“Well Apple fans needs a new device every few years like an addict who needs a new high with a larger dose or different weed” This was what I thought when Apple announced iPad back in January 2010.

For the last six months, many electronics consumers are excited about the arrival of the new(?) category devices – tablets. Though the concept is nothing new, the latest avatar use best of the breed technologies – touchscreens, longer battery life, more power and memory and a strong ecosystem of applications and content. All forms of media is going agog over the Apple’s announcement – some excited, some disappointed but mostly talking about this. Instead of going deep into the technology details, I wanted to touch upon few things like social aspects, economics and media impact of such devices.

There is certain group we call early adapters/ Apple fanboys/ Kool Aid-geeks who will but anything that starts with an ‘i’ and sold by Apple’. Let us keep them aside and talk about regular consumers. What would they look for in a tablet and how will they use it? One thing that occurs to me whenever I use iPhone either at my office or my couch is – screen size. Many times I find that the full browser in the iPhone is underutilized due to the smaller size. It has great form factor, usually responsive though I might like a little more processing power and longer battery life, and importantly literally unlimited choice of applications.  But to read any thing using Safari or mail apps, is a royal pain. Now ipad is literally 3 times the diagonal width of iPhone. Will that be good enough for our needs? We will see.

Extensibility – As we all know, with iphone 3G,  Apple showed the world, that hardware and OS are only so much. It is the applications that matter.  With at least 150K potential applications  that can be readily used, the ipad is truly powerful.  I think we can easily replace, many special devices from POS terminals to FedEx delivery guys terminals with special apps. The sky is the limit I think.

Economics – Today we have to spend $300 (in US) for any decent net book.  If we consider a typical net book buyer and their primary reason to buy such a computer, it is usually to check email (web based probably) , browse Internet,  chat, view photos and social media. May be watch few movies though the integrated video cards are usually sloppy.  All these can be done in an ipad elegantly but more. In my opinion, spending that extra $200 (some say Apple tax) may be worth it, particularly, if the plan is to buy now. If we can wait for 8 more months, I expect to see tablets from HP, HTC and Motorola (and Nokia) with more power and battery life, better built in accessories like webcam for less than $300. Buy it or wait, still worth it than Net book. For enterprises, the low cost barrier and high usability should be a very good deal.

The TCO for a typical laptop (say from Lenova), costs enterprises anywhere from 2K to 3k with 2 years warranty, plus high cost software. My guesstimate the same for a tablet will be 60% of that or laptops. Plus less shoulder pains for the workers carrying them.

Social Impact – Amazon, in a way, paved way for these sub 10″ tablets with it’s best selling Kindle. I did not use it much, but it says something if it is the best selling item on their site.  Apple added multi-touch, and I am sure Android will polish it and perhaps make it better as well as open source it.  I will not be surprised if tablets replace typical laptops people carry around. For example, at my work I use Outlook 70% of the time, and remaining 30% all other apps including browsers, skype etc. All these and more can be done with a tablet. With such a potential for becoming ubiquitous, will the laptops become extinct? For example I did not see more than 20 CRT consoles in my entire work place. They got replaced by laptops or laptops with port replicators connected to keyboard, mouse and LCD consoles. Well we can get these for tablets like ipad now. And it is only beginning. Will school children just take one tablet instead of their entire bag of books? What about Doctors, sales people, executives? Why not?  Suddenly useful computing power. It doesn’t matter if I have a computer with 3 GHz processor in my home. And if it has only few free and purchased applications. With these tablets, and their apps price dynamics, we have very high utilization of mobile computing power.

Ergonomics Let us give it to Apple. They craft beautiful hardware. It is like an art and design philosophy.  But others are not far behind. I am very impressed by HTC, Samsung and Nokia.

What do readers think about tablets? Quick poll.

• What is your typical usage of personal computer?
• What are your thoughts on the tablets?
• Do you plan to purchase one?
• How do you want to use tablets, if you purchase one?
• Do you agree to what I wrote above
• Are there any other additional aspects we can cover around the tablets?

In the part 1 of this series, I narrated events that happened prior to late 1990s in the Andhra Pradesh.  In the second part, I will cover the evolution of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the changed political climate. I will start with background on Naxal violence in AP.

