The Judge Monkey - A special edition on separate statehood

And thus the state of 'Telangana' is carved out of Andhra Pradesh as proposed by ruling congress(II) on the 30th day of July,2013.

In light of this very contentious, sensitive and emotional issue i recollect one popular childhood story that makes every one wonder how aptly the story fits into current day scenario..It is the story of two cats and a judge monkey where in mapping of characters is left to readers imaginations.The (short) story goes on like this..

"Once upon a time, two cats were passing through a street. Suddenly they spotted a loaf of bread lying beneath a tree.Both cats pounced upon it and caught the loaf at the same time. "It`s mine.. i saw it first" claimed first cat. While the other said,"i pounced upon it first and so it belongs to me". After having fought for a while, one cat said "Let us divide into two and take one piece each".. "Indeed it is a good idea", said the other, but how to divide it?

A monkey sitting on the branch of a tree had watched all that happened between the two cats. "The loaf of bread looks good, i could do with it myself" he thought and slowly walked down to the confused cats. The cats told the monkey what the problem was and asked the monkey to be the judge and to divide the loaf for them. The clever monkey smilingly broke the bread into two pieces..But.. one piece was a little bigger than the other. He exclaimed "Oh No!!, i will take the little portion in bigger piece to make both pieces equal" slyly. He took a bigger portion than required to make those pieces unequal again.. Now the smaller piece has become bigger and the monkey said it would take the small portion of the bigger piece to make them equal..

The two cats sat in front of the monkey seeing the loaf of bread getting smaller and smaller. When the whole loaf was eaten by the monkey,he said "I am sorry. It was really difficult to divide the loaf, I must be going now" and the monkey jumped onto the tree and was gone. "If only we had not quarreled among ourselves, we would have remained united and we need not have to go to the monkey and become hungry now" said the two cats and left with empty stomachs..

Remember that cats did not realized until the bread loaf was completely consumed by monkey. It is the monkey who gained ultimately, the bread is not his.. the quarrel is not his.. just he came in between and satiated his hunger. The cats to whom the bread belongs to, left without any bread and are left with only hunger and despair.. 

In our story - does the division bought any good to any of the cat? If you feel - yes, division of bread benefit one cat, then you need not read further.. :))

IF NOT.. here you go..The story of TELANGANA.. This article is going to be lengthy.. i could not help myself in limiting the size of this article as i want to give a complete overview of what has happened.. what is happening and what will happen.. to Andhra Pradesh!!!

As every Indian knows that we achieved independence in 1947 from British. British India was divided into different provinces for ease of administration. Some such provinces are Punjab province, Madras province, Mysore province , united provinces so on and so forth..After the division of India into dominion of India and dominion of pakistan, some of the new states were formed but then Andhra pradesh was not given. 

In an effort to gain an independent state and to protect the interests of Telugu speaking people, Shri. Potti Sriramulu fasted onto death for separate state. After his death, Andhra State portion was carved out of Madras province on 1st of November 1953 with Kurnool as its capital. Nizam province consisted Hyderebad, parts of Maharastra and parts of karnataka. Implementing states reorganizing act in 1956, the telugu speaking parts of Nizam province (Now telanaga) are carved out and were merged into Andhra State and formed Andhra Pradesh. Marathi speaking parts and kannada speaking parts were merged into Maharastra and Karnataka respectively. The ten districts of Telangana do not have independent existence at any point, they were part of Nizam province. In 1956, Andhra state with parts of Nizam province merged - formed Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad as its capital.Under Nizams rule culture of Telangana bore influence of North India, where as erstwhile Andhra state bore culture of south India as it was part of Madras province. Here comes the first difference - Cultural differences. While merging Telangana area into Andhra state during 1956, the then state government provided safeguards to Telangana in the form of gentlemen`s agreement

There were several movements to invalidate the merger in 1969,1972 and the latest one from 2001-13. In 1969 people of Telangana expressed dissatisfaction over implementation of agreement done in 1956 and started agitation. Hundreds of people dead in the protests , when the movement was about to get its ground, The shrewd prime minister Smt. Indira Gandhi came into picture, Marri channa reddy who was the leader for this agitation was made chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. As it is said, power influences even the honest and best of men.. The agitation was pacified. Later, in 1972, Mulki rule - a rule that allows people who have stayed in hyderabad for more than 15 years were considered as locals and some grants were given to them for certain government posts. As a result, The Jai Andhra Movement started demanding a separate state for Andhra and Rayalaseema. P V Narasimha Rao resigned as a cheif minister on 10th Jan,1973 and president`s rule was declared in the state. During the same year a political settlement was reached with the government of india and the movement appeased. 

