Weigh pros & cons before another new dist revamp

A district is an administrative division of an Indian State or territory, headed by a District Collector. It enjoys the benefits of various grants from the government for local administration and development. In 2016, the first Telangana State government took into consideration several factors such as time, travel, geography, and other issues before making a major decision on the re-organisation of 10 districts into 33 districts.

Due to district re-organization, nearly 20 towns were elevated to district headquarters which had a great deal of area to grow in all directions. Now, people in reorganised districts need not travel long distances to district headquarters. These districts also provide better governance and administration and welfare programmes to even the most remote areas. Infrastructure - transportation, telecommunication, water, sanitation, health, education - and power is developed. Besides, existing businesses and sectors grow, which generates job opportunities. The real estate market is expanded at a rapid pace, creating many opportunities for small businesses, and boosting the construction sector.

There are some critics of the Reorganisation-2016 of districts. Any party in power is understood to act in its own best interests. However, there are advantages and disadvantages to this political act as well. Another concern relates to further aggravation of inter-district inequalities in per capita income.

Relook into district re-organisation

The frequent reorganisation of districts is not a desirable practice nor productive in any sense. Reorganisation of districts has implications, both positive and negative to the administration and the people. It is a great inconvenience to the people in revising a variety of documents time and again for no real benefit or reason. It may help in bringing in gains to some sections with new identities in the context of real estate speculations as well. Political equations are also redefined with adverse consequences to some sections. Long lasting consequences need to be examined whether they are in the larger interest of the state growth and social justice.

However, the proposal of the new government in Telangana to reorganise the districts is envisaged to improve administration and development in the state based on critical examination of the challenges and barriers to district reorganisation based on a sound framework and rationale. The Congress government is said to favour 17 or 20 districts corresponding to the parliament seats in the state. The decision will ultimately be made by a Judicial Commission after examining various variables including population, resources, boundaries, and distance from the State capital, as per a news report. In the country, no other State has constituencies on an equal basis except for the States of Goa, Lakshadweep and Chandigarh.

Proposed criteria for re-organisation

The same way, it would be appropriate for the newly constituted Congress Government to cut the number of districts while keeping in mind the points that are discussed below.

• Distance from the district headquarters: Taking into account the last village’s distance from the district headquarters.

• Natural borders: District borders must follow natural geographical boundaries like rivers, canals, mountains etc.

• National highways: If the districts’ borders coincide with the national highways, the division will be quite simple.

• Cultural and ethnicity: It is appropriate to retain places with communities like scheduled tribes having similar culture or ethnicity into a district.

• Corresponding with number of constituencies: The number of parliamentary constituencies that constitute a State should be taken into consideration while carving the number of districts.

• Districts based on the constituency: It would be preferable if the number of districts are redrawn based on the area of a parliamentary constituencies. For example, the Karimnagar Parliament constituency coveringthe current Karimnagar, Siddipet, and Rajanna Sircilla districts could be formed into one district.

• Committee: A multi-disciplinary committee comprising a representative of the State Government, one or two directors of different State-affiliated institutions, a historian, geographer, administrative specialist, a popular individual well-versed in all facets of the State, may be formed to examine the issue and recommend reorganisation of the state to overcome the shortcomings in the present structure of the districts in the state.

Consequences of new formation of districts

Every creative plan or attempt has advantages and disadvantages, of course. These negative main factors as follows will have a significant impact on the State if the government reinvests in its districts:

The following are some of the issues that exist: the desire for new districts, revenue divisions, or mandals; the possibility of people running around government departments in an attempt to obtain the latest required document, which could waste time and money; the precarious situation that exists in existing district centers and other areas; the slow progress and demand for real estate in new areas; relocation of government officials, which would not be in their best interests.

(Writer is Senior Research Associate at Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad)