Response to Your Comments on “School Education”
1) What is the source of 33 crore rupees shown as balance of funds?
I’ve scanned the copy of the news paper I have from from June 16th 1968:
(please download and view it in an image editor for better resolution)
2) Investments in Hyderabad from other regions
This should be welcomed. Every developed country welcomes those that want to establish businesses in their cities/states with open arms. Even A.P. welcomes investments from other states and countries.
3) Discrimination in irrigation projects
The most controversial aspect of the current separatist movement is canal irrigation. Despite the tens of thousands of crores that government invested in this area, since the formation of the state, our government succeeded in adding a mere 3.3 lakh hectares to canal irrigation as of 2006-07. Of these 3.3 lakh hectares, 1.6 lakh hectares are in Nizam Telangana, 1.3 in Kosta, and 39 thousand hectares in Seema. Now, compare that with the 14 lakh hectares brought under irrigation using tube-wells. Please note that I am not talking about ayacut area, as that does not mean much, because we can build all the canals we want, but if there is no water they are useless. We have a canal going through our lands in Nalgonda and we haven’t seen a drop of water in it till today. I am talking about actual area under canal irrigation as published in the Statistical Abstract published by the government.
We can argue till the cows come home about how projects are favoring one region or the other. Bottom line, government failure in implementing projects is across the regions and the data does not support that one region was neglected at the expense of other. Also, the current separatist movement precedes Jalayagnam when TRS aligned with the Congress.
Lastly, I personally am not in favor of Polavaram as I think the investment doesn’t justify the returns it will yield. A large number of people are being displaced due to Polavaram. Also, there are credible scientists arguing that it will have the same silt problem that Sriramsagar is having- which is typical to Godavari basin. Lastly, if we build Polavaram, we will lose some of the Krishna water to other states as per Bachawat ruling.
If there is one lesson we can learn from 5 decades of mis-investments into irrigation, mega irrigation projects are a colossal failure in terms of return on investment. The best mode of irrigation is tanks and unfortunately they continue to deteriorate by day.
4) “Because, both the major rivers krishna and godavari flow through telangana, the region has the right to first utlize its share of water. This is the rule everywhere in the world”.
No, this NOT an international norm. If Karnataka and Maharashtra adopt this logic, they can use all the river waters they want. Bachawat did extensive study on this subject. He studied both the American and the International models. The internationally accepted rule is “protection of existing uses”. In other words, if there is a project already built, you cannot take water from that project and give it to other projects. Karnataka has 43.7% of the Krsihna river catchment area, while our state has 29.4%. Despite it, Bachawat awarded 700 TMC to Karnataka and 800 TMC to Andhra Pradesh.
5) Potti Sriramulu
Amarajeevi’s fast was not for Madras. His death was the culmination of 50 years of Telugu’s struggle for a state. I delved into this in my book. Yes, people during his funeral shouted “Madras Manade’, but that is looking at the history through a narrow prism.
6) Raavi Narayan Reddy, Komaram Bheem and other legendaries not in history books
Rudrama Devi is a Telangana icon and can be found in all history books. I remember reading about Andhra Pitamaha Madapati Hanumanth Rao, Suravaram Pratap Reddy, Sarojani Naidu and others when in school. I haven’t seen an objective study showing discrimination by region in history books. If that in fact is the case, let’s fight for it- separate state is not the solution. I personally am very fond of Raavi Narayan Reddy and believe that he should be sited prominently in our school books.
“Veera Telangana Naadhi, Veru Telangana Kaadhu”
– Raavi Narayan Reddy
Save Andhra Pradesh!
Nalamotu Chakravarthy
http://www.facebook.com/people/@/226703252445
http://www.amazon.com/My-Telugu-Roots-Telangana-Bhasmasura/dp/0984238603/
Chakravarthy garu,
Great rebuttal. Thanks for posting this.
Re. water allocation – as a licensed professional civil engineer, I can assure you that the demand for water allocation based on catchment area (referred to as watershed in US) is the most ridiculous argument I have ever heard. First of all, it is akin to every person who owns a piece of land “demanding” the rain water fell on his ground to be his and his own.
Second, catchment area is a merely a geographical statistic. Catchment area is not proportional to the rainfall it receives. I am very sure that Thar desert is also a catchment area to some big river. It may be feasible to irrigate entire Thar desert. However, it will come at an enormous cost. Deccan Plateau, by very definition, is at a higher elevation. Forget about the fact if this region is arid or dry. I am not sure about the engineering feasibility of irrigating the areas in this plateau. There is only a limited extent to which humans can defy the nature. There is a reason why rivers flow down the slope and to the seas.
Third, as you correctly pointed out, if Maharashtra and Karnataka make a similar demand and get it (for the sake of argument, assume that it is possible to make such an allocation), there is not much water left for Andhra Pradesh people to fight about.
Furthermore, I would like to know if these separatists are making “DEMANDS” for excess flood water also to be allocated to Telangana districts thereby easing the flood-burden in the delta districts?
Let me repeat your slogan.
Save Andhra Pradesh.