Do small states really deliver? If Uttarakhand is an example of a small state experiment that failed (in education, Himachal Pradesh has a better record than Uttarakhand; in infrastructure-creation Haryana has a better record than most other small states including Uttarakhand), Telangana is a shining example of a small state that can flourish socially, economically as well as politically. The newest small state is doing unbelievably well and deserves to be watched.
To be honest, hopes for Telangana were quite slim when it was created, for two reasons: It was born out of a bitter power struggle and had to share everything with its twin, Seemandhra; second, those who knew the people who were going to run the state had extremely low expectations from these leaders. When asked what kind of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) would make, the response of an IAS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre was succinct. "Useless fellow," he said briefly before returning to whatever he was doing.
KCR was an MLA from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for four terms. In 1999, he was close to getting a minister's post but was pipped to the post by former Central Bureau of Investigation director Vijaya Rama Rao, who contested the 1999 elections and became an MLA. "KCR might not have taken up the cudgels on behalf of Telangana if he had become a minister. Anyway, he left the party to form the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), ostensibly to right the wrongs done to Telangana all these years," said a bureaucrat from the Andhra Pradesh cadre.
KCR set up the TRS in the winter of 2001. In the summer of 2001, Andhra Pradesh had local body elections. The TRS took off so strongly that the TDP got only 10 of the 20 zilla parishads, despite a triangular fight. Realising its potential, the Congress quickly did a deal with the TRS for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
KCR and the then Congress chief minister, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, detested each other. So, KCR launched a movement for Telangana and withdrew from the United Progressive Alliance. Reddy said Andhra Pradesh would be divided "over my dead body". And the TRS did really badly at the hustings after that - until the death of YSR and the announcement that the state was being divided.
The chance of testing his popularity came in 2014 when Assembly elections were held in the state. The TRS got 63 seats out of the 119 in the Assembly, with Congress going into shock with just 21 seats. The victory put KCR firmly in the saddle as chief minister.
Apart from the Chandi Yagam (conducted for the well-being of the people of Telangana that the President of India was supposed to attend but cried off following a fire at the venue); and the nepotism (his son, K T Rama Rao, MLA from Sircilla; and nephew T Harish Rao, MLA from Siddipet, are both ministers; and a daughter, Kavitha, is now an MP), KCR has had a good innings as chief minister despite drought and extensive farmer suicides.
Telangana has one important element in its favour and one against. Because of the rule of the Nizams, the government owns huge tracts of land in the state and is saved from the tedium of acquiring land. On the other hand, the most crucial infrastructure element - irrigation systems - was never developed systematically in Telangana although both the Krishna and the Godavari flowed through it. By contrast, the coastal Andhra region, or Seemandhra, aggressively lobbied for and got a garland of canals that took river waters deep into East Godavari and West Godavari districts.
The result was a serious shortage of water both for drinking and for irrigation.
KCR realised this early on in his tenure. Around 45,000 traditional water tanks are being revived and repaired in batches of 9,000 every year under a project called Mission Kakatiya. Because of upstream construction by neighbours Karnataka and Maharashtra, irrigation water would not reach Telangana. He has entered into an agreement with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis last week to create inter-state irrigation projects across the Godavari, Pranhita and Penganga rivers that will irrigate both states. Around 22 lakh hectares of land that previously depended on rainwater will get canal water once these projects take off. Telangana has put aside Rs 25,000 crore just for irrigation in Budget 2015-16. Ten per cent of this water will be reserved for industry.
Telangana also has near-total direct benefit transfers. Not only has monthly pension been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000, it is now going directly into the beneficiary account. The state has become the first in the country to give those below the poverty line, a two-bedroom house free of cost. In united Andhra Pradesh, Telangana used to generate a majority of the revenue but much of it used to be diverted to Seemandhra. This has now stopped. So in the 14th Finance Commission report, only two revenue surplus states are named: Gujarat and Telangana. For Mission Kakatiya to revive moribund water bodies, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development recently gave the highest amount in its history as loan to Telangana.
All this probably explains why the TRS has so far not lost a single election in recent history: the last one being the Narayankhed Assembly election. The party swept the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections winning 99 seats - the TDP won one, the Congress two and the BJP, four.
If he can fight off charges of nepotism, KCR is firmly in the saddle.
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
