undertook police action and ensured the merger of Hyderabad state with the Union
of India. You have read about these in class VIII. At that time, Coastal Andhra and
Rayalaseema regions were parts of Madras Presidency. Soon, a movement started
for creating a state of Andhra Pradesh including all the territories in which Telugu
was spoken.
The Gentlemen’s Agreement and the Formation of the State of Andhra
Pradesh
There were three distinct regions which spoke Telugu language. These included
Telengana, Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema. Besides different dialects, the three
regions also had different cultures and identities. The Telangana language was
drawn from an inclusive folk tradition which included tribal languages, Deccani
Urdu, Kannada and Marathi while the language of Coastal Andhra was more
influenced by Sanskritised usage.
The culture of Telangana was however, a composite
one and was drawn from Muslim, Dalit, artisanal, tribal, and migrant communities.
The social profile of Telangana was distinct in that it had a larger proportion of
tribal people, backward castes and Muslims as compared to the other regions.
Historically, the coastal regions had a greater influence of Sanskrit culture than
Telangana. They were also under the direct
rule of the British and had access to English
education from the starting of nineteenth
century. The Coastal region had undergone
a rapid modernisation process. In contrast,
Telangana, under the Nizams, pushed Urdu
as the medium of instruction. The same process was slow in promoting modern
education.
In 1948 Telangana literacy rate was only 9% specially women literacy
was only 4%.
While Coastal Andhra was mainly a plain region consisting of deltas with well
developed canal irrigation system, Telangana was a dry plateau region which
depended upon rainfed agriculture, animal herding and hunting and gathering from
forests. The undulating terrain was used to build tanks and this water was used to
cultivate a variety of crops. During the British period, Coastal Andhra was more
developed in terms of its agriculture, trade and industry. At the same time, Telangana
had great potential for development in that important rivers flowed through it and
it had very rich mineral deposits and forests. For this reason, the rich people of the
coastal areas were keen to invest in Telangana to make use of its resources.
Therefore, the demand for Vishalandhra came from Andhra region