SHOULD TELENGANA AND ANDHRA SEPERATE???

Yesterday on the occasion of the Million March in Hyderabad statues of prominent Telugu persons lining the Tank Bund have been vandalized. This is irrational and senseless. Rather than bear with such hatred it is always better to separate.

The majority of the people of Telangana are behind the TRS and would like separation, therefore, it is always correct to negotiate and separate rather than fight with each other. True, the very basis of the demand for Telengana which was originally highlighted as backwardness is blown to bits by the economic indicators for growth in the region, which is also pointed out by the Sri Krishna committee.

Nevertheless, it is not the reality that matters but the perceived reality by the people of Telengana. This perception leads to biased analysis and can never be corrected. If the demand is not conceded, the problem would persist forever.

There are three knotty issues to be discussed before a separation takes place.

The first and the foremost would be the loss of revenues to the Andhra area. Hyderabad contributes around 40% of the tax revenues of the state. Now a substantial amount of this revenue has been built by investments form the Andhra area. Capital has flown into that area as it happened to be the capital city of the state and not because of any special attraction. All the revenue on these investments would now flow to the Telengana state. This would mean that Andhra has invested heavily in Telengana and would now get nothing in return by way of tax revenues. This would force Andhra people to prune down their plan expenditure curtailing their future development.

The second is the sharing of the river waters, especially those of the Godavari River that is like a lifeline to the Andhra area.

The third is the status of the Government employees from Andhra areas in Hyderabad.

Of course it is being taken for granted that the properties of Andhra people in Hyderabad would not have any problem and would be like investments in any other state of India.

Perhaps the best possible solution would be making Hyderabad the joint capital like in the case of Chandigarh. Unfortunately this is not feasible as Hyderabad lies deep within Telengana unlike Chandigarh which is located on the border of Punjab and Haryana.

Alternately, Hyderabad should be given to Telengana whilst ensuring that there would either be a revenue sharing for some years or the revenue losses should be made up proportionately by the Central Government till such time the Andhra economy develops. This is easy to suggest but why should the Central Government take it on itself to fund the state from the central pool at the expense of other states?

This is a problem that is very difficult to solve amicably because of the issues involved but public emotions in Telengana suggest that there is no further time to solve the issue and a decision has to be taken immediately.

The solution would have been much simpler in 1972 when the “Jai Andhra” agitation took place because Hyderabad city was not as developed then and both the areas wanted to separate. But that agitation was put down by Indira Gandhi with brute force.