Tag: andhra pradesh three capitals

Visakhapatnam Will Be Andhra Pradesh Capital, Says Jagan Mohan Reddy

The announcement may run into legal hurdles, as the Andhra Pradesh high court had ordered the government to develop Amaravati as the state capital.

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday announced that Visakhapatnam will be his state’s new capital, continuing the controversy over his plans to alter his predecessor N. Chandrababu Naidu’s decision to establish Amaravati as the capital.

Addressing the preparatory meeting for the Global Investors Summit, which will be held in Visakhapatnam in March, Jagan said that his office will also be shifting to the coastal city in the months to come.

“Here I am to invite you to Visakhapatnam which will be our capital in the days to come. I will also be shifting to Visakhapatnam in the months to come,” he said at the International Diplomatic Alliance meet in Delhi.

The move may run into legal hurdles, as the Andhra Pradesh high court had ordered the YSR Congress party government to develop Amaravati as the state capital in March last year, as envisioned by the previous Telugu Desam Party government. The court rejected Jagan’s plan to have three capitals – Visakhapatnam (executive capital), Amaravati (legislative capital) and Kurnool (judicial capital). The government has challenged the decision before the Supreme Court.

The decision to “decentralise” Amaravati, located between Vijayawada and Guntur, as the capital was challenged in the high court by farmers who had parted with their lands for the city’s development.

Even before the judgment, the Jagan government in November 2021 repealed the laws that were passed to develop three capitals in Andhra Pradesh for the purpose of “decentralised development”. However, it had said that it plans to bring in a more “comprehensive legislation” to go ahead with the plan.

According to The News Minute, TDP spokesperson Pattabhi Ram said Jagan’s announcement goes against the high court’s judgment. “The case is sub judice before Supreme Court. It is due for hearing. In such a context, how can the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh make a statement on an issue which is sub judice?” he said.

Explained: Why Jagan Has Created 13 New Districts in Andhra Pradesh

The Andhra Pradesh chief minister said that the new districts would make it easier for officials to deliver government schemes, but there are other reasons too. 

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday formally notified the formation of 13 new districts in the state, taking the total number to 26. The government initiated the process to carve out the new districts in January this year, with the cabinet approving the proposal on March 30.

What are the new districts called?

The new districts are Manyam, carved out of Vizianagaram; Anakapalli and Alluri Sitarama Raju carved out of Visakhapatnam; Kakinada and Konaseema carved out of East Godavari; Eluru carved out of West Godavari; Palnadu and Bapatla carved out of Guntur; Nandyal carved out of Kurnool; Sri Satya Sai carved out of Anantapur; Sri Balaji carved out of Chittoor; Annamaya carved out of Kadapa; and NT Rama Rao carved out of the Krishna district.

The government said it had received over 17,500 representations, suggestions and objections from across the state on the creation of the new districts and revenue divisions, and additions and deletions of the areas in the new districts.

A government ad notifying the formation of 13 new districts. Photo: By arrangement

Why have the new districts been created?

In a statement on Monday, Jagan said that the new districts would make it easier for officials to deliver government schemes. He said, “People have accepted and appreciated the decentralised form of government as the schemes are directly delivered to their doorstep, and that the same is being extended to the districts now”.

“We have seen the development through decentralised administration in the form of village and ward secretariats. We are now decentralising at the district level as well. From now on, AP is a state with 26 districts. We have at least one parliamentary constituency per district,” Reddy said.

During the poll campaign for the 2019 assembly elections, Jagan had promised that his party would make every Lok Sabha constituency a district if voted to power. While the state has 25 Lok Sabha seats, the Araku constituency will be split between two districts, one of which was created to include majority tribal areas in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam.

Each district will now have six to eight assembly segments, except in the Konaseema district.

Why now?

Though Jagan had made the promise to establish new districts during the 2019 election campaign, the timing of the move is an attempt to curb anti-incumbency sentiments. The YSR Congress party is more than midway through its term and some of its policies – like the decision to establish three capitals instead of one – have proven unpopular. The chief minister is reported to have admitted privately that the party may have to drop nearly half of its MLAs in the next assembly election, which will happen concurrently with the 2024 general elections.

Jagan’s cabinet is also set for a major overhaul, another move seen as a way to combat anti-incumbency. The outgoing ministers would be appointed as coordinators in the districts and the party hopes that their popularity will also boost the party’s chances.

(With PTI inputs)

AP High Court Orders Implementation of Amaravati Masterplan

The judgment deals a blow to the YSR Congress government’s plans to have three capitals.