Even though Naxalism has roots in the Naxalburi area of Dargeeling district, West Bengal, it penetrated strongly in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, United Madhya Pradesh, United Bihar and Maharashtra. Particularly in AP, around 1980s, one leader by name “Kondapalli Seetharamaiah” formed a group called People’s War Group (PWG). PWG has very natural support in the Telangana and Northern Coastal Andhra where landlords and contractors exploit uneducated farmers and tribals.  Few things here are to be noted – in 1992, PWG extremists assassinated a Deputy Inspector General of Police – Vyas few yards away from Police Control Room and State Assembly.  In 1999, they assassinated another IG – Umesh Chandra in Sajeev Reddy Nagar traffic signal – which is perhaps 3 miles away from the CMs residence. Then in 2000, they eliminated Madhava Reddy, ex-home minister around 30 minutes away from Hyderabad. (Of course finally in 2004, they targeted Chandra Babu Naidu in Tirupathi which is in Rayalaseema also). This is just a sample of how well organized this group is in particular in Telangana. When I visited Warangal in 1995, I felt like I was in an army barracks. Heavy security everywhere. Unbelievable to me. Maoist influence in Telangana is to be specifically noted in the background of Telangana struggle.

Coming back to KCR, after launching the party in 2001, very shortly he could create cadre across Telangana. In the 2004 general elections, YS RajaSekhar Reddy (YSR) reluctantly joined Congress with TRS. In 2004, YSR was not as powerful as he became later.  Congress took support of TRS, CPI and CPM for fighting against Chandrababu Naidu, who looked invincible.  TRS won 5 LS Seats and 26 assembly seats. Vote share – 6.83%.   After winning the elections, TRS joined both UPA at center and state governments. TRS as we know has only one agenda – to get separate state. But for YSR, being at heart supporter of Samaikyandhra (United Andhra), started his new line – “problems in AP are due to Mr Naidu not doing enough in irrigation front”.  Jala Yagnam – Water Projects of the scale unimaginable earlier were started with millions of rupees. He also sidelined TRS and forced them come out of the state government. KCR who was central labor minister also resigned in 2006 and withdrew support to UPA because the Telangana issue was kept with a committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee. But things did not move as fast as KCR desired but he used to promise to his cadres that Telangana is coming very soon.  KCR also resigned the LS Seat and in the 2006 by-elections in the Karimnagar constituency, KCR won back the seat he just resigned. He also got a very high majority.

Again the cat and mouse game started. In between, YSR started weakening KCR by splitting TRS. The split faction used to consistently criticize KCR for his lack of commitment and running the party like a family affair.  Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee kept sitting on the Telangana issue. Most of the Telangana ministers from Congress, never overtly supported Telangana to be on the good books of YSR.  The only dissident voices from Congress were those Telangana leaders who can never win a direct election all by themselves. There could be other Telangana committed leaders, but were not very vocal.  On the other side,  KCR was getting frustrated. In 2008 (just last year), he made all his 26 MLAs and 4 MPs resign (from his faction of TRS).  In the subsequent bye-election, TRS could just win 2 LS and 7 Assembly Seats.  After forming TRS, this is the worst performance for that party after it’s formation.

Come 2009 General Elections, TRS formed alliance with TDP. TDP for the first time included Telangana in their manifesto due to pressure from the Telangana TDP leaders.  In the elections, TRS won 2 LS seats and 27 Assembly Seats. Congress fared OK but one should agree that Congress won primarily because of splitting of opposition vote by a new party – Praja Rajyam Party(PRP) – launched by film actor Chiranjeevi. PRP won 18 assembly seats (and 16% vote share). Then came YSRs tragic death. I think that changed entire equation.  Dr Rosaiah is a very good No.2 but is not an effective No.1. I think Congress High Command would have thought he would be a good consensus candidate as YSR did not groom any leader of his own stature.  Meanwhile in November 2009, (just last month), elections were held for the Greater Hyderabad City Council. Considering the fact that TRS is traditionally weak in the Hyderabad Urban region and the fact that Hyderabadis are mostly against a separate state, TRS did not even contest the election. TRS argument is different. They thought enough is enough with the political games – let us try something new – fast until death by KCR.  KCR also toured across the Telangana region and prepared the cadres for the big fight. An interesting side note – KCR did a fast until death near Jantar Mantar, New Delhi back in August 2006 as soon as he withdrew support to the UPA government. But he ended the fast just in 2 days at the insistence of Sharad Pawar. So, everybody in the state and center, including the media thought this is another such fast which may go at most 3 days.

