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TELANGANA, INDIA’S 29TH STATE (with ten districts including Hyderabad and a population of 34 million), finally became a reality with the Central government passing the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014 through the Rajya Sabha on February 20 following unruly protests, pepper spray attacks, repeated disruptions, arguments and adjournments in Parliament. With the Bill set to receive presidential ascent any day, the political impasse that threw the state of Andhra Pradesh (pop. 84 million) into continuous turmoil over the past three and a half years, has come to an end. But with undivided Andhra boasting the largest number of engineering colleges among all states and where educational achievements are highly prized, there’s considerable anxiety about the impact of division of the state on higher education institutions based in Hyderabad, which after a decade will devolve upon Telangana.
Most educationists are of the opinion that the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh (aka Seemandhra) won’t immediately impact the education sector because Hyderabad will remain the common capital of Telangana and Seemandhra for the next ten years. Currently the former Andhra Pradesh hosts 42 universities — 34 state-owned, three Central and five deemed (private). All the three Central universities — University of Hyderabad, Maulana Kalam Urdu University and English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) — as also an IIT (Indian institute of Technology), IIIT (Indian Institute of Information Technology) and NALSAR (National Academy of Legal Studies and Research) are sited in Hyderabad. Of 34 state varsities, 20 are in residuary Andhra Pradesh which comprises the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions (13 districts with a population of 50 million). Moreover, while Telangana has 344 engineering colleges, Seemandhra has 366.
But although as is the case with almost all 28 states of the Indian Union, wholly disproportionate resources and effort have been invested in the development of the state capital, i.e Hyderabad (pop. 8 million), which by Indian standards is a well-developed city with a thriving IT industry and top-ranked education institutions, the open secret is that Hyderabad has been developed into a near-metro by the entrepreneurial skills of ‘outsiders’ from the Rayalseema and coastal Andhra districts. Therefore the ‘loss’ of Hyderabad is likely to precipitate a flight of capital from Telangana and Hyderabad to Ongole in Andhra or Kurnool, one of which will be the new capital of residuary Andhra Pradesh.
“Private education providers dominate higher education in undivided Andhra Pradesh. Therefore middle class students from both states who can pay for professional education are unlikely to be adversely affected by bifurcation. Moreover private education entrepreneurs originally from Seemandhra such as Dr. B.S. Rao (Chaitanya Group), Dr. A. Narayana (Narayana Group) and L. Radiah (Vignan Group) who have a strong presence in Telangana and Hyderabad, are likely to discern an opportunity to start schools and colleges in Seemandhra in a big way. The new government of Seemandhra/Andhra Pradesh which will get a special financial package to develop the new state will also promote government colleges and universities within ten years when Hyderabad is the joint capital. These will cater to poor and lower middle class households. Therefore in sum, bifurcation is likely to give a big boost to education in which undivided Andhra Pradesh is a national leader, in both states,” says Prof. C. Subba Rao, former chairman of the State Council of Higher Education.
This viewpoint which is essentially an argument for smaller, administratively manageable states, more likely to pay attention to social development issues — public education and health — is endorsed by Prof. M.C. Das, a prominent Vijayawada-based educationist. “Division always comes with a certain amount of pain but the people of Seemandhra are proactive and entrepreneurial. In undivided Andhra, there was excessive focus on Hyderabad. Now good quality higher educational institutions will mushroom in the new Andhra Pradesh which in turn will give a boost to economic development. Education institutions apart, residuary Andhra Pradesh is handicapped by the lack of hospitals, infrastructure, industry which are all concentrated in Hyderabad, a city developed by people from all regions of undivided Andhra Pradesh. The promised special package from the Central government combined with the proven enterprise of the people of the Seemandhra region is certain to start a construction boom in the new state. Bifurcation is likely to prove a blessing in disguise,” says Das.
Aruna Ravikumar (Hyderabad)