A Letter Justice Sri Krishna Committee by Telagana Academy of Excellence
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Transcript of A Letter Justice Sri Krishna Committee by Telagana Academy of Excellence
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To,Sri Krishna Committee
Member Secretary, Room # 248Vignan Bhavan Annexe,
Moulana Azad Road,
New Delhi110 011
Dear Sir,
If development was the justification for keeping an alien ruler in place,India should have never got freedom from British rule! Andhra statewould not have been formed out of Madras state in the name of selfrespect.
World knows Jallianwala bagh, General Dyer, 1919 yr more than 1000
people dead in brutal firing and as the same in Telangana, Under theleader ship of then Chief Minister Kasu Brahmananda Reddy,1969 yr -370 students were shot dead. Now in the present situation after 23-12-2009 with the Government ambiguous decisions and false statements by
the Politicians, more than 380 people martyred. People of Telangana arenot only confused but also lost hope on the system and are sacrificingtheir lives for separate state hood of Telangana.
Especially, there is a lot of insecurity developed in Telangana people due
to constant changing of stance on Telangana by all political parties andleaders.
Though we Telangana people are not happy with committee and thepurpose, we do appreciate committee members and we have high respecton the committee members as individuals capability, honesty,professionalism & dedication.The reason we not happy with committee is, so far many committeesformed and did nothing, none of the committee recommendations areimplemented, and hence as usual everybody understands that allcommittees are meant for delaying the process of creating Telangana
state. We hope that as a result of Sri Krishna Committee report factfindings Telangana people wont be presented with one more G.O instead
of a separate state.
Unless we get our own state there is no way the people of this region aregoing to get the justice. We are addressing this letter to our desire andunequivocal support to the bifurcation of Telangana from AndhraPradesh State There are plenty of reasons why we need to separateourselves from the United Andhra Pradesh.
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History of Telangana
Telangana Armed Struggle for Liberation from Nizam
The Telangana Rebellion was a Communist led peasant revolt that took
place in the former princely state of Hyderabad between 1946 and 1951.
This was led by the Communist Party of India.
The revolt began in the Nalgonda district and quickly spread to the
Warangal and Bidar districts. Peasant farmers and labourers revolted
against the Nizam and the local feudal landlords (Jagirdars and
Deshmukhs) who were loyal to the Nizam. The initial modest aims were
to do away with the illegal and excessive exploitation meted out by these
feudal lords in the name of bonded labour. The most strident demand
was for the writing off of all debts of the peasants that were manipulated
by the feudal lords.
Nizam's resistance to join Indian Union
At the same time the Nizam was resisting the Indian government's efforts
to bring the Hyderabad state into the Indian Union. The government sent
the army in September 1948 to annex the Hyderabad state into Indian
Union. The Communist party instigated the peasants to use guerrilla
tactics and around 3000 villages (about 41000 sq. kilometres) came
under peasant-rule. The landlords were either killed or driven out and
the land was redistributed. These victorious villages established
communes reminiscent of Soviet mir (social)s to administer their region.
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These community governments were integrated regionally into a central
organization. The rebellion was led by the Communist Party of India.
Few among the well-known individuals at the forefront of the movement
were great leaders like Raavi Narayana Reddy, Puchalapalli Sundaraiah,
Makineni Basavapunaiah , Chandra Rajeswara Rao, Arjula Ramana
Reddy, the Urdu poet Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Hassan Nasir, Bhimreddy
Narasimha Reddy, Mallu Venkata Narasimha Reddy , Mallu Swarajyam ,
Arutla Ramchandra Reddy and his wife Arutla Kamala Bai.
Formation of Hyderabad State
The violent phase of the movement ended in 1951 after the accession of
Hyderabad into the Indian Union. This was the time when Razzakar
Movement was started by Nizams, which was very violent, which
witnessed peasants armed struggle until freedom. Finally Hyderabad
State was formed in 1951 on sacrifice of 4000 peasant lives.
Fazal Ali Commission Report for Separate Telangana in 1956
In December 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the
States Reorganization Commission to prepare for the creation of states
on linguistic lines. This was headed by Justice Fazal Ali and the
commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission. The
efforts of this commission was overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who
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served as Home Minister from December 1954. The commission created
a report in 1955 recommending the reorganization of India's states. The
States Reorganization Commission (SRC) was not in favour of merging
the Telangana region with the then Andhra state. Para 382 of States
Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) said "..opinion in Andhra is
overwhelmingly in favour of the larger unit, public opinion in Telangana
has still to crystallize itself". The concerns of Telanganas were manifold.
The region had a less developed economy than Andhra, but a larger
revenue base (mostly because it taxed rather than prohibited alcoholic
beverages), which Telanganas feared might be diverted for use in Andhra.
They also feared that planned dam projects on the Krishna and Godavari
rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately even though
Telanganas controlled the headwaters of the rivers. Telanganas feared
too that the people of Andhra would have the advantage in jobs,
particularly in government and education. Para 386 of States
Reorganization Commission Report (SRC) 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 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 residency Hyderabad State expresses itself in favor of such
unification." The central government decided to ignore the SRC
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recommendations and established unified Andhra Pradesh on November
1, 1956.
After rejecting the recommendations of the Fazli Ali Commission to form
a separate state for Telangana, the Government of India enacted laws in
Parliament in accordance with the understanding arrived at under the
Gentlemen Agreement.
A Regional Committee was formed to safe guard the interests of
Telangana in the matter of Planning & Development and Employment. It
found that all Telangana surpluses were diverted to Andhra area in order
to meet its deficit. The agreement to spend the Telangana Revenue
surpluses for its development was thrown to winds. The Regional
Committee in 1961 asked for white paper on the implementation of
Telangana safe guards. In the three 5 year plans it was found that the
Telangana Revenue surpluses were continuously diverted. In the matter
of School Education and other economic development there appeared
large disparities among the two regions. The promise to make good
deviations were hardly implemented. At last D. Sanjivaiah agreed to give
about 15 crores at the first instance.
In the matter of services the Ad-hoc Committee in Services found that in
the matter of Integration of Services on various Departments such as the
Public Works Dept. & Co-operation, rules which favoured Andhra
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Employees in filling up vacancies and promotions were immediately
implemented, while those of Telangana were kept pending inordinately.
The clause in the Gentleman Agreement to maintain parity 60:40
between Andhra and Telangana regarding funds and employment was
reduced to 2:1 by a Government Order. Even this formula to maintain
2:1 parity was observed in the violation.
Several Officers who deserved promotions were denied. The Telangana
employees, had to take recourse to the Courts of Law and administrative
tribunals causing hardship and frustration. The Mulki rules, which
prescribed residential qualification was challenged in the High Court
which was struck down due to which there was great hardship. The
Public Employment Act that was passed by Government of India was
quite inadequate due to which Telangana employees suffered as several
dubious methods were adopted such as
(a) Several posts and vacancies in Telangana were abolished toprevent their continuance and posts were created later on to afford
opportunities to Andhra Personnel ( Survey Department)
(b) Out of 120 promotions to Executive Engineer cadre only 6 Telangana Asst. Engineers were promoted. Similarly in the J.E.
Cadre only 327 Telangana candidates got recruited for the reserved
posts of 500. While 1751 J.E. posts were given to Andhra
candidates against 1000 reserved for them.
