For over two months now, protest demonstrations and endless political debates have been going on about the Andhra Pradesh government’s move to establish three capitals for the state.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government is going ahead with the plan to decentralise the capital: Amaravati will be the legislative capital, Visakhapatnam the executive capital, while Kurnool will be the judicial capital.
The Andhra Pradesh government states that the idea is to decentralise power and to ensure that regional disparities and inequalities are addressed. The opposition, that is the TDP, and its leaders have criticised the move as vendetta politics. Opposition parties, farmers and landowners from Amaravati continue to protest. Nearly 33,000 acres were pooled in for the capital – Amaravati – as part of the Land Pooling Scheme.
While the former government went against the recommendations of the Sivaramakrishnan committee (2014) by selecting the location for ‘Amaravati’, the current government moved a resolution to abolish the state legislative council to decimate any form of opposition to its proposals.
On this week’s Samacharam Sameeksha podcast, Ayesha Minhaz speaks to G Rohith from the Human Rights Forum. Discussing the decentralisation move, Rohith speaks about the regional inequalities, how caste plays into it, and the neoliberal model of development, among other issues.
Listen to the podcast here.
Samacharam Sameeksha is a Telugu news podcast hosted by Suno India to bring to you news and views of all developments from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The podcast will also analyse news coverage and bring in perspectives to cut through the noise. This podcast is hosted by independent journalist Ayesha Minhaz. Write to us at hello@sunoindia.in with your suggestions and feedback.