India's 29th state Telangana completes one year of existence

HYDERABAD: The youngest Indian state of Telangana, carved out of Andhra Pradesh, today completed one year of its existence after nearly a five-decade struggle for a separate statehood.

The state had elected Telangana Rashtra Samiti ( TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao, who played a pivotal role in leading the struggle, as its Chief Minister in last year's assembly elections.

On June 2, 2014, the 29th state of India was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, triggering massive protest from Seemandhra region.

In a good omen for Telangana's future, the state is identified as being revenue surplus with the crown jewel of Hyderabad going to the state in bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Launch of a number of welfare and development programmes by the TRS government marked its one-year rule, though opposition parties attack the government on various counts like alleged agrarian distress and encouraging defections despite having majority in assembly.

Rao, who vowed to work for "reconstruction" of Telangana, inaugurated a number of programmes and schemes in various spheres including providing drinking water supplies, laying of roads, promoting greenery, women's safety and industrial policy.

The Telangana Drinking Water Supply Project envisages coverage of about three-crore population in the state with an outlay of Rs 38.5 crores.

The state government has taken up a scheme of restoring minor irrigation sources (a total of 46,531) under the 'Mission Kakatiya' initiative. The mission aims at restoring water bodies like tanks community participation for ensuring water security.