India should be divided into smaller states The controversy regarding the division of India into smaller states

stems from the recent decision of the government to divide Andhra Pradesh into 2 states of Telengana having 10 districts and Seemaandhra having 13 districts, both of which shall have Hyderabad as their joint capital for the next 10 years, after which Hyderabad shall be the capital of Telangana and Seemaandhra shall have a new capital. The decision has been gladly accepted by a few whereas it has incurred the wrath of many and has also lead to further demands of division of other large states into smaller ones in order to facilitate administration. India, which is densely populated, has always faced administrative issues ever since it became independent in 1947; however, the question is whether division of the bigger states into small ones will act as a correctional measure or will it only make matters more complicated at the national level and further divide India into fragments thus weakening the foundation of unity that we have been trying to achieve? If we look at the positives of this claim of division, then we can see that India does have some large states (like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra) which are as big as countries in Europe and the population of which is twice that of the European countries. Higher the population, tougher it is for the government to maintain law and order. Therefore dividing it into smaller states may facilitate administration and development as suggested by those who are in support of the motion. Manageability in terms of size is one of the key arguments in its favour. However, the negatives of this claim seem to outweigh the positives. The strongest argument against the division of states would be how and on what basis should we divide India into smaller states? India preaches unity, secularism and freedom hence division on the basis of caste, creed, language or religion shall be thoroughly unjust and will be nothing but a repetition of the Partition of 1947. Instead of making administration easier, it might only create turbulence for the people living in those states under concern who, at the end of the day will have to bear the brunt of the political gimmicks. Second, how do we define the term small; small in terms of area or population or resources? Telengana which is being created for supposed administrative convenience will be the 12th largest state of the country; hence the decision in itself seems to be contradictory. Third, the demand for smaller states seems to echo the demand for a smaller country which we might have to face some day in the near future. Incapability to cater to the needs of the people by citing the excuse of size, indirectly speaks of the incapability to govern a country which is as large as ours. Thus, on the whole, giving in to divisional claims will only generate newer problems and will not solve the existing ones. Instead of dividing the states, decentralizing power would be a better way to implement the administrative policies. In this day and age, with profound advancement in communication and technology, quality of governance should not be compromised with and divisional methods cannot be sought as the solutions to the problems of governance. Size and population can be turned into one of the biggest advantages and if utilized to the fullest, then India has the capability to become one of the superpowers of the world in the near future, however, the bigger issues like poverty, education and employment should be tackled effectively in order realize the true potential of the nation.