Article: FOR A UNITED STATE OF ANDHRA-TELANGANA-SEEMA (Part-1) by I. Mallikarjuna Sharma in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 December 2009 issue

FOR A UNITED ANDHRA-TELANGANA-SEEMA

- I. Mallikarjuna Sharma.

Editorial, UNITED WE CAN RISE in 15 December 2009 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD

UNITED WE CAN RISE

to great heights of prosperity and well-being but divided we will certainly fall to low depths among the comity of States in India. All Telugus are one nationality, speaking one language, imbued with one culture and evolving through centuries of history in different regions of the present Andhra Pradesh and even beyond. Whereas a State of Andhra was carved out of the Madras Province in 1953 after the glorious sacrifice of Potti Sriramulu, Andhra Pradesh was achieved in 1956 by a tremendous popular movement for Vishalandhra led by stalwart Congress and Communist leaders of both Telangana and Andhra. Close family and community links, which have already been existing, have further developed among peoples of different regions. The social, as also business, interaction increased quickly after the 1969-70 Separate Telangana movement was pacified and the Six-Point Formula was introduced and implemented substantially well. It is the mean interests of a selfish, corrupt clique of politicians spreading narrow sentiments that once again gave rise to the separatist movement and unfortunately it has once again caught the imagination of various sections of the Telangana masses who have been misguided by these self-serving leaders, who inflamed the passions of the people by resorting to various machinations and the Congress rulers in Delhi have been too eager to cater to their demands by a midnight declaration. This has given rise to an unprecedented spontaneous people’s upsurge in Andhra and Rayalaseema protesting in one voice against partition and demanding retention of unity. Unfortunately there are now no sterling leaders like Prakasam, Burgula, Madapati or Rajeswara Rao or Sundaraiah, and even communists of almost all hues have been swayed by parochial passions instead of educating the people about their real interests and correct policies. This editor earnestly appeals to the toiling people of Telangana not to support separation which will not only be quite heartrending but also detrimental to their own best interests – present and future both 

Editorial SEPARATION IS NO SOLUTION in 30 November 2009 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD

SEPARATION IS NO SOLUTION

Swami Ramanand Tirth Suravaram Pratap Reddy Burgula Ramakrishna Rao Ravi Narayan Reddy
Great leaders of Hyderabad State and Andhra Maha Sabha who strived for unity of Telugu people
to the vexed Telangana tangle which has again cropped up in all intensity due to the precipitate action by the president of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which, incidentally, was routed in the last general elections at the hands of forces opposed to its aims and aspirations. Unable to gulp this disdainful rejection by the electors, and deciding not to contest in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections lest most of its candidates should suffer ignominious defeats, that leader has resorted to vituperative and threatening tactics to rake up emotions which is not that difficult to achieve in this country full of superstitions and surcharged sentiments. However, one cannot forget that the entire history of the Telugu people and even the history of their existence and struggle under the autocratic Nizam show that there were cherished instances when all of them were and strove to be united and the present regional divisions did not exist – nor will they exist for all times. With great difficulty and much agitation, all people speaking Telugu as mother-tongue achieved first a small and later a bigger state to fulfill their dreams but millions more are left outside in other states without proper facilities and opportunities to grow and freely develop their language and culture. This is not to suggest that there will be/are no regional differences/imbalances and there is no need to strive for regional autonomy within the existing unity, but to point that regrettably the Telugu people are now divided due to malevolent political elements led by exploitative socio-economic sections of the society and, much against the innate wishes and aspirations of the overwhelming majority, minority sections are trying to force a separation that is not conducive to Telangana’s interests even. Contrary to the false propaganda of the separatists, Telangana did achieve remarkable development in a united state, of course subject to the general underdevelopment syndrome in the country, and the best interests of the Telangana people themselves dictate the need to stay united and lead the entire state forward 

No justification for a Separate Telangana by Dr. Nitish Sengupta, Courtesy: Asian Age

No justification for a separate Telangana
This is an article from Nitish Sengupta in Asian Age. Dr Nitish Sengupta, an academic and an author, is a former Member of Parliament and a former secretary to the government of India. Courtesy: Asian Age

No word of thanks is enough to express our gratitude to those voters of the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in the Telangana districts of Andhra Pradesh who in the recent byelections decisively rejected the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the separatism that it stands for. It was almost a referendum, and people voted overwhelmingly to reject the separatist candidates.