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(c) Similar instances were caused in Panchayat Raj & EducationDepartments.
In the matter of expenditure in Planning & Development there was a
difference of nearly 10% of deficit in expenditure than the reserves pooled
from Telangana. The Regional committee passed a resolution expressing
objections for purchase of Lands in Hyderabad and in Telangana without
the permission of the regional committee by Andhra Land lords. The
Regional Committee till 1968 calculated the Telangana surplus as 100
Crores. The Government took the stand that it was 30 Crores, but no
solution was found nor the agreed amount was kept at disposal of the
Regional Committee.
Frustrated by the unabated violations of Telangana Safe Guards and for
redressal of injustices student started agitation in 1969. It became wide
spread which includes employees and many un-employed. It initially
started in Khammam District, but soon caught in the entire Telangana.
The Government of Andhra Pradesh in order to contain it called an all
party meeting and appointed a committee through a G.O. to set right the
anomalies in recruitment and promotions. The Andhra Employee who
had benefited by the illegalities challenged the G.O. in High Court and
Supreme Court and had it struck it down including the 1957 Public
Employment Act. After this the agitation spread like wild fire. The A.P.
Government under Sri Brahmananda Reddy was advised by colleagues to
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take firm action. The police was given a free hand as many as 378
students and unemployed youth were shot dead. The Government
arrested all prominent leaders of Telangana including ex-minister
Dr.M.Chenna Reddy and Sri.T.Anjaiah and hundreds of others and put
them in Rajamundry Jail, where they were ill treated.
There was general harthal observed in all Universities, Govt offices,
Schools & colleges for about a year. Govt. dismissed Sri. Amos the then
President of Telangana NGOs Union and now MLC without any
Justification.
A cabinet expansion was made recruiting Telangana MLA which were
about ten in number. In this the agitation grew more violent. Smt.
Indira Gandhi came down to Hyderabad twice to contain the agitation
but of no avail. The Student Leader Sri. Mallikarjun who later became
Union Minister openly defied her and refused to stop the agitation.
Recognizing the unrest in Telangana Smt. Indira Gandhi announced a 8
point programme, which included enlargement of powers to Regional
Committee of Telangana and formation of several high powered
committees to settle the dispute of Telangana surpluses and about public
employment and sanction of Central University in Hyderabad for the
benefit of Telangana Students but the agitation did not abate, The
Students lost two academic years.
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In Assembly-Bye-Election to Siddipet the Telangana Praja Samithi won
by a handsome majority of about 20000 votes against the Congress. In
the next elections to Parliament in 1971, when the country voted for
Congress to Smt. Indira Gandhi in a big way, the Telangana Praja
Sammithi in Telangana got a massive vote against Congress by winning
11 out of the 14 seats that were contested. Telangana people have
shown their will for separate state against the wave prevailing in the
country for Smt. Indira Gandhi. The Prime Minister called the Telangana
Leaders for discussion. In the accord that was arrived on 19TH January
1969, in an agreement that was made between the Govt. of AP and the
Telangana Regional Committee and Telangana leaders which is as follows
:
1. That Govt. should reimburse the 107 Crores as resolved bythe Regional Committee which was used by Andhra area. This was
to be used for Telangana area.
2. As many as 6000 jobs which were to be given to Telanganaboys were taken over by the Andhras. It was agreed to restore
these jobs to the unemployed in Telangana and supernumery posts
were to be created in Andhra area.
However these promises & assurances were not implemented. The
amount of Rs 107 Crores was more than the State Budget under Sri
Vengal Rao Govt. If this amount was spent in Telangana, projects like
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Sriram Sagar Project could have been completed, the foundation for
which has been laid by Sri Jawaharlal Nehru in 1963. Today the people
of Telangana are unable to tolerate the increase of corruption, lobbying
to get jobs, adopting dubious methods to get work done.
In Telangana here was a Political Process where merit was recognised
and leadership encouraged. Now money is important factor in politics.
One who has money could get anything without any difficulty. This sort
of culture is not amenable to be digested by the Telangana people. Money
culture has been brought by Andhras to Telangana area.
Smt Indira Gandhi asked Andhra Chief Minister as to why it was
represented to her that there was no sentiment for Telangana and asked
him to step down giving place to a Telangana man as Chief Minister. Sri
P. V. Narasimha Rao was named as Chief Minister from Telangana to
rectify the injustices. The Supreme Court also upheld the appeal to
revive the Mulki rules, to do justice to Telangana People.
Sri. P. V. Narsimha Rao, as Chief Minister of A.P. announced that he
would implement the Mulki rules in employment and also enforce land
reforms strictly. On this there began Jai Andhra agitation to carve out
separate state for Andhra Area. All the Andhra Cabinet Ministers
resigned and led the agitation on four groundsnamely
(a) Their Chief Minister being displaced
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(b) Mulki rules were to be enforced strictly as decided by thecourt.
(c) Land Reforms would be enforced(d) The A.P. Regional Committee which was to safe guard theinterest of Telangana Development & Employment was an irritant
to them, hence they should go off.
The agitation grew violent and land lords fearing implementation of land
reforms spent huge amount for agitations. Due to this Govt. of India
imposed President Rule keeping the assembly in animated suspension.
Mrs. Gandhi, Prime Minister called all the leaders of Andhra and later
those of Telangana and declared another compromise formula. She
wanted to settle the issue amicably once again as soon as possible. She
therefore wanted a compromise at any cost. She impressed upon the
Telangana Leaders that she will personally take care of their interest.
Under this formula, the following was announced:
(a) 6 point formula for Public employment instead of Mulkirules.
(b) Abolished the Statutory Telangana Regional Committee andreplacing it by 3 Regional Development Boards one for each region.
(c) High power Committee under Bhargava and Kumar Lalith togo into Telangana surpluses and make good the loss of Telangana
area for its Development.
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With one stroke all the Telangana safe guards assured earlier were
removed. The new formula never worked. The recommendations of the
Expert Committee were not implemented. The Development Board for
Three Regions had neither funds nor could recommend anything
regarding financial matters except to review Development.
After Sri. P. V. Narsimha Rao, several Chief Ministers came to the scene,
the simmering discontentment among the people of Telangana lingered
on. They felt betrayed by their own representatives after the great
student revolution did not bear fruit and on the contrary more than 378
Students died and Telangana lost all its safeguards Such as Mulki Rules,
Statutory Regional Committee etc
Telangana Chief Ministers such as Dr. M. Chenna Reddy who had led the
movement in 1969 could not do much for Telangana. The vast majority
of Andhra Legislators and all Andhra senior executives in Government
made it imperative for him to look to Andhra needs. The first thing he
did was to get World Bank Loan of about thousand crores to re-model the
Krishna canals in the delta area of Andhra, Similar was the case with
Anjaiah a Labour Leader who had to face the tyranny of the majority
and tried to start the Polavaram Project in Andhra Area, for which he laid
the foundation stone and tried his best to get its clearance, inspite of the
fact that there were several projects on River Godavari catering to the
needs of Telangana, such as Ichampally project which was cleared by
C.W.C. & also by Maharashtra. Dummugudem & incomplete Sri Ram
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Sagar Project for which Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation
stone which is in Telangana, was not completed even up to 30% of the
total Cost. During his regime he had programmed to lay foundation
stone for SRBC for Rayalaseema and SLBC for Telangana in Nalgonda
Dist. Invitations were printed and distributed due to pressure from
Andhra Leaders, he did not lay the foundation Stone to SLBC in
Telangana area. These two prominent and popular leaders could not
complete their full term of Five years and they were known supporters of
Smt. Indira Gandhi, due to the pressure mechanization of Andhra
Leaders.