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh high court on Thursday ordered that the Amaravati Masterplan be implemented and all development activities be continued in the region in a blow to the YSR Congress government’s plans to have three capitals.

With this judgement, the three capitals idea looks uncertain, though the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government has been claiming that it would not give up on it.

A three-member division bench of the high court, headed by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, also ordered that the government honour the agreement signed with farmers, who parted with their lands for the development of the capital city Amaravati, and take up development activities.

The bench ordered that the government submit an affidavit in six months on the progress of the development works in Amaravati.

The division bench, also comprising Justices M. Satyanarayana Murthy and D.V.S.S. Somayajulu, delivered the judgment on a batch of petitions filed by the farmers opposing the government’s plan to create three new capitals for the state.

In the original petitions, the farmers also opposed the scrapping of the Capital Region Development Authority Act and the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act.

The state government subsequently repealed the two controversial laws but said it would bring them in a new form.

The high court on Thursday said it would continue hearing into the various other related petitions in the matter.

The Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti (Save Amaravti Committee) leaders welcomed the high court judgment and said it was a victory of people and farmers.

Andhra Pradesh: Capital Relocation Poses Threat to Buddhist Heritage Sites in Vizag

Even as the three capitals project faces legal hurdles, heritage activists and Buddhists say the construction of a guesthouse near Thotlakonda poses a threat to cultural heritage sites.

Vijayawada: Regardless of legal challenges, the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh is keen to relocate the executive capital to Visakhapatnam as part of its agenda to create three capitals. But activists fear that the relocation and the prospect of rapid urbanisation may pose a serious threat to the steel city’s heritage sites.

This anxiety is visible in the spate of protests by heritage activists and Buddhists against the government’s plan to build a state guesthouse on 30 acres of land close to a Heenayana Buddhist complex. The protesters said the construction of guesthouse so close to the Thotlakonda Buddhist Complex risks damaging the 2,000-year-old heritage site.

After facing several hurdles, the YSR Congress government’s plan to distribute the capitals got an impetus when governor Biswabhusan Harichandan cleared the relevant Bills.

Though the government’s plan was to shift the executive capital to Visakhapatnam on Vijayadasami (October 25) in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they were thwarted after the high court ordered status quo to be maintained at least until September 21.

The court gave this direction after a group of farmers in Amaravati challenged the government’s three capitals plan. The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has accused the government of subverting the high court’s orders, saying it is trying to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam through the backdoor. The construction of the guesthouse is part of such “covert” plans, the party claims.

The state government has issued a government order (GO) directing the district administration to acquire 30 acres of land adjacent to heritage sites in the Kapuluppada village on the city suburbs for the construction of a guesthouse and quarters for government personnel.

Subsequently, the government ignored the protests and laid the foundation stone for the guesthouse ahead of its avowed mission to make Visakhapatnam a seat of power with a provision for the Chief Minister’s Office, secretariat and the other paraphernalia that comes with the capital.

Panoramic view of Thotlakonda monastic complex near Vizag. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/ Adityamadhav83 CC BY SA 3.0

Significance of Thotlakonda Buddhist complex

The Thotlakonda Buddhist complex, spread over nearly 48 hectares on a hill overlooking the Bay of Bengal, some 15 km from Visakhapatnam, is believed to have flourished between the second century BCE and the second century CE.

Thotlakonda emerged alongside the other Buddhist complexes, such as Bavikonda and Pavurallakonda. The Buddhist relics fell within the influence of the ancient region of Kalinga, which played a pivotal role in disseminating Buddhism within India and also to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asian regions. Buddhist monks from across Asia were believed to have travelled to Thotlakonda to study and practice Buddhism.

Tourism minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao told the media that the proposed government guesthouse, which would occupy a 12-hectare site on the Greyhounds Hill, would not pose any threat to Thotlakonda or the nearby Bavikonda archaeological sites.

The minister brushed aside the apprehensions of heritage activists, who say the planned compound with the guesthouse is just one kilometre away from Thotlakonda. He said the project is not located on any heritage sites and will not pose any threat to them. “Our government is committed to the protection of heritage sites,” he told the New Indian Express.

Andhra Pradesh tourism minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao with chief minsiter Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. Photo: Twitter/@AvanthiSrinivas

But the protesters rejected the minister’s contention. V.S. Krishna and K. Sudha of the Human Rights Forum said the GO pertained to land acquisition for the guesthouse is in plain violation of the Andhra Pradesh Ancient Historical Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1960. The piece of land acquired for the guesthouse falls under the survey No. 314 of Kapuluppada village and it was expressly protected by the Act, they observed.