Once he started the fast, as expected on the second day of this fast, KCR withdrew the fast and accepted a glass of OJ before the cameras. But what changed the entire scene is the Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee(JAC). These kids were also in the fast in support of KCR. When KCR withdrew they burned the effigies of KCR and projected him as an incapable leader. KCR then told some funny stories which nobody with right mind would believe, and again restarted the fast. KCR is moved to Khammam and eventually to Nizam Hospital, Hyderabad (for better access to National Media, of course which will add pressure). On the other hand, his health situation was deteriorating. There were reports that extremists(Maoists) penetrated into the JAC in Osmania University(proven to be correct).  KCR’s fast soon caught the Congress High Command attention. They convened an all-party meeting inside the State Assembly where TDP, PRP, CPI agreed for announcing T-State. CPM, Lok Satta and MIM(Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) did not support the idea. With TDP and PRPs agreement, P. Chidambaram made the announcement. As soon as this was announced, the coastal andhra and Rayalaseema areas people got really pissed off.  They started pressurizing their elected reps to do something. They announced the resignations and the state entered a political crisis.

One thing that can be inferred from this entire episode – the police intelligence in the state failed completely.  They underestimated everything from end to end.  The reports that OU JAC has outside elements including ex-naxalites is a fact and proven by recent attacks on TDP legislator Nagam Janardhan Reddy who visisted the Osmania University to support the JAC leaders. Even in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, many rowdy elements created havoc. This is a really deplorable situation where police could not control the events.

We have to do a small political analysis on who will benefit if a new T-State is formed -

1) Telangana Congress Leaders – With 4.5 more years Assembly term left until next general elections, even if the state is formed 1 year from now, they will get 3.5 years of ministries and power.  It will be gold mine.

2) KCR/ TRS – KCR will become Father of Telangana and TRS will become an alternate party to reckon with in future. I dont know whether it is good or bad. He is not a trustworthy leader according to even Telanganites. He promotes hate and talks imbalanced.

3) TDP – They have strong cadre in Telangana. They have nothing to lose at least as they do not have power now anyway. So they will work towards strengthening the party.

4) Maoists - From what I know about these groups, they think of new revolution and controlling the country in a single party system with new democracy/ communism etc. Why the hell should they support a split state in Telangana and Goorkhaland? I infer one thing – a new and weak state is easy to have their influence. Not good for Indian Union in any way.

Now what about aam-aadmi – Let us go with the assumption that there is an injustice and Coastal Andhrites are exploiting them. This will not change. With the present state and structure, with the same administrative support – common man in T-state will not see any change in quality of life except a feel-good factor that they got a state of their own. It will be practically impossible to remove the population who migrated and mixed deeply into the Telangana. They will continue to exploit (if they are as smart as they are projected to be) the Telangana region. Next comes the encroachers in Hyderabad. A very large percentage of encroachers in Hyderabad and surroundings are rowdy sheeters who are from Telangana itself not some Coastal Andhrites. Coastal Andhra people really hiked up the market by trading plots around Hyderabad for exorbitant prices.  After real estate crash, they are also impacted.  It is also a proven fact that telanagana rurals were exploited by Telanagana landlords more than anybody else.

Issues which needs consensus even before we think of a new T-state

Hyderabad – Just like we have at least one person from every single district in India at US, we have  at least one person from every Andhra Pradesh village in Hyderabad. I myself have personally at least 25 families of relatives in Hyderabad. If moron leaders/ goons pressurize and threaten, I dont think they will leave. Their life and property is to be protected. They should have equal rights and respect as any native Telanganite. This again is not a charity. This is a fundamental right.  Period.

Water Agreements- I think it is an opportunity for making some innovative agreements between the new state and Andhra. Like KG Basin Energy for river water etc. Both water and energy are going to be scarce. Leaders in both sides should sit together with engineering and scientific community and finalize such agreements.

New Capital- Instead of all departments to be in both capitals, there should be some rational agreements to continue departments that can be run together.  For example, Police, judiciary and marine departments can be shared. know it sounds crazy but I question why not. Whatever reduces the wastage of public money should be thought.

Even before a new state – there should be hard look at the issues that prevented development in Rayalaseema and rural Telangana so far. If they declare in haste – the only benefited parties will be politician and contractor class. Common man’s life may not change. And 30 years down the lane, Adilabad may ask for a separate state.

