Mulki rules to safeguard the interests of people of Telangana.
While Telangana constitutes 42% of its region and 41% of the state population, the
number of elected representatives was not in the correct proportion till recently. Telangana had
only 107 MLAs out of 294 which were only 36% while Andhra and Rayalseema enjoyed a
representation of 64% with 187 MLAs. The no. of MP seats allocated was no different.
Telangana was allocated 16 out of 42 seats which is 38% while Andhra and Rayalseema together
had 26 out of 42 Seats which is 62%. Being a minority was in itself a setback and the under
representation of its people in the Assembly and Parliament for decades made it even more
intricate to counter the hounding of the majority.
In 54 years as a combined state, the state was ruled by a Chief Minister from Telangana
for only 11 years. It is to be noted that even 5 out of that 11 years were ruled by Mr. Jalgam
Vengal Rao who is a settler from Andhra and is known for his senseless remarks of merging
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Khammam in Andhra if Telangana is separated. None of the other Chief Ministers could rule for a full term and the rest of the 6 years were ruled by 3 different Chief Ministers in four terms.
This shows a clear prejudice over Telangana.
The intolerance against Telangana is not just confined to the elected representatives but it
extends to all the decision making positions in the government. The prominent positions in
secretariat, high court and other government offices which are supposed to be the key in decision
making is flooded with the people from Andhra and Rayalseema further increasing their
dominance in the state affairs.
The everlasting dream for self-governance for the people of Telangana would turn into
reality only with the demerger of the state.
Politics:
The Telangana Movement has been over 50 years old and its people have been using the
electorial procedure in support of Telangana state in every possible election. Time and again
political parties have raised their support for Telangana state and betrayed its people with their
opportunism.
The first political party in support to the Telangana State came after the „Jai Telangana‟
movement in 1969 under the leadership of M. Chenna Reddy with the name, Telangana Praja
Samiti . Telangana Praja Samiti (TPS) won 11 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats clearly indicating the
mood of the people for creation of separate Telangana. Despite electoral successes, some of the
new party leaders gave up their agitation in September 1971 and, much to the disgust of many
separatists, rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks. The leaders and Members of
parliament were treacherously blackmailed into submission.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi was formed in 2001 with the single agenda of creating a
separate Telangana state, with Hyderabad as its capital. During the Assembly elections of 2004,
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the Indian National Congress Party entered into election alliance with Telangana RashtraSamithi, and Promised separate statehood to the people of Telangana. The voters from
Srikakulam to Ananthapur to Adilabad elected the Congress-TRS alliance to power, thereby
giving mandate for separate State of Telangana. But soon after assuming office, the congress
party changed its stance stating that it was committed to second States Reorganization
Commission for creating new states. The same congress party, which carved Andhra out of
Madras in 1953 without any need for SRC or even Assembly Resolution needed SRC and
Resolution Once they won the elections. In September 2006 TRS withdrew support for the
Congress led coalition government at the centre on the grounds of indecision by the government
over the delivery of its electoral promise to create Telangana. In December 2006, TRS won the
by-election for the Karimnagar parliamentary constituency, which is considered by many as a
referendum on a Telangana state, with a record margin.
Ahead of the 2009 General Elections in India, all the major parties in Andhra
Pradesh supported the formation of Telangana and also included it in their manifestos.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) again announced their policy of having smaller states and
would create two states, Telangana and Gorkhaland, if they won the election. The Congress
Party said it was still committed to Telangana statehood and also included in its manifesto.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) who had a drubbing in the previous elections realized the need
to support Telangana state and promised to work for Telangana statehood. The Praja Rajyam
Party (PRP), newly founded by the film star Chiranjeevi, supported Telangana statehood prior to
elections, but later changed its stance. Nava Telangana Party merged with PRP after it realized
that there is not enough political space for two sub-regional Telangana parties with Telangana
statehood as main agenda. All the parties promised Telangana. TRS has lost the election, but not
the sentiment of the people. The sentiment logic will only be discussed when there are two
parties. When everyone says YES, there is no competition and when everyone says Telangana,
there is no polarization on that issue. The whole 2009 elections were not about Telangana. All
parties including congress promised Telangana in their manifestos. So counting 2009 elections as
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Hyderabad as the second capital for India. It is a known fact that the Andhra state before themerger was low on revenue and didn‟t have the basic infrastructure to hold administrative
offices. Hence, Hyderabad was the obvious capital once Andhra Pradesh was formed and it was
bound to develop more over a course of time being the capital. In the same time other major
cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, and Bangalore too developed a lot.
