Saanvi's Birthday Part1

పోమంటే పోవు ఎందుకు పోర ఆంధ్ర దొర

Whose Hyderabad Is It?

HYDERABAD FORUM FOR TELANGANA

Whose Hyderabad is it?

Myths, Facts and Realities

Subsequent to the announcement by the Home Minister P.Chidambaram on 9^th December 2009 about initiating the process for a separate Telangana state, claims have been made about Hyderabad and its development which are actually a total misrepresentation of the present and historical realities. There is an urgent need to correct these misconceptions by bringing actual recorded facts to the attention of the public so that issues can be discussed in a rational and democratic manner. We are making this appeal to present the facts in order to facilitate such a process.

Question 1

Who built Hyderabad?

Answer 1:

Though the decision to build Hyderabad into a modern city to rival the best in the world was taken by the Nizam and the landed aristocracy, the resources were provided by the toiling masses of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. Over 90% of the revenues of Hyderabad state were based on the rural economy and a significant portion of this was invested to develop the infrastructure and services in Hyderabad city. So it would be correct to state that Hyderabad was built largely by the sweat and blood of the people of Telangana.

These investments took place over a period of over a hundred years and already by 1909 Hyderabad had the makings of a modern city as can be seen from the following description:

Hyderabad a Hundred Years Ago

In 1909, the Imperial Gazetteer of India reported that Hyderabad was the 4^th largest city in India with a population of 4.5 lakhs in 1901, which had increased to 5 lakhs in 1909. Hyderabad was linked to the rest of India by the Nizam’s State Railways. Hyderabad had a larger population than Delhi in 1909 and was still the 4^th largest city in 1956.

The city had 139 large and 310 small tanks along with several dams on the Musi River which was also the source for irrigation. The city had a protected water supply from the Hussain Sagar and the Mir Alam tank. The Hyderabad Water Works was already constructed and the Gazetteer reports that “this supply has led to considerable improvement in sanitation, and cholera which used to be an annual visitant has not been known in the city for the last few years”.

The Nizam’s Prime Minister, Sir Salar Jung, introduced the modern administrative system in Hyderabad and invited administrators from the neighbouring regions and also from UP to occupy administrative positions in Hyderabad. The Public Works Dept was established in 1868 and a municipal administration system was first introduced in 1869. A taxation structure was also established for revenues from properties, transportation, water supply, and roads and buildings. The municipal administration soon built a number of public buildings, hospitals, and gardens to develop the city.

The Imperial Gazetteer of 1909 further states that “road widening had already taken place and old streets and lanes had been widened through the exertions of the Municipality”, and, “it may be said that practically three-fourths of the city and suburbs had been renovated or rebuilt under the Ministry of Sir Salar Jung in addition to the new buildings”.

The process of industrialization had already begun by 1909 with a steam saw mill and several private and government owned spinning and weaving mills being established in Hyderabad.[1] In the education sector, there were 3 colleges and several English-medium and vernacular schools. Hyderabad was also home to the largest military station in the Secunderbad Cantonment and the Residency was also located in the city.

Given the above realities of a hundred years ago, this pamphlet will now answer some of the frequently asked questions about Hyderabad.

Question – 2

What are the reasons for the growth of Hyderabad and what is the contribution of people from the other regions?

Answer – 2

If one were to view the matter truthfully one has to admit that Hyderabad has slipped from the 4^th place to the 5^th place over the last fifty years. However, the primary reason for the influx of people into Hyderabad from the Andhra region was the prospect they saw of prospering from such a move.

There were enormous tracts of land that were available for free or at throwaway prices. It is a historical fact that the areas around the urban core (atraf-e-balda) to the extent of over 2000 square miles (5,200 sq.kms or 13,00,000 acres) were sarf-e-khas (crown) lands. Like honey to the bee these lands attracted farmers and business people from the coastal region. In the 1950s and 60s this was limited to government employees and those who had business with the government along with a trickle of the more adventurous people.

