2019 – Posted in: STATE SERIES

TELANGANA

Telangana is the 29th and the youngest state in the Union of India. The Telangana region was part of the Hyderabad state from September 17th, 1948 to November 1st, 1956, until it was merged with Andhra state to form the Andhra Pradesh state.

After decades of movement for a separate State, Telangana was created by passing the AP State Reorganization Bill in both houses of Parliament.

It is said that both the name “Telangana” as well as the language has come from the words “Trilinga”, or “Trilinga Desa”, which means “the country of the three lingas”.

History

Megalithic stone structures like cairns, cists, dolmens, and menhirs found in several districts of Telangana.

Pre-Historic (up to 1000 BCE)

Nizams’ government had done tremendous work in discovering the traces of pre-historical human habitations in Telangana.
These studies found that human habitations in parts of Telangana can be seen from the Paleolithic age consistently.
Some locations showed people continued to live and develop through the later stages of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Metal ages.
Excavations discovered stone tools, microliths, cists, dolmens, Cairns, and menhirs.

Pre-Satavahanas (1000 BCE – 300 BCE)

In the historical age beginning from 1000 BCE, there are some references for Telangana as a geographical entity as well as Telugu as a linguistic entity, in the contemporary Buddhist and mythological texts.
Telangana happens to be the first region in the subcontinent to have issued punch-marked coins with even insignia.
The Buddhist texts, as well as accounts of foreigners like Magesthenes and Arrian, talked about this region as having thirty forts, many of which have to be explored.

Satavahanas (250 BCE – 200 CE)

After the fall of the Mauryan Empire, around the third century BC there arose the first significant kingdom under the Satavahanas from this region. The earliest capital of the Satavahanas was Kotalingala and then moved to the other popular capitals like Paithan and Amaravati (Dharanikota) only after two centuries of their rule.

Numismatic and epigraphic evidence showed that the Satavahanas ruled a larger area of the peninsula, with oceans as borders on three sides. Literature like Gathasaptashati, painting like Ajanta flourished during the Satavahana rule.

Post-Independence

When India became independent from the British Empire in 1947, Hyderabad remained an independent princely state for a period of 13 months.
The peasants of Telangana waged an armed struggle to liberate the region.
On 17 September 1948, the Indian government conducted a military operation called Operation Polo to bring Hyderabad state into the Indian Union.

First Telangana Movement

In the early 1950s, people of the Telangana region in the Hyderabad state started organizing a demand for a separate state.
In 1953 the Government of India appointed the States Reorganization Commission (SRC) to look into various statehood demands.
The Commission was headed by Fazal Ali, Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, and H.N. Kunzru.
The SRC toured the whole country to seek representations from various sections of the society.
During the period between 1955 September and 1956 November, the people of Telangana launched a series of protests demanding statehood by implementing the SRC recommendations.

1969 Telangana Agitation

Non-implementation of Gentlemen’s Agreement and continued discrimination to the Telangana region in government jobs, education and public spending resulted in the 1969 statehood agitation.

In January 1969, students intensified the protests for a separate state.

On 19 January, all party accord was reached to ensure the proper implementation of Telangana safeguards. Accord’s main points were 1) All non-Telangana employees holding posts reserved for Telangana locals will be transferred immediately. 2) Telangana surpluses will be used for Telangana development. 3) Appeal to Telangana students to call off the agitation.

State Formation

After 4 years of peaceful and impactful protests, the UPA government started the statehood process in July 2013 and concluded the process by passing the statehood bill in both houses of Parliament in Feb 2014.

Date of Formation	O2, June 2014
Capital	Hyderabad
State Borders	Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka
No. of Districts	33
State Bird	Palapitta (Indian Roller or Blue Jay)
State Animal	Jinka (Deer)
State Tree	Jammi Chettu (Prosopic Cineraria)
State Flower	Tangedu (Tanner’s Cassial)
Rivers	Godavari, Musi, Krishna, Manjira
Languages	Telugu, Urdu, English
Forests & National Park	Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park, Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park, Shivaram Wildlife sanctuary, Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary
Wildlife Sanctuaries	Eturunagaram Wildlife Sanctuary, Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary, Kawal Tiger Reserve, Pranahita Wildlife Sanctuary, Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary, Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Pocharam Wildlife Sanctuary, Shivaram Wildlife Sanctuary.
Crops	Rice, Sugarcane, Cotton, Mango, Tobacco
Irrigation project	Nagarjun Sagar Dam, Godavari River Basin irrigation project
Minerals	Coal
Monuments	Charminar, Golconda Fort, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Chowmahalla Palace, Falaknuma Palace, Birla Mandir and Nagarjun sagar, Bhongir Fort, Warangal Fort, Khammam Fort
Waterfalls	Kuntala Waterfall, Bogatha Waterfall, Savatula Gundam Waterfalls, Gowri Gundaala waterfalls

Lakes

Hussain Sagar, Osman Sagar, Himayat Sagar, Durgam Cheruvu, Pakhal Lake, Mir Alam Tank

Culture

Located on the uplands of the Deccan plateau, Telangana is the link between the North and South of India. It is thus no surprise that the region, on the whole, came to be known for its Ganga-Jamuna Tehzeeb and the capital Hyderabad as a ‘miniature India!’.