Quoting studies, Krishna said archaeological remains are contained across several hills in the area and there are over 120 micro and unexplored sites around Thotlakonda. Because of constructions proposed by the government, as yet undiscovered cultural heritage may be in danger of being wiped out, he feared.

 Glorious past

The word Thotlakonda in Telugu is derived from the rock-cut water cisterns found in the local bedrock. Since the discovery of the site in 1976, it has been declared a protected monument by the state government. Notable excavations at the site include a maha stupa, a stone pillared congregation hall, three circular prayer halls, 10 viharas, a kitchen complex, and a refectory. Silver Roman coins and other evidence of international commerce have also been found at the site. The maha stupa partially collapsed due to heavy rains that battered the city in October 2019. It was later reconstructed with government funds.

Maha stupa at Thotlakonda in Vizag. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/iMahesh CC BY SA 4.0

Kothapalli Venkataramana of the Buddhist Society highlighted the need for maintaining a buffer zone around the Buddhist complexes on Thotlakonda, Bavikonda and Pavuralakonda with a blanket ban on construction of all sorts in the buffer zone. Citing an Andhra Pradesh high court judgment delivered in November 2016, Venkataramana contended that the construction of the guesthouse amounted to contempt of court.

The survey No 314 of Kapuluppada village reveals the fact that the area protected under the Ancient and Historical Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains Act is, in fact, is spread over 33,000 acres on a cluster of hills. But successive governments, Venkataramana alleged, have fudged revenue records to downsize the extent to a few hundred acres, resulting in the alienation of vast lands with Buddhist sites.

Activists also accuse the district revenue authorities of fabricating fictitious survey numbers within the old survey number (314-old) to hide Buddhist sites. This, Rani Sarma, the former president of the Visakhapatnam branch of Indian National Trust for Art and Culture, says was done as part of a move to legitimise the state-sponsored grabbing of lands that fall under heritage sites.

Activists say that over a period of three decades, successive governments facilitated the alienation of lands in the area, either for its own utilities or for private usage. The previous TDP government headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu allotted 15 acres in area for the Film Nagar Cultural Club and 300 acres for Greyhounds, the state’s elite police force.

“Capital or no capital, threats continue to loom over heritage sites in Visakhapatnam for the past three decades and we are struggling to protect them,” says Rani Sarma.

Andhra Pradesh: Dispelling Some Myths About Amaravati and the Three Capitals Project

Evidence does not support the claim that the Chandrababu Naidu government was myopic in its vision to develop Amaravati as an engine of growth.

Say a lie enough times and it might turn true. Communalise an issue over and over and there might not be any other way to look at it. The latest entry to this tradition was an opinion piece published in a major South Indian daily. The article promotes the three capitals proposal of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and repeats the same set of falsehoods about the planned capital Amaravati and N. Chandrababu Naidu.

In its very first line, the editorial accuses ‘friendly’ media of giving a rosy tint to Chandrababu Naidu’s term as CM in the 2000s. That might very well be true. But in going the opposite way, in imputing false intentions and indulging in bad faith arguments, the publication leaves itself open to accusations of being called a cheerleader for the other camp. One has to be careful to not pass off opinion as facts. A grand vision that looks to transform the reality of that time must not be mystified and disparaged with a cloud of weak arguments.

The allegations laid out go like this. First, that Chandrababu Naidu had a ‘penchant for grandiose programs lacking in substance.’ It is claimed that only Amaravati had been focused upon, especially to the detriment of other regional interests. Second, even if there was hard work, it was essentially to preserve power among the Kamma caste by building the capital between Vijayawada and Guntur. Third, the plan to build Amaravati bucked the recommendations of the Sivaramakrishnan Committee about the need for decentralised development and not wasting fertile land. Fourth, Amaravati would have been the symbol of a megalomaniac and not a ‘people’s capital’. It apparently had only speculative money flowing in.

N. Chandrababu Naidu and Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. Photos: PTI Illustration: The Wire

Setting the facts right

The rise of Hyderabad, the model for Amaravati, as an IT powerhouse and how its revenues were redistributed to alleviate poverty is well-documented. From Rs 20 lakh in 1992, Hyderabad’s IT exports rose to Rs 0.32 lakh crore in 2009 and to Rs 1.28 lakh crore in 2019. As per Planning Commission estimates, Andhra Pradesh saw the biggest decline in poverty between 1993-94 to 2011-12 in India, from 35.1% to 5.8%. This transformation is partly due to the liberalisation and globalisation policies of the Centre and state government (under the Telugu Desam Party) between 1994-2004.