A particularly sordid phase was the dispossession of the landed property of the Muslim community under the threat of the Urban Land Ceiling Act. Many Muslim families resorted to distress sales and the landmark properties of contemporary Hyderabad like the 5-Star Hotels and Malls on Road No.1, Banjara Hills belong to this sorry chapter in the city’s history. These and many other properties were regularised after they passed into the hands of the newcomers.

The brutal suppression of the Telangana Agitation in 1969 and the re-assertion of Samaikya Andhra and the political dominance of coastal interests opened the floodgates for settlers.

One must remember that by 1956 Hyderabad had all the ingredients necessary for economic growth. It was already home to industries and there were Industrial Estates in Azamabad and Sanathnagar. The strategic geographical location of Hyderabad in the centre of the country and the easy availability of government land in the peri-urban area prompted the Central Government to locate many large public sector units here – Praga Tools, ECIL, BHEL, IDPL, HAL, HMT to name a few. Apart from this high technology defence related institutions like the DRDL, DRDA, and NRSA also found a natural home in Hyderabad.

These industries spawned a multitude of ancillaries and spin-offs based on technology transfer. One can trace both the pharma and information technology industry to the impetus given by public sector enterprises like the IDPL, ECIL and NRSA amongst others. Dr. Reddy Labs grew on processes and technology from IDPL. Satyam Computers was the first company in India to have dedicated satellite links with the USA, based on capabilities developed in ECIL and NRSA. It is unlikely that these path breaking enterprises could have been set up in any place but Hyderabad.

It is true that many of the successful enterprises and businesses have been set up by people from other regions of the state. They have a marked superiority in their ability to negotiate with, manipulate and manoeuvre statal and para-statal institutions for their benefit. In fact the desire to be protected and safe-guarded from this aggressive Seema-Andhra culture is one of the important reasons for the continuing demand for a separate Telangana.

Question: 3

Is it true to say that the phenomenal spatial growth of Hyderabad over the last decade is to the credit of the farsighted political/business leadership and investments from the Andhra region?

Answer: 3

Whereas it is true that taxes paid by the peasants of Hyderabad State was responsible for the growth of Hyderabad as a city for much of the 20^th century the same cannot be said of the growth in the first decade of the 21^st century. Many sources are claiming that the State has made huge investments in the infrastructure necessary for the physical expansion of the city. Nothing can be further from the truth. The “real-estate driven development” of Hyderabad is largely due to the flow of revenues from the sale of government lands (previously “crown lands”). HUDA had plans to realise Rs.12,000 crores from the sale of government lands. The proceeds of these were to fund the development of infrastructure.

Alongside this there has been a large-scale grab of government lands through the manipulation of revenue records by those in power. Instances of the cornering of lands by those who could manipulate the government are manifold:

• The Ramoji Film City and the lands acquired by the Sanghis. The Gandhi Medical College property has been given over to a real-estate developer to build a mall. The entire deal was devoid of any transparency.
• In addition to the sale and lease of lands, the development of the city has resulted in the deliberate drying up of lakes and encroachment of lake lands by real estate developers which have led to the Musi River becoming a carrier of sewage in the city. Worst of all, the source of drinking water to the city namely the Osman Sagar (Gandipet) and Himayat Sagar have also dried up due to such blocking and encroachment of water bodies in the name of “development”. The Umda Sagar, Talab Mir Jumla (also known as Talab Katta, and named after the Prime Minister of Hyderabad) and Durgam Cheruvu are some of the instances of disappeared lakes.
• At least half a dozen cases of distress sales of hundreds of acres by small and medium farmers on the city outskirts following acquisition notifications by government corporations. These lands were purchased by speculators who later got the notifications annulled and made windfall profits.
• What else can explain the fact that a retired teacher Rajaiah was involved in the registration of over 5,000 acres of land or the fact that Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computers had bought thousands of acres of land through over 250 front companies.

