After decades of political protests, the state of Telangana became a reality on 2nd June 2014. The aspirations of people were fulfilled lately but the state was backward when it was carved out from the then United Andhra Pradesh. With only two big cities viz., Hyderabad and Warangal in its kitty, Telangana with a new exuberance, made a journey of transformation from deficit state to a surplus one.
1) Telangana’s GDP
The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Telangana grew at staggering 14% for 2020-21 (at current prices) is Rs 11,05,136 crore while the GSDP (at constant prices) has increased from 9.4% in 2016-17 to 10.5% in 2018-19, elevating the growth rate of Telangana much more than the national average. Despite 15th Finance Commission making a 15% cut for Telangana in Centre’s share for states tax revenue, the government of Telangana is keeping focus on health, rural development and education with its limited resources.
2) Human Development Index (HDI)
The HDI is a qualitative measurement of development. It is calculated on the basis of the three indicators viz., Life expectancy, Literacy Rate and Per Capita Income. All these indicators increased since the formation of Telangana state. The overall HDI score of Telangana is 0.669 which is above national average and the state comes under medium developed category. Telangana’s literacy rate was significantly increased from 66.46% in 2011 to 72.8% in 2019. As per report titled India: Health of the Nation’s States of 2016, women and men in Telangana had a life expectancy of 73.2 years and 69.4 years at birth respectively. The figures improved very much when compared to the life expectancy rates of the year 1990, which was 61.8 years for women and 60.2 years for men.
3) Kaleshwaram Project
Situated in the midst of Deccan plateau, most of the lands in Telangana state are arid because a large portion of rain water was from non-perennial Godavari and Krishna rivers. The water of these catchments were not stored previously within the Telangana region. Additionally, the annual rainfall in the state is between 750-800 mm and there is a huge variation of rainfall in northern and southern regions of Telangana. Further, the farmers faced a lot of water scarcity for their crops with paddy as one of the major cultivated crops in the state, which is heavily dependent on water. The Chief Minister’s brainchild, Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project changed the scenario of the state by bringing 45 lakh acres under direct irrigation system that spreads over 13 districts through a canal network of 1800 kilometres.
4) Administrative setup
The reorganization of districts made a remarkable changes in the administration of the state. The decentralisation in administration helps in rapid result delivery mechanism during emergency situations, which the state witnessed during the lockdown period due to Covid-19. As per the Covid-19 Performance Index (CPI) of the southern states, Telangana grabbed top spot.
5) Power generation
When Telangana was formed, it was deprived about 2700 MW power by the United Andhra Pradesh and the power generation was not allocated as per AP Bifurcation Act, 2014. However, the installed power generation capacity of the state doubled to 16,506 MW from 7,778 MW in 2014. Now, the Telangana has become one of the fastest power growing state in India and it aims to generate about 24,000 MW within next 4-5 years.
