Right time to set up 2nd States Re-organisation Commission

Rev Dr PBM Basaiawmoit *

The Centre's decision to grant the Telengana State which has been a long felt need raised way back in the mid 50s during the 1st States Re-organisation Commission set up for re-organising States within the Indian Union according to linguistic lines. That exercise remains incomplete but we will come to it later.

In deciding to create Telengana State out of Andhra Pradesh, probably a right decision from different perspectives and needs but it is against the spirit of the 1953-56 States Re-Organisation Commission (SRC) and does injustice to the people of Eastern Maharashtra who simultaneously with the Telegu speaking people of Telengana region had been clamouring for Vidarbha State.

Jambuwantrao Dhote former Lok Sabha MP of Yavatmal, a leading figure in the 70s for Vidarbha State was assured by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that the issue will be taken care of but till date, finds no mention that such an aspiration will be realised and political parties in Maharashtra, except for the Shiv Sena, are neither here nor there on granting Vidarbha State. For one who is not a permanent resident of Vidarbha or Marathwada regions but had spent five years in Yavatmal as a student, I cannot vouchsafe on the present state of affairs but the undercurrent is strong and the spirit of discontent and disillusion, pervades.

The decision to create Telengana State has encouraged the clamour for creation of more States, similar to that of a dormant volcano, becoming alive, particular, in the North East, viz. the demand for creating of Bodoland State, Karbi Anglong & Dima Hasao State, Khasi State, Garo State, Gorkhaland, Kamatapur. Earlier, during the BSP dispensation, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly had passed a resolution to create three more States out of present UP. There may be undercurrents in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and others.

Therefore, it is opportune that the a 2nd States Re-organisation Commission be set up at the very earliest which would include terms of reference of the earlier SRC, since, as that work to create linguistic states remains incomplete. In this connection, it is not size and population which matters but the identity, the resources naturally available for sustainable development and sustainable livelihood, the aptitude for being industrious and the potential for transparent and good governance are to be taken into serious account.

"Our minerals, streams, rivers, roadside lands, landscapes, animals, hills are being encroached and misused" is what one friend had emailed to me a couple of days ago. And when people resist such attempts by the State, they are categorise as being anti-national and security forces are sent to quell such voices of dissent.

Delivery systems in a very large populated democratic set up like India, i.e. both in size and population are more like mirages in the desert with no near enough signs of meeting the needs and aspirations of the people intended for. Representative democracy alone has been found in the last 66 years of India's independence to be a far cry from expectations of the people and has resulted in a gaping dichotomy between state and people which should have not been there at all and the outcome is that the people are looked upon as enemy of the state and vice versa.

For democracy to work, it has to be both representative and participatory whereby the voice in the margins must be heard and space must equally be provided for all sections of the people - gender, youth, of different abilities, rural and urban and without caste, class and religious distinctives coming into play for selective and prejudiced delivery in the social and service sectors of governance.

Smaller states can meet this deficit where the aforementioned can be met and implemented through the bottoms up planning with the concerned stakeholders' prior and informed consent and adopting an economic policy of the common good instead of promoting state and/ private capitalism and it will be the responsibility of the Central Government to mentor and provide access for a level playing field within the Indian Union and promote States' produce and production, skills and entrepreneurship in the global arena.

As it is, there is much that must be tapped from the latent and unrecognised potential inherent among India's majority population but owing to many limitations and constraints of a bulbous population whereby ethnic and linguistic minority communities are given a go by as also the rural and landless peasantry are more or less, taken for granted, to the general public, apparently, it appears that India is directionless though high sounding policies are announced periodically and laws enacted while for economic stability and progress, dependent on foreign investment.

Smaller states will usher in vibrant and dynamic democracy and at the same time, perpetuate federalism with a strong and united Union. Only then will the dictum 'unity in diversity' become a reality and the mosaic of India's plurality, language and cultural diversity will be woven intrinsically for emotional and patriotic cohesion as a nation of integrated ethnic, linguistic and cultural nationalities.

This will be a major course correction so as to be on the right path of a thriving democracy and the undercurrents of sub-nationalism, parochialism as well, the attempted imposition of homogeneity in a multicultural society will be stifled and instead, national integration will be the order of the day.

However, with the creation of smaller states out of various compulsions - linguistic, administrative, etc., it would be appropriate that pre-empted preventive measures should be prescribed in that the same deficits become inherited baggage as my friend had opined that for his people to reach the State capital it takes between 11 and 12 hours to travel by road and reach owing to appalling road conditions lack of proper infrastructure development.