Rich-poor disparity matter of concern in Telangana
Subodh Ghildiyal, TNN, Jan 2, 2011, 03.31am IST
NEW DELHI: In a setback to the campaign for Telangana, the Srikrishna committee has dismissed the argument of economic backwardness for carving out a separate state, arguing that the region compared well with other regions of Andhra Pradesh.
The option of statehood for Telangana is low on its list of priorities. The Srikrishna panel, after a detailed analysis of district annual reports across regions, found that Telangana scored high on income generation, electricity, water and agriculture, lagging only in investment in education, with literacy rate lower than that in Coastal Andhra.
The estimate for Telangana has been prepared without including Hyderabad which, as capital, has seen high growth and investment.
The much-awaited report is set to be a dampener for proponents of statehood who have cited economic backwardness as the rationale for seeking division of Andhra.
The panel, making a clutch of recommendations to settle the debate for bifurcation, has recommended that "development" be the basis for decision-making in future.
The report will be made public on January 6 during an all-party meeting called by Union home minister P Chidambaram.
Sources said the report states that Telangana's growth story has been positive, with the region clocking a "high rate of growth" to not just catch up with Coastal Andhra but even overtake the latter on certain parameters.
The area of concern in Telangana is the disparity between the rich and the poor. While those with landed assets are progressing further, the poor are continuing to fall behind. The state of SC/STs and minorities requires more attention. The report, it is learnt, has found that Telangana scores high on "income generation" , largely because of higher "diversity of income" as compared to Coastal or Rayalaseema regions. The "diversity of income" sits in contrast with the largely agrarian economy of the Coastal region.
The per capita consumption of electricity in Telangana is higher vis-a-vis other regions. It is also better off with regard to availability of water. The farm sector in Telangana seems to be doing well with high productivity. An evidence of good farm output is the growth of rice mills in the region. While Telangana has been a water-scarce pocket, the study has found that the shortage is being made up with groundwater. Irrigation projects are also coming up to supplement local requirements.
Read more: Rich-poor disparity matter of concern in Telangana - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rich-poor-disparity-matter-of-concern-in-Telangana/articleshow/7203360.cms#ixzz19rOFVg1q
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