After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the irony is that in the residual state, not enough was spent on Amaravati to begin with. A large chunk of foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic investments went to the districts of Chittoor (Celkon, Karbonn and Foxconn), Anantapur (KIA Motors), Vizag (Adani and LuLu), Vizianagaram (Patanjali Food Park) and Krishna (HCL).

That these efforts were successful is evident from the fact that Andhra Pradesh topped India in creating quality jobs, and in terms of gender equality, youth employment, and labour force participation rate, as determined by the Just Jobs Index report in 2019. Huge solar parks in Kurnool and Kadapa, the biggest in the world, begun in 2017-18, are at various stages of commission. Each was touted to produce 1000 megawatts of power. These undertakings, located in the backward Rayalaseema region of the state, provided lakhs of jobs overall.

The Sivaramakrishnan Committee raised concerns of food security when taking away thousands of acres of fertile land for urbanisation. Counter-intuitively, using a tiny fraction (0.03% of Guntur’s net sown area of 13 lakh acres) for the Amaravati capital region does not harm the national or state food security, precisely because the whole region is a rice bowl.

The benefits of tapping into the locally vibrant private sector to build a greenfield city outweigh concerns about wasting fertile land, especially in a valley as fertile as this. Nearly 70% of those who donated land through an innovative and non-coercive land-pooling scheme were small and marginal farmers, holding less than 2 acres, not absentee landlords.

As for the claim of preserving power among the Kammas, it is pertinent to note that the Capital region straddles four SC-reserved constituencies (Prathipadu, Tadikonda, Nandigama, and Tiruvuru) in Krishna and Guntur districts. As per demographics, the 29 panchayats making up the Capital have more than 75% of BCs, SCs, and minorities, with Kapus making up a considerable chunk in 15 of these panchayats.

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh: What Explains Jagan’s Decision to Have Three Capitals

Decentralised development between 2014-19

The Committee itself identified the Vijaywada-Guntur Urban Agglomeration to be most suitable for building a new capital, in terms of development, water availability and connectivity. Conversely, Greater Vizag was determined to be the worst of all options in terms of connectivity and risk factor. It is also located in an ecologically sensitive zone, having faced multiple cyclones. It strains economic logic that North Andhra is sought to be developed by locating the capital in Vizag. It is the 10th richest city in India (fourth in South India) in terms of GDP and per capita income. Vizag is already a powerful growth engine for North Andhra.

A panoramic view of Visakhapatnam. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Av9 CC B SA 4.0

If we peruse the Andhra government budgets between 2014-19, and how these are implemented on ground, it is evident that a major share of fiscal resources was spent on public investments in agriculture. This runs directly counter to the claims in the article. Polavaram was the government’s flagship irrigation project and had been two-thirds completed as per the Centre’s own utilisation certificates. Lift irrigation projects, inter-linking of rivers, and dams were undertaken across the state, be it the Veligonda and Gundlakamma projects in Prakasam, Nellore and Sangam barrages in Nellore, interlinking of Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers in Srikakulam, and the Handri Neeva Canal project across Rayalaseema.

Topping India, more than a lakh ponds were dug by converging MEPMA and NREGA programmes in Anantapur to alleviate its historical water scarcity. Capital expenditure saw an average increase of 17% every year between 2015-19 in contrast to a decrease of 35% in 2019-20.

Vendetta politics will cost people of AP

The article laments that journalists sitting in air-conditioned offices must not comment on the affairs of the state or accuse the CM of being another Tughlaq. However, it is evident that Jagan is displaying the same lack of empathy as the emperor, for people who must traverse great distances to demand justice, get permissions, or meet ministers for any kind of grievance redressal.

With the high court in Kurnool and capital in Vizag, people of North Andhra and Rayalaseema must travel between 600-900 km to demand justice or get any work done. This applies to officials heading departments and state bodies too. The police headquarters are located in Mangalagiri in Guntur district. With the government as a litigant in thousands of cases, top bureaucrats are frequently summoned to testify. The DGP himself was summoned by the high court several times this year.

