In the recent times, thedemand for new and smaller states has increased by a great margin.
India beinga country marked with diversity every detail related to religion, caste, socialhabits etc. of population should be worked upon before making a decision ofcreating a new state. Various features like quality of land, regionalinequality, different aspects of nature, economy, society, etc. which areimportant and relevant from the point of well-being of citizens and efficientgovernance should be evaluated before taking the final decision of dividing thestates. With the ever growing poor- richincome divide and creation of global economy there has been a rise ofinequality which has triggered various movements for the bifurcation of theexisting states. The regional inequality and downturn economic conditions of some groupsin a state were some of the most important factor due to which demand forsmaller states was initiated and now the demand is increasing.
This led to thecreation of three states – Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand in 2000 andTelangana in 2014. This report analyses the reasons behind the creation of newstates. It highlights the situations in these states and ensuing achievementsfollowed by doing comparative analysis with the respective parent states. Variouseconomic and social parameters are observed to measure the performance of newand mother states pre and post separation.
Creation of smaller state is notalways the answer for achieving effective governance or economic viability. Many aspects have to be considered before dividing the states. The demand fornew states have been based on political and economic factors, but every demandcannot be acceded to in order to protect the essence of democracy of thecountry. The present paper analyses the performance of separated states pre andpost bifurcation. It aims to measure the success of the decisions taken by thegovernment to divide the states.
Economic success is essential for any state toprogress, but for any state to develop overall its citizens should be satisfiedand enjoy a decent standard of living which can be achieved by striving towardssocial success. Before progressing with the plan of dividing the state, allparameters which helps in measuring the economic and social health should bestudied. IntroductionMadhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were divided and reconstituted to create three newstates Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand respectively, after the IndianGovernment passed the bill of creation of new states in the Parliament in 2000 therebychanging the federal map of the country. Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, andJharkhand, were formed on the 1st, 9th, and 15thof November 2000, respectively.
(India. com Education Desk, 2014) With the creation ofnew states the number of Indian states increased from 25 to 28 and with therecent creation of Telangana after separating Andhra Pradesh in 2014 the countincreased to 29. Formation of Uttaranchal/ UttarakhandUttaranchalwas formed after dividing and reconstituting Uttar Pradesh. Civilians of theKumoan and Garhwal hills were the first to raise the demand for Uttaranchal.
Thisformation of Uttaranchal fulfils the demands of these people which was based oneconomic, social and cultural factors. The civilians of the districts who becamethe part of Uttaranchal in 2000, felt left out by the government of Uttar Pradeshpre bifurcation. The Sikhs in some of the districts of Uttar Pradesh and theAkali Dal, the Sikh political party vehemently opposed the idea of creation ofnew and separate Uttaranchal.
The reason behind their grievances was theagricultural land which they held in the regions were getting divided and theywere unsure of the process by which ownership of the land were to be divided. Theincome divide between the people of Uttrakhand and Uttar Pradesh createdinequality which caused a violent demand for new state. The British peoplemerged Uttar Pradesh with Uttarakhand for ease in governance. But with changesin patterns related to culture, income, etc. a rift was created between thecitizens of the erstwhile Uttarakhand and Uttar Pardesh.
There were no common grounds between the twogroups. The differences eventually led to tussle with the government, whorejected the proposal of creation of separate Uttrakhand multiple times. But withincrease in violence, and the displeasure of people with the government, the latterforcefully passed the resolution of creating a new state and Uttarakhand wascreated in 2000. Formation of JharkhandJharkhandcomprising 18 districts of Southern Bihar was formed after taking in 35% ofBihar’s population. It draws 65% of state’s revenue from its coal mines and steelmills. The formation of Jharkhand was supported by Rashtriya Janata, thestate’s ruling party for political reasons.
(Chaudhuri, 2008)Thecreation of Jharkhand was possible after a long period struggle by the tribalstate. The Jharkhand movement was based on economic and social demands. The maltreatment of the civilians of the tribal states, the grant of reservationrights by constitution only to some communities, the growing number ofindustrial projects undertaken by the government, etc triggered the Jharkhandmovement. The civilians of the tribal state suffered mal treatment for a longperiod of time. The desire to break through the chains of deprivation andinjustice, led to the creation of movement which concluded by the formation ofnew state, Jharkhand.
The Jharkhandmovement depicted the pent- up anger of the tribal people against the injusticesuffered by them. The wrong doings against the tribal people led to thecreation of new state for them. The fifty year long movement and efforts, whichwas initiated soon after independence of the country, by the tribals did not goin vain, and a new state was finally created in 2000. Formation of Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarhwas formed after dividing and reconstituting Madhya Pradesh. The creation ofthe new state was based on various social and cultural factors with themovement and demand for creation of separate state being governed by Brahminsand Kurmis of upper class. Seven districts of Madhya Pradesh went into theformation of Chhattisgarh. TheBrahmins and Kurmis of upper class first raised the demand fora new state in 1920s.
But from 1920s till 1980s the demand for new state wasraised multiple times, but never accepted and acceded to. With the formation ofstate wide forum in 1990s the demand for separate Chhattisgarh got a boost and sawthe light of creation. The new government in power, National DemocraticAlliance (NDA), again sent the Separate Chhattisgarh Bill to the Lok Sabha inthe 1990s where it was finally approved and passed by the members.
