Telangana tinderbox

The Srikrishna committee was constituted by the Government of India on February 3,2010,to look into the statehood demand. The submission of the committees report comes at the end of a tumultuous year in Andhra Pradesh,marked by violent protests led by students in favour of a separate state. Shutdowns and daily strikes slowed down Hyderabads pace. The atmosphere was so surcharged that several youths killed themselves,angry with the government for the delay in forming a separate state.

A year later,as the situation continues to be delicate,the states colleges and schools remain paralysed. While schools lost 60 of the 240 working days to shutdowns,Osmania University and its affiliated colleges have not been able to hold examinations. Students move from one semester to the next without writing exams.

Vice-Chancellor Prof T Tirupathi Rao says that by going ahead with the semesters,the University is ensuring that the academic year is not lost. But the University has had to succumb to pressure from student groups,especially the Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee OUSJAC,to postpone all exams.

There is also a drop in the number of students seeking admissions in colleges,especially in the engineering and medical streams,in and around Hyderabad. Officials of the State Council of Higher Education say students are wary of disruptions over Telangana.

Till 2008-2009,we saw a heavy rush of students from coastal areas seeking admission in colleges in Hyderabad. Not this academic year. Forty per cent of the seats in over 300 colleges have not been taken, an official said.

Their wounds havent healed

We may not celebrate when Telangana is formed but at least we will know our son died for a cause

Y Srinivas I 22,BE Electronics,Aler,Nalgonda

The wristwatch beside his garlanded photograph is still ticking and the student identity-card hangs on a nail next to it as if it was put there moments ago. Twenty two-year-old Y Srinivas died 10 months ago,on February 20,after he gulped down a can full of pesticide. Two weeks before that,he had received his BE degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Vidya Bharati Institute of Technology near Jangaon,Warangal. But he wanted something else: a state of Telangana.

He wrote in his suicide note: I do not think that Telangana will become a separate state in the near future. Political parties and governments are not interested in it. Youths like me will never get decent jobs unless Telangana becomes a separate state. I hope my death forces everyone to think about it. Jai Telangana.

Srinivass family has not recovered from the shock. His parents roll beedis for a living,his father occasionally works as a watchman. Srinivas was their eldest son,the familys hope. We worked so hard to educate him. When he passed his BE exams,we thought he would take up a job and help the family, says his mother Lakshmi. The family now hopes that their sons death does not go in vain. Telangana must be declared a separate state. We may not celebrate when Telangana is formed but at least we will know that our son died for a cause, says Srinivas8217;s father Chandramouli.

At their two-room house in Kranthinagar in Aler town,Nalgonda,Chandramouli and Lakshmi keep track of the developments. They must recommend a separate state, Chandramouli says.

Need a new state,even if it wont bring back my son

V Anil Kumar I 21,ITI diploma holder,Gollagudem,Nalgonda

After working for 35 years as a contract employee at the railway maintenance workshop at Secunderabad,B Ramachandra was looking forward to his eldest son Anil taking up a job. Anil had completed his engineering diploma from ITI. On January 20,returning from work,Ramachandra had just got off the train when someone told him his son had hung himself in public. They said he sacrificed his life for Telangana. His body was still hanging from a pole not far from our home. I thought I was going to have a heart attack but managed to walk home. Again,I saw the scenes on news channels. Till that moment,Telangana was not so important to me. That day it came visiting my family, Ramachandra says.

The older generation had resigned to the fact that Telangana may never be a separate state. Not todays youth. They feel that a separate state is important for their future. Like my son,all of them feel that they will do better in their own state. Telangana should be declared a separate state with immediate effect. I keep reading reports of children committing suicide for Telangana. For all their families,a separate state will be the only consolation. It wont bring back my son,though, says Ramachandra.

The computer that Ramachandra bought for his son on loan hasnt been touched since his death.

Anils mother Susheela says her son would always complain that he would never land a good job if Telangana wasnt formed. He used to attend public meetings,come home and tell me that the answer to unemployment and poverty is a separate state, she says.

The family now pin its hopes on their second son,Arun Kumar,who is doing his BSc.

I am surprised Telangana could drive a 19-year-old to kill himself

M Raj Kumar I 19,Class XI,Buddaram,Warangal

M Sambaiah,a mason,and his wife Bharati,who works as a farm labourer,moved out of their single-room house in Buddaram village in Warangal district after their eldest son Raj Kumar hung himself from the ceiling fan. He was only a class XI student but big enough to say in his suicide note that his education was of no use because he wouldnt get a job unless Telangana becomes a separate state.

Our home in Buddaram not only reminds us of our son but also nags us about the unfulfilled Telangana dream, says Sambaiah. I am not surprised that Telangana evokes such strong emotions. What I am surprised is that it could drive a 19-year-old to commit suicide. I have seen young boys getting all worked up during the agitation and I think it is high time we have our own state. How many more youths should die before they realise this? My sons death should not go waste, says Sambaiah.

In his suicide note,Raj Kumar wrote of the shame that some of his friends felt when they had to take up jobs as carpenters because they could not find anything better to do. Telangana will solve all our problems, he wrote.

Raj Kumars brother Sudarshan has got a seat in civil engineering at Khammam Polytechnic College. Though the state government pays for his education under the reserved quota,the couple finds it difficult to pay his hostel fees and other expenses. He is our hope now. By the time he passes out,Telangana should be a separate state and he should get a good job. Otherwise,he might end up struggling all his life as we do, he says.

Centre should give us our state as a New Year gift

M Karunakar I 23,Hasanparthi,Warangal

On January 23,after attending a meeting in Warangal where leaders lamented the Centres delay on Telangana,Karunakar,23,immolated himself at the town centre. He was alive for a few hours and he pleaded with all those who visited him that his sacrifice should not go in vain. For his sake,for all those who died for Telangana, the Centre should give us our state as a New Year gift. How many children should die before the Centre realises that it is delaying the inevitable? Why should our youth die with a feeling that they are unemployed because we are part of a state that does not bother about our region, asks Karunakars grandfather Hanumantha.

Karunakar was orphaned when he was barely 10. His grandfather could not afford to send him to school and so,Karunakar dropped out of class IX and took up odd jobs. He complained to his grandfather that no one was willing to give him decent work.

A strong Telangana sentiment runs in our family. When the Telangana protests started,Karunakar used to ask me what it would take to force authorities to declare a separate state. When the agitation started last November,he became very excited and would use whatever money he had to attend all public meetings. He even went to Hyderabad several times to participate in protests. When I questioned him,he said he was convinced that if youths in Telangana were to have a better life,only a separate state would help, says Hanumantha.

Karunakars friends drop by. We will not let Karunakars sacrifice go waste. If the Centre makes excuses or delays Telangana any longer,you will get tired of writing about the suicides that will start all over again, one of his friends warns.

We must have Telangana tomorrow,if not today itself

Vanga Raju I 25,Raghunadapalli,Warangal

Apart from a stove and a few utensils,the room is bare. It was here,at the family home-cum-tea stall in Veldi village,that Vanga Raju used to help his mother Pushpa. Raju dropped out of college to help Pushpa at the tea-stall left behind by her husband who died eight years ago. Raju also used to drive an autorickshaw to supplement their income.

Pushpa says she was convinced when her son told her that K Chandrasekhara Rao TRS chief would become chief minister of a new Telangana state and all unemployed youths would get government jobs. On February 23,there was talk on the streets that to put pressure on the government,KCR TRS chief needed a lot of support. That day he came home,poured kerosene on himself and set himself on fire there, she says,pointing to a corner. My son died for Telangana. We must have Telangana tomorrow,if not today itself.