Seperate Telanga - Purpose and Issues

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Demand #1:
There are 10 districts in Telangana, 9 in Andhra and 4 in Rayalaseema. Out of these 7 districts in Telangana, 3 in Andhra and 1 in Rayalaseema are considered severely backward districts which means 70% of districts in Telangana are backward while in Andhra it is 35% and in Rayalaseema it is 25%. Apart from these there are some areas in all parts of the state which are also backward.

Ans:
List of districts in Telangana - Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Warangal,Khammam, Medak, Rangareddy,Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Hyderabad. Out of these, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Khammam, Hyderabad, Rangareddy cannot be categorized as backward districts.

List of districts in Rayalaseema - Kurnool, Kadapa, Ananthapur, Chittoor. Of these Ananthapur, Kadapa and some parts of Chittoor are backward, with Ananthapur being the worst-hit district of whole AP.

List of districts in Coastal Andhra - Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, West Godavari, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram, Srikakulam. Of these, Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatnam (other than Vizag City), Prakasam, Western parts of Krishna, Guntur (Palnadu area), Godavari (Manyam area) districts are considered backward (compared to the non-backward areas of Telangana).

Clearly, the above statement is more of a prejudiced opinion than a fact.

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Demand #2:
45% of the state income comes from Telangana region. When it comes to utilization of funds, the share of Telangana is only 28%.

Ans:

As was pointed out by some members here, the income from hyderabad and rangareddy districts forms a major share of this income. This income
mostly comes from the sectors of Real Estate, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and IT industries. Not to instigate any regional feelings here, but it is worth noting that many of these companies (excluding IT sector to some extent) are owned by non-Telanganites.

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Demand #3:
Normally canals are dug to supply water to the crops from rivers for cultivation. The amount of land cultivated through canals in just Guntur district is more than the land cultivated with canals in entire Telangana region.

Ans:

Not true. Guntur district irrigated area is 6,78,197 acres (http://irrigation.cgg.gov.in/dp/GunturDistrictProfile.jsp). Karimnagar district irrigated area is 6,47,402 acres (http://irrigation.cgg.gov.in/dp/KarimnagarDistrictProfile.jsp. Note that 1 Hectare = 2.471 acres).

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Demand #4:

Nagarjuna sagar dam is built in Nalgonda district which is in Telangana but majority of the water from the dam is used for Krishna and Guntur district. The original dam was supposed to be build much ahead of its present location but the location was changed so that it falls in the
Telangana region. Due to the construction of the dam several hectares of Lime stone mines vanished as part of the dam back waters. Everyone know that lime stone is used for producing cement. Even the natural resources were not allowed to remain.

Ans:

A bit of a history here - Nagarjuna Sagarproject was originally conceived by the British, around 1903, with Siddeswaram and Pulichintala as possible balancing reservoir sites. Unfortunately, these proposals did not materialize. Floods in Krishna river used to devastate Krishna district, while Guntur and Nalgonda were drought prone. As part of the first five-year plan, Nehru Govt. appointed Khosla committee to examine and report on the optimum and most beneficial utilization of Krishna River waters. The recommendations of the Committee, which were later endorsed by the Planning Commission in December, 1952, are to construct Nandikonda Dam across Krishna River with full reservoir level at +590.00 feet with canals taking off on either side. Water allocated to the Project is 281 TMC. The foundation stone of the Dam was laid by the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India on 10.12.1955. (It is worth noting here that Andhra Pradesh state was formed in 1956, after the dam foundation was laid. It is outrageous to spread the idea that there's a conspiracy by the Andhrites in shifting the location of the site, when the state itself was not in existence.)

Another piece of interesting information on the background of Nagarjuna Sagar - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_of_Muktyala#Achievements.
"Raja spent fifty two lakhs of rupees (in 1950s) as a matching grant for the project construction". What is the investment of Telangana in this project, while reaping the benefits of the project and yet promoting the idea that injustice was done ?

Regarding Limestone quarries, there are enough limestone reserves to support a host of cement industries.For more info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaggaiahpet#Economy.

