A Decade of Telangana: Statehood Activists Say Their Dream Is Far From Realised

It was the tireless struggle of countless students and activists that culminated in the formation of Telangana.

"During the Telangana statehood movement, I had walked for 30 days alongside students from major universities for 600 km – from Hyderabad to Warangal – in the scorching summer heat. What was the point of it all when education and unemployment continue to be burning issues even today," asks Dr S Harinath, a researcher at the Centre for Economics and Social Studies (CESS) in Hyderabad.

It was the tireless struggle of countless students, activists, government employees, and political leaders that eventually culminated in the formation of a separate Telangana state on 2 June 2014.

"Neellu, nidhulu, niyamakalu – the idea of a separate Telangana stemmed from demands of water, funds, and jobs. We wanted better education, and most importantly, self-respect," Dr Harinath, who joined the statehood movement in 2001 and founded the Telangana Students' Association in 2006, tells The Quint.

But Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, whose Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now Bharat Rashtra Samithi or BRS) came to power on the 'Telangana sentiment' for two terms, has failed to tick all the boxes over the last decade, he opines.

As Telangana goes to polls on 30 November, The Quint speaks to statehood activists – who started off as students – on whether their aspirations of what a separate state ought to be have been realised by the BRS government.

'Youth Still Preparing for Exams'

"I was part of the statehood movement for three years when I was a student. Ten years have passed since then, and like many graduates, I still find myself preparing for exams," Pallikonda Manikanta, a Phule-Ambedkarite researcher from the Nirmal district, tells The Quint.

"If you go to some parts of Hyderabad city, you will still see unemployed youth preparing for exams – like the TSPSC exam – at coaching centres, even though they had completed their graduation years ago."

"The youth are disappointed – because when they fought for the formation of the state, this is not what they had in mind," he says.

TSPSC – or the Telangana State Public Service Commission – was formed after the formation of the state, and its objective is to conduct recruitment exams for various civil services positions in the government. However, the TSPSC exams have been mired in postponements, cancellations, and paper leak controversies, making it a sore point for the ruling BRS government over the past few months.

Recently, a 23-year-old woman from Warangal, Pravallika, who was preparing for competitive exams, allegedly died by suicide at her hostel in Hyderabad. The incident led to protests by government job aspirants, who claimed that she was dejected over not getting a job due to the postponement of the TSPSC Group 2 exam.

The Opposition Congress and the BJP, too, have attacked the state government on the unemployment question. Telangana's unemployment rate, as per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), was recorded at 5.2 percent as of March 2023.

However, data from a Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report states that for every 100 youth in the 15-29 age group, at least 15 are unemployed in Telangana. You can read more about Telangana's unemployment data here.

Moreover, in December 2020, a three-member Pay Revision Commission headed by former IAS officer CR Biswal submitted a report, which claimed that 1,91,000 posts lie vacant in Telangana's government departments.

The state's IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, meanwhile, said in a campaign rally in October that the government had issued notifications for 2.2 lakh jobs and had filled 1.3 lakh positions over the past decade. He also assured to revamp the TSPSC and release job calendars every year.

As for private jobs, Rama Rao, who is the son of the chief minister, said that the state's IT industry has grown 220 percent over the past eight years (from Rs 57,000 crore in 2014-15 to over Rs 1.83 lakh crore in 2021-22) and has created 1.5 lakh jobs.

"Yes, the IT sector is growing. But where is it growing? In Hyderabad alone. The whole point of the Telangana movement was that there should be democratisation of growth and development. Previously, too, the problem was that development was concentrated only in Hyderabad and that it was Andhra Pradesh's capital. The same thing is happening now."

Pallikonda Manikanta

"And more importantly, who is reaping the benefits of the IT sector growth? There are many people from across India who are working in Hyderabad, but what about the youth of Telangana," Manikanta asks.

'Higher Education Gone for a Toss'

"The Osmania University [OU] in Hyderabad was one of the addas [hubs] of the statehood movement. It was the site of the struggle. But look at the state of it today," points out Stalin (who goes by his first name), a Telangana statehood activist and alumnus at OU.

From 2009 to 2014, the students at Osmania University had led various agitations, putting pressure on the then-UPA government to create a separate Telangana state.

But now, OU's ranking in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2023 report has slipped to 36 from 22 (in 2022) – and as per a report by The News Minute, despite a faculty strength of over 1,200, the varsity is functioning with nearly 400 permanent teaching staff and over 500 contract teachers.

"When it comes to the higher education system, the government has failed. It has not been able to fill up vacancies in universities, which in turn, is resulting in unemployment among educated youth in Arts and Social Sciences, in particular," alleges Dr Harinath.

Stalin adds that "there have not been sufficient budgetary allocations for education in the state. Only 6 percent of the total budget is allotted to education."

This is coupled with the burden of fee hikes, he adds. Earlier this year, in March, OU students were up in arms after the authorities increased the fees of PhD courses tenfold, from Rs 2,000 to Rs 20,000. "A lot of students who study here are from villages, from marginalised communities. This is an injustice to them," adds Stalin.

The activists also pointed out how there have been restrictions on social movements on campuses, which they find ironic, as the whole state was formed because of social movements.

"We thought we could raise our voices, we though the government would be more accessible. But now, there is no space to even open our mouths. And no one, not even the people who fought alongside KCR, can meet him today," Dr Harinath opines.

While the Telangana sentiment still runs high in the state, the activists feel the BRS – which underwent a name change in hopes of becoming a national party – has set its sights on different goals, without really addressing the issues persisting back home.