Strikes and Bandhs on regular interval creating nuisance , JUST IN PRINT , Sept 16 - 30 , 2013

According to Wikipedia, "Bandh, originally a Hindi word meaning 'closed,' is a form of protest used by political activists in some countries like India and Nepal. During a bandh, a political party or a community declares a general strike. Often bandh means that the community or political party declaring a bandh expect the general public to stay in their homes and strike work. The main affected are shopkeepers who are expected to keep their shops closed and the public transport operators of buses and cabs are supposed to stay off the road and not carry any passengers. There have been instances of large metro cities coming to a standstill. Bandhs are powerful means for civil disobedience. Because of the huge impact that a bandh has on the local community, it is much feared as a tool of protest. The Supreme Court of India tried to 'ban' bandhs in 1998, but political parties still organize them."

Everything is supposed to be closed on a day when a bandh is ‘called’ for. In college terms it’s similar to mass-bunking the class due to a problem with a lecturer. The reason I’m mentioning this is whether declaring bandhs justifies the cause howsoever noble?

In a country like India, everyday every single person has to deal with a lot of chaos, may it be getting into overcrowded trains or buses, or a power cut or a dead telephone line or ‘no network’ or problem with water supply, or the recent price rise. And here come historic days like these where a bandh is called adding to the list of our never-ending chaos.

To achieve our mortal ends, we have developed an obnoxious habit of proceeding to strikes, bandhs or some other means having crippling impact on the health of this country at a stage when she is passing through a very critical state of affairs. 

One minute bandh or strike can render the loss of hundreds of crores to the nation but we, despite calling ourselves true Indians, have never realized it simply because we are slave to the dictates of selfishness at the cost of the interest of nation. 

If strikes, "WE WANT JUSTICE" slogans, screaming, smashing cars, setting buses on fire, terrorising the common people solved problems, today wouldn’t be in the computer era. Even 64 years after the British left we are following the same approach that we used to get independence, but against whom!!? World changed, people changed, generations passed on, but our ways of approaching a situation like this didn’t. Funny, is it not, in a country like ours where there is no dearth of intellects and smart heads, a meaningful constitution, we are still made fun of, because we don’t know how to handle conflicts, problems or confusions. At a higher level we are amazing, take for example Mumbai growing out of 26/11, but at the fundamental level we are ridiculous.

In India the connotation of patriotism or nationalism has undergone a reverse change after Independence when the destiny of this poor nation was handed over to the native political vampires who sucked the blood of their motherland ruthlessly. By taking a resort to Strikes, where official work is suspended, cause not only the scathing inconvenience to the poor public but cause practical harm to the country itself and the elements, involved in such subversive activities, cease to be the true Indians and deserve to be declared anti-national calling for stringent punishment. 

Everyone who acts contrary to the interests of the nation whether he is a teacher or a lawyer or shopkeeper is an unwanted component of the system and hence deserves either to be set in order or to be dumped behind the bar. The market observing 'bandh', the customers stand subjected to the hard times; the doctors being on strike, the patients suffer badly and the lawyers being on the protest, the poor clients beat their heads against the walls and rub their hands. This is height of inclemency and ethical degradation. Why to go for all this non-sense after all? Don't we have some other means to rail-up the system? Our constitution places its people at the top and empowers them to pull down the system in elections if it is not functioning well. But we don't do that simply because during elections we fall a prey to the ills of nepotism, favoritism and several other petty considerations and directly or indirectly we create the miasmic system. Very recently the Bar associations all over the country proceeded on strike and their stance, for no bigger cause, culminated into the emergence of unremitting sufferings of many clients.

Most of the clients in Indian Courts are quite crest fallen and dejected because their cases were being adjourned sine die by the Honourable judges in the event of the non- availability of the Defense Counsels concerned.

At least the privately paid lawyers should have no right to go for strikes at the cost of those clients who have paid handsome amounts of money for the timely disposal of their cases. Point to be considered is that if the government impinges the rights of Advocates, the later should initiate some legal action against it. 

