Posts filed under ‘Demand of Koshal state’
Smaller States
Following is a report from the Swarajya Magazine:
How much nicer it would be if Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, etc, are split into smaller governable provinces.
This won’t hurt to say with the Bihar elections concluded and the key Uttar Pradesh polls not due till 2017. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh need further subdivision to smaller states having 20 or so Lok Sabha seats. The principle needs extension to other large states as Maharashtra and West Bengal. Tamil Nadu with fewer than 40 seats may be border-line but division won’t harm.
Divisions will be solidly resisted by the political class and especially by regional politicians. Bihar politicians did not easily give up Jharkhand. Its mineral assets were stripped and cashed before every election. Nor was Uttarakhand peacefully carved out of Uttar Pradesh. At the time, the leaderless Uttarakhand agitation seemed destined to fail. The formation of Telangana was long overdue. Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mamata Bannerjee, etc, will defy fractionation of their states. But smaller states are inescapable.
Smaller states are easier to govern and develop. They may seem unstable from having too few legislators but Manohar Parrikar made an example of Goa with his unvaried thrust to economic growth and development which brought political stability to the state. There is every reason to believe that smaller states fashioned from UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu will follow Goa’s stable pattern. In any case, they will each have two to three times more assembly members than Goa.
State elections are consuming too much national time and energies. Frequent elections and the negativities they generate is something all parties should get together and minimize. The damage caused to the national psyche is enormous. But super-sized states and their overweighted politics are also hurting national growth and cohesion. Bihar A and Bihar B with 20 Lok Sabha seats each would consume far less election time and exhaust the nation in half of a united behemoth with 40 seats. Uttar Pradesh divided into three entities will cease having a disproportionate influence on national politics. It is disconcerting that it controls a seventh of the Lok Sabha.
Wouldn’t smaller states come at a cost of a strengthened Centre? That is not so terrible. All the same, the Congress era of sacking state governments at will is over. The Supreme Court is intervening in cases of contentious assembly confidence votes where the speaker is biased. Information transfer is also so fast and far-reaching that a state deliberately neglected by the Centre has a powerful weapon of public opinion to fight back. Public opinion overwhelmingly supports economic growth and development. So the fears of a wilful Centre may be put to rest. But smaller states will definitely mean that they cannot use size to obstruct the national narrative of growth and development. India on the whole will become more governable and amenable to the rule of law.
If a spirited campaign gets underway now, perhaps the country will see more numbers of smaller states with better futures in the years to come. Politics in the states will also become less about power for power’s sake than good governance.
This piece was originally published at newsinsight.net and has been republished here with permission.
Western Odisha bandh today demanding special Koshal state
Following is a report from http://odishasuntimes.com/2015/08/26/12-hr-koshal-bandh-affects-life-in-10-western-odisha-dists/
More than 10 western Odisha districts are observing a 12-hour bandh today demanding separate statehood for the Koshal region in response to a call given by the Koshal State Coordination Committee (KSCC).
As a consequence of the bandh, normal life was disrupted in the morning at some places in western districts.
While shops, government and private establishments, schools and colleges remained closed, agitators stopped movement of trains at some stations putting commuters in difficulty. The bandh had an effect in Balangir, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Rourkela, Bargarh, Deogarh, Subarnapur, Nuapada and Kalahandi.
The bandh call was given by the KSCC comprising representatives of organizations of 10 western Odisha districts.
In Sundargarh, shops, government and private establishments, schools and colleges remained closed while movement of traffic was disrupted in this mineral rich district. With dumpers and trucks remaining off the road,s transportation of minerals has come to a standstill.
Agitators owing allegiance to Koshal Kranti Dal (KKD) force closed some government offices which were open by picketing in front of them.
A large number of policemen have been deployed in the district headquarters town to maintain law and order. Police has arrested 30 members of the KKD in Sundargarh district.
“In 1936 and 1948, the political leaders of Odisha got our land merged with the state through a conspiracy. We are demanding a separate state as per the provisions of Article 2 and 3 of the Constitution,” Pramod Kumar Mishra a leader of the Koshal movement in Balangir had said in a statement on Tuesday.
Formation of a separate state is the only solution to the problems like regional imbalance, discrimination in education, employment, industrialization and development, he had added.
On Saturday, activists of Koshal movement took out a motorbike rally at Bargarh from Samalei Temple in the city through Bheden and Chiplima before culminating at the Maa Samalei Temple in Sambalpur to sensitize people for separate state.
Koshal movement: rally on August 26th
Following is a report from the Sambad:
A research paper on Koshal state demand by Artatrana Gochhayat
Following is screenshot of the paper:
NaMo is aware of the Koshal state issue
Following is a report from the Sambad:
Benefits of a small state: centre okays IIT, IIM, 3 central universities for Seemandhra
Following is a PTI report taken from TOI:
NEW DELHI: The HRD ministry has given its nod for an IIT, an IIM and three central universities among other institutes for the Seemandhra region which has witnessed widespread resentment over the Centre’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
The ministry has conveyed its decision to the home ministry which had forwarded representations made by different stakeholders to it earlier in response to the GoM on Telangana inviting suggestions on bifurcation of the state.
The decision would be placed before the GoM for consideration, sources in the Ministry said.
The ministry has also cleared an IISER and an IIIT for the region.
The move is aimed at striking a balance between the two regions – Telangana and Seemandhra – as far as establishment of premier institutes are concerned, though the end objective is to ensure that students derive maximum benefit, they said.
Rough estimate suggests an investment in the range of Rs 6000 to Rs 7000 crore for establishment of the institutes in the Seemandhra region.
The ministry’s decision assumes significance as the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh will leave the Seemandhra region without any of the elite higher educational institutes which are mostly concentrated in Hyderabad in the Telangana region.
HRD minister M M Pallam Raju represents the Kakinanda constituency in Seemandhra.
In their representation, various stakeholders had suggested that all central institutions in Seemandhra should be backed by a bill and all national parties should sign it.
“Most of the highly developed educational institutions are going to the state of Telangana. The Centre should immediately grant the above said institutions and they should come into operation within a year,” the representations said.
Views of legislators from western Odisha on “Kosal state” and “Kosli language”
Following reports are from the Sambad:
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 