The country is celebrating Telangana Day on 2nd June, commemorating the formation of the state of Telangana. Telangana Day is observed annually and is commonly associated with parades and political speeches and ceremonies, along with various other public-private events celebrating the history and tradition of Telangana. The state celebrates Telangana Day as a formal event across all the 33 districts. The celebration commences with the hoisting of the national flag by the Chief Minister of Telangana and other ceremonial parades held at the Parade Ground.
The state of Telangana was officially formed on 2nd June 2014 with K.C. Rao as the first elected Chief Minister of Telangana, following elections in which the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party secured a majority.
It all started when the Congress Working Committee unanimously passed a resolution to recommend the formation of a separate Telangana state on July 1, 2013. After following various stages, the bill was placed in the Parliament of India in February 2014 and was passed by the Parliament of India. After getting assent from the President of India, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 declared Telangana as a new state and the same was published in the Gazette on March 1, 2014. The formation of Telangana state comprised of 10 districts from northwestern Andhra Pradesh.
State formed
The state of Telangana was divided from Andhra Pradesh on various factors like language. The State Reorganisation Committee (SRC) led by Justice Fazal Ali recommended the formation of 14 states and six union territories based on the factors of language, culture, financial viability, and national welfare. However, the formation of the state of Telangana did not include language as the most important reason.
While states like Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand were founded in 2000, Telangana in 2014 was created on the basis of developmental considerations. These are separate states to address issues related to development in the large areas of states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Developmental policies are not able to reach all parts of the state equally. Other factors for the reorganisation of states in India, especially in the northeastern region, were the influence of factors such as culture, customs, and diversity in the socio-cultural landscape of the country, and others.
There are politically analysed evidences that suggest that the newer states perform better in terms of development and economy. The 11th Plan document provides some data that supports that smaller newly crafted states like Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh grew at a faster rate than their parent states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The existence of new states would also mean creation of new capital cities and this will bring associated infrastructure which will also attract private investors, resulting in employment opportunities and eventually better standards of living for its citizens. All this is because development in a region is dependent on the extent of decentralisation.
However, the creation of a new state is a challenging process in itself. For instance, if a small state is unable to develop adequate funds and physical resources for its far-flung areas, the result will be inadequate quality of public services in the newly formed state. Further, the creation of one new state will lead to the demand for creation of other new states. Not only that, linguistic homogeneity has not proven to be effective in keeping the states integrated, like in the case of Bihar, UP, and Madhya Pradesh.