Where as Vengal Rao who succeeded P. V. Narsimha Rao, who had
migrated from Vijainagaram to Khammam Dist as petty Contractor, had
completed his full term for two reasons one that he was fully Supported
by Andhra Leaders and Secondly there was emergency in the Country.
During the tenure of Sri Janardhan Reddy as Chief Minister of A.P. in
1992 discontentment again rose among the people against the injustices
to Telangana Development, especially the Irrigation Projects. Large
demonstrations were held throughout Telangana by Peoples Forum for
Telangana. The Legislators stalled the assembly for four days demanding
the strict implementation of the 6 point formula and devolution of funds
as recommended by Bhargav Committee and Lalith Expert Committee for
Telangana Development. Government allowed discussions on the subject
which lasted for four days. Ultimately Government agreed to all the
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demands, put forth by Legislators and assured to implement at the
earliest. The Legislators Forum for Telangana which was spear heading
the discussions and movement, went to Delhi by Train with about 100
Legislators from all parties. The Members of Parliament in their turn
formed themselves into a Telangana MPs Forum submitted
memorandum along with State Legislators to Sri. P. V. Narsimha Rao the
then Prime Minister. They enumerated all the shortfalls of the six point
formula and development schemes. Even he could not do anything on
the memorandum, except sanction several development works for
Kurnool Dist from where he was elected to the Lok Sabha.
In 1983 when there was a resentment against the Congress for changing
the Chief Minister constantly. Sri Rajiv Gandhi as Secretary AICC came
to Hyderabad. The then Chief Minister Sri Anjiah made pompous
arrangements to receive him in spite of instructions to the contrary. He
left Hyderabad to tour Andhra area without taking Sri Anjiah, Chief
Minister along with him. The media made this an issue as insulting the
Telugu Chief Minister and made news of it as Telugus being disregarded.
Sri N T Rama Rao, Cine Actor was a new entrant into politics. He rode on
the wave of anti establishment and Telugu Atma Gauravam and swept
the polls and had become the Chief Minister of the state on Telugu
Desam Party.
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He introduced some popularized schemes and became popular. During
the period there has been utter disregard in implementing the 6 point
formula, in as much as 60,000 appointments occurred in place of
Telangana candidates. Sri N T Rama Rao being incensed by it issued
G.O. 610 directing the Government to send back all these employees to
their zones within one year and if there are no vacancies to give the
returned candidates supernumary posts may be created. This G.O. 610
was never implemented. In a similar circumstance, when staff was
recruited for the Telugu Ganga Project in Rayalaseema, the staff was
repatriated within three months.
Srisailam Project was a Hydro Power Project as sanctioned and approved
by Bachavat Krishna Water Tribunal and also as a balancing reservoir
for Nagarjuna Sagar. After N. T. Rama Rao had assumed power, on the
request of the Chief Minister of Madras the Government of India had
asked the Chief Ministers of Andhra, Karnataka and Maharashtra to
spare 5 TMC of water from their quota to the state of Madras so that
their drinking water problem could be solved. The Chief Minister of
Madras approached Andhra Chief Minister to help in getting these 15
TMC of water through a pipe line directly from Srisailam Project. Sri. N.
T. Rama Rao negative this proposition and said that he would supply
water to Madras in a open channel. As he had ulterior motives to use
Srisailam water for irrigation. In this context Sri. Rama Rao proposed
two schemes one for Andhra area and another for Telangana. For Andhra
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area i.e. in Rayalaseema the project known as Telugu Ganga with a
capacity to carry 34 TMC of water from Srisailam project.. He also laid a
foundation stone known as the Srisailam Left bank canal and laid
foundation stone for it, a issue arose whether the water to left bank
should be through a tunnel or by lift irrigation. The Telangana leaders
and Engineers suggested for a tunnel. However, N. T. Rama Rao laid
foundation for a tunnel to take Srisailam water to Nalgonda District.
While Telugu Ganga to Rayalaseema was in full swing the SLBC was not
at all started. Both the schemes were not approved by Bachavat
Tribunal. While the work on Telugu Ganga was on full swing the work
on SLBC was not undertaken. N. T. Rama Rao dug canals to carry water
both, the 15 TMC promised to for Madras and 19 TMC allotted to
Srisailam right bank canal. He proposed that the drinking water scheme
must cross 3 water sources. Somasila, and two others, which must be
filled before water could go to Madras city.
N.T. Rama Rao did not provide any funds for development of Telangana
During his tenure the G.O.610 to rectify the anomalies of 6 point formula
were also not implemented. He was replaced by his son in law Sri. N.
Chandra Babu Naidu.
Chandra Babu Naidu did not take any interest in the development
schemes of Telangana, but sold all the industries started by the Nizam.
He only convened all party meetings several times with regard to
allotment of Godavari water and when it was decided in the all party
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meeting the Ichampalli project must be taken up and has approved by
Maharashtra & CWC. There were objection from Chattisgadh Govt. The
Chattisgadh Govt. was prepared to negotiate their problem with Andhra
regarding the project and meetings were held at Nagpur. However, the
Andhra Govt. did not pursue the matter and instead took up the project
on Godavari with a very high lift of about 1000ft. at Devadula without
any barrage to utilise 12 TMC in 2 phases with more than an
expenditure of 9100 Crores. He also held several all party meetings for
establishing the industries in the state. He discussed about allotment of
land round about Hyderabad city to various industries including IT. He
arbitrarily made allotments to Pvt. Companies for establishing industries
more than what it required for, and for the excess land allotted to
industries, they were permitted to be sold in any manner they like. Thus
valuable land of Telangana area in the Hyderabad city and outskirts were
given on a plater. He continued as CM of Andhra Pradesh for more than
9 years without doing anything worth the name to Telangana. The people
of Telangana were slighted in his regime.
During his regime 41 Congress legislators met Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
Congress President at Hyderabad and submitted a memorandum to
carve out a separate state for Telangana. As the then Govt. of India
under the BJP had carved out 3 new states with concurrence of the
Congress. It was right time that the Telangana people got their state
hood also. The legislators followed it up with giving memorandum to the
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then Prime Minister and also the president of India. The delegations of
MLAs also met the members of Congress working committee. A sub
committee of members of the working committee was formed which held
several meetings. Sri Madhava Rao Scindia CWC member significantly
remarked as to how could Telangana leaders tolerate so many insults
and humiliation. Working Committee Members advised Telangana
leaders to go to people and explain the necessity of forming a state. The
movement was thus picking up for Telangana, Various public meetings
were conducted in all the districts by the legislators and office bearers of
the congress party by creating a Telangana Congress forum. When the
movement picked up Sri Y. S. Rajshekar Reddy, then the leader of
opposition pulled back the MLAs from the movement, there appeared
dissolution among the people for lack of activity by congress party. A
vacuum appeared among the people as to why no leader worth the name
is coming forward for this cause to continue the struggle.