In the boom years the ability of this elite to mobilise large chunks of land had attracted global capital flows into many so called ‘public private partnerships’ and ‘Special Economic Zones’. The enormous amounts of money to be made can be seen from the fact that one of the main reasons for the Satyam fraud was the desire of Raju to move out of the lucrative IT business into the even more profitable land based business. Out of the top 35 infrastructure companies in India 27 belong to Andhra Pradesh and it is very revealing that not one of them belongs to an entrepreneur from the Telangana region. The extent to which the ‘real estate’ bubble has driven the growth of Hyderabad can be seen from the following:

Today, the old Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad area of 175 sq.kms. has grown to an urban agglomeration of 6,876 sq.kms. It has cannibalised 54 mandals consisting of 666 villages from the districts surrounding Hyderabad.

The outer ring road passes through 48 villages and about 7,000 acres of land have been acquired for it. A vast majority of the 17,000 acres bought along its alignment belong to speculators from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. It is rumoured that film notables Murali Mohan owns 3000 acres, Vishwanath 1000 acres and so on.

The Hyderabad Airport Development Authority (HADA) is planning to build 7 townships under a Private-Public Partnership venture and has acquired 800 acres of land from the villages of Mankal, Nadergul, Injapur, Rayikunta,Thurkayamjal and Kismathpur. HADA seeks to make a profit of Rs. 500 crores through this venture.

It is well known that all the mega-projects in Hyderabad starting from the Hi-tech city, the Outer Ring Road, the various townships, the GMR airport etc. have come up after the adjacent lands have been cornered by a nexus of political insiders and speculative business interests.

The formation of Telangana state has come at a particularly bad time for those with the greatest stakes in these peri-urban lands. The real estate bubble has burst and they are left with these vast holdings for which they are no buyers.

They have to remain in control until there is an upturn in the market again and they are able to liquidate their holdings. Today these are the handful of people (numbering no more than a few dozens) who are most vociferously opposing the demand for Telangana – they are mortally afraid that there will be an investigation into how they have come into possession of these lands and that they would not only lose ownership but stand indicted for the fraud and cheating they have perpetrated on the government and the people.

In conclusion one is compelled to think that enrichment of the few rather than development for the people is the track record of these so called ‘far sighted’ people.

Question 4

What impact would Telangana Statehood have on people from other regions in living in Hyderabad?

Answer 4

The demographics of Hyderabad has changed considerably in the last couple of decades and people from other regions of Andhra Pradesh, though in a minority, make up a sizable chunk of the population that has permanently settled in Hyderabad. Their access and control over the higher echelons of state power would definitely be curtailed in a Telangana state. However this will only affect a miniscule proportion of this population as a majority of the people living here are middle/lower class people with jobs or other small businesses who have little need to manipulate state power. They should however have a right to participate and have a voice in the governance of Hyderabad.

The role of Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana has to be delineated from the governance of the city itself. It is a fact that principles of self-governance in urban areas have been diluted to such an extent that they have become a mockery of the constitution. At present decisions about Hyderabad are taken by the state-level political leadership and the senior bureaucracy. It is well known that the residents of Hyderabad and their representatives, ie. the elected members of the corporation and the Mayor are marginalised in the present setup and have no voice in the allocation of resources.

It is up to the people of Hyderabad (including those from the Andhra region) to strive for more autonomy in the newly created state of Telangana as provided under the 74^th Amendment to the Constitution so that the voices of all those who live here can be heard.

In conclusion one can state that the city of Hyderabad is widely known for its tolerant attitude and composite culture. This is a culture that is a result of the interactions and amalgamations of many peoples, languages and their ways of living. The culture of Hyderabad has a history of more than 400 years and is referred to as a “ganga-jumna tehzeeb”. Apart from the Hindus and Muslims, Armenians, Anglo-Indians, Parsis, Shias and Kayasths from Uttar Pradesh and Sikhs and Punjabis have all been part of the diversity of communities that have lived peacefully in Hyderabad. They all claim themselves as Hyderabadis.

Even today Hyderabad is the only city in South India that is multi-lingual and can be home to people from any part of the country. If, by ill-luck, Hyderabad City or the GHMC is carved out into a Union Territory, that single action will trap all the poor Muslims of the Old City area - close to two million citizens, in perpetual poverty, with no exits, for the City then would be a hi-tech hub of India, or South Asia, with high paid professionals drawn from all parts of the country or the globe. The poor Muslims of Hyderabad would be their large pool of low-paid servants, and underlings to service the rich. If, on the contrary, Hyderabad remains the capital of Telangana, with better governance the urban and the rural poor could make common cause to gradually bring about a better and acceptable standard of living for all.