Statements that non-telangana regions conspired against Telangana people are false theories spread by people with vested interests.

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Demand #5:
Fluorinated water problem is only in Nalgonda district which has not been resolved since decades.

Ans:

This is not a problem specific to Nalgonda district and the statement that no efforts have been made to resolve this issue is not true. This problem existed in many other districts as well (Adilabad, Anantpur, Chittoor, Guntur, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Krishna, Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nellore, Prakasam, Ranga Reddy, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Warangal, West Godavari) and parts of Sriakulam. For more info - http://cgwb.gov.in/gw_profiles/st_ap.htm.

The state has initiated (RWS) schemes to resolve this problem. While the majority of drinking water works for Ananthapur district was sponsored by the Satyasai Organization http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/Pages/Service_Projects/Anantapur.htm), the state has sponsored the schemes in Telangana districts. Anyone could see the injustice being done to Rayalaseema here, in favor of Telangana. Yet, the hate speeches organized by Telangana theorists twist this "fact".

Another piece of info that I know firsthand here - The RWS scheme was first proposed in Nizamabad district by the then Chief Engineer Mr U.Kutumba Rao (incidentally, he's from the Andhra Region's Krishna district) and he made sure that the funds were released by the then TDP govt (thanks to Late Sri Karanam Ramachandra Rao, Minister of TDP Govt). No Telangana Politician thought about this for decades together and yet they somehow attribute this problem to Telangana discrimination !!!

Reg. the Nalgonda district, efforts to supply krishna water to the affected districts is almost nearing completion (thanks to the proposal by TDP Govt and Implementation by the Congress Govt.)

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Demand #6:

Two major rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra enter the state of AP in the district of Mahaboobnagar (the biggest district in Telangana) but the district always remains the worst draught hit areas along with Anantapur because there is no project and process with which the water can be utilized. The plans for utilization has been pending for decades.

Ans:

To put things in perspective, we need to look at the background of the drought conditions. Agriculture in this district has been primarily done by borewells since long back and indiscriminate increase of this usage, over decades, led to depletion of ground water levels. The contours and the percentage of arable land in this district doesn't help either (Anantapur fares much worse in that the forest cover is only 5%, whereas Mahabubnagar has a forest cover of 16%). The eastern part is upland/hilly and the majority of the soil is Red Chalka type. This district is mostly a catchment area for the rivers, which means this is not really plain land. Govts over the years have tried to implement various measures such as watershed projects (through Desert Development Programmes, Drought Prone Region Development Programmes etc), Small check dams and drip irrigation schemes. The efforts of the Govts led to an increase in ground water level and rejuvenation of around 31000 borewells.

This is not to say that the Govts have done enough. Much more needs to be done here, which has not been done so far.

Currently, Nettempadu Lift Irrigation Project, Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Project and Rajiv Lift Irrigation Projects are being implemented and upon their completion, this district will hopefully be no more categorized as drought-prone.

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Demand #7:

In Telangana regions, only few areas cultivate one crop a year and very rarely two crops a year while most of the land doesn’t even cultivate
single crop. In both the Godavari districts, Krishna and Guntur district, two crops a year is common and there are times where even 3 crops a year are cultivated. The only reason is WATER.

Ans:

Not all regions of Godavari/Krishna/Guntur cultivated three crops a year. And this is not the reality anymore, particularly for Krishna river basin. The water for second crop itself is not guaranteed anymore (Pulichintala is the solution for this).

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Demand #8:

33% of the population in Mahaboobnagar district have left the district for livelihood to different parts of the state due to draught and majority of them are working as daily labour. No other district has so many people who fled the home place due to lack of livelihood and working as daily labour.

Ans:

This is not a problem unique to Mahabubnagar. Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts have the same problem. The problem in Mahabubnagar district is conveniently projected as a Telangana issue.