K. Chandra Sekhar Rao, Dy. Speaker of Assembly and leader of Telugu
Desam party fell out of the party and resigned his MLA ship and floated
the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and on this plank he was elected again to
Siddipet Assembly in the bye-election with a huge majority. He took full
advantage of the passions which were aroused by the Congress MLAs
and Congress leaders and firmly got into the saddle and toured entire
Telangana area. He had good response from the people and became a
popular leader.
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In the ensuing General Elections to the legislature in 2004 Congress
deemed it fit to align itself with TRS as against Telugu Desam Party
which was a deadly opponent to separate state hood and was in favour of
Visalandhra. The Congress and TRS jointly won the general elections in
2004 with a thumping majority. The TDP got only 6 seats. The Andhra
area electorate voted for the Congress, TRS combined campaign and
backed it to come to power. The people of Andhra had no grouse against
the Congress aligning with a regional party fighting for a separate state.
The ruling party gained the blessings of the Andhra people without any
ill will. It was a tacit approval of the Andhra electorate for the cause of
Telangana.
In 2004 YSR was elected Chief Minister on behalf of Congress party. He
had developed a silent antagonism against the Telangana State and also
he took steps to curb the vociferous leadership of Telangana. Persons
who are obedient to him were only encouraged and given important
positions. His main aim as CM was only to develop Rayalaseema to its
fullest extent He had introduced Jalayagnam to construct about 44
projects through out the state. The Projects he envisaged in Telangana
were only lift irrigation schemes of high magnitude without making
adequate steps for their proper functioning duly not providing for its
power requirements. It is a well known fact, that such scheme can only
irrigates half of the proposed projected ayacut. None of those projects
envisaged had borne any fruit worth the name. The lift irrigation on
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Devadula is a fare in as much as above 10000 Crores is spent to lift only
12 TMC of water. To supply drinking water to Warangal city and irrigated
about 4 Lakh acres under Israeli method of using sprinklers and drip
irrigation. Although 7 years have passed since the project is declared as
complete not a single acre has been brought into wet cultivation. The
proposal to irrigate 25 to 35 thousand acres with 1 TMC of water is
apparently absurd while on the contrary lift irrigation schemes on the
Godavari namely Tadipudi and Pushkaram and other projects, are
catering to the needs of the farmers at 6000 acres for 1 TMC of water.
The farmers in Telangana area are not resourceful enough to invest in
the Israeli type of irrigation as proposed by Govt. Secondly under
Sriramsagar project Govt. had made similar provision of asking the
farmers to cultivate 2/3rd ayacut under dry irrigated and only 1/3rd as
wet. The farmers could not afford to have infrastructure for dry
irrigation. It is a paradox for Govt. to envisage a vast ayacut under drip
irrigation at Devadula. For other lift irrigation in Telangana area YSR
Govt. has proposed huge outlays totaling to 79 thousand Crores and
none of those huge projects yielded any expected results. It was more of
election propaganda to tell the people that Govt. is going to do something
to them which is nigh impossible. Telangana has vast resources of coal,
but coal is exported to Vijayawada, Nellore, Visakapatnam and
Cuddapah in Andhra Region. In Telangana area there is one age old
Thermal power station in Kothagudem, established by Nizam. The other
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thermal station of Telangana in Ramagundam has been handed over to
the NTPC. Another thermal station in Telangana which was situated at
Manuguru near the pithead of the coal mines has been shifted to
Vijayawada. The envisaged lift irrigation programme of YSR Govt. needed
4800 mega watts of power, while the total state power generation is only
7700 mega watts. It is impossible to supply the power required to
schemes of Telangana. Govt. now has shown an account of procuring
18000 Mega Watts of power from Pvt. Parties by payment of considerable
amount which would cater only to the present needs of the state. In case
the Govt. is unable to give free power and free infrastructure of Israeli
type of irrigation each ryot will have to pay minimum of Rs. 10000 per
acre as running costs. It could well be understood as to how it is very
difficult for Telangana farmers, even to utilise the vast proposed lift
irrigations at a huge cost of 79000 Crores.
Telangana being on a plateau, farmers have dug bore wells and installed
their own pump sets when Govt. has not given any subsidy to the 24
Lakh pump sets in the state of which 18 Lakh are in Telangana. One
could imagine the amount of power required and the expenditure on
infrastructure to run these pump sets for irrigation. The variation in
supply of power always causes loss to the farmer in as much as the
pump sets are burnt and other equipment get short circuited.
In the matter of flow irrigation Govt. has not taken any interest to
complete even the first phase of Sriramsagar which was started by Pandit
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Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1963. Canals for second phase also been dug and
loans provided to the farmer to level their lands without any water.
Sriramsagar project is only major project which could function fully if
proper steps are taken. Several other projects in Telangana have been
utterly neglected. For example Nizam Sagar, which have lost its potential
due to the silt, while Singur a balancing reservoir for Nizam Sagar is
confined to water supply to the city. Nagarjuna Sagar on Krishna was to
be given 131 TMC for irrigation for the chronic Nalgonda dist &
Khammam Dist under an agreement arrived at between Andhra state
and Hyderabad state through its left canal to irrigate 7 lakh acres,
Instead the left canal was extended to Krishna Dist and West Godavari
Dist in Andhra area due to which the water allotment got reduced to
about 75 TMC only for Telangana. To meet the short fall Govt announced
L.I schemes on left canal to utilize about 10 TMC only. The L.I schemes
failed because of huge overheads which were to be borne by ryots and
power shortage while for the right canal in Andhra area the Govt bore the
entire charges, Over heads & maintenance etc
IRRIGATIONTHE INJUSTICE TO TELANGANA
Nature has in its bounty had endowed to Telangana large &
mighty rivers. In the North is Godavari and river Krishna in the south. In
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addition to these, there are several other river basins which traversed the
length and breadth of Telangana.
The Agriculture is the main occupation of over 75% of the
Telangana population; therefore any Development model for Telangana
should focus on a sustained agricultural development. The sustenance of
agriculture mainly depends on providing irrigation facilities. The
importance of irrigation is known historically and all the benevolent
kingdoms of past have tried their best to create as many irrigation
facilities as possible for the benefit of the people. The Kakatiya kings
have done pioneering work for the first time in 13th Century by
constructing small and medium sized water storage reservoirs in the
topographically undulating area of Deccan plateau. These water storages
provided irrigation facilities to thousand of acres of cultivable lands.
There were hundreds of such storages but notable among them being
Ramappa, Lakhnavaram, Pakhal and Ghanpur Lakes, which even today
are functioning successfully and stand as our proud heritage.
Historically Telangana region was part of Hyderabad dominion
ruled by the Nizams of Asafjahi dynasty. The Hyderabad State comprised
of Telangana, parts of Marathwada and Karnataka. The State which had
three distinct languages was ruled by the Nizams for few centuries up to
September 1948.
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The Nizams Government also encouraged the construction of
minor irrigation storages to provide water to arid lands at the beginning
of this century. The available statistics indicate that there were 21,000
small tanks providing irrigation facilities to 80,000 acres.
