The birth of Telangana makes it clear that there is nothing sacrosanct about state boundaries and they can be redrawn if the occasion arises. It also drives home the point that linguistic homogeneity is no guarantee to hold the people speaking the same language together, overriding economic, social and cultural factors. In other words, language is not the sole determinant of how people want to organise themselves as an entity. The formation of Telangana as the country’s newest state is an inevitable consequence of the region’s long-standing sense of separateness and uniqueness. As a relatively smaller state, Telangana can be administered with greater people’s participation by devolving powers and ‘replenished’, after years of neglect, with its forest and mineral wealth.
G David Milton
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
The PSU banks merger issue was in cold storage for quite some time. The new government, it appears, wants to revive discussions on PSU banks merger again. The main problem of PSU banks is bad loans and non-performing assets, not the size of the bank. Instead of addressing the root cause of PSU bank problem, the government is trying to divert attention to what can be called a non-issue. Bank mergers will lead to few bank branches for public, that can even lead to crowding in branches. The government should first address wage revision issue of bank employees which is pending for more than 30 months.
Sudhir Keshav Bhave