[Assam] Demands for Separate states in India

[Ram Sarangapani]

C'da,

I guess the gist of my thoughts is how some people in the country don't seem
to realize that such demands lead to more and more divisions - of states,
and mostly for little or no reason reason.

Let us take Assam as an example. What if Cachar dist.  tomorrow wanted a
separate state for itself (or maybe a separate country in an 'undependent
Assam)? Would we say that fine? To me it sounds like there is no end.

The Central govt. cannot be blamed for this all the time. "People" also have
a responsibility to their country. Weak or corrupt ministers at the Center
may cave into frivilous demands of this nature - but that certainly does not
elevate the people at the state levels become immune from being a part of
the problem.

I think the Constitution does allow for new states to be formed - and for
good reason. There may be times when it is necessary. But, I guess, little
did the framers know that every Yahoo one day would want his own state or
country.

It all boils down to greed, power grabs etc by a few people in these states.
They somehow manage to galvanize an unaware public into making such
unreasonable demands from the Center mostly for personal gains.

Indira Gandhi managed to quell the Telengana demands - its back again, given
the quality of Central and state ministers and their inability of not being
able to put their foot down when necessary and when the interests of the
country are at stake.

--Ram



On 8/23/06, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
> O' Ram:
>
> Answers to your bewilderment could be found if and when you decide to
> look into:
>
> A: WHY such demands for separate states have been arising.
>
> Your conjecture " Does the equation boil down to a few people wanting
> the power of a state Govt. and to become 'caretakers'?" may have some
> merit. But it certainly is not ALL.
>
> B: WHO is it that goes about CREATING such ever smaller 'states' ?
> And HOW can they do that? WHY do they do that?
>
> CAN these ever smaller units SUSTAIN themselves? If not, WHO controls
> their sustenance and destiny? Holds them under its controls ? Should
> they be doing that? If not why do they do that? What is the rationale?
>
> C: Does the much vaunted Indian Constitution have checks and balances
> against
> politically motivated actions by an administration breaking up an
> existing unit, a state, to create smaller states ? If not, should it?
> And if it should WHO or HOW will such checks and balances be created?
> Do you see any trend for such?
>
>
> c-da
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> At 6:29 PM -0500 8/23/06, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
> >There is this trend in India of new 'states' being formed within the
> >Union every few years. The first breakup of states were in the
> >South, later we have seen Assam break up into smaller states, then
> >we have had Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal etc (these, I am not even
> >familiar with), then Punjab/Harayana.
> >
> >I think in the 60's Telengana wanted  to separate from Andhra. The
> >solution after all that agitation was to to make Chenna Reddy (I
> >think) the Chief Minister. There are now new demands, once again for
> >a separate Telengana state. In the NE, there are also some demands
> >for either more states or autonomy. Darjeeling wants to separate
> >from W. Bengal and so forth.
> >
> >This brings us to some questions:
> >
> >What exactly does 'statehood' do for a people (say Chattisgarh)?
> >From all we know, there is very little difference between
> >Chattisgarh and Bihar - so why was there a demand for statehood?
> >Does the equation boil down to a few people wanting the power of a
> >state Govt. and to become 'caretakers'?
> >Do these separate 'states' protect the local interests?
> >
> >If so, how deep and how many divisions do we need? Imagine Nalbari
> >or Jorhat seeking separate states?
> >
> >There are of course genuine differences - like maybe, Meghalaya and
> >Assam. Even though, many of us did not like for Meghalaya to be
> >separate, today it seems that maybe both Assam and Meghalaya are
> >better off (am not sure - but it looks that way, though).
> >
> >I am wondering, if in all this, India is losing the very essence it
> >was built on - ie. a country made up of people with different
> >hues and varying differences - living peacefully together and
> >thinking of the country as a whole.
> >
> >The way this trend is moving along, even a decentralized, autonomous
> >states solution may not work for India - as there may still be
> >demands for creating new autonomous powers and bodies.
> >
> >-- Ram (in utopia)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >assam mailing list
> >assam at assamnet.org
> >http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
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