Development of Water Resources in Hyderabad State
The rulers of Hyderabad State realized the importance of water
resources development from the second decade of this century. Mr. Ali
Nawaz Jung, an Engineer of Nizams State prepared a comprehensive
water resources development plan for the exploitation of vast water
potential available in the major river basins of Godavari and Krishna. In
1900s the tributaries of major rivers were tackled by constructing
several medium sized irrigation projects, the notable among them being
Pocharam, Dindi, Palair, Wyra, Manair and anicuts at Ghanpur on
Manjira and Khanpur on Godavari.
As a first step towards the development of major irrigation system,
a major irrigation project was planned on river Manjira by proposing the
construction of 140 feet high dam and a storage reservoir with huge
canal system to provide irrigation facilities to 2, 75,000 acres. The
masonry Dam was one of highest in India at that point of time and it was
designed and constructed by the Hyderabad Engineers. The construction
of Dam was started in 1924 and completed in 1931. The project was
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inaugurated by the Nizam of Hyderabad and named as Nizamsagar
Project. The canal system and other infrastructure such as roads and
communication were completed in subsequent years. The project
provided irrigation facilities for two crops in a year and also provided
irrigation facilities to 20,000 acres of sugar cane crop. As a result, a
sugar factory at Bodhan was established with crushing capacity of 2500
tones, one of the largest sugar factories of Asia at the time . The
Nizamsagar project was constructed to utilize 58 TMC of Manjira waters.
The Nizamabad district became the most prosperous districts of
Hyderabad State on account of Nizamsagar Project.
Godavari River being the biggest river flowing through the state, a
major multipurpose project was proposed for irrigation and Hydro-
electric power development. The project proposals envisaged the
construction of high-dam across Godavari near Pochampad and
Godavari North canal on the left and Godavari South canal on the right
to benefit 20 lakhs of acres for irrigation in Adilabad district from the
North canal and Karimnagar, Warangal and Nalgonda districts from the
South canal. The project provided for utilization of 330 TMC of Godavari
Waters. In addition as a part of the project the reservoir on Kadam
forming the part of North canal and Lower Manair Dam reservoir forming
the part of South canal were also included in the project. The stage I of
the project comprising of infrastructure such as approach roads,
buildings at the main project site and Godavari North canal and a Dam
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on Kadam River were sanctioned. The works were grounded and were in
progress.
A project across river Manjira, up stream of Nizamsagar at a place
near Devanur was also proposed to provide irrigation benefits in Manjira
valley, in Medak District by utilizing 38 TMC of water. The two Hydro-
electric power stations one at the Dam site and one on the power canal,
which provided additional supplies to Nizamsagar, were also included in
the project. The work on the approach roads, camp buildings was started
and land acquisition proceedings for the Dam and Reservoir were
initiated.
Krishna River being the second biggest river of the Hyderabad
state, the development of water resources by construction of projects was
commenced from 1948. First the construction of Dam on Tungabhadra
near Hospet was started in 1948 as joint venture between Hyderabad
and Madras Governments. The left canal envisaged irrigation in Raichur
and Mahabubnagar Districts of Hyderabad state. The Dam and most of
the canal system was completed by 1956, except the last leg of canal
benefitting Mahabubnagar Dist. Which envisaged water utilization of
19.20 TMC. Due to states reorganization the entire project went to
Karnataka and extension of canal into Mahabubnagar Dist. Was stopped.
The construction of Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme was taken up
on river Tungabhadra and the Head works and canals were mostly
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completed by 1956, but due to States reorganization, the Head works
and part of canal went to Karnataka and most of the canal came to
Telangana to benefit 84,000 acres in Mahabubnagar district, by utilizing
15.90 TMC of water.
The investigation was completed and project reports were
perepared for upper Krishna and Bheema Projects which envisaged the
utilization of 54.40 TMC and 100.60 TMC respectively for the benefit of
Mahabubnagar district. But these projects were committed and approved
but not grounded.
The Hyderabad State Engineers started the investigation of a major
project on the river Krishna and detailed project reports were prepared at
two sites namely Siddeshwaram and Nandikonda after studying various
alternatives. The project was finalized providing for utilization of 132
TMC of Krishna Waters for the benefit of 10 lakh acres in Nalgonda and
Khammam Districts. The Hyderabad Government approved the project
with only left canal and the entire planning, investigation and designs
were completed for the Nandikonda site, since the Madras Government
was not interested at this site as they had already proposed the Krishna-
Pennar project from an upper location to take water to Madras State. In
fact this was one of the main reasons for the Andhras to start a big
agitation which finally resulted in formation of Andhra State. It is only
when separate Andhra State was formed in October 1953, that on their
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request. The Nandikonda (named as Nagrjuna Sagar) project was made a
joint project between Hyderabad State and Andhra State and an
agreement was signed in 1954 for equal sharing of 132 TMC for left
canal and 132 TMC for right canal. The Nagarjunasagar project was
inaugurated in 1955 by the Prime Minister of India Late Shri Jawaharlal
Nehru and the execution was taken up. A joint control Board was setup
to implement the project proposals as agreed by both the states.
It is very clear from the above events that the HyderabadGovernment had well planned for the optimum utilization pf huge
water potential of Godavari and Krishna rivers for the benefit ofpeople of Telangana and to provide extensive irrigation facilities tothe farmers of Telangana area.
Water Potential of Telangana
The broad position as on 01.11.1956, in respect of the water
resources utilized and committed for utilization for irrigation inTelangana area is given below.
Godavari Valley
A. Water utilization under completed projectsI. Major Projects1. Nizamsagar Project 58.00 TMC2. Medium Irrigation Projects 21.70 TMC3. Minor Irrigation Schemes 21.00 TMC
Total 100.70TMCB. Projects committed and under constructionI. Major Projects1. Godavari Valley Multipurpose Project 330.00 TMC
2. Kadam Projects 15.00 TMC3. Lower Manair Dam Project 12.00 TMC
4. Devanur Project 38.00TMCTotal 395.70TMC
C. Projects Investigated1. Ichampally Project 350.00 TMC
Godavari Valley Total 845.70TMC
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Krishna Valley
A. Water utilization under completed ProjectsI. Major Irrigation
1. Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme 15.90TMC
2. Medium Irrigation Projects 36.10 TMC3. Minor Irrigation Schemes 90.80 TMC
Total 142.80TMCB. Projects in Progress1. Nagarjunasagar left canal 132.00 TMC2. Tungabhadra Project left canal extension 19.00 TMC
Total 151.00TMCC. Projects Investigated1. Upper Krishna Project 54.40 TMC2. Bheema Project 100.00 TMC
Total 155.00TMC
Krishna Valley Total 449.00TMC
Jala Yagnam
Jala Yagnam is an over ambitious programme to construct the irrigation
projects under the guise of developing the backward areas, where as the
real programme is to rob the Krishna water from Telangana Region and
create illegal rights to the Rayalaseema region by spending the fundsgenerated by selling the lands in and around Hyderabad. Jalayagnam
comprises of 44 Major Projects, 38 Medium Projects and 4 Flood Banks.
Out of the 44 Major Projects, the following seven projects are proposed to
be declared as the National Projects.
1. Polavaram Project2. Uttarandhra Projects3. Dummugudem NSP Tail Pond Project4. Pranahitha Chevella Project.5. Chokka Rao Godavary L.I. Scheme.6. Kanthala Pally Project7. Sripadasagar (Ellampally) Project.