In 1997, when the BJP was in power, it passed a resolution in parliament seeking separate Telanaga state along with Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand. How ever in 2000 all these states were created but Telangana was not formed due to lack of support from Telugu Desam party (TDP-the then ruling political party in AP). NDA (BJP led coalition govt) blamed TDP for lack of support to form the new state.

Violation of Gentlemen`s Agreement is considered as one of the prime reasons for demand of separate Telangana..

In 2001 K ChandraShekar Rao, separated himself from TDP and formed his own party with one point agenda - creation of separate Telangana State. From 2001 to 2009, the state government was able to control this sudden demand of separate state. After the untimely demise of the then cheif minister of Andhra Pradesh Shri. Y. Rajashekar Reddy, the state government lost its control over Telangana agitation and the movement got intensified.The central government or state government never in an official statement announced that they want to comply with Gentlemen`s agreement.

Some of the major reasons on why the fight for separate Telangana state is started :

1) Education : Telangana region of AP caters institutes of higher education in versatile fields :

Esteemed schools like - Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Birla Institute of Technology and sciences (BITS), Indian Institute of Information Technology(IIIT-H),Tata Institute of Fundemental Research, Nalsar university of Law, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Indian Institute of chemical technology, School of Planning and Architecture,National Institute of Fashion Technology, The institute of Hotel management catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, National institute of Rural Development, along with scores of Engineering, Medicine, Arts, Law, Humanities and Management colleges of both national and international reputation are located in Hyderabad. Warangal region of Telangana houses National Institute of technology (NIT-W) one of the prestigious technology institutes in INDIA.Also, parts of Telangana hosts innumerable centers of excellence in fields of Engineering, Medicine, Arts and Sciences.

YET the stark and surprising fact is that 7 out of  9 districts in Telangana have a literacy rate of less than 60% and 4 out of 9 districts have a literacy rate of less than 55% where as 7 out of 9 in Andhra region have a literacy rate of greater than 60% -- This inequality in education, even though there are more higher education centers in their region was strongly condemned.

2) Agriculture and Food : The two major rivers of AP, krishna and Godavari enters into AP from Mehaboob Nagar and Nizamabad districts of Telangana and merges into sea in Krishna and Godavari districts. geographically Krishna and Godavari districts are low lying coastal areas where water comes from upper parts of Telanaga, Yet the coastal belt is greener than the other regions of Telangana.. Are the reasons confined to nature of soil and monsoons in different parts of states or is it because of political negligence parts of Telangana still suffers - is an open question. The result is more areas in Telangana are deprived of nutritional supplements.

3) Employment: As per gentlemen`s agreement the state government should form Regional standing committee for Telangana which deals with development and economic planning, Public health and sanitation, primary and secondary education, employment, cottage and small scale industries etc.. There were hardly any instances neither in past nor in present, where the state government mentioned about this committee or whether this committee has brought fruitful results. Owing to the failure in implementation of this committee, the unemployment rate in parts of Telangana has increased and yielded negative results, causing youth to protest for separate state.

As per the agreement done, Allocation of resources and expenditures should also be shared between regions of Telangana and Andhra which was not judiciously done by government over a period of time.

The agreement also says, if the chief minister is from one region among Telangana and Andhra, the Deputy chief should be from the other region, the government has given least importance to this aspect.

Owing to so many deviations, in 2009 the then home minister Mr.P Chidambaram announced in a press release that their government is ready to consider separate state for Telangana. The government commissioned a special committee - Sri Krishna committee, to come up with possible and plausible solutions. After thorough research, the committee has given 6 options as could be solutions to central government

1) Maintaining Status of the state as it is - let the situations pacify

2) Bifurcate State - Hyderabad as union territory - Punjab Haryana Chandigarh model

3) Divide state into - Rayalaseema Telanaga - Hyd into 1 part and Coastal AP into another 

4) Seemandhra and Telanaga - Hyd as Union Territory

5) Telangana as separate state with HYD capital, Andhra state with new capital - 2nd preferred option by committee

6) United Andhra pradesh - Create Telangana regional council for Social , Economic and political developments - 1st preferred option by committee.

However Telangana leaders and people were not happy with united Andhra pradesh as they strongly feel that they are being neglected. The consequences are intense agitations for separate Telangana state hood.

Telangana leaders and agitators believed that creating a separate state will allow prospects for development of Telangana as a region and as a state. I wish their belief comes true. Regional development will ultimately leads to National development which is very much required for a developing nation like INDIA.

