A closer look into the Development Aspect of Telangana as a Region

PREFACE:

This report is a sincere attempt to get the facts straight to all of us. This is not intended to support or oppose anyone. All of us have to realize the existence of the problem. If everyone first acknowledges the problem, next step is to understand it. Once the problem is thoroughly understood, everyone can find ways to solve it. Any problem can be solved with peace and harmony. If majority of the people are not recognizing the very “Existence” of a problem, there will not be any solution.

Separate Telangana movement is not new; this movement exists for more than 4 decades now, in one or the other form. Though the movement became a political agenda again in the recent decade or so, there have always been grievances from the people. Exchange of words, arguments and counter arguments have increased in the recent times. Majority of the people expressing opinion are doing so, without getting into facts.

This whole report is based on the report by Center for Economic and Social Studies (CESS). All the statistics presented here are the intellectual property of CESS only. Due credit goes to the people who worked on that report

1. Introduction:

This report is based on the Human Development Report, submitted to the Government of Andhra Pradesh, by Center for Economic and Social Studies (CESS). This report is aimed to show the existence of regional imbalances in Human Development.

Most of the data in CESS report was from early 1990s to early 2000s. Since, this is from a recent decade, after Economic Reforms, and after better infrastructure and communication establishments, it is a very good indicator of the disparities that exist in the development of the different

CESS took each district as a unit in their data collection and different statistical calculations. Since the arguments are based on the regions (Telangana, Andhra and Rayalaseema), I have taken each region as a unit. I have computed each value in simple averaging method. Telangana consists of 10 districts, so I averaged each value for those 10 districts. Similarly, for 9 districts in Andhra and 4 districts in Rayalaseema regions. Though, the current arguments are between Telangana and Seemandhra, I have separated 3 regions in my analysis. Because major arguments are between Andhra & Telangana and I am not surewhat Rayalaseema representatives want? Sometimes, they want a united state, and sometimes they want their own Greater Rayalaseema. Since, that is not clear to me, I kept that as a separate region.

It is also being argued that Telangana is developed by looking at the development in and around Hyderabad; I divided Telangana as Telangana with HYD and Telangana without HYD. This is to insist that “Developed Hyderabad does not represent developed Telangana”.

This is not to interpret the CESS report for wrong reasons, since Cess report is considered to be more genuine and unbiased; it is being used to study the genuine differences. Also, this report does not cover other aspects of Telangana movement, like Political, cultural and employment in-differences.

Objectives of the Report:

1. To obtain information on where Telangana as a region stands, in terms of development, compared to whole AP and Andhra region

2. An attempt to get facts to all those who argue, without any basis, on the development of Telangana

3. To recognize the existence of genuine regional imbalances between Telangana and Andhra, in terms of development, whether these imbalances are a result of organized discrimination or not is secondary, but first of all, everyone should recognize the underdevelopment of Telangana compared to Andhra region

4. To show that, Hyderabad alone is developed exponentially, but not the rest of the Telangana.

2. Statistics and Analysis

2.1 Human Development Index (HDI):

CESS Definition of HDI:

The concept of development has been extended to be more comprehensive and go beyond the mere material dimension of increase in per capita income, complemented by the non-material dimensions (like levels of education, status of health and access to basic amenities). Thus development, apart from income, relates to general well-being and economic capabilities of the people.

The Planning Commission of India considered the following indicators for three dimensions of HDI in NHDR: literacy rate (7+ years of age) and adjusted intensity of formal education for education, life expectancy at age one and infant mortality rate (IMR) for health, and consumption expenditure (per capita per month) for command over resources (NHDR, 2001). Each of these parameters are analyzed separately in the later part of this report

Table 1: Human Development Index (HDI) in different regions (Higher the value, better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Early 1990s	0.402	0.4008	0.3998	0.378	0.392
Early 2000s	0.537	0.54667	0.5393	0.519	0.50625

Interpretation: In this Table, though the absolute values seem to be very close to each other, we have to see the net difference between these smaller values. There is definitely difference between the regions. Since the indicators considered are smaller in absolute values, these differences look small. For those, who have been arguing that Telangana(with HYD) is more developed than Coastal Andhra, the statistics show that Coastal Andhra is more developed than Telangana (w. HYD), though they don’t have a capital city in the region. If the comparison is Telangana (w/o HYD), the difference is higher.

Obviously, this difference trickles down to the rural areas when they compare their life style with the other regional counter parts. I believe, this is the main reason for a stronger Telangana movement in rural areas.

