Soon after the home minister of India made an announcement of Telangana State creation; there were celebrations on one side & mayhem on the other. Government at the centre took into account the long lasting demand made by various outfits over last 40 odd years. The real contentious issue has come to the fore now – What will happen to the Cyber city of Hyderabad? Moreover near to 100 MLAs from across the parties have resigned protesting the move by central government. In coming days we will definitely witness immense drama over the issue. But the real underlying issue is whether small states act as a catalyst for inclusive development & better life style for the people involved?
We have a heavy bag of experiences from the creation of smaller states. Uttaranchal for e.g. has been able to project & create its own identity in tourism space since it has been balkanized from Uttar Pradesh. As the needs for the region ‘Uttaranchal’ were far too different from that of Uttar Pradesh, it was not able to garner enough resources, access points to spur the tourism which is the mainstay for a region involving such a scenic beauty. On the other side, we have smaller states like Jharkhand, Goa which have remained politically fragile for quite some time now. 2/3 MLAs can swing the political balance from one party to the other. Horse trading & opportunistic politics have been natural outcomes of it. Chhattisgarh adds one more angle to it. Densely covered with forests & affected ridiculously by naxals, Chhattisgarh, is trying hard to move through the hurdles & make lives of the people comfortable.
After seeing the current frenzy of demands for myriad small states made by various groups – outfits-political parties-influential people, it can be said that as a nation we have come a long way. We as a Nation, mature with every passing second. New ideas fill our hearts; we want to have things in different order rather than maintaining a status quo. Due to the current demographics we also get emotional & aggressive quite easily. At the time when we were getting our freedom back, our visionaries thought the criterion for dividing India into states should be languages. But it seems enough water has gone under the bridge. Though newly evolved dialects or cultures seem to be the basis for seeking new states, if taken a earthworm’s approach, important aspects also involve development, deception of people, geography which a people in particular region have lived through. People in Telangana speak Telagu with a little different dialect due the mixture with some Urdu & Marathi words. Also they have evolved a culture which is different from other parts of Andhra Pradesh. If topic is churned little further, one may easily find that separate Telangana movement, which started in 1969, was due to the violation of Gentlemen's agreement of Andhra Pradesh (1956) signed between the then leaders of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh. People become emotional if they are deceived. Similar is the case with demand for separate Vidarbha which is a part of Maharashtra right now. Language dialect may be somewhat different from usual Marathi due the Vidarbha’s proximity to Madhya Pradesh, but the amount of development forms the crux for the demand. Agrarian crisis is worst seen in the region transforming it into an epicenter of farmers’ suicides. Take an e.g. of Harit Pradesh (Braj Pradesh Or Western Uttar Pradesh), supposed to be carved out of Uttar Pradesh, which seem to have made its way to the list because inhabitants resemble more with people from Haryana & Rajasthan (adjacent states) than their counterparts in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Difference leads to the creation of new things. But there is a catch again. Harit Pradesh has benefited a lot from the Green Revolution & life styles have changed quite a lot which has happened in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Reason might be anything from not so conducive climate to infertile land to land ownership, but result is same. Let’s move on to Gorkhaland, to be separated out of West Bengal. It is said Gorkhaland is to be separated because the cultures are different & it should be preserved by giving a separate statehood. The area which is being proposed for the same is the northern hilly area near to Sikkim. Development model cannot be same for Gorkhaland & rest of West Bengal. There are many other states being asked for viz. Mithilanchal, Bodoland, Bundelkhand, Saurashtra, Koorg etc. Differential development (under-development) within a state gets converted into a feeling of getting new identity after sometime.
Factors behind separate statehood may include Population, Culture, Language, Geography, Public Emotions, and Development. It should be looked on case to case basis. Government in centre should come up with a policy which will cater to all these requirements. Nobody should be allowed to take political mileage out of it. Each state must be divided into regions & development models should be implemented accordingly. Also population striving for state government machinery should be considered. As long as India remains integrated, smaller states should not be a problem. But at the same time we should understand that we cannot have states for all new dialects & cultures which get evolved in the course of time because cultures get developed after the basic needs are dealt with. Let’s concentrate on those first. Ultimately, we all are same, aren’t we?
Prasanna Vaidya
prasanna.vaidya@gmail.com
Date – 10th January, 2010
In my opinion,demand for a seprate gorkhaland is justified because,the culture,language,people,problems of west bengal are very different and could only be solved by a decision making body,formed by the people ,elected from gorkaland area,and by the native people.Similarly,vidharba region,because the problems,the style of adminstaration required for other areas in maharashtra like mumbai,pune are very different from the vidharba region and need a seperate council.
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