No T-word, Centre sets up panel
New Delhi, Feb. 3: The Centre on Wednesday constituted a five-member expert committee to hold consultations on the “situation in Andhra Pradesh” arising out the demand for the creation of a separate Telangana state.
The five-member committee will be headed by former Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna, while the former home secretary Mr Vinod K. Duggal will be its member-secretary.
The Union home secretary, Mr G.K. Pillai, said the committee will hold wide-ranging consultations with all sections of people and different political parties and groups on “the situation in Andhra Pradesh”.
A home ministry spokesperson said the terms of reference were still being drafted and will be finalised in consultation with the committee chairman and announced shortly.
The official statement on the committee’s formation makes no mention of the word Telangana.
Justice Srikrishna is expected to meet the home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, soon and the terms of references are expected by the end of the week.
Following the announcement, the Union law minister, Mr M. Veerappa Moily, AICC in-charge for the state, appealed for “peace and calm” in Andhra Pradesh, while the BJP said the committee’s formation was a “delaying tactic”.
The Telugu Desam too called the five-man committee’s formation a “conspiracy” by the Congress to divide AP
The committee’s other members are Prof (Dr) Ranbir Singh, vice-chancellor of National Law University, New Delhi; Dr Abusaleh Shariff, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi; and Dr (Ms) Ravinder Kaur, professor in the department of humanities and social sciences at IIT Delhi.
Justice Srikrishna is a former judge of Supreme Court. He won laurels for hard-hitting report on Mumbai riots as Bombay High Court judge. He recently headed the probe on the police-lawyers clash at Madras High Court.
Prof Ranbir Singh is a founder-VC of Nalsar Hyderabad and a well known administrator. He had worked on the AP bill on child labour.
Abusaleh Shariff was on Prime Minister’s high-level panel to study condition of Muslims. He has also worked on the Human Development Index report.
Prof Ravinder Kaur is a member of the Planning Commission panel to monitor the implementation of schemes in the social sector.
Vinod Duggal, former home secretary who will be member secretary of the Srikrishna panel, is a former secretary of the water resources ministry.
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Hi Shashi D C, I just want to make you understand, Telangana is not just Hyderabad, it is much beyond that. I am pretty sure you would have not asked this question if you ever happened to go beyond Hyderabad into Telangana rural. In spite of having most of the natural resources, there is no means for utilisation which leads to drought in spite of fertile land/resource full. It is pain and suffering in most of the Telangana area. I request each and everyone to think of Telangana beyond Hyderabad. It is fortunate that Hyderabad is in Telangana, but when we are talking about Telangana please do not refer or relate that only to Hyderabad.
Also, I have never come across any history where people fight to stay together. It is very basic and understood, that where two people fight there are differences. It is really funny to say fight and stay together. It's what our great selfish leaders tell, can't the Centre understand even this or they just want to ignore this issue, thinking it is just a momentum and will die down with time, shame on these politicians to play with the normal lives of people.
@Mr. Hari: Completely agree with you. Then, why is that TRS and other leaders or telangana people ask Hyderabad to be a part of new state? May be they should concentrate of up-brining of these rural areas. Right?
I agree with you. If two people cannot get along they should divorce. I wonder why the divorce rate is not as high as it should be. The country would be much better off if there are more divorces. Perhaps that is the only why there would be individual development.
Indian democracy is not dysfunctional. Mob rule seems normal in the country. Central government appears toothless. Congress high command does not command but is beholden to the Andhra lobby. It is very clear that Andhras make promises with intention of not keeping them. Chandrababu Naidu and Telugu Desam promised to support separate Telangana in elections. So did Congress MLAs. So did Chiranjeevi and his party. But now everyone went back on their promise. Why does the Central government not hold them to their promise? Why are Chidambaram and Sonia scared of the Andhra lobby? Why does Chidambaram go back on his own words? Why is there any need for a committee? Why there is no T word in the statement? British had morals when they ruled India. So did Nizam when he ruled Hyderabad state. No one lied like governing bodies of India now.
I am afraid Indian people will lose faith in democracy. Unless Telangana is separated now, there will be more violence in the future. The upper castes and other leaders did not fight for Telangana in the past. They were bribed by Andhras to keep silent. But now people of Telngana are awake and will not tolerate expliotation any longer. So it is imperative that this time Telangana be separated. Many states are too large to govern. Smaller states are better.
Dear Mr.Reddy: I can understand your frustration... but your knowledge of history is very shallow. The British did not have morals (divide and conquer system) and Nizam the less said the better. Please go through the history of Nizam, the Razakar movement and the fight for property. Then at least you know where India stands. Blackmail does not work. (Unless Telangana is separated now, there will be more violence in the future.) Please understand politics a bit more and more importantly KCR and the Naxal movement.
"The upper castes and other leaders did not fight for Telangana in the past" What an irony from a Reddy!!
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