The current Andhra Pradesh high court building in Amaravati. Photo: IM3847/Wikimedia Commons CC BY SA 4.0

Governance suffers if bureaucrats spend half the week shuttling between the two ends of Andhra. Virtual meetings could solve the issue of court appearances and meetings. However, a considerable amount of research has shown how the Indian bureaucracy is extremely dependent on paperwork and signatures of multiple personnel to minimise any potential blame. Splitting the capital will only exacerbate this dysfunction.

Decentralisation is not achieved by situating a few state institutions in this or that city. Economic geographies and complex market linkages determine how cities and regions develop, not the shifting of government jobs. Nor is administration decentralised when all executive bodies are being set up in Vizag. It goes against the Sivaramakrishnan Committee’s recommendations to distribute administrative departments and bodies of the government across AP.

Vizag becomes even less of a people’s capital if it is being chosen at such obvious discomfort to the people and the administration. Amaravati is centrally located, has a glorious history as a Satavahana capital and a Buddhist haven, and was being built by tapping into the entrepreneurial spirit of people and companies of Andhra, India and the world. The chief minister is being extremely indifferent and even vindictive in what is widely seen as a political move. In unilaterally shifting capitals despite promising complete support to Amaravati during and before the 2019 elections, the leaders and cadre of YSR Congress are abusing the people’s mandate.

V. Vamsi Viraj works with covidwire.in, a COVID-19 news aggregator, and with Yuva Galam, a youth advocacy organization. He was previously a research associate for ethnographic work in Anantapur district and constituency development work in Srikakulam.

Andhra Pradesh: Jagan’s 10-Month Rule Caught in Vortex of Legal Hurdles

From the government’s move earlier this week to show the door to the state’s election commissioner to the plan to distribute capitals, many decisions have been challenged in courts.

Vijayawada: The ordinance tinkering with the tenure of the State Election Commissioner (SEC) remains a grim pointer to show how the 10-month old Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh is the latest example in taking controversial decisions which have gotten bogged down in a vortex of legal disputes.

N. Ramesh Kumar, who was shunted out by the government after it reduced the term of office for the SEC from five years to three through an ordinance, approached the Andhra Pradesh high court. His abrupt dismissal also resulted in three public interest litigations from different quarters being filed in the high court.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to intervene in a petition filed by the state government challenging the SEC’s decision to defer the local bodies in view of the coronavirus crisis. The court ruled that it could not meddle with the functions of the SEC.

In an apparent bid to woo the backward classes (BCs) away from the opposition Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) fold, the YSR Congress government issued a government order increasing the quota in the local bodies from 27% to 34% in the run up to the elections. This spike in the BC quota resulted in reservations for BCs, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes touching 60%, crossing the Supreme Court’s cap of 50%. Citing this cap, the high court struck down the government’s order.

Also Read: Jagan Govt Promulgates Ordinance to Remove State’s Election Commissioner

The TDP urged the government to move the apex court seeking to review the high court’s ruling and withhold the local body elections until the issue of enhanced BC quota is settled. But Reddy pushed ahead with the elections as per the schedule, saying his state might have to forego Central grants of Rs 5,000 crore if the elections are put on hold for any longer.

In the run up to the panchayat raj elections, the YSR Congress government introduced village secretariats with the aim of taking the village administration to the doorstep of rural people. When the government attempted painting the so-called village secretariats with colours similar to that of the ruling party’s flag, the high court found fault with this action.

Andhra Pradesh high court. Photo: IM3847/Wikimedia Commons

Plan to distribute capital also in court dispute

The chief minister’s flagship agenda of distributing the state’s capital also ran into rough weather, with the high court putting its foot down on shifting the Vigilance and Enforcement Department to Kurnool. The state assembly had in January adopted a resolution seeking to take forward the three capitals agenda. Close on the heels of this decision, a group of farmers from the Amaravati region moved the high court. Subsequently, the court directed the government to put the decision on hold until the grievances of the petitioners are addressed. In the meanwhile, the government was accused of trying to subtly shift the government departments out of Amaravati, in contravention of the court ruling.

The high court ruling in the murder case of Jagan’s uncle Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy apparently embarrassed the government. Responding to the petitions of the victim’s daughter Sunitha Reddy and widow Sowbhagyamma, the court directed the government to divest the state probe agencies of the case and entrust it to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The petitioners approached the high court, against the delay in the progress of the case, even though the government is headed by a family member of the victim. The petitioners allegedly suspected a family angle to the murder, linking it to the alleged dilly-dallying by the state police. Interestingly, Jagan, while in opposition, demanded a CBI probe into the murder of his uncle, expressing the lack of faith in the state police during the TDP regime.

