Telangana has the highest state taxation in the country – about 75% compared to the state average of 46%
Post Date – 01:00 AM, Tue – 6/13/23
by JR Janumpalli
June 2 marks the ninth anniversary of the formation of Telangana and the state enters its 10th anniversary. During this period, the nation’s journey forward has been eventful and inspiring. That’s commendable progress for a region that has been stripped of statehood for six years, forced to join forces with a dominant majority and fight desperately for its rightful share of the region’s resources. Revealing its denied potential and proving skeptics wrong, and publicly justifying the hopes of its ardent activists.
At the risk of repeating ourselves, we need to recount the remarkable progress that Telangana has made in the American Federation during its 10-year journey. Its GDP has risen to more than 5 among the larger states, and its per capita GDP ranks first. The former United States hovered in the 15th-18th place before 2014, and it also ranked first in most macroeconomic indicators. The Reserve Bank of India has acknowledged that its budget performance has been very prudent. It has also left its mark on several innovative socio-economic programs over the years.
against the odds
But the state’s two national parties and other local parties have refused to concede. Instead of talking about progress, Congress indulges in personal and family invective without evidence. Instead of trying to get rejected help from their recalcitrant ruling centers, BJP local leaders are fueling anarchy and discontent for their own political gain. Other local parties like TJS are just obsessed with the knee-jerk reaction of rejecting everything the Telangana government is doing. They have lost sight of the new country and its vital reconstruction.
The media is a curious mix, dominated by “two Telugu” (a euphemism for Andhra Pradesh) media, both print and digital. There are some local anti-Telangana and some pro-Telangana attire. The latter has been flippantly labeled pro-government by opponents. Even if they report official central and state figures and ground conditions as they are, they will be branded as pro-TS government. However, the Telangana media did a good job reporting dedicated news about the progress in the state. It shows its merits and brings to the fore the real progress of the country.
The progress that Telangana has made over the years needs to be reviewed in the context of its formation. It is the division of two merged countries, not the division of the original country. This is a conditional merge. It is not recommended by the State Restructuring Committee (SRC). The center forces it for political reasons. They are not as cohesive as other language nations. There were fierce intermittent rebellions against it, which cost many lives.
naysayers abound
Unfortunately, Telangana fell into the wrong political calculations of the center in its forced merger with Andhra Pradesh in 1956. The Center revised the decision in the case of Mumbai-Gujarat and Punjab-Haryana, later separating them. They flourished after separation. In 2000, three states outside the SRC’s jurisdiction were created and their struggle for independence was not as fierce as in Telangana. Despite all these examples, everyone of note admits that the spin-off of Telangana was wrong and would cause many such divisions. But nothing of the kind has happened other than to provide a profound new life to the repressed state of Telangana.
As if 58 years of ordeal weren’t enough, the BJP central government has been discriminating against Telangana since 2014. It deliberately withholds central funds, deliberately exerts political pressure on the state – fails to provide flood relief to Hyderabad and buys rice from the state, jeopardizes Telangana by harshly taking over river water projects in Godavari and Krishna Irrigation projects, no sanctions on National Institutes, Medical Colleges, Navodaya Schools, etc.
It also carried out a massive political raid on the country to win the GHMC election and several by-elections to monopolize the BRS. It discredits the development of the country with unsubstantiated allegations, personal attacks on the chief minister and his government, and treats Telangana in a very condescending manner. This is a very unpleasant attitude of a central government towards a newly formed country. Let alone helping it, trying to squeeze it economically to conquer it politically is undemocratic.
strength and resilience
Nonetheless, Telangana conceived, initiated and implemented many infrastructure and welfare projects to suit the needs of the new state and these projects have served as a model for other states. Perhaps Telangana is the only state that executes all projects quickly and efficiently and utilizes them to the fullest. There are many examples – Power Projects, Mission Kakatiya, Mission Bhagiratha, Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, New Secretariat and New Regions. In addition, a combination of extensive socio-economic programs and capital projects has resulted in the state’s highest per capita income (2023) in the nation.
This underscores the country’s economic strength and resilience. This also proves beyond doubt that Andhra Pradesh was dependent on Telangana for all 58 years after the merger and not the other way around. Telangana has the highest state owned tax revenue (SOTR) in the country – around 75% compared to the state average of 46%. AP has about 50% SOTR. Telangana’s SOTR for 2021-22 is 78.87% while AP is 46.49%. Telangana’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 24.7% compared to 31.5% AP. AP relies heavily on the Center for deficit revenue disbursements. As for the devolution of central tax and grants for 2021-22, Telangana gets only Rs 273.3 crore while AP gets Rs 745.56 crore.
The progress and achievements of Telangana state are a testament to the grievances, aspirations and aspirations of the people of the independent state. This is all thanks to the perfect combination of the country’s inherent economic strength and the BRS government’s pragmatic political leadership, strategy formulation, bold vision and project execution. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has done enough homework, selected the right project, selected the right person to do the right thing, paid close attention to supervision, and strived to put the project into use as soon as possible. Prudent management of the budget proved to be key. For the good of Telangana, all these things are working in the right way at the right time to make the desired progress.
This allowed us to recapture our “Amar Sonar Telangana” which we had deftly lost to Andhra Pradesh rule in 1956.