Their resort to strike is not going to make any big difference to the government. It rather adversely affects the poor clients who are otherwise waiting since long for justice. Most of the thankless souls feel that the best way to draw the government's attention towards their grievances or to protest against any move of the government is to call a bandh, strike or taking out procession in the streets. 

To strike silently in a civilized way or to come on the streets shouting and voicing anti-government slogans creating noise pollution is all the same for me because in both the gestures and styles of protesting is hidden a big loss of the country. Bandhs are a huge blow to the State's economy. This apart, normal life is thrown out of gear by these bandhs. 

Economic loss due to bandh (in crore):

13,000 according to FICCI
10,000 according to Assoc ham
3,000 according to CII

Maharashtra (estimated economic loss Rs 1,000 crore), Karnataka (Rs 725 crore), West Bengal (Rs 250 crore), Kerala, Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 150 crore each) are among the worst-hit states. Though the stock market remained open, trading volume at BSE was down 52% to Rs 2,857crore against daily average of Rs 6,000 crore. Rail operations, especially in east, severely affected with 78 trains, 60 mail and 18 passenger, cancelled and 340 disrupted. At least 96 flights were cancelled across India, with at least 47 departures being cancelled in Mumbai alone. Over 62 lac commercial vehicles remained off road, according to trucker unions.

In 1997, the Kerala High Court ruled in a landmark judgment that forced bandhs were illegal. Let me go a step further to say that even peaceful and willing bandhs are also harmful. By cutting both the ways, the nation is propelled into the abyss of multi-dimensional crisis. The decision was upheld in 1998 by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the then Chief Justice of India J S Verma. 

Again in 2010 one of the high courts declared bandhs "illegal and unconstitutional" as these violate the fundamental right of citizens. But political parties and organizations continue to call bandhs, disrupting public life and trampling the fundamental rights of citizens. The state governments also refrain from taking suo moto action against such elements as it does not want to rub off any organization the bad way for the reason best known to them. The governments of all states as well as the central power-house must try to understand the implicit dangers of these strikes by the responsible members of the system and enact some stringent law to stem the tide of this melodrama if, at all, the state and national mechanisms are serious about the well being of the common people. By not coming up with a strategic solution to the problem, the governments are in a way, encouraging these bands of strikers. 

It must be noted that in a rather laconic ruling, the Supreme Court of India had banned bandhs in 1998. Nearly a decade later, in 2007, the Supreme Court in another ruling had clarified that bandhs or complete shutdowns were illegal but strikes and hartals were not.

"You don't seem to understand the difference between bandhs and strikes. Bandhs are illegal [but] not strikes, which are only a way of raising objections," the court had maintained, dismissing the petition of a Chennai resident who had sought action against political parties that had called a "general strike" across Tamil Nadu on February 4, 2007 to press for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

Acknowledging the distinction between bandhs and strikes, it would be logical to deduce that some of the biggest Indian revolutions of the last century Gandhi's non-cooperation movement, the salt strike and Quit India movements were strikes and not bandhs. The 1974 railway strike in India which went on for 20 days and had 17 million workers participate in it, was clearly a bandh and thus illegal according to the SC ruling which came into effect later. Around the same time in 1974, J P Narayan led the students' movement in Bihar which gradually developed into a popular people's movement known as the Bihar movement. It was during this movement that JP gave a call for peaceful Total Revolution. JP's crusade against the "imperialistic" Indira Gandhi, which was to lead to Emergency and subsequently the formation of the first non-Congress government in India, employed a mix of strikes and bandhs. The most interesting feature about the JP movement was that here was a Gandhian who had participated in at least two of Gandhi's biggest mass movements against the British now trying to replicate a similar mass movement against a Congress government in independent India.