Question 5:

How will the revenues from Hyderabad be shared?

Answer 5:

It should be clearly stated that Hyderabad will certainly be the capital of Telangana. It is a fact that Hyderabad has been the capital of this region for hundreds of years. One has only to go back to 1956 and the decision to make Hyderabad the capital of Andhra Pradesh to see this. At that time apart from housing for the newly transferred government staff from the Andhra area there was no need for construction of any additional public/governmental buildings. It is a myth that investments had to be made to enable Hyderabad to be the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

It follows therefore that the State government’s share of the revenues of Hyderabad city must be to the account of Telangana. There can be no ambiguity on this question. It must be remembered that there was a Gentlemen’s Agreement that governed the formation of Andhra Pradesh and one of the conditions was that the state should separate once again if the merger were to prove unsuccessful. Much of today’s heartburn could have been avoided if instead of suppressing it, the authorities had heeded the voice of Telangana in 1969 itself and divided the state.

Today, if the other regions of the State stand to lose revenue from Hyderabad they must view it as a consequence of the fact that Telangana was always an unwilling and resentful part of the state of Andhra Pradesh and they must learn to live with this fact.

సంక్రాంతి తెలంగాణా ముగ్గులు

తెలంగాణా ఏమిటి ? -- http://thatstelugu.oneindia.in/feature/politics/2010/arguments-telanganites-040110.html

" Bhago Andhrawale Jaago Telangana wale" will be the slogan if Settlers do not come out openly in support of Telangana

Three simple reasons why we are demanding Telangana state

1. To harvest our water share in Krishna and Godavari rivers as assigned to Telangana by the Central govt.
2. To get our rightful share of budget. Today 45% revenue is from T and only 28% is spent here. They sell valuable lands around hyd. get 10,000 crores, but give only 200crores to the Chevella pranahita project a needs 20,000 crores and can potentially eradicate poverty from 4 T districts.
3. Telangana and Andhra were independent states for 8 and 6 years respectively. They were merged with some Terms and Conditions, which unfortunately were not followed by Andhra leaders.

Statistics of H-1B Visa Holders in the U.S. and Reach of H-1B Cap in Recent Years

• Total H1-B Visa Holders in the U.S. in Recent Fiscal Years
  • 2008: 409,619
  • 2007: 461,730
  • 2006: 431,853
  • 2005: 407,418
  • 2004: 386,821
• Reach of H-1B Cap in Recent Fiscal Years
  • 2010: Still Open, and Going and Going, as of 04/11/2009! May be it will record the statistics between 2007 and 2008.
  • 2009: 1 day
  • 2008: 2 days
  • 2007: 56 days
  • 2006: 132 days
  • 2005: 184 days
  • 2004: 323 days
• The total H-1B holders steadily increased until 2008 when it dropped substantially. Probably it was affected by FY 2007 July Visa Bulletin fiaso which opened the flood gate for EB-485 filings with no visa number cut-off date in July 2007, accompanied by massive issuance of EAD allowing some of the H-1Bs in this stream to drop out of H-1B status and use EAD, most of which were issued beginning from November 2007. There being no such event in 2009, presumedly the total numbe of H-1B holders in 2009 might have increased. Considering the fact that every year a same new number of H-1B holders are added to the total pool, a large number of H-1Bs have kept extending their H-1B status on and on. Additionally, the fact that overall the total H-1B holder numbers remained steady may indicate that more or less of from 85,000 to 100,000 numbers of H-1B are added to the pool and about the same number moved out of the pool, mostly into green card holder pool, adding flesh blood of valuable workers to the main stream of this country. It Ain't Interesting?

source: http://www.immigration-law.com/

WHO DEVOLAPED HYDERABAD
WHO DEVOLAPED HYDERABAD, FACILITIES IN 1959 AND IN ANDHRA ALSO WHO IS DEVOLAPED

Wish you happy new year!!!