Andhra Pradesh is a state which has made impressive progress since the 1956 reorganisation of states, which created a bigger state of Andhra Pradesh by merging the original Andhra (the Telugu-speaking districts of the undivided Madras Presidency) and the eight Telugu-speaking districts of the former Nizam’s dominions of Hyderabad. It may be recalled that the reorganisation of states in 1956 had abolished the Nizam’s Hyderabad by merging its Marathi-speaking districts with Maharashtra, Kannada-speaking districts with Karnataka and Telugu-speaking districts with Andhra Pradesh.

While both the Marathi-speaking districts and Kannada-speaking districts accepted the new order gracefully, some sections in the eight Telugu-speaking districts, earlier called the Telangana area, have been intermittently demanding a separate state of Telangana by dividing Andhra Pradesh. This demand somehow received support from some national parties in the last General elections, and this resulted in the strengthening of the agitation for separate Telangana. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi joined the UPA government at the Centre and formed part of the government. The failure of the UPA government to concede their demand for a separate state led to their protest resignation last year, and thus necessitated these byelections, when they appealed to the people on the issue of a separate state of Telangana. The result has been a decisive "no" from the people. Clearly, the majority of the people of these eight Telangana districts see much merit in remaining part of Andhra Pradesh and do not fancy the idea of a separate Telangana state.

On no economic ground can Telangana be justified. The city of Hyderabad has benefited enormously from being the capital of an enlarged Andhra Pradesh. The wealthier sections from coastal Andhra Pradesh have invested substantially in Hyderabad city, resulting in a prosperity which everyone can see. It is only a tiny minority which does not appreciate that the stopping of the steady flow of resources from coastal Andhra Pradesh to Hyderabad and the other districts in the Telangana area, which do not have much physical resources, will make Hyderabad suffer immensely. In the last few years it has become one of the new metropolitan cities of the country. It has one of the best international airports in India, and is also a major hub of railway traffic in the South. Interestingly, it is the only city outside the four metros where the United States is opening a consulate, thereby indicating how important it is in US perception. Earlier Iran had also opened a consulate there.

Hyderabad has become the focal point of high-tech industries and a number of other industries like drugs and pharmaceuticals. All this might come to a halt if a separate Telangana state is created. It will benefit only a small class of Telangana politicians who are hoping to gain ministerships in the new state. But for ordinary people, whether in coastal Andhra or in the Telangana areas, the creation of a separate Telangana can only be a retrograde development.

The time has, therefore, come when the Centre should formally turn down the demand for a separate Telangana state. The people of Telangana have given enough grounds by their recent voting behaviour. This amply indicates that while some of them might still outwardly make noises for Telangana for some time to come; in their heart of hearts they know that it is neither possible nor desirable. There is a saying in Canada that a separate country of French-speaking Canada is neither possible nor desirable, but French-Canadians would like to keep this matter alive in order to gain maximum political advantage. Hopefully, the situation vis-à-vis Telangana can be compared to this.

Except for Haryana, the creation of smaller states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand has not been an unmixed blessing. With a much smaller number of MLAs to manage, these states have become easy grounds for horse-trading and manipulation, resulting in prolonged political uncertainty. Often political changes can be brought about by managing a handful of MLAs with money power and muscle power. This also affects economic growth. If a separate Telangana comes up, there is every likelihood of such a scenario being repeated. All right-thinking people in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere should, therefore, resist this. Just because a small but vocal minority shout for smaller states like Telangana, Gorkhaland or Vidarbha, there is no reason to support such demands, ignoring the long-term political and economic interests of the nation. They should be treated with the contempt they deserve. Nor is there any case for constituting a second States Reorganisation Commission. (emphases ours)

Editorial: "Globalization & Internationalism" in 15 November 2009 October Revolution Special Issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD

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Volume 5: Part 2 15 November 2009 No. 21

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Globalization & Internationalism

