One year of Telangana government

By Deepak Parvatiyar

June 4, 2015

5.00/5 (100.00%) 1 vote

Although longstanding agitation paved the way for creation of new states and in the last fifteen years, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Telanagana were carved out of the respective bigger states –Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, the logic behind creation of these smaller states was that smaller states could be better managed and governed. (Of them, Telangana is the youngest and 29th state, which turned one on 2nd June this year, while the other three were created way back in 2000).

Over the years, this logic has been defied as the governments of even these smaller states rather preferred to indulge into politicking than governance all these years. Consider that Jharkhand never even got a stable government that could last its term during the last fifteen years! (However, both Chhattisgarh and Uttarkhand did enjoy stable governments).
On other indices too, the performance of these new states remained dismal.Consider some:
Jharkhand is among the top five poorest states in terms of Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) per capita in the country and ranks 29th among 33 states and union territories in 2014-15 at current prices. Chhattisgarh is only marginally ahead of Jharkhand and is placed at a lowly 26th position. However, Uttarakhand has a better average, being ranked 12th in the list. In terms of literacy rate (as per 2011 Census), Uttarakhand ranks 17th but Jharkhand is placed a dismal 32nd and Chhattisgarh, 27th, among 35 states and union territories. Even the percentage increase in the number of literates between 2001-2011 was just 37.05 in Uttarakhand and 39.61 per cent in Chhattisgarh.  Jharkhand ,despite showing an increase of 59.40 per cent in the number of literates, was far behind its parent state, Bihar, which showed a remarkable 74.83 per cent increase during the decade.

All these years, the respective new and smaller states failed to overcome their main concerns – be that of naxals in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, or flooding and landslide in Uttarakhand.

It is against this backdrop the situation in Telangana – identified as being revenue surplus  – needs to be analysed as it embarks on week-long celebrations to observe its Formation Day on June 2, marking one year of formation of the new state. Its creation last year had actually spurred the movements for newer states of Bundelkhand, Vidarbha and many more and, therefore, its progress is being watched with considerable interest.

Yet grimly, the first year of Telangana would be remembered more for the suicides by about a thousand farmers despite a waiver of crop loans worth Rs 35,000 crore covering 36 lakh farmers by the state government,and deaths of thousands in the heat wave in the state. Obviously, this could not be considered an auspicious beginning even as the state’s first chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly referred as KCR, indulges into ‘Vastu’ to invite good fortune. He controversially even decided to shift the Secretariat over Vastu concerns!

It may be mentioned that the long battle for a separate Telangana state had begun soon with the creation of  Andhra Pradesh in 1956 on grounds that a separate state with an administration headed by people with local loyalties alone could do justice to the aspirations of the poor in the region.

In recent times, KCR’s  Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) had spearheaded the campaign for the separate Telangana state, promising in the process, jobs, education, uninterrupted electricity, better irrigation facilities, and much more.

Yet the TRS could only get a wafer thin majority in the new state, winning just 63 seats in the 119-member state Assembly and this resulted in alleged “horse trading” as 13 MLAs from the Telugu Desam Party, the YSR Congress, as wells as the Bahujan Samaj Party, crossed over to TRS, taking the ruling party’s tally in the Assembly from 63 to 76.

It is too early to say whether Telangana will go the Jharkhand way where the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha – which had taken the lead in the creation of the new state – in fact, could never get a clear cut majority in state elections and the political situation  always remained fluid because of rampant horse trading and factionalism. (Finally, it was  only last year that the Bharatiya Janata Party could form the first ever majority government in the state with a clear mandate).

In such a light, even the TRS’s  administrative performance has been patchy in Telangana. Thus far its  important election promises such as three acres of cultivable land to Dalit farmers; construction of two-bedroom apartments for weaker sections;  and free education from “KG to PG”, are yet to take off.
Already controversies have surrounded KCR within this one year. Consider a few:

• The Intensive Household Survey, which aimed at ascertaining the details of an estimated 84 lakh families living in the state, sparked off a huge controversy. It drew public anger by talking about the nativity of the people, as it was seen as an attempt to target those who had migrated from Andhra and settled down in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana.
• The government’s ban on a few television channels in the state, too, did not cut ice with the media. The purported move to construct houses for the poor slum dwellers on the Osmania University campus resulted in a protest by the student community.

• CSR  faces allegations of politicising the appointment of vice chancellors at a time when none of the universities have vice chancellors in the state.
• Reports suggest that his government might close some 4000 government-run schools.

Besides, charges of nepotism and favouritism, too, are flying high quite early in KCR’s tenure. Although he has two deputy chief ministers in his Cabinet, there are widespread murmurs about the three power centres in the government  besides the CM. They are KCR’s  son, daughter and nephew. (It may be mentioned that his nephew T. Harish Rao, is the state Irrigation minister, while his son K. Taraka Rama Rao is the state Information Technology minister, and daughter K. Kavitha is a Member of Parliament from Nizamabad).

On the first anniversary of the state though, KCR announced a number of measures including recruitment to 25,000 government jobs,and  construction of 50,000TWO BEDROOM hall kitchen apartments for the poor at Rs. 5.04 lakh. He also talked about  the ambitious ‘Mission Kakatiya’ for desilting the 46,300 tanks at an estimated outlay of Rs. 22,000 crore, and promised no power cuts during summer while announcing three ultra-mega power projects in the state. Some other measures that he announced included:

a)      Increasing pay of government employees by 43 percent;

b)      Allocation of Rs 28,000 crore on multiple welfare schemes in the budget;

Yet, thus far, KCR’s management of rural economy at best could be termed as poor and  more trouble seems in the offing for the CM as reports suggest that the Maoist sympathizers, too, have turned against him “as he has proved no different from other chief ministers of the undivided Andhra Pradesh”.

Against this backdrop, it is important to note that Andhra, which too struggles to overcome the travails of partition, announced a week long ‘Nava Nirmana Deeksha’ to remind people of the challenges ahead in rebuilding the state after the bifurcation. Many of these challenges common to both Andhra and Telangana are still unresolved, such as sharing assets like water and power finances, assets and allocation of employees.

These teething troubles apart, the larger issue though is of the very idea of bifurcating a state for the sake of better governance. It is interesting to note that there is a churning now within the TRS on whether to join the ruling National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, like the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh. TRS MP and KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha has already spilled enough beans stating: “Allies do have an advantage of giving suggestions during policy making. We need to ask for everything. As a new state it is the Centre’s responsibility to take care of us…”

Sure enough, but who had demanded a new state?