Court’s direction on PPAs

Another major policy decision of the Jagan government was to revisit the power purchase agreements (PPA) signed between the state-owned distribution companies and solar and wind power developers during the previous TDP government. The government contends that the PPAs were signed at rates higher than other states.

The NDA government advised the state government against tinkering with the PPAs, saying such a move will not send the right signal across to investors.

Ambassadors of countries including Japan, Canada and France, some financial institutions and renewable energy developers had taken up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union power minister R.K. Singh and also Jagan, raising concerns over the state’s move to reopen sealed contracts.

Also Read: Industry Caught in Jagan-Naidu’s One-Upmanship in Andhra Pradesh

This move was also met with disapproval in the high court. The high court ruled that the state cannot seek changes to an agreement signed between a distribution company and a developer. The state government contested the ruling of a single-judge bench of the high court but lost its legal battle on the question of downward revision of the PPAs.

Jandhyala Ravi Shankar, a legal expert, told The Wire that both the Supreme Court and the high court had passed over 50 orders on various decisions taken by the Jagan government in the 10 months it has been in power. “The CM quite often says his party has secured an overwhelming majority of seats—151 in Assembly and 22 in the Lok Sabha—in the 2019 elections. That is true, but it doesn’t mean that the political executive has the powers to destroy constitutional organs like the State Election Commission and rule like a monarch,” he observed. If the elected governments fail to function within the framework of the rule of law, a constitutional breakdown is imminent, Jandhyala warned.

Ummareddy Venkateswarlu, the YSR Congress’s chief whip in the AP Legislative Council, however, refused to comment over the setbacks that the government has faced in courts.

Why a Distributed Capital Makes More Sense for Andhra Pradesh

Distributing the functions of a capital city over several cities is a new tool of growth management.

Conventionally, states in India have single cities as their capitals. Whether to have a single city as a capital or distribute the capital functions among several cities depends on the way the network of cities has developed in the state. Let us see how the spatial distribution of cities has evolved in different states in India.

During the 17th and early parts of the 18th century, India had flourishing manufacturing centres whose products were known throughout the world for their quality, low cost and craftsmanship. With the advent of the British, this changed. The overarching goal of colonialism was to extract raw materials from the hinterlands of India and supply manufactured goods. This economic logic of colonialism naturally led to a reordering and restructuring of Indian cities. This reorganizing of cities produced the following spatial pattern in India at the time of independence-

  • States with major port cities (e.g. Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata) with strong linkages to Britain. An exception was Delhi, which was developed as the capital city of India. The port cities served two purposes. One as export hinterlands they served to collect commodities, largely raw materials, for export in the surrounding territories. Second, they worked as import hinterlands to distribute commodities from overseas as imports, consisting mainly of manufactured items. Gradually, the port settlements evolved into market centres and producers of low-value manufactured goods due to the economic activity generated by the constant link with the external metropole (eg London).
  • Mediating strategic cities – connecting port cities to local areas in the interior hinterlands – developed in nearly all states. Linear forms of transport links were built in order to connect port cities to the strategic cities to bulk exports, consolidate purchase of primary products and break wholesale lots of consumer goods for distribution through smaller markets.
  • All states also witnessed the development of a large number of dispersed local marketplaces, which were dependent on strategic cities for transport, processing, storage, bulk-breaking and credit facilities. In these local market places artisan products and agricultural commodities were exchanged locally (not exported). Here, the British also engaged in some ancillary activities, such as establishing of transport and communication facilities, establishing administrative centres (eg district centres, taluqs) and creating regulated markets for the sale of agriculture products.

This spatial pattern largely continued after independence. Only in the 1990s, outsourcing of services led to the rise of Hyderabad and Bengaluru as major cities in addition to the existing four – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkotta and Chennai.

The IT area in Hyderabad. Photo: Flickr/Amit Chattopadhyay CC BY 2.0

Thus, states in India have two types of spatial patterns. The first type consists of few main cities, which provide goods and services to smaller towns and villages. Some of the states in this group are – Uttar Pradesh (having the KAVAL towns: Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra and Lucknow); Rajasthan (Jaipur, Udaipur); Punjab (Ludhiana, Amritsar); Haryana; Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal, Indore) and Kerala. The set of main cities have dominant economic influence on the surrounding areas. The economic effect is because of its linkage with other human settlements. Earlier this influence was limited to the hinterlands of the city, now it could cover the entire state-wise or the country or even the world. This economic links could be due to the ability of the main city to provide goods and services (eg Kanpur) or be a node in the transport hub (eg Nagpur) or be an administrative centre (eg Chandigarh). This is called the network spatial pattern of cities.