That the entire world is, or ought to be, a global village, that all human beings are to be united as one big family, share their woe and weal together and work towards the universal welfare and development of the entire human collectivity in consonance with the interests and needs of the biosphere in a spirit of liberty, equality, fraternity, mutual love and cooperation is really a sublime ideal to which no right thinking person can have any objection. We have been repeatedly referring to our ancient Indian ideal of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ in our columns which buttresses this noble principle. However, the current spree of globalization so fondly advertised by big media all over the world and with gusto sought to be promoted by the superpower and other developed countries of the West is nothing but the good old capitalism in a new avatar, so to say. Marx long ago spoke of “the need of a constantly expanding market” chasing “the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe” so that “it must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere.” He also spoke of “… intercourse in every direction and universal inter-dependence of nations” arising in the course of such capitalist enterprise. However, he also noted the inhuman exploitative side of the phenomenon and issued the clarion call of ‘workers of all countries unite’ against the oppressive and rapacious free market globalization. That was the true spirit of proletarain internationalism which found its echo and partial realization in the Great October Socialist Revolution. It is true that Revolution ultimately got subverted and its gains and constructions have largely collapsed due to the perverse equation of state monopoly and authoritarian structures with the high ideals of socialization of ownership of means of production and true social democracy, and the wrong counterposing of ‘freedom’ against ‘bread’ that undermined both. But that did not completely negate the impact of and dire need for humanistic socialism which has more srikingly come to the fore ever since the recent global financial meltdown and economic recession. The gulf between the haves and have-nots has rapidly widened and a big part of humanity is set to undergo a tortuous crisis of poverty, hunger and disease even in, or more so in, this period of free market globalization. The only way out is for us to concertedly fight against this sort of globalization with the zeal of true internationalism for a new, humane sort of Socialism 

Editorial "MOTHER TONGUE AS MEDIUM" in 31 October 2009 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD

MOTHER TONGUE AS MEDIUM

of instruction must be there for all school children in the primary classes at least up to 8th class. All private schools which do not teach in the mother tongue/official State language medium must forthwith be proscribed and instead the government schools should be increased and improved by handsome budgetary allocations. The official language of a State must be the 2nd language for all children whose mother tongue is not that language and English should take the third place, that too only after 5th class. Unless our children are taught and brought up with national/ethnic self-respect and cultural consonance, we can never progress to respectable levels in the comity of nations. Macaulay’s men, wherever they exist, should be shunned first, shunted out later. Never should school kids be punished with placards hanged on their necks declaring they would never speak in their mother tongue, etc. Rather we must keep in mind the Jomtein World Declaration on Education for All 1990, unequivocally stating: “Literacy in the mother-tongue strengthens cultural identity and heritage,” and the later Dakar Framework of Action 2000 declaring that structured programmes “should be provided in the child’s mother tongue and help to identify and enrich the care and education of children …”; that UNESCO long ago declared that “it is axiomatic that the best medium for teaching a child is his mother tongue” and that the eminent educationist, philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan “recommended and the Government of India agreed that the medium of instruction in the primary stages must be the mother tongue.” Nor can we forget Gandhiji’s blast that “Among the many evils of foreign rule, this blighting imposition of a foreign medium upon the youth of the country will be counted by history as one of the greatest. It has sapped the energy of the nation, it has estranged them for the masses, it has made education unnecessarily expensive. If this process is still persisted in, it bids fair to rob the nation of its soul. The sooner therefore educated India shakes itself free from the hypnotic spell of the foreign medium, the better it would be for them and the people.” 

Editorial DISASTROUS DEVELOPMENTS in 15 October 2009 issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD

DISASTROUS DEVELOPMENTS

have struck the people of South India in this first fortnight of October. Unprecedented floods in the Krishna river, said to be the rarest in 10,000 years, have hit the barrages and dams on its way and inundated hundreds of villages and several towns in Rayalaseema and Andhra delta areas and in Mahaboobnagar district. The former capital city of Andhra State - Kurnool, was almost totally submerged in flood waters, in some areas up to 30 feet deep, and the plight of panic-stricken residents in the worst period for 3-4 days was beyond description. Srisailam Dam received the maximum inflow of more than 26 lakhs cusecs in its history but fortunately survived the battering due to its secure design and sturdy construction – having been started and completed in the less-corrupt decades (1960-70’s). The upper riparian regions in Karnataka were worse hit in a sense and more human loss is reported in that State. It is a worst natural calamity, fit to be declared a national disaster, but human errors are also alleged to have intensely aggravated if not basically caused it. The relief operations of many voluntary organizations including TV channels have been and are continuing as a great succour to the innumerable victims but state aid seems to be tardy, callous and inefficient as usual. This calls for a radical re-look at all flood prevention and control schemes of the governments as also the entire Jalayagnam projects initiated by the recently deceased chief minister in our State. The newer constructions seem to have more easily fallen apart in the flood havoc while the older stood strong and secure. Added to this natural calamity that could also be man-made to certain extent, another calamity struck the State in the loss of a dedicated, zealous activist of human rights, creating a void which would be very hard, if not impossible, to be filled up for many years to come. People cutting across political persuasions have sincerely mourned the untimely demise of Balagopal, who, if alive, would have certainly plunged into relief and restructuring operations for the flood victims also. We also join them and vow to work for his ideals. 