2.2 Human Poverty Index (HPI)

CESS Definition:

While the HDI measures the overall progress in achieving human development, the HPI measures the distribution of progress through the level of deprivation. The broad dimension by which this deprivation is measured is the same as those of HDI – health, knowledge and standard of living – but there is a slight variation in the indicators. Moreover the level of deprivation is the yardstick for measurement while achievement levels are considered for HDI. Therefore, the indicators taken are as follows: adult illiteracy rate and percentage of children not attending school for education; infant mortality rate for health; and percentage of household not having access to basic amenities like drinking water, housing, sanitation, cooking fuel and electricity for command over resources

Table 2: Human Poverty Index (HPI) in different regions (Lower the values, Better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Early 1990s	0.583	0.616	0.5714	0.609	0.60725
Early 2000s	0.469	0.485	0.4613	0.488	0.48025

Interpretation: The difference of HPI between the regions is not high. Hyderabad helped Telangana in this calculation, by reducing the HPI value in the region. But, rest of the Telangana is almost equivalent to Coastal Andhra & Rayalaseema

2.3 Gender Development Index (GDI)

CESS definition

The gender-related development index (GDI) is the third important index in the series used by the UNDP. It measures achievements in the same dimension and uses the same variables as the HDI does, but takes into account the inequality in achievement between women and men. The greater the gender disparity in basic human development, the lower is the GDI of a region when compared with its HDI.

Table 3: Gender Development Index (GDI) in different regions (Higher the value, better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Early 1990s	0.553	0.554	0.544	0.537	0.54425
Early 2000s	0.62	0.618	0.6132	0.6044	0.5825

CESS Conclusions on All 3 Indices

There seems to be some convergence across districts in human development in Andhra Pradesh, indicating that the more backward districts are catching up with the developed districts. On the other hand, regional disparities have not changed much for human poverty index and gender development index.

Whatever the differences seen in the Human Development got widened when each of the criterions were looked at separately.

2.4 Different aspects of Development – Individually

Each parameter of the development is looked into, individually, to observe the statistics more closely, in the following tables.

2.4.1 Income Dimension of HDI

Table 4: Per capita GDDP (Higher the value, better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1993 - 1994	7416	7540	7062	6993	7553
2004 - 2005	11756	11963	11818	11381	9968

There is a clear difference across the regions, in terms of per capita Gross District Domestic Product. Reader has to observe that, the GDDP in Coastal Andhra is higher than Telangana with Hyderabad. Telangana without Hyderabad is further lower compared to Telangana (w. Hyd). So, this income dimension is clearly felt across all sections of the people. This also proves that there is not a much of dependency on Hyderabad, from Andhra region. They will still be able to maintain the same level of income, even without Hyderabad being part of their region

Table 5: Growth of Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1993-1994	5.7	5.3777	6.22	5.977	4.4
2004-2005	4.3	4.3333	4.57	4.3666	2.925

Table 6: Growth of per capita District Domestic Product (DDP) in Rs.

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1991	840	842	820	810	842
2001	1300	1325	1309	1259	1083

Interestingly, though the development of GDDP is similar across the regions, the Net value of the growth in Rs. is clearly different. These Net differences in the income & income growth are felt in Telangana region across all sections of people

2.4.2 Health Dimension of HDI

Table 7: Infant Mortality Rate (Lower the value, better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1991	49	50	46	48	52
2001	43	42	40	42	45

Health dimension (Infant mortality) seems to be equal across the region. Though, there were differences in 1991 and Telangana had an edge then, Andhra region caught up by 2001. This is a good sign.

Table 8: Health Facility Available per ten lakh population, 2004-05

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Hospitals	4	4	4.9	4.66	4.25
PHCs	20	20.889	19.1	21.22	22
Beds	449	399.222	467.6	345.44	423.75
Dispensaries	3	3.6666	2.4	1.111	2.75
Doctors	92	83.111	85	57.2222	99.5
Contract Doctors	9	8.6666	10.2	10.77777	10
All Doctors	101	91.5555	95.2	68	109.5

Though, there are slightly higher number of hospitals and PHCs, there is a substantial difference in number of doctors compared to other regions. I don’t think number of facilities would help the population without enough staff

2.4.3 Education Dimension of HDI

The differences in education dimension seem to be very high and Telangana region did not catch up with the Andhra & Rayalaseema in any of the following areas of education dimension. This should have been primarily the Government’s responsibility to realize differences amongst the regions and the backward regions should have been taken care with utmost importance.