Hyderabad as a common capital is being discussed a lot. I don’t think it will be practical. But some people
will say – even today everyone will travel all the way to Hyderabad to get things done. Why not in future? It needs broader discussion. One thing is certain majority of Hyderabadis doesnt want to join Telangana. If Telangana people think their sentiment is not respected, I have the same question – should we not respect Hyderabadis sentiment? If not, then it amounts to double standards, which we should be ashamed of.

All in all, what I wanted to say is – if there is a way to really spread the development without dividing the state, it should be strongly explored. If common man in T is going to be under the clutches of same/ similar exploiters, then it is not really a good idea to divide the state for the heck of dividing it.  With Maoist resurgence and the reports that they have equipped latest arms through Nepal connection,  a Telangana state is going to be not a good idea now. I am for a United Andhra for the benefit of entire AP rather than one section. I think it is the responsibility of entire Telugu people to strive for the benefit of the entire state not looking after our own resources we control. It is easy to divide and very difficult to join back. We lose all the leverage we have in the federal system.

I attempted this series because I was pained by the casual nature with which many of my friends from other states took this issue. I thought it could be because of lack of awareness on this issue and thought of explaining to the best of my knowledge. I am also not much politics person and had to research on this a lot to make sure it is as correct as possible.

As we know, the Telangana state cannot be formed by what happens inside Andhra Pradesh. It can be issued by a parliament act which will be voted by all our Lok Sabha reps. As you can see, with so much complexity involved and so many problems unresolved, a new state cannot be formed in haste due to black mail politics or violence spurred by some goondas. It will have impact on the entire country. So, I encourage people to understand this and help people of Andhra Pradesh. Your representatives’ votes and your opinion impacts lives of 8 crores of Andhrites.

We are pleased to have Vamsi Poondla write a post on this blog. He is a regular visitor and commenter on this blog.  Please encourage him with your comments.  - Sukumar

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From the moment Telangana state announcement came on December 9, 2009, the entire Andhra Pradesh is in a political turmoil. I would like to present the background of  this issue and events that led to this situation. Since it is a lengthy post(by my standards) which needs lot of research, I am presenting in two parts. Before I go further this is the disclaimer – I am from Sri Amarajeevi Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore district. As you can see from the name, my district is named after Potti Sriramulu , whose fast-unto-death is one of the triggers for linguistic reorganization of states. So, I may tend to be a little bit biased for United Andhra.  But please correct me if I go wrong anywhere.

Let me start explaining the three major regions in AP – Coastal Andhra(a.k.a Coastaa/Sarkaar), Rayalaseema(a.k.a Ceded) and Telangana. Out of these three regions, Rayalaseema is most underdeveloped and arid region. With no major rivers flowing through and no major irrigation canals, the state of Rayalaseema is pathetic. This I have first hand knowledge because I stayed in Anantapur and traveled extensively through villages of Anantapur, Cudappah, Kurnool and Chittoor districts. Coastal Andhra belt is generally considered to be very rich in agriculture – 3 river basins are in these districts – Godavari, Krishna and Pennar. Culturally also -language, food etc, this area is least affected because it is farthest from the Orissa, MP, Maharashtra, Karnataka and TN. Coastal Andhra has it’s own share of challenges because three districts – Prakasam, Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram are very backward comparable with Rayalaseema districts. Coming to Telangana – besides Hyderabad and it’s neighboring districts,  other districts that are well developed are Warangal, Khammam, Karimnagar and Mehbubnagar. The underdeveloped districts are Adilabad, Nalgonda, Nizambad and Medak. Of these Adilabad is most underdeveloped and it has lots of adivasis.

Andhra Pradesh as we know was formed on 1st November 1956. The events that lead to this is an interesting story by itself.  If we start from the period of Mughals, the most of the present AP region including the coastal belt was under Golkonda Sultanate. But as Mughal empire weakened,  Nizams of Hyderabad started becoming more independent and as part of the agreements with the East India Company, they ceded most of the Rayalaseema and Northern Circar (coastal) districts to the British. But Nizams kept themselves a huge territory under their direct control. Like with all princely states, the British maintained very cordial relationships with these rulers as long as they are no direct threat and they have the trade agreements.  Post independence, Hyderabad Nizam contemplated to stay independent apart from swaying for a short while towards joining Pakistan.  But Sardar Vallabhai Patel did not allow this to happen. He executed Operation Polo and annexed Hyderabad state into Indian Union.  But Hyderabad remained a separate state (with portions of present day Karnataka and Maharashtra).