Strikes by doctors, lawyers, teachers or any other segment of the system is, in fact, a heinous crime and should be curbed with the rod of iron. The government should be keen on good governance and not exempt itself of any responsibility to counter this culture. 

Most importantly, organizations should realize that a 24-hour or a 72-hour bandh can never be a solution to their problems. It, on the contrary, creates more hurdles on the way of this developing nation which needs our loyalty on the practical lines. Mere lip-patriotism and bare slogans are not going to give anything solid to this country already suffering due to our incompetence, veiled disloyalty and unethical attitude.

Demands should be placed in other ways. Strikes and bandhs should not be encouraged by any political party. Bandhs and strikes are not the solution. A nation that is undergoing rapid growth cannot afford such luxury, especially when the bells of recession are ringing everywhere.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur,Odisha

The Third sex – An overview ( JUST IN PRINT ) SEPT ,1 - 15 - 2013

The words "hijra", "khusra" or "khwajasara" make us have goosebumps, we ridicule them, crack disgusting jokes questioning there sexual identity. We never realizing what are those poor creatures facing, a crises that excommunicates them from there family, loved ones, education from all the major social spheres of life. we never ask this question "ARE WE DOING JUSTICE TO THE THIRD GENDER?" 

The eunuchs or hijras have been an integral part of Indian society since time immemorial. An estimated 5–6 million eunuchs live in India.In modern day India, eunuchs often live a ghetto-like existence, in their own communities. They make a living by dancing and celebrating in births and marriages but often have to resort to other means to make both ends meet. Yet, the community is beginning to make a mark in the national mainstream as well. A member of the eunuch community, Shabnam Mausi, was elected as a member of the legislative assembly in 1999. Others have been elected as mayors and municipality presidents.

The term eunuch – hijra – that we commonly use to mean a ‘sexless’ person has been defined in the dictionary as a castrated man. A hermaphrodite is a creature possessing both the male and female organs. A transvestite is a person who chooses a sex other than the one he/she is born as. Facts tell us that neutralized neutral-sex persons are a rarity. The hijra population in India has a well-defined group structure and regional affiliations with a group head. Though Balucharaji is their Goddess and they revere Ambe Mata, there are religious demarcations. Most of them identify with the female sex. Within the eunuch community, incest is absent. Most of them have worked as prostitutes at one time or another.  Research shows that some persons labeled hijra in India are both prostitutes and celebrants of rites of passage.




Hijras trace their origins to myths in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Rama, while leaving for the forest upon being banished from the kingdom for 14 years, turns around to his followers and asks all the `men and women' to return to the city. Among his followers the hijras alone do not feel bound by this direction and decide to stay with him. Impressed with their devotion, Rama sanctions them the power to confer blessings on people on auspicious occasions like childbirth and marriage, and also at inaugural functions. This set the stage for the custom of badhai in which hijras sing, dance and confer blessings.

The legend in the Mahabharata is that Aravan, the son of Arjuna and Nagakanya, offers to be sacrificed to Goddess Kali to ensure the victory of the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra war. The only condition that he made was to spend the last night of his life in matrimony. Since no woman was willing to marry one who was doomed to be killed, Krishna assumes the form of a beautiful woman called Mohini and marries him. The hijras of Tamil Nadu consider Aravan their progenitor and call themselves aravanis.

 Hindu epics, puranas and mythology are replete with the courageous feats of true hermaphrodites who, within these scriptures, have always been referred to as the ‘third sex.’ “But after the Arab attack in the eighth century, castration of males in order to put them on specific jobs began on a large scale” writes S. N. Ranade . Centuries ago, guards to king’s harems were castrated to ensure that no co-habitation between royal wives and guards took place. This led to the creation of the ‘third sex’ – the castrated eunuchs. But it was not the end of the story. These sexless wonders realized that perversions did exist in society. Many males found them distractingly attractive. And the potential ‘femme fatale’ was born. 