The second type of spatial pattern is different – in this structure, there is a predominant city and is called the primate city pattern. The primate city has an overwhelming economic influence in the state and largely drives growth. The states falling into this category are Tamil Nadu (Chennai), Maharashtra (Mumbai), West Bengal (Kolkotta) and the Delhi NCT.

The erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state was unique. It was created by merging two areas – parts of the Nizam’s dominions with some areas under the Madras Presidency. Spatially, these two areas were different – while the Nizam’s dominions contained one primate city (Hyderabad), the Madras presidency consisted of a network of main cities (Vijayawada, Vishakapatnam, Kurnool).

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh: What Explains Jagan’s Decision to Have Three Capitals

After the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 2014, we again have two states: Telangana with a primate city (Hyderabad) and Andhra Pradesh with its network of main cities. In a state with a network of main cities, the idea of having several capitals is a more effective development strategy because it is a sustainable growth management strategy.

The conventional tools of growth management are land use/building regulations, imposing impact fees, establishing growth boundaries, and so on. Distributing the functions of a capital city over several cities in a state is a new tool of growth management. Andhra Pradesh aims to carry out growth management at the state level by leveraging on the existing spatial pattern of cities. This strategy of growth management will be able to achieve a balance between the three Es: economic development, environment preservation and equity. Specifically, this bold and new growth management strategy will be better able to achieve a balance between the amount of growth and the ability to provide transportation, energy, water and waste disposal, public safety, education, public health, and other services in all areas of Andhra Pradesh. Most important, it will be able to ensure the ability of natural systems, such as food production, water quantity and quality, air quality, plant and animal habitat, and now, the climate itself to sustain growth.

The chances of success of Andhra Pradesh to distribute capital functions among several cities are high as the non-conformist approach builds on the unique history of development of spatial patterns in the state. The success of the initiative will be a lighthouse for other States to emulate, particularly those containing a network of main cities.

Sameer Sharma has a PhD from the USA and a DLitt from Kanchi University. The article is based on his research and practice and views are personal.

Andhra Pradesh: 3 Capitals Plan Blocked by Legislative Council, Jagan May Go the NTR Way

The chief minister may decide to abolish the upper house, emulating his rival Chandrababu Naidu’s father-in-law.

Vijayawada: A familiar roadblock has forced Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to reverse a move that his father (former CM Rajasekhara Reddy or YSR) oversaw and instead follow in the footsteps of N.T. Rama Rao, the father-in-law of his arch-rival N. Chandrababu Naidu. After the Andhra Pradesh chief minister’s plan to establish three capitals was blocked by the state’s legislative council, speculation suggests that the chief minister may decide to scrap the upper house.

Interestingly, Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR, abolished the council (of the then-undivided Andhra Pradesh) during his term as the chief minister in 1985. He viewed the house, dominated by the opposition Congress, as a hurdle to pass Bills and did away with it, dubbing it unproductive.

But the Congress government, under YSR, restored the bicameral legislature in 2007. This action provided him respite from dissident party leaders, helping rehabilitate many of them in the council. YSR’s rival Chandrababu, who came to power in 2014, also decided to retain the bicameral legislature.

Left: Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy with a portrait of his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Right: Chandrababu Naidu garlanding a statue of his father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao.

Like NTR, Jagan has also been facing hurdles from the upper house during the past eight months. The YSR Congress Party has a large majority in the assembly and passed a Bill to make English the medium of instruction in all government schools. This, Jagan said, would provide students from poor economic background equal opportunities with counterparts in public schools. The government also passed another Bill providing separate commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, these bills failed to get the approval of the council.

Jagan’s ambitious plan to decentralise development also hit the same roadblock. The plan includes establishing three capitals: The executive capital in Visakhapatnam in the northern coastal region, a judicial capital in Kurnool in the Rayalaseema region and the retention of Amaravati as the legislative capital.

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh: What Explains Jagan’s Decision to Have Three Capitals

Therefore, the YSR Congress Party leader seems to be shadowing the rhetoric employed by NTR, who was the founder of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). “Does a poor bifurcated state like Andhra Pradesh need an upper house by incurring an annual expenditure of Rs 60 crore,” the CM asked. Dropping a clear hint at scrapping the council, he observed that it abdicated its advisory role and is trying to “subvert” the people’s mandate given to his party.