Over the past few years, various multinational companies invested a lot in and around
Hyderabad in the form of IT and it can be credited more to the current globalization phenomenon
rather than the Andhra leaders and industrialists who claim to be the cause for this development.
Another fact these people tend to forget is that Hyderabad was built with the heavy taxes levied
upon the people of Telangana by the Nizam. Also, this development of Hyderabad has come at
the expense of the development of the other Telangana districts, as most of the amount spent for
development in Telangana was in an around Hyderabad and this can be found if we observe that
all the major industries and universities established in Hyderabad at the expense of the other
districts of Telangana.
The real estate boom which has been pointed out as a benchmark by the Andhra
politicians for development in fact has led to various entrepreneurs securing large areas of lands
for a small price and making huge businesses with them. This trend if observed from an
economic standpoint can never be termed as development in the first place. On the other hand,
this led the farmers and the downtrodden living in the outskirts of the city to migrate away from
their homes searching for ways to make their ends meet. Also, various SEZs identified by the
government are driving the common man away. The film industry which has grown on a large
scale over the past few years too has flourished at the expense of Telangana. The film industry
has received various sops in lands, electricity etc for its establishment. Most of the lands where
the film studios stand today have been sold to them at a trifle amount by the government.
During the same time when Hyderabad has been developing, Vishakhapatnam has been
growing by leaps and bounds at a rate faster than that of Hyderabad. The advocates demanding
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Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were the most backward parts of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh,which in turn were among the most backward states of India. Separation worked wonders and,
after becoming separate states, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have emerged as industrial dynamos.
Both states have ample minerals like coal and iron ore. But this was not an economic advantage
when they were part of larger states. Rather, their mineral revenues were diverted to state
capitals. This diversion ended after they became separate states.
Mining is not the only reason for the fast growth of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. They have also
experienced a huge manufacturing boom.
"Since 2001, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have moved up into the top 10 (industrial
states), displacing Rajasthan and Punjab... The phenomenal growth in these two states has seen
the share of manufacturing in their GDP rise dramatically as they have attracted industrial
projects. Looking at the share of income that originates in the manufacturing sector, these two
states have shown higher levels than Maharashtra, Haryana and Tamil Nadu...Being newer and
smaller states, they responded more rapidly than their larger — and in some cases better
endowed - neighbors… Raipur in Chhattisgarh has now entered the top 10 districts of India in
manufacturing, with two industrial estates at Urla and Siltara". – Indicus Analytica, Reasearch
firm
With the dominating and biased political decisions which continued till date,
discrimination has grown to a large extent in terms of the resources and opportunities. Having
faced this continuous discrimination in a combined state, Telangana will experience a similar or
even better growth after the demerger making a good utilization of its rich natural resources and
the existing infrastructure for its own development.
Andhra Pradesh has a population of around 90 Million which is more than that of
countries like France or Britain. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the administration to
reach out to its entire people and this is one of the major reasons for the huge regional disparities.
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The rich and powerful has been bullying the poor and downtrodden and the majority has beencrushing the minority at its will. Smaller states are not only economically viable, but also help in
providing better administration to the people. The accountability for the elected leaders will
increase. The benefits of the capital city will be easily accessible to the people. The ordinary
people will have better access to power elite.
