What can Telangana learn from the Scottish referendum…

 

Telengana- Scotland

 

 

 

 

 

Try typing Telangana on Google and one of the top suggestions you will find is “Telangana issue”. I guess at this point of time there is no surprise that Telangana is known for all the wrong reasons. The question is why Telangana is in such a mess?

 

Let’s look at the issue in simple terms. Andhra Pradesh(AP) is a state which was formed post independence. Even during that time there was reluctance for Telangana to join Andhra Pradesh. Telangana forms approximately 40% of AP and accounts for 75% of the state’s revenue with the majority coming from Hyderabad which is the capital city. There has been a feeling of exploitation being part of AP as Telangana generates almost three- fourths of the state revenue. This forms the core issue behind requests for a separate Telangana state.

 

The issue was present in 1956 when Telangana was merged with AP and continues even today. So after 5 decades of peace and violence the Indian Government decides to carve a new state called Telangana. The point to be noted in this is that the Indian central government decides to create a new state and not the people of AP or Telangana even.

 

This brings me to the question of democracy in India. What is democracy? Abraham Lincoln quoted “Democracy as the government of the people, by the people and for the people”. In actual fact most countries follow a representative democracy rather than a direct democracy where the elected members of the people makes decisions for them and India is also 1 of the countries with a representative democracy. So the Indian government which is the elected representative of the people decide to create a new state.

 

Now let’s look at the issue of Scotland. Scotland is part of the British Union which is based on a treaty in 1707 and Scotland has remained part of the union till date. Scotland also wants to become a separate nation mostly for economic reasons for several years. In 1997 Scotland formed its own parliament and got some powers of governance over Scotland which it could exercise independent of the UK parliament/government. The concept of home rule or an independent Scotland has been there for ages and the SNP won the elections in Scotland and vowed to hold a referendum on independence by 2010. Although this wasn’t possible due to political reasons, it won the elections again in 2011 and had promised the Scottish people a referendum by 2014 or 2015.

 

What’s a referendum? Referendum is a direct vote by all of the electorate in relation to a particular proposal. This is an example of a direct democratic exercise. In Scotland the Scottish people get to decide whether they want to be an independent country through the referendum vote which is set for the 18th of Sept 2014. So the proposal was introduced in March 2013 and it gives 18 months for various political parties to voice their views/opinions on it and then let people of Scotland vote on it.

 

The point that we need to be clear here is that UK also has a representative democracy (although Monarch is the head of state) but on major issues like Scotland they have a referendum. The conservatives have promised that if they are re-elected there will be a referendum on whether UK should be part of the EU.

 

Switzerland is another country where referendums are used and there was a recent referendum on limiting EU migrants. Although this vote has created more storm in the EU- Swiss relations it is another example of using referendum as a tool to make major policy decisions.

 

The question now is “Is India ready to have referendums on major policy decisions like the Telangana issue to reach a democratic and amicable solution?” Can the people of Telangana decide whether they want to be part of AP? Will they ever get a choice?

It starts here…

 

It starts Here

 

 

 

Hi all,

This is the first post on my blogging website. So I would like to start by introducing myself a little bit and the purpose of this blogging site.

I am an Indian living in the UK for over 10 years now. I work and live in the UK and that forms the very essence of starting this blogging site. I have always appreciated the good things in both the countries and shaped myself taking those positive things from both the cultures. I think we are swift in learning fashion, movies, technology etc from the western world but what about administration, governance, infrastructure and other basic systems which makes Europe and America as the world’s developed countries. So my focus will be on India learning from the UK and other countries than the other way around.

India is 1 of the developing countries in the world which is growing at a rapid pace. Have we all heard this before? How long has India been a developing country? When I did my schooling 20 years before I was taught that India is a developing country and even today we are a developing country. So would it be better to set ourselves a target that by 2050 India will be a developed country.

That brings the question of why 2050? India at the moment is in a highly infuriated or volatile state, people are desperate for a change but with very little patience. The AAP effect has given hope to a lot of people and I am 1 amongst those people who has the hope that we will become a developed country 1 day. But change takes a lot of time and it has to be done systematically.

Aren’t we expecting too much too soon? Think about the AAP in general terms like getting a new job. When you are given a new job you get a probationary period where you are given a chance to settle down and prove yourself, add to that a place where there are no systems in place or an existing system which is reluctant to change it becomes really complicated and it will take a long time to bring about change.

So we need to be patient and I think for us to be a developed nation in 2050 we need not just a political change but also a cultural change. It will take 20 years at the least for this change and add another 15 years for the next generation to grow into that changed world. So by 2050 we can hope that India will be a developed nation.

In my next few posts I will be writing about various topics, some of them might be current issues and some longstanding issues in our country and try at my best to open up a discussion with the blog and give examples of good practice from the UK and any other country which has a better system.

I will try not to be political in my views and all the views expressed in the blog will be my personal views a lot of which will be based on research from the amazing World Wide Web

I want to finish this post by quoting Mr Mandela’s words who the world lost in 2013. “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin or his background or his religion, People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love, for love comes to the human heart more naturally than its opposite.”

Love all and have a happy peaceful week.

Happy reading