Jana Sena Party leader Nadendla Manohar, however, said Jagan’s hints exhibit his intolerance to dissent that the upper house expressed on the “omissions and commissions” of his government. Manohar, who was the last assembly speaker of the undivided Andhra Pradesh state, the members of the council are experienced and supposed to keep the government on the “right track”. “But the move to scrap it is a peril for parliamentary democracy and a sign of autocratic functioning,” he told The Wire.

Naidu’s last laugh

Although Jagan swept the polls early in 2019, winning 151 out of 175 seats in the Assembly, the TDP retains a majority in the council. The 58-member council has 26 TDP members and nine YSR Congress members. There are also five members from the Progressive Democratic Front, three from the BJP, three independent and eight nominated members. Elections for four vacant seats are due.

After accusing Jagan of ‘vendetta politics‘ since he took the CM post, TDP chief Naidu saw an opportunity to strike back. With trademark ingenuity, Naidu directed council chairman Shariff Mohammed Ahmad to refer the Bill to a Select Committee for its opinion, instead of voting on it.

This was a tactical decision, seeing as the council can reject the Bill only once. If the assembly passes it a second time, it is empowered to pass the Bill, irrespective of the council’s opinion [the upper house enjoys only limited powers].

N. Chandrababu Naidu. Photo: Facebook

Thus, the TDP chief’s manoeuvre has put Jagan in a bind. Apart from hinting at the council’s abolition, the chief minister is now mulling other alternatives. These include shifting the executive capital in a phased manner through administrative GOs, beginning with the HODs; promulgating an ordinance to legitimise the Bill or waiting for the Select Committee to clear the Bill, which may take four months.

Also Read: To Combat Jagan, Is Chandrababu Naidu Siding With BJP Again?

If an ordinance is promulgated, the ball will be in the BJP’s court. Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan may send back the proposal to the assembly or refer it to the Union Ministry of Law or Home Affairs for their opinion.

BJP mounts pressure 

After allying with Jana Sena leader and actor Pawan Kalyan, the BJP has ramped up efforts to increase its presence by taking up the capital issue. Technically, the discretion of locating the capital is rested with the state government. But BJP leaders claim that the role of the Union government cannot be ignored on the question of establishing the capital in Amaravati.

“The Centre, under NDA, has sanctioned educational institutes like AIIMS and an agriculture university, apart from declaringAmaravati as a heritage city and smart city. It has also released Rs 1,500 crore for infrastructure development. Therefore, we strongly make a case for the capital to remain in Amaravati only,” contends BJP MLC Somu Veerraju.

JSP chief Pawan Kalyan and BJP leaders announce their alliance in Vijayawada, January 16, 2020. Photo: PTI Photo

The capital region envisaged by the previous government is spread over the Krishna and Guntur districts. Most landowners in this area are Kammas, who have remained the backbone for the TDP since the days of NTR. With the TDP’s drubbing in the recent general elections, the BJP hopes to grow by eating into the TDP’s vote bank.

They have also expressed support for farmers, who have been agitating against the plan to decentralise the capital. Several farmers gave up more than 33,000 acres of land under a pooling for the capital. The Jagan government’s decision to unbundle the capital and take away the secretariat has caused heartburn among the farmers, many of whose lands have become unsuitable for agriculture once construction activities began.

Gali Nagaraja is a freelance journalist who writes on the two Telugu states.

TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu, 17 MLAs Taken into Police Custody

They were protesting the Bill passed by the assembly to enable the establishment of three capitals for the state.

Amaravati: Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu and at least 17 MLAs of his party were taken into police custody late on Monday as they tried to conduct a foot march from the state assembly to the nearby Mandadam village in violation of prohibitory orders.

TDP leaders started off on the march after staging a sit-in near the assembly main entrance following the suspension of 17 MLAs from the house for the day.

They were protesting the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, that was passed by the assembly, enabling the establishment of three capitals for the state.

The TDP leaders were taken to the Mangalagiri police station.

Meanwhile, tensions prevailed at the Jana Sena Party headquarters at Mangalagiri as police prevented its president Pawan Kalyan from proceeding to the Amaravati region to speak to protesters fighting for the retention of only one capital for the state.

DIG Kanti Rana Tata and other senior police officials reached the Sena office and blocked the exit of Kalyan and political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar, resulting in an argument.

Kalyan asked how could police impose restrictions within his own office.

Scores of Sena workers gathered outside the office even as a large posse of police was posted to thwart Kalyan and other leaders’ plans.