Table 9: Percentage of Children 5-14 Age group Attending School (Higher the value, better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1991	49.12	50.24	47.22	44.7	50.17
2001	73.8	75.02	73.46	72.82	72.9

Table 10: Literacy Rate for 7+ yrs Children (Higher the value, better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1981	29.9	31.61	26.22	22.65	30.2
1991	44	44.73	40.48	37.03	45.025
2001	60.5	62.13	57.18	54.77	59.725

Table 11: Adult literacy is for the age group 15 years and above (Higher the value, better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1991	38.3	39.27	34.5	30.74	38.775
2001	54.2	55.88	50.07	47.06	53.3

Table 12: Literacy rate for the age group of 15+ yrs, in 2001

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Non-Literatue	45.8	44.12	49.94	52.93333	46.7	Lower the better
LRP+	44.4	45.0111	41.18	37.91	44.675	Higher the better
LMD+	28.7	26.9666	29.64	26.51	26.675	Higher the better

LRP+: Literate person with education level primary and above

LMD+: Literate person with education level middle and above

The incidence of Non-Literate people is higher in Telangana region compared to the other regions.

Table 13: Drop-out Rate in Primary and Upper Primary Stages, 2005 (lower the value, better the situation)

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Class I to V	27.04	19.34	33.08	33.88	18.57
Class I to VII	43.22	40.59	43.82	47.55	35

It is highly important to note the difference in dropout rates. Telangana is definitely neglected in this case in terms of curbing the dropout rate. Again, this falls under Government’s responsibility to concentrate on the backward region and ensure effective implementation of Govt. schemes.

2.4.4 Agriculture Dimension of HDI

Agriculture being the main occupation for the people across all regions, it is a MAJOR indicator of the backwardness. This is one of the major indicators of the backwardness of Tealangana. These differences are genuinely felt across, because of the fact that Agriculture is the main occupation for the people of all regions.

Table 14: Percentage of Irrigated Area by Different sources, 2004 - 2005

		Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
% in Net Sown Area	Canals	12.9	27.86	---	2.665	3.65
	Tanks & Others	6.1	12.85	---	4.45	1.775
	Wells	18.2	13.1	---	28.98	17.35
	Total	37.2	53.82	---	36.12	22.775
% of wells in Net Irrigated Area		49.1	24.4	---	80.07	74.175
Other wells in Total wells		34.1	27.91	---	36.98	22.6

Though the major rivers, Krishna & Godawari enter Telangana first, the percentage of Net sown area is much less in Telangana compared to Andhra. This is due to several reasons some interdependent.

Farmers of Telangana region are dependent more on Wells/Borewells,(due to the non-availibility of canal systems) Andhra region is dependent more on Canals & Tanks which allows for a larger cultivable land as compared to well irrigation. There are regions in Telangana where people sold some of their lands to dig Wells/Bore Wells. Telangana is completely dependent on Electricity to get water out from the wells, they have to pay the electricity bills without fail, till 2004, whereas, people from Andhra have to pay nominal water tax for canal water. Higher bills for digging wells & electricity mean higher production cost for the crop. Though, both the regions grow similar crops, one region’s production cost is always higher than the other region. But, the final crop goes to the same markets and both get the same price. At the same time, irregular supply of power for the agriculture sector & higher production cost caused many losses to the farmers of Telangana, especially in 1990s. This triggered the spate of farmers’ suicides in Telangana region. These suicides were witnessed by the younger generation of the region.

Subsequent Governments, since the formation of Andhra Pradesh, should have concentrated on developing the irrigation projects in Telangana region, to make sure that those differences are balanced.

Table 15: Share of the Value of Crop Output and Livestock in the GDDP and their Growth across Districts

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Crop output
1993 -1994	24.6	27.51	N.A	21.2	33.08
2003 - 2004	14.2	16.72	N.A	14.41	16.83
Livestock
1993 -1994	5.5	5.61	N.A	3.57	5.62
2003 - 2004	7.4	7.5	N.A	6.68	8.65
Agriculture
1993 -1994	30.1	33.12	N.A	25.85	38.67
2003 - 2004	21.6	24.21	N.A	21.57	25.42
Growth (1993 – 2004)
Crop	1.3	1.28	N.A	3.2	0.925
Livestock	5.8	5.34	N.A	7.06	5.75
Agriculture	0.61	0.64	N.A	0.947	0.645

1. The Data considered here is components of Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP)

2. Crop output includes value of output from all the agriculture and allied activities excluding livestock

3. Growth is exponential growth rate

Again, this table is interesting to observe. Differences in Crop output, Live Stock & other Agricultural products are not huge. But, the NET income to the farmers has always been lower for Telangana region due to higher investment (production cost) as explained by reasons above.. That difference in income is clearly visible in the Table below.