Current Telangana Agitation:
Movements which can sustain their identity and voice over sustained periods are destined
to succeed. The key is to "not give up" - "not relent under extreme duress". A movement needs to
be broad based at various levels to ensure secure anchorage and sustainability. A tree which can
spread its' roots deeper and wider has greater chances to survive a drought or storm. Shallow
ones are either blown away or wasted by withering. Telangana movement succeeded only
because it could do both in many ways. It survived by going deeper - deeper when it was
oppressed, deeper when it was sought to be erased by false promises of hope and wider - it
garnered support from varied quarters. The recent struggle has been very successful in doing all
these things and hence was able to bring pressure on the administration.
Students of Osmania University, Kakatiya University, JNTU, Kakatiya Medical College,
Mahatma Gandhi University, Palamoor University, Satavahana University and
Telangana University have been agitating in various forms from 29th November. Student unions
of all political parties like Congress, TRS, TDP, PRP, Lok Satta, and CPI have been participating
in these agitations.
Journalists, Writers, Intellectuals Lawyers, Doctors, and Businessmen from Telangana
region have started conducting dharna's, rasta rokos and hunger strikes. People from all walks of
life like trade union members, barbers, washer men, farmers, auto-rickshaw drivers, coal mine
workers and even staff of local crematoriums have been participating in the agitation. Even
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Universities, in the region have been turned into prisons with neither the students beingallowed to leave the campus nor outsiders allowed to enter. There is a complete cordoning off of
the Universities and any attempt by outsiders to enter the campus is met with lathi‟s and batons
of the police force. The students in the university are being tortured brutally in the false name of
Naxal presence, while in reality the government could not prove a single instance and was also
criticized by Supreme Court for its irresponsible behavior.
For us, the people of Telangana, our fundamental rights have been suspended; we can no
longer claim right to freedom of speech and freedom of association. Even senior citizens are
denied permission to conduct peace meetings and if they by sheer perseverance get the required
permissions from the courts, the gatherings are disrupted by the police by cutting off the power
supply. Students who are active participants in the demand for a separate state are arrested on
trumped up charges and denied bail. The Central government made no conscious effort in lifting
the cases as promised by Mr. Chidambaram‟s statement on Dec 9th
, 2009. People of Telangana
lost all hope for justice, human dignity and humanity from the Government through such
incidents.
Samaikyandhra Movement:
The delight of people after the government issued the statement in favor of the Telangana
state did not last long. People who never raised their voice before against Telangana came out
and raised a hue and cry against the statement made by the government. These people who are
fighting for the Samaikyandhra Movement never ever raised their voice against the injustices
meted out to Telangana. They never uttered a single word when all the political parties pledged
their support for Telangana in the elections and they didn‟t say anything even when all the
parties supported the cause of Telangana on December 5th in the all-party movement. But after
the December 9th statement, the Andhra politicians resigned in huge numbers, raising chaos
among the people and ringing false alarm bells among the people that the formation of
Telangana will be the doomsday for Andhra. The Samaikyandhra movement that has thus
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emerged on false assumptions and twisted facts has been orchestrated essentially by someentrepreneurs who had business stakes in Hyderabad and some politicians looking for political
mileage. The Samaikyandhra movement has never been a people‟s movement, as a common
Andhra man living in the Andhra region had no access to Telangana whatsoever and it is his
least interest whether Telangana is formed or not. While it is true that the false feeling of
“Telugu Pride” has been instilled by some of these people with vested interest in a few students
from Andhra, the effect of this movement on the common man in Andhra has been minimal. On
one hand we have the Telangana movement which has a history of more than 50 years and has
unprecedented support in all the villages and cities of Telangana, the Samaikyandhra movement
was more of an after effect to the Telangana movement that didn‟t have the support of the
common people. The Telangana movement has been a movement against exploitation whereas
the Samaikyandhra movement has been more of a movement spawned by selfish benefits. The
reason why the Samaikyandhra movement is nonexistent in Telangana is another thing the
proponents of the Samaikyandhra movements fail to elucidate. Samaikyandhra advocates have
stooped to such a low to distort the facts that they started committing blasphemy. They started
misguiding the people that the sacrifice made by the great freedom Potti Sri Ramulu to unite all
the Telugu brethren should not go futile. Potti Sri Ramulu, though he sacrificed his life for the
cause of separating Andhra from Madras state, has never fought for Telangana and never ever
desired to unite Andhra and Telangana. The Samaikyandhra Movement, which is literally an
anti-Telangana movement and based on such false hypotheses and distorted facts, has only
increased the animosity among the people. As the Samaikyandhra people try to prolong the
inevitable, it will only result in the restlessness among the people. Instead, the Andhra politicians
should facilitate the process of creating the Telangana state as soon as possible so that the people
can part amicably, rather than playing cat and mouse with the people. It would serve well for the
Samaikyandhra region too, as they can have their own capital accessible for people from all parts
and can also concentrate on the development of the areas in and around the capital.