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For statistical and eye wash purposes there are 5 projects for Telangana
Region and One each project for Coastal Andhra and Uttarandhra. From
the quality of Investigation, progress achieved in obtaining the
clearances, water allotment and interest shown by the Government, it is
crystal clear that only Polavaram and Uttarandhra projects will/can be
declared as National Projects and other projects will never see the light
for obvious intentions of the Government. All the projects planned for
Telangana area are lift schemes in nature and the primary requirement
for their commissioning is power which is estimated to be about 4800
MW. Without Planning for the availability of above required power is
putting like a Cart before an imaginary Bull and participating in the
Pongal Cart Race.
Even leaving out Pranahitha Chevella which requires about 3500 MW the
other important major projects which can be commissioned in two or
three years are also delayed by not acting in time in the matter of land
acquisition and the rehabilitation. Had the Government was serious it
would have planned for the power of the following projects whose
requirement as given below is about 720 MW which could have been
achieved by investing about Rs 3000 Crores( Rs 500 Crores Every Year)
to see the real results of the Jalayagnam Projects.
1). Bhima Project 80 MW
2). Kalwakurthy Project 450 MW
3). Nettampadu Project 125 MW
4). AMR Project 72 MW.
Sri Ram Sagar Project, Jurala Project, and Bhima project are classic
examples of the negligence shown in the execution of Telangana Projects.
Jurala Project with an assured water of 17.4 TMC allocated by the
Bachavat Tribunal and with about 1.1 lakh acres proposed ayacut was
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Recent Floods of 2009:-
The ill intentions of the Rayalaseema leaders can be clearly seen from the
water releases of Srisailam Reservoir for the year 2009. Though there
was required water in Srisailam to release in to Nagarjuna Sagar after
power generation, it was not done denying Kharif under Nagarjuna Sagar
ayacut and the water was held up in the Srisailam Reservoir for diverting
the same as flood water to illegal sources by high handedness.
States Reorganization
The State reorganization which took place in November 1956
when, Telangana was made part of the enlarged state of Andhra Pradesh,
the real problem for the development of water resource started and all
the major irrigation projects planned and programmed for
implementation in Telangana area took serious set-back. The Godavari
and Krishna river basins got trifurcated; the sharing of water by
respective regions became interstate problems. The states reorganization
act clearly provided that all the projects which are grounded and
committed for implementation before the states reorganization should
not be stopped and the rights of the people going to get benefit from such
projects is protected under the constitution. But unfortunately the
Government of Andhra Pradesh did not take any action and on the
contrary created obstacles in the implementation of the projects
benefiting Telangana area. This also suited their interests, since the
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amounts earmarked for Telangana projects could easily be diverted to the
projects benefiting the Andhra area. The Telangana leaders and Ministers
never took any interest in projecting the claims of Telangana projects and
to safe guard the rights accrued on account of States reorganization Act.
The result was the immediate stoppage of Godavari Valley
multipurpose project, abandoning of Devanur project and no negotiating
with Karnataka for the extension of Tungabhadra left canal, already
sanctioned and under execution.
The irrigation development in Telangana was practically at stand
still for 7 Years from 1956 to 1963. During this period no irrigation
project in Godavari valley was taken up on the pretext of inter state
water dispute. After several representations by the people and some of
the leaders of Telangana, quoting extensively from the S.R Act, the then
irrigation minister Government of India issued an order permitting
utilization of only 67 TMC of water at Pochampad by construction of low
Dam in 1963, for irrigation of 5,70,000 acres, in Karimnagar Dist. The
foundation stone was laid in July 1963, but the budget allocation was
almost negligible. For a project the cost of which was estimated to be
40.00 crores, the annual allotment was Rs.50 lakhs. This went on for 6
Years till 1969, and only when the agitation for separate Telangana State
took a serious turn, the A.P. Government enhanced the allotment to the
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Project. This is a sample illustration of happenings in one project
and there are similar stories in respect of all the projects of
Telangana.
Development versus Sentiment for Telangana
By attributing the demand for separate Telangana to the sentiment (for
Telangana), some sections of the political leadership are only evading the
real issue. There is no religious or ethnic sentiment, not even of
language, at issue. One can, no doubt, read in this demand some
assertion of regional identity, but this is not something which cannot be
rationally explained. The simple and straight-forward explanation is that
people have seen, through their own experience, that development in the
sense of equitable share in water resources, jobs, opportunities for
enterprise and career advancement and adequate voice in political
decision-making is not possible within the inte-grated State and that
separate Statehood alone can ensure justice for them. Therefore, what is
at issue is not whether development has been taking place. Indeed, in a
democratic
polity like ours some development has to take place in different parts of
the country including even the remotest areas. The issue really is about
the rate and quality or pattern of development. Apart from equity, such
as due share in investment allocations, quality also refers to the cost,
risks, and sustainability of development
If you consider the situation of Telangana region (before & after merge),statistics of state resource allocation, Investments & development, we
can easily find sufficient of evidences, which shows that Telangana has
not received its due share in investment allocations, and that the
surpluses from Telangana, that is, the difference between what ought to
have been spent and what has actually been spent, have been diverted to
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the other regions. For the Telangana region the per capita financial
resources should be higher than the average for the Andhra Pradesh
State, because, as for the Finance Commission transfer to States, 25 per
cent of devolution is based on population and as much as 75 per cent is
based on criteria like lower per capita income and other indicators of
backwardness. Planning Commission transfers have a significant
weightage to low per capita income.
In this context I would like to bring to your notice that there is no way of
ascertaining exactly how public expenditures, as a whole, are distributed
between different regions in Andhra Pradesh. The relevant information is
not being disseminated ever since the abolition of the Telangana Regional
Committee in 1973, under the wrong notion that sharing of such
information would breed regionalism. The growth that has been taking
place in Telangana may be characterized as high cost growth.
For example, the irrigation map of the region has changed completely.
Tank irrigation occupied an important place a few decades ago. But now,
over 70 per cent of irrigation is through ground water and deep tube
wells in large parts of Telangana. This means for a unit output growth
there has to be much greater investment now. Moreover, we do not have
any information on such vital aspects as the quantity of water to be
supplied for Telangana on account of the proposed irrigation projects
including from assured sources.
Further, farming has become highly risky affair in Telangana. For a given
failure of rainfall, the fluctuations in output are much greater now whencompared to the earlier decades. There is much greater distress being
reported from the rain-fed regions dependent on groundwater for
irrigation where the suicide rates for farmers are high. Telangana region
accounts for as many as two-thirds of the total number of farmers
suicides reported in the State between the years 1998 and 2006. The
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water crisis has affected sustainability: Land left fallow (uncultivated) in
Telangana has increased from 25 per cent of cultivable land in the early
1970s to as much as 40 per cent by 1999-2000. Pollution from
industrialprojects in certain areas has aggravated the crisis.
The desire for separate Telangana is greater among the educated classes,
that is, students, teachers, NGOs and professionals in general. This is
explained by the increasing awareness leading to greater sensitivity to
discrimination among such classes in respect of employment and
promotions or career prospects, especially because of the rising
importance of the services sector at higher levels of development. It is not
surprising, therefore, that the separatist movement has gathered
momentum in the post-reform period when the opportunities for such
classes have proliferated in the services sector.