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Demand #9:

Dairy development corporation of AP purchases milk from farmers across the state for distribution. For the same milk, in Andhra, the government pay Rs. 24 to the farmers and in Telangana they pay Rs. 22 per litre. Partiality is shown even in milk

Ans:

Milk procurement price is dependent on various quality parameters, one of them being the fat content. For eg., Mahabubnagar district in the 90s produced milk with low fat content (reasons ranged from feeding practices and quality cattle, to diluting milk with water). The then Govt installed Technical Assistance Services to implement bank credits for procuring quality cattle, cattle insurance, cattle vaccinations, Milk testing centers etc. This led to increase in Milk production, Fat content (from 6% to 7.3%) and an increase of profits for Milk producers (in Wanaparthy segment alone, there was an increase of 40laks in profit, in 3 years). The point to be noted here is that there's no discrimination done here, as projected by the statement above.

In fact, the AP dairy federation's Milk Procurement Price ranges from Rs.25.50 to Rs. 28.00/Ltr for Buffalo milk and Rs. 11.91 to Rs. 12.53/Ltr for Cow milk.

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Demand #10:

In between 2005-2008 government sold lands worth Rs. 20000 crores in and around Hyderabad which was utilized to build projects in Rayalaseema and Andhra.

Ans:

Properties were sold not just in Hyderabad. This happened in Vijayawada and Vizag as well to some extent. The figure of 20000 crores itself is highly debatable. Added to that, the Govt has spent (and has been spending) on the following Telangana projects -

1. Alisagar Lift Irrigation Project
2. J. Chokka Rao Project (Phase I and II)
3. Gutpa Lift Irrigation Project
4. Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project
5. Sriram Sagar Project (Phase I and II) and the flood canal
6. Bhima Lift Irrigation project
7. Sripada Rao Lift Irrigation project
8. Dummugudem project
9. Kalwakurthi Lift Irrigation Project
10. Nettempadu Lift Irrigation Project
11. Lendi Project
12. Suddavagu, Peddavagu, Palemvagu, Gollavagu, Ralivagu, Mathadivagu, Modikuntavagu and Gundlavagu projects
13. Komuram Bheem Project
14. Koilsagar Lift Irrigation Scheme
15. Kinnerasani Project
16. Ichampally Project (Govt has been trying to resolve longstanding interstate issues and is trying to get national project status for this. It is worth noting that no Telangana leader/intellectual has tried to get these issues
resolved or lobbied for the national status and yet non-telangana regions are somehow blamed for non-implementation of this project.)

It should also be noted that many of these projects are lift-based (that is, arable/cultivable land are on higher altitudes than that of the rivers' flow). This is due to the topography of the Telangana region (Deccan Plateau). The power 'consumption' for operating/maintaining these projects are enormous. For eg. the Nettempadu, Kalwakurty and Devadula projects require 1200MW of power. On the other hand, the Pulichintala project will add 120MW and Polavaram project will add 960 MW of power 'production'. Most of the Telangana region falls under Semi-Arid/Arid land forms.

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Demand #11:

Not even a single project was completed in Telangana in the last 5 years while several projects were completed in Andhra and Rayalaseema.

Ans:

Another baseless statement. The following projects in Telangana regions have become operational in the last 5 years -

1. Devadula Lift Irrigation Project (Phase I) (benefits 60,000 acres) became operational in March, 2008.
2. Alisagar Lift Irrigation Project (benefits 54,000 acres) became operational in November, 2007.
3. A. Madhava Reddy Project(Phase I) (benefits 50,000 acres) became operational in September, 2006.

Compared to this, the following projects became operational in Andhra/Rayalaseema region -

1. Pushkara Lift Irrigation in East Godavari district (mostly to the non-irrigated North and Westerm parts of the district). This project benefits 80,000 acres.
2. Tadipudi Lift Irrigation scheme, mostly for providing drinking water to the water-starved upland mandals of West Godavari district, is partially Operational.
3. Brahmamsagar Project (benefits 50,000 acres) in Cuddapah district
4. Pedderu Reservoir (benefits 13,000 acres) in Visakhapatnam district
5. Jhanjhavati Project (benefits 9000 acres) in Vizianagaram district

Further details can be obtained at http://ppms.cgg.gov.in/Reports.do (login as guest/guest).

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Demand #12:

3 TMC of water from Gandipet is sufficient to supply drinking water to our city. Every year 1700 TMC of water is wasted and is flown into Bay of Bengal from river Godavari. Starting from Nizambad to Bay of Bengal there is no project allowed to build on Godavari. If it is built leaders in Godavari districts fear that the fertile lands in the area may fall short of water. If the Godavari water is utilized properly, there will be no scarcity for food grains in our state.

Ans:

The statement is contradicting itself. Godavari districts are not using the 1700 tmc water, as the statement says. What would they gain, by blocking projects that utilize this water ? 1700 tmc is equivalent to more than 4 Nagarjunasagar reservoirs ! And 1200 tmc is way above the requirements of telangana region, which means there will still be water left to sea. Why would Godavari districts block when they have no use of this water ?

Also, "no project allowed" implies blaming non-telangana region. Who 'allows' the projects ?? If the allegation is that there is politicial interference, then the Telangana MLAs are more in number, compared to Godavari districts. Why didn't anyone resort to such 'Aamarana Deeksha' for getting projects built ? Telangana leaders/intellectuals conveniently cover up the fact that longstanding interstate issues existed between Maharashtra, (the now) Chattisgarh and AP for Ichampally Project. Why haven't any of these leaders/intellectuals helped the Govt in these issues, if they're so interested ? They also do not mention that the Sripada Sagar dam is one of the larger capacity dams built on Godavari river for the benefit of Telanagana region, after AP was formed.

Godavari dists are mostly irrigated based on the projects/canals built by the british (other than the new dowleswaram barrage). They couldn't even get new projects implemented for benefitting the backward western parts (the manyam areas) and they're being blamed for blocking Telangana projects.

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Through out the history, nuclear political regions are created for various socio-economic problems. There by paving the path for better governance.
The prevailing corrupt political regimes and the leaders in India do not seem guarantee any such development even in smaller states(just for comparision, we can look into any of the North-Eastern States, or for that sake even the recently created Jharkhand, Chattisgarh or uttaranchal). Most countries of the World (or should I say 3rd World!) are smaller and are yet backward.

I am sad to say that, whatever we are fighting for, whether seperate Telangana or Unified Andhra Pradesh, will again be ruled by the same corrupt political leaders. All our leaders are filthy rich but not our poor farmers. And when ever there is any agitation, only the poor man dies, not any of our hon'ble leaders or their kin. Did you ever wondered why?

Not too long ago, a seperate country, Pakistan, was formed, torn out of India, citing under-development, improper representation of muslim community and self-rule of Muslims. Now, we all know the pathetic condition of the people there. Lakhs of people died during the bloody division. Again none of the leaders died! Only common people. They gained self-rule, but the people are nothing better than any EVM. Even after 63 years of independence, feudalism still exists. More than 80% of the population there lives on daily labour and is trasitory poor. Of course, the country itself is living on weekly ration. Pakistan could never develop, because, the very reason it wanted to seperate is false. And hence after seperation, nobody there ever cared or bothered about the reasons for which they needed a seperate country. Similarly, if we are not clear about the purpose of a seperate state, we may too end up with no greater change.

The Gini Coeficcient for India is 0.393(indicates distribution of income. 0 = ideal and equal distribution, 1 = total income distributed among only few). This is alarming as we may be pushed into a complete consumption based economy.

In the situation, our state politics stand, I opine:

1# De-centralization of power and localization of economy would ensure a rapid development rather than smaller states with same centralized political power.

2# Strenghthening Paychayat Raj system and entrusting developmental responsibilities on the local MLA/MP, with proper vigilance would increase the people's part in the Politico-economic system. Thus, people would be more educative wouldn't fall prey to any such misleading information by corrupt politicians.

3# Development of several nodal tier-1 cities, at least, 2 to 3 cities per district and mobilize income to the local regions. This would help in curbing the people migration to other places.

If we could implement the above, then it doesn' really matter if the State stays united or seperated.

By-the-by, did any party, MLA or MP, ever talk at least word about any time-frame, by when they can develop the Telangana state, if seperated? I know, nobody wants to talk and we masses never bother to ask. That is our demo'curse'y.

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