Heard of Koshal?

Ajit Nayak reports on how people of Western Odisha are outraged at how politicians and the media are indifferent to their demands for a new state. But that dream does look distant

Orisa lawyers protestK C Panda is a retired professor settled in Sambalpur. He is what you can call a news junkie. He is well aware of the demand for Telengana that seems to have climaxed into a paroxysm of protests. He is also tracking the now on and now off demand for separate states of Vidharbha and Harit Pradesh to be carved out of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh respectively. But what gets his goat is the almost complete ignorance and indifference to persistent demands for a state of Koshal to be carved out of the western regions of Odisha. Mr Panda cannot hide his outrage and anger when he describes national level journalists who have no clue whatsoever of the movement for Koshal. His by your leave remark is indeed ominous: " It seems only violence, disruption or something outrageously newsworthy attracts the attention of Delhi-based media".

For Panda and his partners in the cause, the template for Koshal is ready and has precedents. They cite the examples of Chhattisgarh that was carved out of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand that was carved out of Bihar. In both cases, the two erstwhile regions of MP and Bihar were rich in minerals and natural resources, had large tribal populations and were victims of apathy and indifference from distant state administrations. Incidentally, Panda and his friends also point out another striking similarity between the regions that have been demanding separate statehood. They point out how the Naxalite movement traces its roots to Telengana. They point out how apathy and disdain led to a huge increase in Naxalite activity in Jharkhand. And they point out how Naxalites hold sway in large swathes of what could be Koshal and Vidharbha. But then, when even Telengana seems a distant reach despite the ruling UPA government in Delhi having publicly spoken in favour, what chance would a little known and debated movement have for Koshal?

The demand for a separate state in the name of Koshal has been brewing in the Kosalanchal (western part of Odisha) since a long time. But it has always been a relatively muted and unheard voice. The demand has become louder over the past one decade following the joining of intellectuals and bureaucrats who not only help to strengthen the agitations at various levels but also create public opinion by exposing the negative attitude of the state government towardd the development of the region. Several coastal leaders do admit the constant ‘apathetic attitude’ of the state government has become the prime reason behind the demand, but they do not want to spare the region as it is full of mineral and forest resources.
The Koshal area or Kosalanchal was not a part of Odisha as it was in the Central Province for a long time, but with the efforts of the few local intellectuals and broadminded people the land was included in Odisha to form a new state based in language in 1936.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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