Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy on Deficit Budget in Andhra

The following is the speech of Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy (then Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra) on 1st Feb 1956 in Andhra assembly.

Separate Telangana supporters are saying, Telangana has surplus budget. They are saying, their revenue would reduce, if it merges to Andhra. It does not make any sense. Can we say that, any state in India has surplus budget? In all the states, we have so many problems. We don't have enough education, health facilities or roads. When the country is backward in all the fields, it is a mistake to say that, we have surplus budget.

Without doing any work and without providing any facilities to the people, keeping Rs.4 crore surplus is not at all an achievement. I am proud that, Andhra is in deficit. We are doing many things which even Madras state is also not doing. Since, we started many schools and colleges without thinking about the revenue and income, we are in deficit budget. We are getting lot of revenue from electricity and if we don't start these schools and colleges, we would have lot of surplus budget. Hyderabad is not starting any schools or colleges and that's why, it is in surplus budget.

Deficit Budget - Surplus Budget

One state has surplus budget and another state has deficit budget. By this, can we say that the first state is better than the second state?

There are two organizations of equal size. One is having huge profit, and another is having minimum profits. Can we say that, the first company is better than the second company?

Except those who understand the economics, many people think that, the first state or organization is better than the second state or organization.

For any state or organization, the way to check the health of the economy is not, whether the budget is deficit or surplus, or the organization is in profits or losses. One should see the growth and the investments that it had made which can give good returns. If the state or organization has invested in fields which can give very good returns, then even if it has deficit budget/less profit, it would be better than the other state or organization which has surplus budget/more profit, but has not invested anywhere. A good entrepreneur will never keep surplus budget or profits. They will always invest that money somewhere else for better returns in the future.

Amazon is a very good example of an organization which has less profits, but economically good. They never work to meet the present quarter's results, and never meet the expectations of the Wall Street. They work only for the long run and invest significantly for the long term business. Because of that, their profits are small. It is not the company to invest to get short term gains. But, if anybody is looking for long term gains, it is one of the best companies.

During the formation of Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra state had deficit budget, and Telangana state had surplus budget. By showing that, people of Telangana always criticize Andhra people that, Andhra people robbed Telangana. They had huge money and Andhra depended on them. If we look little deep in that, it would be clear that, Andhra had invested in much better way and Telangana did not invest properly.

The growth of a state mainly depends on the education of the people and infrastructure in the state. If a state invests in education and infrastructure for the state even by getting loan, that would always give very good returns. Even if they have huge debts and is in deficit budget, still that state would be considered as having strong economy.

At the time of formation of Andhra Pradesh, the education level of Andhra is way higher than the education level of Telangana. [I think, this may be the only one which everyone unanimously agree including Telangana and Andhra People.] That's the reason why, Telangana people felt that, they would lose their jobs, because, they cannot compete with Andhra people. That's why, they brought Gentlemen Agreement, and many other bills, so that, Telangana people are secure.

At the time of formation of Andhra Pradesh, many areas of Andhra had electricity, and that was one of the biggest revenue generator for the state government. Whereas in Telangana, only 7 towns and 11 villages had electricity in 1957. The agriculture in Andhra was way ahead than the agriculture in Telangana. In Andhra, people were using the electricity for agriculture, whereas that was not the case in Telangana. The infrastructure is very less in Telanagana when compared to Andhra.

Andhra had invested money in Education and infrastructure a lot and that's why, it was in deficit budget. Whereas, in Telangana, they kept all their money without investing anywhere. That's why, they had surplus budget. It does not mean that, Telangana is richer than Andhra. If both are kept as two separate states, Andhra would have been many times superior to Telananga. Unfortunately, they are asking to separate the state, after significant investment flew to Telangana from Andhra.

Kiran Bedi - Manipulation of Bills

Kiran Bedi has been criticized that, she has charged more than her travel expenses. She claims that, she used that money to fund her NGO, and is using the money appropriately. She feels, whatever she has done is ethical. Whether it is legal or illegal depends on many factors, and it is not possible to tell without looking into all the details.

After this dispute, she said, she would be ready to get the maximum punishment, including capital punishment, if required. She says, the Jan Lokpal Bill should not be linked with this, and it must be passed.