Transgender communities have existed in most parts of the world with their own local identities, customs and rituals. They are called baklas in the Philippines, berdaches among American Indian tribes, serrers in Africa and hijras, jogappas, jogtas, shiv-shaktis and aravanis in South Asia. The hijra community in India, which has a recorded history of more than 4,000 years, was considered to have special powers because of its third-gender status. It was part of a well-established `eunuch culture' in many societies, especially in West Asia, and its members held sanctioned positions in royal courts.

The Eunuchs are deprived of their fundamental rights guaranteed under the part III of the Constitution. Article 5 of the Constitution of India clearly states citizenship as the political status of a person and domicile to his civil rights. A person may be without a home but he cannot be without a domicile and the law must attribute to him the domicile of the country where he was born. This is called the domicile of origin and a person acquires it at his birth . The Supreme Court has also held that citizens include natural persons in the State Trading Corporation case . The Eunuchs in the instant case are citizens of India; still the Eunuchs are deprived of the civil rights guaranteed to the citizens of India. As there is no gender conformity their ability to access the basic civil rights available to all citizens guaranteed under the Constitution are adversely affected.

Article 14 of the Constitution of India provides that “the state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”. In the given case the transgender are deprived of the right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Article 7 of the UN. Declaration of Human Rights provides that “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of law”.

The Indian state policy has not recognized the transgender either as male or female and has failed to recognize hijaras [transgender] as women or man or a third sex. This act of omission on the part of the Government of India has totally deprived the transgender community of several rights which include, right to vote, right to own property, right to marry, right to claim a formal identity through a passport and a ration card, driving license and even employment. 

The Constitution has not made any provisions in determining the sex of the transgender community. But the medical jurisprudence clearly explains the sex determination in doubtful cases can be done with accuracy .

Article 15 of the Constitution of India provides that the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on the grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth. The main purpose of Article 15 is to provide equal civil rights to all the citizens without discrimination on the grounds mentioned under the article. It also provides for the state to make special provisions for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens. Backwardness must be both social and educational, caste cannot be the criteria for the determination of the backward class of people . In the given case the transgender community can be considered as social backward class of people and special provisions can be made by the state for their upliftment, but, no such action is been taken by the Government. This shows the breach of duty that has been casted upon the government by the Constitution of India.

There are about 1.2 million eunuchs residing in India. They are deprived of various human rights like right to vote, right to contest in election, right to marry, right to hold ration card etc. They are deprived of such rights because India recognizes only 2 sexes, that is, male and female , and eunuchs being the third sex are being deprived of exercising their rights as all the fundamental rights are available only to male and female. 

However, when it comes to criminal liability they are not excluded. The courts always include them either under male or female. But in case of civil rights the courts do not consider them as a legal entity. The Constitution of India provides various rights to ‘person’. Person means natural person and artificial person. Natural person includes all human beings and the eunuchs are no doubt from the human race and they must come under the category of natural person. Two Articles under the Constitution of India i.e., Article 15 and Article 16 have used the word ‘sex’ and the term sex include transgender also. The courts have often interpreted the term ‘ sex’ in a narrow sense that is male and female, and have not recognized the third sex, that is the eunuchs, which indeed has resulted in the eunuchs being deprived of the basic civil and human rights such as right to vote . 

This view of law is contrary to the interpretation of the legislature. Before independence there was an act enacted to regulate the activities of the eunuch community. This clearly indicates that they are a legal entity. And also in the statute, wherever the term ‘person’ is defined it has never been specifically mentioned that eunuchs are excluded from the term person. Thus the interpretation of the term ‘sex’ by the courts in India have unfair and not satisfactory thereby violating the rights of the eunuchs.


Article 21 of the Constitution of India states that “no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”. The right to life and personal liberty are inherent in human beings. Thus, Article 21 seeks to protect these inherent rights by prohibiting the state or any person from depriving a person of the right to life or personal liberty except in accordance with a procedure established by law.

