Under the circumstances prevailing in the State of Andhra Pradesh regarding the demand for division of the State in Telangana region and the vehement opposition to division from the people in the Seemandhra region, we are at loggerheads and brought down up on us a political impasse which gave an easy hand for the Union of India to play with our State as per its whims and fancies. It is a stark reality that the two fighting cats gave the bread to a monkey seeking judgement while monkey is cheating both the cats to eat out the bread. Hence it becomes imperative up on us to negotiate among ourselves to reach a solution that is acceptable to all the regions of the State. In this context, i am making a small attempt that can help bring about reconciliation among all our Telugu speaking people. I must first let folks know that I am a strong believer in retaining the integrity of AP State; so I would first venture to list down the steps needed to keep our State united followed by those that are needed in the unfortunate eventuality (God forbid) of division of AP State. 1) We must investigate the reasons for the failure of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal (APAT) in checking the alleged violations (of Article 371D) w.r.t. job postings in Telangana region and why it had not recommended to the President for punishing the concerned authorities. Moreover, we must try and understand why the Telangana people and politiciansdid not approach the APAT for redressing their problems regarding violations of Article 371D in job postings. 2) The Parliament, by law, must also recognise that the State of Andhra Pradesh consists of three regions, the people of which cherish a regional identy for the region they hail from, while identifying them in the larger context with the State identity. The Parliament must honour this regional identy by specifying this regional identity in the First Schedule of the constitution where the State of Andhra Pradesh is mentioned. The zonal system (vide Article 371D) must be modified to honour the regional identity in addition to the present zonal identity. Perhaps, the reservations to job postings can be shared something like 50% zonal, 30% regional, and 20% State. 3) The Parliament must increase the scope of the APAT to act not just as a redressal cell but also as a proactive arbitrator in the event of any violation of Article 371D. This may be an unprecedent role for judicial body such a Tribunal but we must understand that new problems require new solutions. The Supreme Court and the High Courts had indeed acted in this manner (suo moto) in the past but in limited number of instances whereas APAT must be constitutionally authorized to monitor for violations of Article 371D and issue necessary orders to correct any wrongs committed or punish if those orders are not implemented. 4. The Parliament must also extend the scope of the APAT to water resources (rivers, canals, dams) for ensuring judicious distribution of waters to all the three regions. APAT must look into the allegations of past injustice done to the Telangana region regarding the construction of Nagarjuna Sagar hydal project and issue possible and necessary orders to mitigate the loss, if any, incurred to Telangana due to the alleged shifting of the location of the Nagarjuna Sagar project or the distribution of water through its canals. 5) The Union Government should invest the amount allotted for ITIR in Hyderabad in third grade cities in all the three regions of the State, viz. Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Mehaboobnagar, Karnoolu, Ananthapuram, Chittooru, Ongolu, Rajamandry, Vijayanagaram. Further, the Rayala Seema and Coastal Andhra regions must not be left out of the development bandwagon as was done all these years with the primary focus of the government for development being the capital city Hyderabad. ------------------------------------------------------------- 6) If the State were to be divided,God forbid, I suppose it will be not benefits but redressals of any past wrongs that were knowingly or unknowingly committed by the United Andhra Pradesh State towards the Telanagana region or its people. 7) Since most of the developement has been made in Hyderabad which falls under Telangana and most of the frustration/anger from the Telangana youths is over the government jobs in Hyderabad, it is not apt to exclude Hyderabad from this discussion; and including Hyderabad is beneficial to people from both the regions. The Parliament must constitute an Integrated River, Dam and Canal Water Distribution Tribunal that can delve into the overall water supply of States based not only on the trajectory of the rivers but also on the necessity of States with arid and/or drought regions. 9) In the event of dividing the State of Andhra Pradesh, the said State be dismantled and destroyed and instead create two new States namely that of Telangana and Seemandhra or three new States namely that of Telangana, Rayala Seema, and Andhra. 10) Further, the Union of India must bear the complete burden of developing a modern political and industrial capital city in the Seemandhra regions the financial cost (be it 5 lakh crore or 25 lakh crore) of which must be deposited to the Contingency Fund of Seemandhra State at the time of placing the proposed bill for division of AP State in the Parliament. If the Union of India is short of the required fund, then the Parliament can provide constitutional guarantee to the same amount by enlisting it in the Seemandhra State creation bill as debt to the Seemandhra State or distribute the amount between Rayala Seema and Andhra in case three new States were to be created by dividing the State of Andhra Pradesh. This list is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive but i hope it will serve as a first step in bringing about reconciliation in the people of all the three regions towards an amicably agreeably solution to the problem that is burning our State.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 09:47:31 +0000
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