I am unhappy that, even with these disputes, she has not realized the problems that present government employees/politicians are facing, by doing things which are ethical, but not legal. There are many policies which restrict the general public in doing their basic things. When the government employees bypass those rules to provide better service to the general public, which are ethical but not legal, they are accused of being corrupt. She is fighting to eradicate corruption absolutely everywhere. It means, if anyone is going to do any illegal thing, they would be arrested and imprisoned including those who have done ethically correct.

I hope she realizes it pretty soon that, first the policies have to be changed so that, those which are ethical would be made legal, and then we should bring strong laws to control the corruption. Without changing those policies, if we bring strong laws to eradicate corruption, then most of the people would be in jail only.

Andhra is the Reason Behind Every Bad Thing in Telangana

• Telangana lost so much land for the industries. It is all because of Andhra people.
  
• All the educational institutes are started by the Andhra People, and it did not give any scope for the Telangana people.
  
• Andhra people are coming to Hyderabad and doing business here, and robbing our place.
  
• ...
  
• ...
  
• Someone in Telangana failed in the exam. It is because, Andhra teachers intentionally failed those students.
  
• Someone is suffering from fever. It is spread by the Andhra people.
  
• ..
  
• ..
  
• and many more
  

Telangana people are so much aggressive in criticizing Andhra people for everything. But, they are not criticizing Andhra people for one thing, which they should.

in the initial days, the Telangana movement was sponsored by the Coastal Andhra real estate people. By bringing the Telangana movement, the real estate between Vijayawada and Guntur, and in Visakhapatnam has grown up like anything. The prices of the land and many other things have increased more than 10-20 times in just 10 years. There was direct correlation between the movement in Telangana and the prices in Coastal Andhra.

The real estate people show stars in the afternoon saying, We get Telangana in few months. After that, Andhra would get capital between Vijayawada and Guntur, where Government has 10,000 acres of land. There are only two other places in the entire Seemandhra where Government has 10,000 acres of land at one place. So, the capital would surely come here only. Once the state is separated, you cannot buy even an inch of land. So, better buy the land now itself. This way, they will show you heaven in your palm.

With the Telangana movement, Telangana people are suffering like anything, and Andhra people are using the same thing to increase the prices of everything in coastal Andhra. The beneficiaries of the Telangana movement are Andhra people. One person was saying, Andhra people are very good at doing business. Whatever may be the situation, they will do the "appropriate" business, and there is no need to worry about them. We need to worry only about the people of Telangana. Unfortunately, Telangana people are not realizing it, and they are not listening to others.

CM From Telangana

One of the main points of having separate state for Telangana is, it is ruled by the people from Andhra area, and not from the Telangana region.

In the Independent India, most of the Prime Ministers and "Super" Prime Ministers are from Uttar Pradesh. But, consistently Uttar Pradesh has been in the bottom of the Human Development Index and in every other measure. Does it say anything to the supporters of the Telangana movement?

The rule of having CM from one region and Deputy CM from another region is not at all constitutional. This rule in the gentleman agreement may work only for the national parties like Congress. But, it does not work for the other parties. The main leaders who headed the regional parties are from Seemandhra including NTR, Nadendla Bhaskara rao, Chandrababu, Dr.Jayaprakash Narayan and Chiranjeevi. When they get majority in the assembly, why would they give CM post to someone from Telangana? Does it make any sense? NTR and Chandrababu did not have Deputy CM for their own reasons. When NTR was the CM, initially Nadendla Bhaskara Rao was number two in the party, and later on Chandrababu became number two. Both are from the Seemandhra region. Chiranjeevi got only 18 seats in the last general elections. Out of 18, it got only 2 seats in the Telangana region. For hypothetical purposes, let's assume, it had contested in the elections with the manifesto of United Andhra, it would have got many seats in Seemandhra and 0 seats in Telangana. In that case, how can they give Deputy CM to person from Telangana? Let's suppose, if it gets only one seat in Telangana, do they have to give Deputy CM to that one lone MLA?

Another thing that I could never understand was, the definition of a Telanganite. The leaders like NTR, Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, Chandrababu, Dr.Jayprakash Narayan and Chiranjeevi had stayed/have been staying in Telangana area for more than 15 years. Still, they are not considered as Telanganites. The present CM Kiran Kumar Reddy was born and brought up in Hyderabad. Still, he is not considered as Telanganite. But, KCR who hailed from Bobbili is considered as "pure" Telanganite.

This rule of Gentlemen agreement is not constitutional and is not valid in any court, and this rule is applicable only to Congress and to no other party.