Great that we now know the history, we know the problems, we know their demands and we know the solutions as well. But what can be the best solution and what are it`s effects.Have our government considered them and prepared a road map ? If so, I`m happy since i could believe there will be no monkey business that can happen if the road map and end results are clear.

Remember when states of Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand are carved out of Madya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar respectively. The Bill was introduced and passed in monsoon session of parliament by the then ruling party BJP. The division was done based on social and political basis but not on lingustic and ethnic basis as was proposed in the Indian constitution. The results of division were political instability and financial anarchy in all these states.

Development work came to a halt in both parent and new states.It took few years to develop infrastructure and few more for effective and purposeful administration to develop and development includes spending crores and crores of public funds. Creation of separate state is a very expensive affair !!!

Current Scenario:

Union government has announced separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as common capital (Interim capital) for next 10 years - Challenges in this proposal are :

1) Hyderabad do not share common geographical boundary with Telangana and Andhra, infact it is located with in Telangana. There is a greater scope for operational difficulties and administration in Andhra region including Rayalaseema

2) There are no constructive measures or promises made for the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema that creation of separate state would not impact Andhra state - there are speculations about many things as many people from different parts of the state made huge investments in the capital city of hyderabad.

3) As Telangana is already bogged down by so many betrayals in past, can this new state help over come such betrayals and leads to a transparent government - which i doubt it would happen

4) Andhra pradesh is called rice bowl of INDIA, already there are agricultural slides and farmer suicides reported in many parts of the state, how does the government plan to regulate and control it in two states if it failed controlling situations in one state -may be i need to wait for a couple of months to find out the answer or may be i need to wait for ever (pun intended!)

5)How does the government promises progress of telugu people in such an emotional and sensitive times. As carving a new state is ongoing and incremental process, the vision should be more clear, lest both states would have to face economic downturn and financial anarchy

6) How is government going to act against Naxalism - one of the most haunted factors in many parts of Telangana. Ignoring this issue will lead to a serious security threat and the consequences can be far from imagining. Remember the recent naxal blasts in Jharkhad? Terrain of Telangana supports easy survival of naxalites.

7) Factors such as river water distribution, distribution of natural resources such as coal from Adilabad mines and Oil& gas from Krishna Godavari basin- are contentious.

8) On National level, there are many ongoing agitations for separate state hood - Bodoland in Assam, Kuki land in Nagaland, Gorkhaland in Northern part of west bengal,Vidarbha in Maharastra, Saurashtra in Gujarat, Kongu Nadu in Tamil Nadu, Puvanchal in Uttar Pradesh and the list goes on... What is the solution to all such agitations - Can we afford to maintain DEMOCRATIC UNITED STATES OF INDIA with 50-60 states. It leads to political anarchy.

What the government plans for long term is still unclear. Does it want to give away states to whom ever demand or are there some regulations ? May be we could look at the problem this way, which ever government meets the demand of separate state (major parliament seats) is more likely to continue in power (political perception - more favorable votes).Evidently, political expediency took precedence over long-term planning and, inevitably the people will suffer.

As of now, we can only congratulate those leaders and pay respects to those people who sacrificed many things for creation of separate Telangana state to achieve up-liftment of Telangana people. Wish there will be a win-win situation unlike the case in the Judge Monkey story.

Personally, i feel separation is painful and separation is not a matter of joy. Separation will not land anyone in heavens.. There is long road ahead with a caution board every where. This is not a moment of rejoice to celebrate, no one has gained anything - we divided our unity and we have shown the world that we can no longer be together as one state.

Andhra Pradesh will become India`s first non- Hindi- Speaking linguistic state to be divided. Telangana is born and INDIA now has 29 states and 7 Union Territories.

Few quotes from notable people which i find meaningful in this context are added below :

Interesting Quotes about UNITY

In Union there is Strength - Aesop (ancient Greek Fabulist)

Coming Together is beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success - Henry Ford (American Industrialist)

Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all - Alexander the great (King of Macedon - conqueror of the world)

Unity to be real must stand the severest strain without breaking - Mahatma Gandhi - Father of our nation

Across the world -  from 620 BC to 2013 AD- from 6th Century to 21st Century - for almost of period of 1500 years - when all great people are preaching the importance of unity, what gain we get from these division of lands ? - Except the satiation of greed for the power - to few people(political elite).

The most beautiful thing about TEAM WORK is that you always have others on your side.. You are never alone !!! 

Stay united - Stay Strong - Stay Indian

Jai Hind