Socially Inclusive Telangana
Statehood for Telangana is a national issue and not just a regional one.
This is because it represents the ongoing social change in the country for
the empowerment of people through decentralized governance by
broadening and deepening the working of our democratic system. Such
empowerment and governance would enable articulation of the real
problems of the people and their solution. This would inevitably result in
Samajika or socially inclusive Telangana.
Inclusiveness could not be achieved so far in a bigger State because the
voice of the disadvantaged sections remained fragmented. Experienceshows that the traditionally entrenched interests are perpetuated in
bigger and heterogeneous States because of their easy connectivity
arising from their access to large resources, power and influence. The
weaker sections, on the other hand, can come together, organize
themselves and raise their voice effectively in a relatively homogeneous
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State because of common history and traditions and hence easy
communicability.
For illustration, tribals are the most disadvantaged section socially and
economically with negligible political voice. They live in remote areas and
are subjected to land alienation on a large scale. Hardly any initiative has
been taken so far in Andhra Pradesh to restore their lands despite the
strong recommendations made by a High-Level Committee headed by a
Minister constituted by the present government. (Government of Andhra
Pradesh, 2006; Rao, 2007) There, the administration is alienated from
the people and has been a breeding ground for extremist activities. But
this has been treated not as a socio-economic issue, but mainly as a law
and order problem. Because of this, the plight of the Girijans has been
perpetuated and the extremist activities have been surfacing time and
again, notwithstanding the claims of success in this regard by the
authorities.
Similarly, the population of Muslims is as high as 12.5 per cent in
Telangana when compared to 6.9 per cent in the rest of the AP State. As
many as 61 per cent of Muslims of AP live in Telangana, of whom 60 per
cent are spread over in different districts other than Hyderabad. They too
can be expected to have greater political clout in separate Telangana in
determining their fortunes as they can more easily relate themselves with
the rest of the disadvantaged sections of the society in the struggle for a
better and more secure livelihood. It must be noted in this context that
social harmony between people professing different religions and
speaking different languages has been proverbial in Telangana becauseof their shared history and traditions spanning over centuries.
Radical land reforms were the prime agenda for the peasant movement in
the 1940s. However, not enough time was available for this process of
agrarian reforms and radical social transformation to run its course. In
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fact, it was interrupted with the integration of Telangana with the
SeemaAndhra region, so that it still remains an unfinished revolution or
an unfinished task. In a larger and heterogeneous State like AP there is
no adequate perception of this problem by the dominant political
leadership which hails basically from the developed parts of the State.
Thus the weaker sections constituting a large majority of population in
Telangana and, for that matter, in SeemaAndhra would be better able to
articulate their problems and politically assert themselves in separate,
smaller and relatively homogeneous States. The formation of a Telangana
State would thus strengthen the forces of social inclusion and secularism
in both the States.
Inclusive Governance feasible in smaller States The population of
Telangana is over three-and-a-half Crores now - much more than three
crores for the whole of Andhra Pradesh at the time of its formation. The
demands on governance have multiplied over this half-a-century. Apart
from commitment to the development of the region, a smaller State being
more easily accessible to the common people can intelligently and
speedily grapple with their problems. Moreover, governance at the
grassroots can be improved in a smaller State by strengthening the
Panchayati Raj Institutions which have been deprived of their functions,
finances and functionaries. It is indeed ironical that the ruling party in
Andhra Pradesh, which owes allegiance to Rajiv Gandhi, who visualized
the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution, has not taken any
initiative to revitalize these institutions. On the contrary, every attempthas been made to undermine these institutions by floating several top-
down schemes and parallel implementation structures, even naming
some of these schemes after Rajiv Gandhi! In smaller and relatively
homogeneous States like Telangana and Andhra, the empowerment of
these local, elected institutions can be expected to be high on the
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agenda, among other things, because of the greater pressures these
elected representatives can bring to bear on the new establishments.
Consensus for Telangana
All the major political parties in Andhra Pradesh have come out in favor
of the formation of a separate Telangana State. Even within the Congress
party, there is a consensus in its favor among the leaders, legislators,
ministers in the state as well as the centre belonging to Telangana.
The demand for the Telangana State is not opposed by the common
people from the rest of the State of Andhra Pradesh, not withstanding
hostility from certain sections of business and political elite. This is
amply borne out by the stand taken in favor of separate Telangana state
by parties like the Telugu Desam headed by Chandrababu Naidu, CPI,
BJP, Praja Rajyam Party Chiranjeevi in 2009 Elections and congress
during 2004 Elections, even in All Party meeting on 8thDec2009
consensus were taken. But then what does one mean by consensus? The
first States Reorganization Commission (SRC), which recommended in
1956 formation of the separate Hyderabad State consisting of Telangana,
defined consensus as the one reached among the Telangana people
themselves. This is clear from its recommendation that after five years
Telangana could be merged with Andhra only if two-thirds of the
Telangana legislators opted for it. But consensus has come to mean
among everyone at the national and State levels, except the people of
Telangana!
This is not quite fair because, in the first place, Telangana was merged
with the Andhra region in 1956 without ascertaining the wishes of the
people of Telangana through their elected representatives as
recommended by the SRC. Secondly, when there is a clear opposition to
Statehood for Telangana from sections of the power elite belonging to the
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dominant region of the State, it is not fair to insist upon consensus
among all the constituent regions when the issue concerns a particular
region only. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, had
openly stated that there should be a divorce between Andhra and
Telangana, if the latter so desired at any future date
The demand for the Second SRC to settle the issue could have some
basis if the first SRC recommended the formation of composite Andhra
Pradesh State, and disrupting such an arrangement, it could be argued,
would require re-examination of the whole issue by a similar high level
expert and quasi-judicial body. But the First SRC had recommended the
formation of Telangana State after examining all the relevant aspects and
their recommendation was not honored.
In a situation like this, the will of the people of Telangana, as expressed
by the large majority of the legislators from the region, can alone be the
guiding principle. This has been expressed time and again in favor of
separate Statehood in the last four decades through the democratic
process vindicating the position taken by the SRC. Even in the by-
elections held in May 2008, it is common knowledge that the major
political parties, including the Congress, approached the voters pledging
themselves in favor of Statehood for Telangana. Therefore, in the case of
this last election, the rallying slogan of different parties favoring
Telangana should be taken as an index of support for separate
Statehood.
Despite this background, the recent decision of the State Government on
the last day of the final session of the State Assembly to constitute a
Committee, consisting of the representatives of both the State Assembly
and the Legislative Council, for examining the issues connected with
Statehood for Telangana will not carry any credibility whatsoever. This
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has only strengthened the suspicion that it is a diversionary move on the
eve of the general elections, especially in the light of the past experience
that even the recommendation made by a high level body like the SRC
favoring Telangana was ignored by the powers-that-be. This move is
virtually a non-starter as major political parties have declined to
nominate their representatives on this Committee.
