Srikrishna panel had vouched for Telangana's sustainability

NEW DELHI: Telangana will be an economically viable state, with or without Hyderabad. This was the opinion of the Srikrishna Commission which studied the vexed issue of Telangana statehood, made a region-wise study of economic parameters in Andhra Pradesh before concluding the new state would be able to sustain itself economically.


The official study attested to the claims of viability made by T-proponents - the sheer size of Telangana with 10 districts and 17 Lok Sabha seats makes it an independent entity.

Telangana would rank 15th among 28 states in terms of GDP and would be above Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and the north-eastern states. This is without the jewel in the crown, Hyderabad, which is an employment and investment hub.

The per capita income in Telangana is "a notch higher" than the national average while with Hyderabad, it would rank 13th in GSDP and also in per capita terms.

The statistics may not tell the complete, or real, story but they do point to the potential of the proposed state, a reason why the commission vouched for its viability.

The T-advocates have long said an even-handed treatment would help the state exploit its irrigation and power potential and help increase farm output as well as industrialization in the dry patch of land.

In fact, Srikrishna Commission debunked the claim of "backwardness" as a reason for statehood, demonstrating that Rayalaseema was the worst off among the three regions of the state. In fact, while Telangana has a long distance to cover, statistics show it is not unviable in terms of economic parameters.

Instead, the challenge before Telangana would be to remove intra-regional disparity. Backwardness across Telangana is about the gap between "haves" and "have-nots" than about all-round poverty. The high ratio of dalits, tribals (24.7%) and weaker OBCs in T-population shows that wealth is concentrated in fewer hands and requires serious steps to remove inequities.