Art Forms

The Kakatiya rule led to the evolution of dance forms such as Perini Sivatandavam, also known as ‘dance of warriors’.

The ubiquitous ‘Dhoom Dham’ is one of the composite art forms. They generally were about the struggle and exploitation.

A variant of Yakshagana, Chindu Bhagavatham is performed widely across Telangana. It is a theater art form that combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form. The word ‘Chindu’ in Telugu means ‘jump’.

Qawali, Ghazals and Mushairas evolved under the patronage of Qutub Shahi and the Asafjahi rulers in and around the capital city of Hyderabad.

Festivals

The Hindu festivals like Ugadi, Srirama Navami, Bonalu, Vinayaka Chaturthi, Dasara, Deepavali, Sankranti, Holi, Mahashivaratri are celebrated with pomp, gaiety, and devotion.
Dasara is the main festival with the epithet ‘pedda panduga.’
Bathukamma, a part of Dasara festivities, is unique to Telangana. At this festival, women clad in glittering costumes and jewellery carry beautifully stacked Bathukammas with flowers like Tangedu, Gunugu, Chamanti and others to the village or street’s meeting point.
Making circles around the assembled Bathukammas, womenfolk recite songs in a group. The songs have their roots in Puranas.
Bonalu is a Hindu Festival, celebrated during the Telugu month of Ashadam (translates to June/ July of Gregorian calendar) wherein Goddess Mahakali is worshiped.
Ramzan is the main festival of Muslims, Moharram too is celebrated on a large scale in Telangana. It is known famously as ‘peerla panduga.’ Pir means Master. Many Hindus take part in the festival.
Chirstians, mainly in and around Hyderabad celebrate Christmas and Good Friday with great fervor and religiosity.

Arts and Crafts

Bidri craft: The unique art of silver engraved on metal. Black, gold and silver coatings are applied on this. It involves various several stages like casting, engraving, inlaying and oxidizing. The name of this art form is derived from a town called Bidar (currently part of Karnataka) of the erstwhile Hyderabad state.

Banjara Needle Crafts: Banjara Needle Crafts are the traditional handmade fabrics made by Banjaras (the tribal Gypsies) in Telangana. It is a form of embroidery and mirror work on fabrics employing the needlecraft.

Dokra Metal Crafts: Dhokra or Dokra is also known as bell metal craft and is widely seen in Jainoor Mandal, Ushegaon and Chittalbori in Adilabad district. The tribal craft produces objects like figurines, tribal gods, etc. The work consists of folk motifs, peacocks, elephants, horses, measuring bowl, lamp caskets and other simple art forms and traditional designs.

Nirmal Arts: The renowned Nirmal oil paintings use natural dyes for depicting themes from the epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. Also, the wood paintings and other wooden articles, has great aesthetic expression. The origin of the Nirmal craft is traced back to the Kakatiya era. The motifs used for Nirmal craft are floral designs and frescoes from the regions of Ajanta and Ellora and Mughal miniatures.

Bronze Castings: Telangana is famous world-wide for its amazing Bronze castings. While using solid casting of icons, the mould is created using several coatings of different clays on a finished wax model. This process then imparts fine curves to the cast image.

Geography

Telangana is situated on the Deccan Plateau, in the central stretch of the eastern seaboard of the Indian Peninsula.
The region is drained by two major rivers, with about 79% of the Godavari River catchment area and about 69% of the Krishna River catchment area, but most of the land is arid.
Telangana is a semi-arid area and has a predominantly hot and dry climate.
The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests ecoregion covers much of the state, including Hyderabad.
Over 80% of the original forest cover has been cleared for agriculture, timber harvesting, or cattle grazing, but large blocks of forest can be found in Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve and elsewhere.

Important Institutions

Central Institute of tool design
Maulana Azad National Urdu University
Indian Institute of Technology
National Institute of Rural Development
Indian Institute of Chemical Technology
Centre for DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics
National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology – Hyderabad

Facts

The state has focus on the fields of information technology and biotechnology.
Telangana is one of the top IT-exporting states of India. There are 68 Special Economic Zones in the state.
Charminar – Built-in 1591 situated on the east bank of Musi River.
Golconda Fort- is well known for its ingenious water supply system & acoustics and also the famous Fateh Rahben gun is situated here.
Kuntala Water Fall of Adilabad district is the highest in State.
1000 pillars temple in Warangal.
Several major manufacturing and services industries are in operation mainly around Hyderabad. Automobiles and auto components, spices, mines and minerals, textiles and apparels, pharmaceutical, horticulture, and poultry farming are the main industries in Telangana
In terms of services, Hyderabad is nicknamed “Cyberabad” due to the location of major software industries in the city.
Hyderabad is also a major site for healthcare-related industries including hospitals and pharmaceutical organizations.
Hydel and thermal power projects in the state meet the power requirements of the State.

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