The Supreme Court of India has interpreted the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of Constitution of India to include the right to privacy, right to dignity and right to health. The Supreme Court for the first time, recognized that domiciliary visits, which were unauthorized by law violated the personal liberty of individual . In the case in hand the right to privacy of Eunuchs of Sukasthan has been infringed by the state police by arbitrary intrusion into their privacy.

Further, the Constitution requires the rights of the marginalization and unpopular to be protected, even in the face of public disapproval. Mere public preference cannot be a sufficient justification for curtailing a right . Article 21 of the Constitution of India also guards the right to dignity, every citizen of India has a right to live with dignity and through the act of omission on the part of the Government, the Eunuchs have been deprived of their right to dignity, because of non conformity of their sex, they have no access to the rights available to every citizen and it also affects their right to dignity. It is submitted that the states justification on maintenance of public morality for the infringement is not sufficient cause.

Therefore the state is violating the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India in relation to the Eunuchs and the transgender community. It is submitted that the government has a duty cast upon it by the Constitution of India to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens of India, which has to be done by classification of the Eunuchs either under male or female and providing access to all the rights available to every citizen of India.

Hijras (Eunuchs) in India have virtually no safe spaces, not even in their families, where they are protected from prejudice and abuse. The PUCL(K) Report on Human Rights Violations against the Transgender Community has documented the kind of prejudice that hijras face in Bangalore. The report shows that this prejudice is translated into violence, often of a brutal nature, in public spaces, police stations, prisons and even in their homes. The main factor behind the violence is that society is not able to come to terms with the fact that hijras do not conform to the accepted gender divisions. In addition to this, most hijras have a lower middle-class background, which makes them susceptible to harassment by the police. The discrimination based on their class and gender makes the hijra community one of the most disempowered groups in Indian society. The systematic violence that hijras face is reinforced by the institutions such as the family, media and the medical establishments and is given legitimacy by the legal system. The hijras face many sorts of state and societal harassments such as:

Harassment by the police in public places
Harassment at home
Police entrapment
Abuse/harassment at police stations
Rape in jails

The law that is used most to threaten the hijra and kothi communities, as well as the homosexual community in India, is Section 377 of the IPC, which criminalizes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal" even if it is voluntary. In effect, it criminalizes certain kinds of sexual acts that are perceived to be `unnatural'. The law, which has its origin in colonial ideas of morality, in effect presumes that a hijra or a homosexual person is engaging in `carnal intercourse against the order of nature", thus making this entire lot of marginalized communities vulnerable to police harassment and arrest. The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA) of 1956 (amended in 1986), whose stated objective is to criminalize brothel-keeping, trafficking, pimping and soliciting, in reality targets the visible figure of the sex worker and enables the police to arrest and intimidate the transgender sex-worker population.

According to the two main diagnostic systems used in the Indian medical establishment, transsexualism is defined as a `gender identity disorder'. The doctors usually prescribe a sexual reassignment surgery (SRS), which currently resorts to hormone therapy and surgical reconstruction and may include electrolysis, speech therapy and counseling. Surgical construction could include the removal of male sex organs and the construction of female ones. Since government hospitals and qualified private practitioners do not usually perform SRS, many hijras go to quacks, thus placing themselves at serious risk. Neither the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) nor the Medical Council of India (MCI) has formulated any guidelines to be followed in SRS. The attitude of the medical establishment has only reinforced the low sense of self-worth that many hijras have at various moments in their lives.

With every single thing going against the Eunuchs; a notable amount of awareness has also been seen all over the world. Around the world, countries are beginning to recognize the rights of transgender people. In a landmark judgment (Christine Goodwin vs. the United Kingdom, 2002) the European Court of Human Rights declared that the U.K. government's failure to alter the birth certificates of transsexual people or to allow them to marry in their new gender role was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. It said that a test of biological factors could no longer be used to deny recognition legally to the change of gender that a transsexual had undergone. In New Zealand, in New Zealand Attorney General vs. the Family Court at Otahuhu(1994), the court upheld the principle that for purposes of marriage, transsexual people should be legally recognized in their re-assigned sex.

