the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana. Statehood was conferred upon Himachal Pradesh on 25th January 1971 and Manipur,Meghalaya and Tripura on 21st January 1972.The Kingdom of Sikkim joined the Indian Union as a state on 26th April 1975.In 1987,Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states on 20th February,followed by Goa on 30th May,while Goa’s northern exclaves of Daman and Diu became a separate union territory.

The then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru initially was skeptical of merging Telangana with Andhra State,fearing a“tint of expansionist imperialism” in it.

Three new states were created in 2000;Chhattisgarh was created on the 1st of November 2000 out of eastern Madhya Pradesh,Uttaranchal was created on the 9th of November 2000 and was renamed Uttarakhand in 2007 which was created out of the mountainous districts of northwest Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand was created out of the southern districts of Bihar on 15th November 2000.

Formation of Andhra Pradesh

In December 1953,Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganization Commission to reorganize the Indian states.This was headed by Justice Fazal Ali and the commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission.The efforts of this commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant,who served as Home Minister from December 1954.The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India’s states.

Paragraph 382 of the States Reorganisation Commission Report(SRC)said “Opinion in Andhra is overwhelmingly in favor of the larger unit;public opinion in Telangana has still to crystallize itself.Important leaders of public opinion in Andhra themselves seem to appreciate that the unification of Telangana with Andhra,though desirable, should be based on a voluntary and willing association of the people and that it is primarily for the people of Telangana to take a decision about their future”.

The people of Telangana had several concerns.Their region had a less-developed economy than Andhra,but had a larger revenue base which people of Telangana feared might be diverted for use in Andhra.They feared that planned irrigation projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would not benefit Telangana proportionately.It was feared that the people of Andhra,who had access to higher standards of education under the British rule,would have an unfair advantage in seeking government and educational jobs.The commission proposed that the Telangana region be constituted as a separate state with a provision for unification with Andhra state,after the 1961 general elections,if a resolution could be passed in the Telangana state assembly with a two-thirds majority.

The Chief Minister of Hyderabad State,Burgula Ramakrishna Rao,expressed his view that a majority of Telangana people were against the merger.He supported the Congress party’s central leadership decision to merge Telangana and Andhra despite opposition in Telangana.The Andhra state assembly passed a resolution on the 25th of November 1955 to provide safeguards to Telangana.The resolution said,“Assembly would further like to assure the people in Telangana that the development of that area would be deemed to be special charge,and that certain priorities and special protection will be given for the improvement of that area, such as reservation in services and educational institutions on the basis of population and irrigational development.”However,Telangana leaders did not believe the safeguards would work.An agreement was reached between Telangana leaders and Andhra leaders on 20th February 1956 to merge Telangana and Andhra with promises to safeguard Telangana’s interests.

The then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru initially was skeptical of merging Telangana with Andhra state,fearing a“tint of expansionist imperialism” in it.He compared the merger to a matrimonial alliance having“provisions for divorce”if the partners in the alliance cannot get on well.

THE DISTRIBUTION AFTER THE SPLIT How Telangana compares with the rest of Andhra Pradesh,politically and economically SIZE 1.14 lakh sq km,out of undivided Andhra Pradesh’s 2.75 lakh sq km 3.44cr population (undivided AP has 8.46 crore); 12.5% of Telangana’s population is Muslim 10 districts(including Hyderabad),13 in rest of Andhra Pradesh FORWARD & BACKWARD All 10 districts have grown by at least 7.5 % per year for the past 12 years 5 of the 10 districts qualify for Backward Regions Grant Fund 52 Infant mortality ratio in Telangana;AP average is 43(2011) Legislators 17 Lok Sabha MPs(12 Congress,2 TDP,2TRS,1 MIM);rest of AP has 25 119 MLAs,15 are ministers(including Dy CMC Damodar Rajanarasimha);rest of AP has 175;295th member is nominated(Anglo-Indian) RESOURCES Coal:GSI estimates 22 bn tonnes reserves in Godavari Valley,8% of India’s total.Singareni Collieries Company Ltd has 8,791 mn tonnes Minerals:Bauxite,chromite,precious stones,iron ore.5 of the 10 districts have been classified by mines ministry among India’s 61 high-or medium-mineral-potential districts INFRASTRUCTURE Airports:International-Hyderabad.Domestic-Nizamabad and Karimnagar,to be developed Engineering colleges:350(out of 780,undivided AP) National Highways:15% of AP’s 4,537km Rail network:35 % of AP total Companies:60% of AP’s registered companies

Following this agreement,the Central Government established a unified Andhra Pradesh on November 1st,1956.The agreement provided reassurances to Telangana in terms of power-sharing as well as administrative domicile rules and distribution of expenses of various regions.

Anti-Nehru politics emerged with the repression of the Telengana movement;many within the Congress Party extended their hands to leftist causes.Feroze Gandhi was among them.

Separate Telangana
Movement

There have been several movements to invalidate the merger of Telangana and Andhra,major ones occurring in 1969,1972 and 2000s onwards.The Telangana movement gained momentum over the decades becoming a widespread political demand for the creation of a new state from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.

On the 9th of December 2009 the Government of India announced the process of formation of Telangana state.After Members of Legislative Assembly and Council from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions had submitted resignations in response to the announcement.There were also violent protests raised in those regions immediately after the announcement,the decision to form to new state was put on hold on December 23rd 2009.The movement continued in Hyderabad and other districts of Telangana.

Formation of a separate Telangana state

On 30th July 2013,the Congress Working Committee unanimously passed a resolution to recommend the formation of a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh to the INC-led Central Government.Hyderabad was proposed to be the joint capital for both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 10 years.However,this resolution needs to be ratified by the Indian Parliament.

EP Desk