Cabinet okays Telangana State
Source: Hueiyen News Service
New Delhi, December 05 2013:
The Union Cabinet on Thursday night gave the go-ahead for the creation of a 10-district Telangana and outlined the blueprint for carving out the country's 29th state from Andhra Pradesh.
The cabinet dropped a controversial move to add two districts of Rayalaseema to Telangana.
This possibility had been vehemently opposed by various stakeholders.
The cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a draft reorganisation bill based on recommendations of a group of ministers.
Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Hyderabad would be the common capital for the states for a period not exceeding 10 years.
We want the bill to be tabled in winter session of Parliament, he added.
Shinde said both states would get special status under Article 371 D of the constitution for equitable opportunities.
In 1956, Telangana, one of the three main cultural regions of Andhra, was merged into the state despite opposition.
A statehood movement started in 1969, but settled by the mid-70s.K Chandrasekhara Rao formed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in 2001 and revived the statehood agitation.In December 2009, the Centre announced start of the process for creating Telangana state.
Telangana has 20% of India's coal deposits, 45% of Andhra's forest area and 41.6% of the state's population.