Of  late the Indian hijra community has begun to mobilize themselves through the formation of a collective. Sangama, an organization working with hijras, kothis and sex workers in Bangalore, has played an important role by helping them organize and fight for their rights. Its services include organizing a drop-in centre for hijras and kothis, conducting a series of public rallies and marches, using legal assistance in case of police harassment, and establishing links with other social movements.

The organizations of the hijra community can be seen as constituting a larger movement of sexual minority groups in India. They are challenging the constitutional validity of Section 377 and are organizing a campaign questioning the government's stand that the law should remain. The discrimination and violence that hijras face show that it is high time that both the government and the human rights movement in the country begin to take this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Yet, It is difficult to warm up to this strange creature we meet in the train or on the streets, with exaggerated gestures, a low-cut blouse sans breasts, a voice so raucous and manly and a manner so obscenely revolting that our immediate response is to shy away in disgust. We silently fume at this person’s gumption in demanding – not asking – not requesting – not begging, mind you – some money in exchange for a package deal in blessings – sukh, paisa and beta. But for this strange species of humanity, who happen to be eunuchs more by design than by birth or accident and rarely by choice, nothing is what seems to be. When a section of human beings becomes a cliché of our making, never mind the pressures of our social conditioning, it is time we questioned their claim to be treated only as normal human beings who can love and hate, construct and destroy, as strongly and as powerfully as ordinary mortals can.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur, Odisha

Politics over Smaller States ( JUST IN PRINT ) SEPT 1 - 15 , 2013

There is a demand of smaller states in India. The question arises why ?

Many of the demands for new states in India are based on ethnicity. The most recent of them was the demand for Telangana in Andhra Pradesh. For months the state saw bloodless agitations. The capital Hyderabad was brought to a standstill.

The government set up a committee that came up with seven options. The new point of contention was, who will get Hyderabad? The capital of the Nizam's princely state, the city has seen a lot of development in the last few years and generates a large revenue for the state government. It falls in Telengana region but also has an identity of its own. Home to Urdu-speaking Muslims, the elite and representatives of Hyderabad simply refuse to become part of the economically backward Telangana. They demanded a separate union territory status.

Free India had its first tryst with re-organisation of states in 1956 after the implementation of The States’ Reorganisation Act, which resulted in the formation of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh out of a single unified Punjab. In the subsequent ten years all these three states became the pioneers in making the green revolution successful and managed to show growth rates way better than that of the country as a whole.

There are many advantages and disadvantages in this regard. November 2000, three new states Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Uttaranchal were carved out of three of the biggest states in India, namely Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Focussing on the average growth rate from 2004 to 2008, amazingly, all three new states have grown fabulously fast. Uttarakhand has averaged a growth of 9.31% annually, while Jharkhand and Chattisgarh have managed 8.45% and 7.35% respectively. All three states belong to what was historically called the BIMARU zone, a slough of despond where humans and economy stagnated. Out of this stagnant pool have now emerged highly dynamic states.

Surprisingly, as regions they appear to have contributed much more to the parent states' growth than was apparent.

Post separation, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal's parent, grew by 4.6 per cent against a targeted 7.6 per cent. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh grew by 4.3 per cent against 7 per cent and Bihar grew by 4.7 per cent versus the 6.2 per cent target.

Despite these positive figures favouring smaller states, detractors say only local politicians and their followers benefit from the new-found power, leaving the poor in the lurch.

Jharkhand, while registering the highest growth rate among the new states, is also a good case study of the darker side. Nine years after its formation, widening social disparities have driven many of its people to join the Maoists and its first chief minister along with other politicians have been charged with some of the worst cases of corruption.