Statehood for Telangana: The Current Stalemate
The newly created smaller States, namely, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and
Chhattisgarh, have achieved much higher growth rates in their GSDP
than the targets set for the Tenth Five Year Plan, whereas the growth
rates achieved by their parent states, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
Madhya Pradesh fell significantly short of the targets. (Planning
Commission, 2008; Rao, 2009) Further, the growth rates achieved in the
first two years of the Eleventh Plan, that is, 2007-08 and 2008-09, by
Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand were significantly higher than those
achieved by their parent States. Apart from releasing the creative
energies of the people, viability of smaller States may have contributed to
better governance, attracting greater private investment from outside as
well as planning and utilizing resources more efficiently. (World Bank,
2007)
An extremely encouraging development is in respect of Bihar, where the
average growth rate achieved at 9.7 per cent per annum during these two
years was significantly higher than for Jharkhand at 5.8 per cent perannum. (Aiyar, 2010; Rao, 2010) This may be explained by improved
governance, of late, in this State, facilitated not the least by the fact that
with the creation of Jharkhand, Bihar has become less heterogeneous
and much smaller in area, with the size of its population getting reduced
by about 25 per cent.
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Experience has demonstrated the failure of regional planning to ensure
adequate development of backward regions within the larger States. This
is explained by the politics of planning in democracy inherent in such
States characterized by regional unevenness in development. The
experience of Maharashtra and Gujarat amply illustrates the failure to
develop backward regions, despite the existence of constitutional
provisions for setting up Regional Planning Boards and the powers
entrusted to the Governor to review the progress of development under
such regional plans. This experience underlines the need for conceding
separate Statehood for certain backward regions like Telangana and
Vidarbha.
The observations of B.R. Ambedkar, the principal architect of our
Constitution, on the desirability of smaller States are prophetic. He
welcomed the recommendation of the States Reorganization Commission
in 1955 for the creation of Hyderabad State consisting of Telangana
region and creation of Vidarbha as a separate State. Further, he
envisaged the division of Uttar Pradesh into three States (Western,
Central and Eastern); Bihar into two (North and South or present
Jharkhand); Madhya Pradesh into two (Northern and Southern); and
Maharashtra into three (Western, Central and Eastern). He was for
linguistic homogeneity of a State in the sense of one State-one language
and not one language-one State. He thus envisaged two Telugu speaking
States, three Marathi speaking States and a large number of Hindi
speaking States. (Ambedkar, 1979)
While arguing for smaller States, Dr. B.R.Ambedkar was guided basically
by two considerations. One, no single State should be large enough to
exercise undue influence in the federation. Drawing from the American
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experience, he thought that smaller States were in the best interests of
healthy federalism.
On this issue, his views were similar to those of K.M. Panikkar, set out in
his note of dissent to the Report of the States Reorganization
Commission. Second, he thought that socially disadvantaged sections are
likely to be subjected to greater discrimination in bigger States because
of the consolidation of socially privileged or dominant groups.
(Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, 1979)
Over the last half-a-century, two new dimensions have been added.
Population growth and the multiplicity of developmental functions have
rendered governance in large-size States inefficient.
Secondly, in the context of development planning under democracy,
significant regional diversities with respect to the historically inherited
levels of infrastructure and institutions within certain large States have
given rise to severe tensions concerning the distribution of benefits from
development. These tensions have reached a point where harmonious
development seems no longer possible without their break-up into
smaller States which are relatively homogeneous.
The agitations for separate Statehood for Telangana in the Telangana
region as well as for Samaikhya (United) Andhra Pradesh in the Andhra
region are in full swing now. The agitation in Telangana is unprecedented
in its sweep, being universal or, at any rate, far more widespread than in
1969, involving, among others, students, farmers, women and even
children. The movement is virtually taken over and led by the students,all of whom were obviously born at least a decade after the agitation of
1969. It appears as if history is repeating itself or time is standing still
for over four decades so far as this issue is concerned.
Curiously, in the case of the Andhra region, history appears to have been
overturned.
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The Jai Andhra or separate Andhra agitation of 1972-73 was triggered-
off by the land reform legislation and the validation of Mulki Rules
(preference for natives of Telangana in employment) by the Supreme
Court, because of which the big landed sections as well as educated
youth could lose in the integrated State. Over the last four decades,
however, certain leading business sections, including those involved in
real estate business from the SeemaAndhra region developed a big stake
in Telangana, particularly in and around Hyderabad City. Thanks to the
lop-sided urbanization and concentration of financial sector services and
IT industry in Hyderabad in the post-reform period, the educated youth
most of whom were born after the JaiAndhra agitation like their
Telangana counterpartscould understandably have developed an
emotional identification with the capital city and so a stake in Samaikhya
(United) Andhra Pradesh. Guided by the consensus among the major
political parties in favor of formation of separate Telangana State, as
espoused in their election manifestos and reiterated by them as recently
as on December 7, 2009.
The Central Government on December 9 announced its decision to
initiate the process for the formation of the Telangana State. Within
hours, this decision triggered off a counter-agitation in the Andhra region
for a united Andhra Pradesh, leaders of the major political parties taking
sides by getting divided horizontally on regional lines. It is not clear
whether these leaders did not mean what they promised earlier on
Telangana in the expectation that no worthwhile initiative would comefrom the Centre or could not anticipate the adverse public reaction in the
Andhra region in the event of any favorable move on the issue. In any
case, this has placed the Centre in a difficult situation leading to the
stalemate in the resolution of the crisis.
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As it is, the Constitution fully empowers the Centre to carve out new
States, the role of the State legislatures being limited to merely
expressing their views on the proposed Bill by the Centre. While politics
cannot be wished away in a democracy and the Centre cannot normally
be expected to proceed against the wishes of the majority of legislators of
a State, ultimately, politics in a democracy have to come to terms with
the provisions of the Constitution and respect the universal demand of
the people of a region for separate Statehood. Also, in the long-run, the
youth of any region in the modern age, imbued as it would be with the
democratic spirit, would come to respect the peoples wishes from the
other region for separate Statehood. Besides, a pride in the capacity to
develop opportunities in ones own State is bound to come into play.
Addressing the legitimate concerns of the stakeholders is essential to
facilitate this process.
There is no alternative to the Centre as well as the leaders of both the
regions taking initiatives for a constructive dialogue for resolving the
outstanding issues by addressing the legitimate concerns of the
stakeholders, to pave the way for separate Statehood for Telangana and
thus end the perpetual uncertainty undermining the harmonious
development of both the regions. While agitations are necessary for the
assertion of legitimate rights, in a democracy, constructive dialogue is
indispensable for bringing such aspirations to fruition.
History tells us that it is the will of the people that ultimately prevails. It
is only a question of time. I would like to request you to visits our placeand consider our consensus, grievances and how we were betrayed by
SeemaAndhra rulers last 53 years in all the aspects.
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If you happen to receive hundreds of copies of this text, you may safely
conclude that this is the collective opinion of educated, open-minded and
socially conscious of Telanganites.
Jai Hind - Jai Telangana
Yours Sincerely,
Arjula Shashi Kumar Reddy B.E., AMIETE, AMIE, MIEEE, Executive MBA, PMP.
President - Telangana Academy of Excellence
(Associate NGO of Telangana Development Forum GlobalRegistered Trust)
(Telangana Academy of Excellence is a registered Non-Political & Not for
Profit Organisation with a registration number 243/2010 under Public
Societies Registration Act 2001. TAE works for creating Employable,
Resourceful Telanganites & Young Social Entrepreneurs in Telangana)