It has been over five years since six districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region- Bidar, Bellary, Raichur, Koppal, Gulbarga and Yadgir got special status under Article 371-J of the constitution. The 118^th Constitutional Amendment was brought in based on the report submitted by the Nanjundappa Committee. The amendment provides for a separate development board for the region, reservation in public employment for the people from Hyderabad-Karnataka region and equitable allocation of funds for the development of the region. The amendment was brought in by the previous UPA government in 2012. The amendment was in furtherance of the resolution passed by the Karnataka State Legislature which had recognized the backwardness of the region and provided for special provisions for the development of the region on the lines of Article 371-D. The standing committee report on the said amendment had noted that the amendment bill did not conform to the resolution passed by the Karnataka state legislature. Therefore, the amendment process was hurried, unplanned and was possibly done keeping in mind the 2013 assembly elections. It is no surprise that the article has not successfully achieved what it intended to.

The region still faces agricultural drought. The irrigated area in Hyderabad-Karnataka region is nowhere near to the area of land irrigated in the southern region. Despite building new dams, the development board established under Article 371-J has not been able to complete the canal works for the waters to reach the farms. It is said that two lakh acres of land in Raichur is yet to be irrigated. It is no surprise that the farm produce from the region is still low, considering lack of irrigation facilities even after five years of conferring special status to the region. Before the constitutional amendment, under special development plan, Rs 2975 crore was allocated on the basis of Nanjundappa commission report. However, in 2013-14, even after the constitutional amendment, the allocation was only Rs 2925 core. The Hyderabad-Karnataka Development Board which existed even before the amendment took place was allocated Rs 45 crore in the year 2011-12 (before amendment) and Rs 65 crore in 2013-14 (after amendment). Therefore, there has been no substantive action-oriented policy even after the constitutional amendment granted special status to the region.

The state government in its industrial policy of 2014-2019 intended to provide encouragement for development of industries in the region. It said that the region will get additional incentives over the standard package and also mentioned that the state government would pester the central government to offer other incentives for the industries. Though it was well intended, there seems to be no change in the ground scenario. Instead, the government should have offered the industrialists a set of simple land acquisition laws, ensured land titling and supply of skilled labour. The development of industries is very crucial for the region considering the shut-down of several mines on the orders of the Supreme Court, which has led to mass unemployment.

Under Article 371-J, the state government has reserved over 70 per cent of the seats in jobs and education for the people of the region. In the opinion of the author, providing for 70 per cent reservation in educational institutions has been detrimental to development. An educational institute would want to excel through more students coming in through merit, rather than reservations. Therefore, if one wants to start a new medical college in the region, the person would think twice before doing so. Apart from this, the reservation would also hamper the supply of skilled workforce which is needed for the industries to develop. There is a need for a change in the thinking of the government when it comes up with reservation policies. No region can develop without influx of people who do not belong to the region. As a matter of fact, there are many non-Bangaloreans who are contributing to the economy and development of the city. It would be feasible for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, if the domicile reservation for people from the region is decreased to around 10 per cent on horizontal basis and additional 2.5 reservation horizontal reservation for the Kannadigas is provided.

It is evident that Article 371-J has not been of a significant help to the region. The government can rather consider having a 10 year roadmap to achieve rapid development of the region. After being backward in most of the social and economic indicators, it is time for the region to leapfrog development, for which the government has to come up with an action plan accompanied with political willingness to execute the same.

On a larger point, the other alternative available to ensure rapid development of backward regions is granting separate statehoods. For this, there is a need for us to have another State Re-organization Commission to carve out new states, not just with respect to Karnataka, but for the whole of India which should be based on administrative convenience rather than language. As is the case with Andhra Pradesh, a new state of Hyderabad-Karnataka region could prosper at a better rate when compared to the sluggish growth it has been witnessing over the years till date. The central government can also introduce a legislation whereby, the newly formed states would receive economic incentives which are applicable to special economic zones (SEZs), to bring in private investments. Finally, it is the political willingness which would decide the destiny of a legislations’ objective, which was absent with implementation of Article 371-J. Therefore, only political willingness coupled with political stability will ensure development of all backward regions across the country.

Picture credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MtK7cbomEE