TOPIC -1

INDIA SHOULD DIVIDE LARGER STATES FOR BETTER GOVERNANCE & DEVELOPMENT

SYNOPSIS:

FOR THE MOTION:

Couple of Indian states are even larger than few countries. Going by this notion, where on the one hand, we have a fleet of ministers/administrators to run a country like Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and so on and so forth, then on the other hand, we have only handful of them to run a state like UP or AP which is at par with above mentioned countries w.r.t. to size, population and demographics. Moreover, having smaller states will enable proper usage of funds and deployment of recourses. It would allow proper representation of people by increasing the number of MLAs & MPs, as still we have very high Citizen-MP ratio.

AGAINST THE MOTION:

More states would call for more fixed resources viz. police force, stations, assemblies, courts and other state functionaries. This would further give an avenue to administrator to redirect the funds to their personal accounts. More state means more funds allocation and more leakage. What can be done is to have joint CMs and virtually divide bigger states in zones for better administration rather than creating newer states with altogether new sets of infrastructure.

SUGGESTED READINGS:

Outlook:

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?263228; http://www.bombaychamber.com/uploads/ANALYTIQUE%20Jan-Mar%202010.pdf

Additional readings:

http://anand-bala.blogspot.com/2009/12/telanga-conundrum-divide-divide-again.html; http://toostep.com/insight/does-small-states-means-better-governance

Central chronicle:

http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=23327

Business Standard:

http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/dec/16/andhra-crisis-are-smaller-states-better-governed-a-debate.htm

Business Today: http://businesstoday.intoday.in/index.php?issueid=20&id=13667&option=com_content&task=view