Need of the hour is to resolve the basic issues of smaller states
- Reorganisation of states in India shifted from formation based on language to one of, rearranging them on the basis of backwardness and a lack of development.
- States like Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were created for developing the locals as individuals but invain.
- Uttarakhand continues to be at the lower end in the Human Development Index. There was abject callousness in dealing with the recent floods, focussing solely on how to make it more tourist-friendly rather than planning for the rehabilitation of displaced residents.
- Chhattisgarh has witnessed the largest displacement of tribals and have been attempts to dispossess them of their land which they have inhabited for centuries in order to extract mineral wealth.
- Even as tribals were ostensibly empowered by the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), there were attempts to invoke the clause of Eminent Domain, in the name of national interest.
- If these states were formed for welfare of the locals, how does one explain the Salwa Judam movement ?
- Jharkhand turned out to be perhaps the worst with hardly any development agenda worth mentioning, the State turned into a mining hell of “predatory growth,” eventually resulting in a series of scams and criminal proceedings being initiated against the first tribal Chief Minister of the State.
- The lack of industry, an agrarian crisis, low level of infrastructural facilities push such States into adopting a model of development where growth can be achieved in spite of these handicaps. This results in exploitation of raw materials in mining of minerals instead of the creation of industry, wanton land deals, a boost to the construction industry and the conversion of fertile agricultural land into speculative real estate transactions, since agriculture in any case was untenable and non-profitable.
- Telangana also has a large chunk of State revenue from liquor contracts. Civil, liquor and mining contractors are dominant, economic elite and the political class along with this speculative nature of the economy.
- Excessive resources in Telangana are concentrated in Hyderabad. Since it is already well-developed in terms of infrastructure, there remains little possibility of developing other smaller towns for economic investments.
Exams Perspective:
- Telangana issue
- Small states versus big states
- State Reorganisation Commission