Table 16: Per Capita Gross District Domestic Product per Worker Agricultural (Aggregate Value of Corp) output across Districts

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Per Capita GDDP	N/A	18337	--	16961	15192
Per Worker Agril. Output	N/A	13370	--	8990	8493
Per Hectare Agril. Output	N/A	33007	--	20235	15337

2.4.5

Other Dimensions of Human Development

Table 17: Infrastructure Index, in 2004

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Population Density	277	368.55	1997.8	257.88	201.5
Road Density	666	761.66	710	682.33	582.5
Percentage of Gross Irrigated Area to the Gross Cropped Area	39.8	51.43	34.99	38.87	25.92
Power – Percentage of Villages connected with Electricity	100	99.888	99.95	99.94	99.82
Bank – Number of (Commercial) Bank Branches available per lakh Population;	7.08	7.21	6.897	5.94	6.411
TP – Number of Telephone connection per lakh Population;	4121	4559	4455	3548	3258
PO – Number of Post Offices per lakh Population;	21	23	19.3	21	26
Composite Index (unweighted) of seven indicators mentioned above	1	1.138	1.871	0.945	0.88
Index includes above seven plus two more indicators representing education and health infrastructure.	1	1.068	0.983	0.936	0.958

All the parameters observed in this Table, Andhra region is higher than the AP state’s average, and it is more advanced than Telangana with Hyderabad. When Telangana (w.o. HYD) is compared, the differences are much higher. Though, the major economic capital, Hyderabad, is in Telangana region, Road density is higher in Andhra region. If not all of the above, Roads are completely in control of the State government, which neglected Telangana area in this regard.

Table 18: Urbanization

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1991	26.9	24.33	28.83	20.92	23.275
2001	27.3	23.44	29.55	21.72	23.2

Table 19: Degree of Urbanization

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
1961	17.4	16.6287	16.9444	13.40556	15.325
1971	19.3	18.625	17.7333	13.929	16.45
1981	23.3	21.87778	24.66	16.28889	20.4
1991	26.9	24.3333	28.83	20.92222	23.275
2001	27.3	23.44444	29.55	21.72222	23.2

The major contribution from Hyderabad to Telangana region is this Urbanization calculation. Since Hyderabad is considered as 100% Urbanized, Telangana (w. HYD) shows more urbanized than Andhra region. But, if Telangana (w.o HYD) is compared, there is not much difference. We have to remember the fact that, the same Hyderabad did not help Telangana in terms of Human Development in any other means.

Table 20: Percentage of Households without selected Basic Amenities, 1991-2001

	Overall AP	Coastal Andhra	Telangana (w. HYD)	Telangana (w/o HYD)	Rayalaseema
Dwelling
1991	49.9	59.05555	37.81	38.777	56.25
2001	50.9	39.38889	57.55	57.7111	59.075
Tap Water
1991	75.6	79.52	72.45	78.48	72.6
2001	51.9	44.54	49.27	49.27	77.05
Toilet
1991	81.6	83.85556	77.27	84.4889	86.975
2001	67	63.75556	68.25	70.06667	76.25
Traditional Fuel
1991	84.5	85.1	80.14	87.88889	92.65
2001	73.1	67.95556	77.22	78.95556	76.75
Electricity
1991	53.7	61.24444	47.97	52.2333	46.4
2001	32.8	29.38889	31.54	32.1667	45.875

Dwelling – Percentage of households with one or none dwelling rooms; Tap Water – Percentage of households without tap water for drinking; Electricity – Percentage of households without electricity connection; Toilet – Percentage of households without toilet facility; Traditional Fuel – Percentage of households using traditional fuel for cooking including fire wood, charcoal, etc.

Numbers in this Table are another true representation of discrimination. Whether it is organized OR unorganized is a different argument, but these are the very basic necessities that people feel difference in. To observe, the very fact that the numbers in Telangana region for Dwelling have increased from 1991 to 2001 is very saddening. There is more number of people in Telangana without the access to Tap Water & Toilet. This situation is not at all acceptable. People who use fire wood and charcoal are more in Telangana region.

Interesting observation on this is Table is, growth rate in Andhra region in all these parameters is more than Telangana, during the period of observation (1991-2001). The only exception, Telangana shows better percentages in Electricity.

When people of Telangana compare their standard of living with that of Andhra region, they can clearly feel the difference within these factors.

3. Conclusions

A. Cannot discount the existence of regional disparities

B. Statistical evidence shows that Telangana region is behind Andhra region, in-terms of every aspect of development

C. Hyderabad, being part of Telangana, did not help the region in terms of development. It should be noted that “Developed Hyderabad is not a Developed Telangana”

D . Most of the data collected by CESS for this report is from early 1990s to early 2000s. Differences in this period are felt strongly by the younger (10 – 20 yrs age) generation of that decade. I believe this is the reason for the large participation of youth (20 – 30 yrs) in the present Telangana movement. When they compare their standard of living of the same age group in other regions, they obviously feel the differences

Reference:

CESS Report can be found here: http://undp.org.in/sites/default/files/reports_publication/Andhra.pdf