The central government exempted industries in Uttarakhand from excise duty, a concession already applicable to other hill states. Many big industries rushed to Uttarakhand for the tax break, giving the state’s growth an artificial boost. Still, Uttarakhand easily outperformed Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir which already enjoyed the tax-exemption. Remember, Uttarakhand was once considered the poorest, most backward part of UP. After statehood, it has become a growth champion.

Uttar Pradesh is a classic example of how small states make better sense in a democracy. In a democracy, communication between the government and the public is very necessary. That is completely out of the question in a state the size of UP. While People of Haryana or Punjab, can go to the capital to air their grievances and return home by evening, whichever part of the state they are in. But if a citizen in western UP were to do the same, he has to travel over 600 km to Lucknow.

In addition to that it’s easier to distribute basic amenities in smaller states. Many surveys show that even though Kerala is smaller but still it is backward than other south Indian states. Progress is best defined by the Human Development Index. Amazingly Kerala has the best HDI among all the south Indian states. Even though the government may not be able to provide many factories or IT jobs but being smaller it was able to provide education, food to its people. Whereas the bigger states like AP, still have many regions where people die of Hunger or lack of shelter.

However, the UPA is caught in its own cobweb over the Telangana now. Endless demands for new smaller states have been raised from various states. Ajit Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal has demanded creation of Harit Pradesh and Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh; the Bodos in Assam are demanding Bodoland; supported by Jaswant Singh the Gorkhas in West Bengal have already raised their voice for creation of separate Gorkhaland in West Bengal. Besides, popular support is being sought to further the demands for separate Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Coorg in Karnataka, and Gondwana in Madhya Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh former Chief Minister Mayawati had given her consent for trifurcation of her state into three smaller political units.  There is Kosal uprising in Odisha too, the people of Western Odisha demand a separate state “ Kosal”. It is a 50 years long battle too.

There are bigger problems too by forming smaller states.

A separate Telangana does not serve any good to the
common man.We have clear examples in the name of Chattisgarh and
Jharkhand. The administration in these two states is facing
considerable stain due to "Red Terror".The state of Jharkhand is
reeling under lack of stable government since its very formation.

A reality check will make things clear to the people.Although a new
state may emerge out of the existing state but the same corrupt
politicians and bureaucrats will govern the state.The very spirit
behind the creation of a new state is lost.

The Telangana agitators should realize the fact that districts like
Srikakulam, Ananthpur,Kurnool,Kadapa are far backward than  the rest of the state.

Development is a collective effort and not a political game.   The basic thing that matters for good governance and administration is "How many heads to shelter and how may mouths to feed" that should be the criterion. No matter how good a system is, with a increase in number of users there is delays and gaps and the system becomes inefficient, incompetent and "Corrupt". 

We are strong when we unite.  When there is unity at micro level the same will reflect at Macro level too.  Go on dividing where will be the unity in diversity. Dividing the resources of the country will have bad results.  Economically also large scale of economies can be achieved when people are unite. The cooperative movement we saw in indian agriculture sector is the best example that we win when we are together.   Hence the country should not divided into smaller states the country should be one as it is in the past and should fight against the evil in the system for its own development for which government should devise a policy and should have a vision. 

Well, in India’s case, statehood has generally been determined by political expediency, not logic. The whole Telegana issue is a very good example of that. If we take the successful example of USA, we see that dividing states on the basis of latitudes and longitudes is more logical.

Although I am unable to find any reasonable conclusion out of this discussion, but a significant part of me believes that division is the road to development, and the way Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand have performed, I find this voice to be gaining ground. For now I can leave with the thought that a United “smaller” States of India is a necessity having its delusions, that some of the “regional separatists” are right in their arguments although they too are driven by greed of power than being moved by the tears of the people concerned. I rest my hope on the Government of India that they will see to every aspect of this case before carving out any state.Even though small states are necessary for a mission like India 2020 to become a success, the reason for demand of new states should only be governance and not a cultural or linguistic one.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur, Odisha.