India's federal Home Ministry Thursday made public an official report listing options regarding demands for the creation of a new state in southern India. Tight security arrangements were in place in Andhra Pradesh - out of which the state of Telangana would be created - as authorities anticipated protests for and against the separation.
The report offers six recommendations ranging from splitting of the state to keeping Andhra Pradesh united but with special powers for Telangana. Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram appealed to political parties to read the report with an "open mind" and invited them to offer their impartial views at a later discussion. "It is the government's sincere hope that the report will generate an informed and mature debate," he told reporters in New Delhi.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti, a party spearheading the movement for the new state, rejected the report, saying it would not accept anything short of a separate state. The final decision lies with the federal parliament and the state assembly must also approve its creation. India currently has 28 states, with the last three new states formed in 2000. The South Asian country had 16 states in 1971. The movement for a separate Telangana state dates back 50 years. Supporters say Telangana has been neglected and is among India's poorest and most economically backward regions. They claim that the region can only be developed if local people control its administration.
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