Socio-economic impact on newly formed states is a complex issue. While there are some positive sides to the change, there are certain negative implications as well. From passionate debates regarding the current formation of Telangana to the discourse after states like Jharkhand and Chattisgarh were established, the question that tends to rise is the impact on socio-economic matters

1. Political and Socio Economic
impact of New State Formation: A
study on TS&AP
M.Kamraju
 P.hD Scholar (Geography)
 Centre for Economic and Social Studies
 Hyderabad

2. Introduction
 Socio-economic impact on newly formed states is a
complex issue.
 While there are some positive sides to the change,
there are certain negative implications as well.
 From passionate debates regarding the current
formation of Telangana to the discourse after states
like Jharkhand and Chattisgarh were established, the
question that tends to rise is the impact on socio-
economic matters.

3.  While forming new states can have certain advantages,
it is important to research the economic, social and
political ramifications before making any changes that
can create a bigger problem than the solutions they
present.
 Sometimes, what looks good on paper turns out very
differently in reality and there are many issues that
crop up once state boundaries are redrawn.

4.  Coastal Andhra Pradesh was able to get water from
canals for irrigation from the Godavari and Krishna
rivers.
 But Telengana has now garnered the water rights.
 This leaves coastal Andhra with the difficulty of
solving the water scarcity that will now arise.


5.  Revenue generation also becomes an issue. Coastal
Andhra may not be able to run the state due to
insufficient funds, as Hyderabad has been separated
from it.
 Hyderabad is also a thriving commercial centre and
youngsters from coastal Andhra will now be deprived
of job opportunities within their state

6. Study area

7. Life after Divorce of AP&TS
 The divorce metaphor can be extended further.
 Telangana is indeed the mother of Hyderabad, but
Coastal Andhra cannot claim the status of being the
biological father.
 Rather, that status should go to the erstwhile State of
Hyderabad.

8.  However, coastal Andhra can claim to be the second
husband that in fact invested in the education and
professional growth of the child and, like all such
stepfathers, would like to be given some credit for it.
 The mother may have been given the child’s custody,
but whatever her differences with the father, because
of which the divorce in fact came to be, she should
concede that the father too played a role in the child’s
growth, and so may be deserving of more than mere
visiting rights.

9. Expectations vs. sullenness
 Spending time in Hyderabad, in the run-up to the first
anniversary of the formation of the two new States, I
am struck by the fundamental change in mood from a
year ago.
 Last summer, Telangana was gripped by a wave of
excitement and enthusiasm, while Coastal Andhra
sunk into deep despair and anger.

10.  The mood in metropolitan Hyderabad was marked by
a mix of hope and anxiety. One year on, the most
striking feature of the city’s mood is its utter
normality. Life goes on.
 However, both Chief Ministers have a problem. In
Telangana, KCR’s problem is similar to that of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi — to meet the unrealistically
high expectations generated among enthusiastic
voters.

11.  In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu
Naidu has a different problem.
 He has had to lift the spirits of a sullen and deeply
dispirited people who view the erstwhile State’s
bifurcation as betrayal.

12.  While KCR tries to deal with unrealistic expectations
by promoting fancy ideas of real estate development
that may threaten Hyderabad’s green spaces,
 Mr. Naidu has sought to engineer enthusiasm for the
new State by inducting Singapore as a partner in the
building of a modern capital, Amaravathi, and urging
his people to “Look East” and join the Asian growth
miracle.

13. Bifurcation and political impact
 The real problem for both Chief Ministers has been
the terms on which the Union government settled
their divorce.
 An octogenarian civil servant who lived through the
erstwhile State’s formation, was involved in the
trifurcation of the old Hyderabad state and has a deep
understanding of the developmental challenges facing
both States, is critical of the manner in which the
Congress Party leadership and the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government handled the State’s
bifurcation.

14.  It is the callousness of the bifurcation process more
than the bifurcation itself that has sunk the fortunes
of the Congress in both States.
 Indeed, the bifurcation of other States, like Madhya
Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was handled more
competently because the government of the day was
not seeking immediate political benefit from it, the
way the Congress Party tried to in Telangana

15.  While normal life has not been rudely disturbed in
Hyderabad, despite initial concern about the sectarian
rhetoric that accompanied bifurcation, governmental
systems have been in disarray and slow to settle down.
 The contrast between the normality of life of most
people and the confusion that marks the functioning
of both State governments draws attention to the
incompetence of those who drafted the Andhra
Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, writing it more like
an election manifesto than an amendment to the
Constitution.

16.  In the event, Telugus across their administrative divide
voted the Congress out of power.
 In Andhra Pradesh, the Congress, decimated in last
May’s elections, has been unable to revive itself.


17.  While prepared for this reaction in coastal Andhra, the
Congress was not prepared for the disdain that the
Telangana voter showed it.
 The new State gave the entire credit for its formation
to KCR and his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS),
denying the Congress the fruits of its duplicity in
dealing with the Telugus.

18. Tapping opportunity
 While politicians will play their games, the people of
both States would like to see the economy regain
momentum. For this to happen, both Chief Ministers
should be less obsessed with building/rebuilding their
respective State capitals, suppress their individual egos
and focus on their State’s overall development.

19.  Erstwhile Andhra Pradesh was debilitated by the fact
that it had only one major urban centre, Hyderabad,
around which most business activity was centred.
 Bifurcation should be used as an opportunity to
develop other urban centres in both States like
Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Kurnool,
in Andhra Pradesh, and Warangal, Karimnagar and
Nizamabad in Telangana.

20.  he construction of a six-lane Hyderabad-Warangal
highway and high-speed rail connectivity between
Hyderabad and the ports of Andhra Pradesh can
facilitate the industrialisation of the “Ruhr of Deccan”
— Telangana’s eastern districts — and the growth of
Warangal and Karimnagar as new urban centres.

21.  While TRS leaders are presently seeking to reassure
investors about the future of Hyderabad, having
unnerved many with their rhetoric in the past, the
focus of the Telangana leadership has to be on the
overall development of the State and not just of
Hyderabad.
 On the other hand, Mr. Naidu should not be seen as
neglecting the Rayalaseema region in his enthusiasm
to build a new metropolis across the Krishna.