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After the forceful merger in 1956 the first major movement demanding for a separatestate started in 1969 which was led by the students. The democratic movement was dealt with
brutal force and around 370 students were gunned down, thousands injured. Even the electoral
mandate given by people of Telangana for a separate state by electing 11 out of 14MPs was
diluted by some cheap politics from the then government. As a result, Naxalism came about in
Telangana region after the ruthless crushing of 1969 Telangana Agitation followed by
Machiavellian political maneuvers that completely hijacked a genuine people‟s movement. The
youth of Telangana got disenchanted with legal, electoral institutions and as a product of many
betrayals, came Naxalism. The youth of Telangana took up an alternative method to fight the
system leading to a huge unrest in the region and thousands of them were killed through the
years.
History is repeating itself once again. A genuine democratic movement led by the
students currently is again being dealt with brutal force. In the false name of Maoists‟ presence,
the genuine students regardless of gender are being tortured brutally while the fact is that the
Maoist presence in the movement was never proved. Suppressing the movement with force can
have serious consequences. It is the same suppression that led to Naxalism in this region
previously, and any kind of suppression to the current movement could refuel the Naxalism in
this region yet again. The formation of Telangana state is on the other hand could be a very
important & mandatory step to make to decrease the current Naxal movement apart from the
development measures that are needed to be undertaken in the downtrodden areas of Telangana.
While the impatient ones join violent movements, the weak-hearted ones are committing
suicides. It is unfortunate that over 300 people have committed suicides in the last three months
and the number could only increase if the formation of the state is delayed or halted completely.
Formation of the Telangana state would provide their rightful share of education and
employment opportunities to the youth who are otherwise denied justice in a combined state.
There are several villages in Mahboobnagar and other districts which have no young generation
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left as they have migrated to other places leaving their families in search for opportunities. Manyof them are being betrayed and a lot many are also ending up in prisons in other countries for no
fault of theirs, leaving their families devastated and helpless. Opportunities would be created in a
new state for the youth who have been migrating to other states & Gulf countries as daily labour
because their rightful share of employment is denied so far in a combined state.
The region has seen some very active involvement and leadership of young people through the
movement and if the state is formed, they will play a key role in its development.
Conclusion:
Taking all the issues stated above into consideration, we on behalf of Yuva Telangana would like
to conclude making the following recommendations.
1. Telangana state has to be formed with Hyderabad as its capital. The process cannot be delayed
anymore and should be completed as quickly as possible.
2. The committee should make sure that the authenticity of the statistics provided by the state of
Andhra Pradesh has to be verified before reaching into any conclusions, as many questions are
being raised over the legitimacy of these figures.
3. The revenues and expenditures of all the three regions for the past 54 years should be taken
into consideration.
4. As per the statement released by Mr. P. Chidambaram on Dec 9th, all the protestors arrested
during the Telangana agitation should be released and all the cases filed against them during this
period should be lifted.
5. Special importance should be given for the improvement of under developed areas of