In the Madras State, Congress the only significant party of India during that time, had a dedicated PCC (State Congress Committe) for Andhra. After Potti Sriramulu’s death (and sacrifice – I really dont know of any others who really died during fasting that too for 58 days), state of Andhra was formed with Kurnool as capital.  Within 1 more year, United Andhra was formed merging the Telugu speaking regions of the previous Hyderabad princely state. Hyderabad, naturally became the capital as it was far better city than any other city in AP in terms of infrastructure. I want readers to look in Wikipedia on history of Hyderabad state and the atrocities of Nizam’s privateers – Razakars. It is a bloody tale which we used to listen with awe when it was narrated. While Sardar Vallabhai Patel was conducting the Operation Polo, two groups were helping the Union of India from inside – Andhra Mahasabha(later became Hyderabad State Congress) and Communist Party of India. After the Hyderabad state was annexed into Indian Union, the same two groups which were very influential during that time, raised a banner of “Visalandhra Movement” (meaning Expanded/Vast Andhra Movement) for the formation of United Andhra Pradesh. During this time, the political awareness of people of Telangana used to be very high. Unlike other regions, poets and intelligentsia’s influence over people used to be high those days.  Finally the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed on 1st November 1956.

Post 1956,  it was settling period. Mostly uneventful except that the trouble was brewing in the name of Mulki Revolt (first telangana agitation).  Dr Chenna Reddy was one of the energetic, ambitious and young leaders with the eye on the chair of Chief Minister-ship. With all due respects, if at an age of 70 being a governor of TN, he could be thorn on the side of the then TN CM, JJ, imagine how he could have been in his 40s? He was instrumental in starting the agitation, splitting Congress(I) as Telangana Praja Samithi, won 12 of 14 seats in the Telangana districts, silently merged into Congress as Indira Gandhi was not keen in creating new states. So a gentlemen’s agreement was signed and TPS merged with Congress. Mrs. Gandhi chose P.V Narasimha Rao as  CM instead of Dr Chenna Reddy. True to the then Indira Gandhi’s finicky political moves, she changed CMs every 3 years. When three leaders from Telangana became CMs, the leaders in Coastal Andhra lit the fire in Vizag for separate Andhra state in 1972-73. It was called Jai Andhra Movement. It was quite bloody and many a times, my parents told how they lost 2 years of their college due to the Jai Andhra movement. It was also suppressed. In a way for Mrs. Gandhi politically, these divisions were very handy as she could keep the bait of CM post and get things done in her favor. Apart from these, compared to the problems Union Government must be facing like Bangaladesh War etc, these regional aspirations are nothing. After that Emergency in 1975 and dreamy Janata Government which failed, kind of rest. Then came Dr. NTR. NT Rama Rao, the matnee idol of telugus shocked everyone by launching a political party, won a majority and became CM. His party manifesto based on Telugu pride, pro poor politics and his charishma created a new dream for the poor people. Many congress leaders moved to TDP. Also many new generation beurocrats, lawyers, doctors and some of his fan’s association folks also joined his party. For the next 18 years there is no talk of separatist movements. AP had major CPI(ML)/ Peoples War Group – Naxalites problem. Incidentally this naxal movement has lot of support from Anatapur(Arid), Warangal, Karimnagar, Khammam(coal mines), Adilabad, Godavari districts, Sreekakulam, Vizag (large adivasi population). Meanwhile state was electing either Congress or TDP in every election. TINA(There Is No Alternative) is very valid for AP. Both these parties got very good cadre and clout. In 1999, after Mr Chandra Babu Naidu’s TDP won the election, a relatively unknown politician, Dr K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) did not get a ministerial berth. He was instead made deputy speaker. He resigned from TDP and formed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the same lines of Jarkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM).

Here I would like to add my interactions with friends from Telangana. When I was studying my MCA at JNTU College of Engineering, Anantapur, our class of 30 used to have 33% from each region of AP. So, 10 of my classmates are from Telangana. We used to be very politically active and debating on various social, political issues ( as well as movies) in our mess hall. In my 2.5 years of spending with some of the closest friends – we never had any topic about Telangana state separation. In other words, the issue was non existent before TRS was formed in 2001. Entire focus was on IT, industrialization and development. In my next part, I will cover the situation from 2001 to current day crisis.