states-and-union-territories-of-india

"Mr Shamsuddin (age 55), Director of Agriculture, Lakshadweep, narrated that 30/40 years ago his mother used to sing ballads, while grinding the rice, as to how the people from West came and raped the girls of the islands, who later committed suicide by jumping in the sea."

"Almost all the mosques in the islands are constructed in typical Hindu architecture. Further, the existence of ponds and tanks near mosques on the islands, resembles those found near the Hindu temples in Kerala. Many pieces of Hindu icons have already been excavated from different islands in Lakshadweep. There is pipal tree, very sacred to the Hindus, standing almost in the centre of the Amini Island. There were traditional folksongs having verses in praise of Lord Rama and naga (snake) worship. However, these songs have been replaced by the “Mappila Pattu”, Muslim folk-songs, specially after the Islamization of the islands."

"There are several evidences, which need further explorations, and deep investigations, to prove the Hindu origin of the islanders. Hindu family names are found in all the islands. There are many houses having the word “illam” with their names. In Kerala, only the Nampoothiris houses were exclusively called “illam” and that’s why a few local historians suggest that the early settlers were the Nampoothiris. Whatever may be the castes of the Malabar people, who migrated from the Malabar coast, one thing is very definite that they were Hindus, which needs, of course, deep investigations."

"Any human being has a fundamental right to fight for their rights, but that right cannot include anything that fundamentally denies others what is their fundamental right. The root of Tyranny of Majority that Telangana is witnessing in India since 1956 is expected to end in early 2014."

"Statehood to Telangana is not anybody’s gift. It was a fight, and truth won."

"Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir has given us nothing except separatism, corruption and family rule."

"Everyone wants Kashmir but no one wants Kashmiris. Isn’t it a miracle?"

"I have resolved the Kashmir issue by walking in the steps of Sardar Patel."

"Insurgency and peace are relational concepts. There were five key relationships of Mizoram to the federal government of India involved in the MNF insurgency and the eventual peace. First, there was weak Mizo involvement and identification with the dominant religions and languages of India, together with almost no participation in the politics of pre-British India, British India, or the Congress led Independence movement. Second, in independent India, major Mizo leaders and many of their followers came to see themselves as a nation that was not being treated well by the government of India and launched insurgency activities for complete independence. Third, the military conflict would have ended if either the government of India or the insurgents had won a decisive victory at any point. Neither outcome happened, so the mutually hurting stalemate ensued. Fourth, the government of India made an innovative offer for Mizoram to have a form of extreme asymmetrical federalism with large guarantees of cultural autonomy. Fifth, civil society and political society in Mizoram, led by a united armed underground leader, was sufficiently united to be able to arrive at a self-binding acceptance of the offer; normal state-nation politics rapidly ensued, and peace has endured."

"[In India’s Nagaland state, there is an insurgency driven by the idea of a Maoist Christian nation-state. The Naga separatist guerillas declared in their manifesto:] The sovereign existence of our country, the salvation of our people in socialism with their spiritual salvation in Christ, are unquestionable. . . . We stand for socialism. . . . We stand for faith in God and the salvation of mankind in Jesus, the Christ, alone, that is, ‘Nagaland for Christ’. . . . We rule out the illusion of saving Nagaland through peaceful means. It is arms and arms alone that will save our nation."

"Travel to the remotest corners of India, and you will find things that are linked to our epics and scriptures. The Pandavas are said to have taken refuge in so many places one visits. Or that Bhim, Arjun, or Ramchandra came there. So many habitations are named after our sages and saints. . . . When we speak of the unity of India, we do not really China may be defined by a certain political unity, but India is marked on the other hand by a cultural unity. In the past, what we now know as India was never under a single state or political unit. This was not the case in the time of the Mauryas or of the Guptas. . . . However, Nagaland was never part of this broader Indian culture. Call it a misfortune or an 'accident of history'!"

"The entire political map of Northeast India is fraught, in fact, with competing national irnaginaries and contested state boundaries. But however accidental and arbitrarily drawn, once political boundaries are put in place they often take on a life of their own, and important dimensions of society and economy can come to be refashioned as a result. After three decades with a common political and administrative structure, Meghalaya has to some extent become a social and material reality for people. For example, a Garo villager might have to undertake frequent arduous day-long journeys to Shillong to seek legal advice in a land dispute. Being a government employee can involve a Khasi being posted in the Garo Hills and vice versa, exchanges that most likely would not have taken place otherwise. As the capital of Meghalaya, Shillong is the hub from which political influence, administrative control, and financial resources linked to the new state structure emanate."

"We share a border with Tibet, not China."

"Arunachal Pradesh should be treated as a major priority on a global scale. Languages such as Basque and Burushaski have attracted high levels of scholarly interest over many decades precisely because of their status as language isolates. Those in Arunachal Pradesh have been completely bypassed. Moreover, although these languages are presently still spoken, their populations are small and pressure to switch to Hindi, promoted in both the media and via the school system, is growing. Probably by no coincidence, Arunachal Pradesh is also a major centre for biodiversity, something which attracts worldwide attention and resources. It is suggested that the little-known languages of Arunachal Pradesh should be given similar priority due to their uniqueness and endangered status."

"Arunachal Pradesh consists of a chain of isolated languages, which have been on the southern edge of the core Tibeto-Burman area. A plethora of different contact situations have allowed both lexical borrowing and sometimes striking grammatical and phonological restructuring. But perhaps it would be useful to begin considering this region as more similar to the Amazon or NE Asia than Tibet."

"Thanks to Indian democracy, all Buddhist monasteries in Arunachal Pradesh are preserved."

"Curled beneath the eastern ramparts of the Himalayas broods a wild land of unnamed peaks and unexplored forests: the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The largest and least populous of the Seven Sisters – septet of states that make up India's turbulent, tribal Northeast – it lies folded between the Tibetan plateau, the steaming jungles of Burma, the mountains of Bhutan and the flood-prone plains of the Brahmaputra Valley. Remote, mountainous and forbidding, here shamans still fly through the night, hidden valleys conceal portals to other worlds, yetis leave footprints in the snow, spirits and demons abound, and the gods are appeased by the blood of sacrificed beasts. More tribes live here, and more languages are spoken, than anywhere else in South Asia. A goldmine of flora and fauna, its unparalleled altitudinal range provides sanctuary to a fabulous array of exotic and alarming creatures. Snow leopards prowl along frozen ridges. Royal Bengal tigers pad through the jungle. Burmese rock pythons slither through the loam."

"Any attempt to fashion a form of belonging that is appropriate for Uttarakhand is hampered by the old rivalry between Kumaon and Garhwal, the two former Hindu kingdoms that together constitute nearly all of the new state. From an anthropological point of view, the differences between Garhwalis and Kumaonis are minimal: their languages, religions, caste structures, and kinship systems are more similar to each other than to anyone else, and yet despite this shared ethnicity—or more likely because of it—the old rivalry between them is difficult to eradicate."

"Of the inhabitants every body seems to speak well. They are, indeed, dirty to a degree which I never saw among Hindoos, and extremely averse to any improvement in their rude and inefficient agriculture, but they are honest, peaceable, and cheerful, and, in the species of labour to which they are accustomed, extremely diligent. There are hardly twelve convicts now in the goal of Almorah; and the great majority of cases which come before Mr. Traill are trifling affrays, arising from disputed boundaries, trespass, and quarrels at fair and markets. The only serious public cases which are at all prevalent, are adultery, and sometimes, carrying off women to marry them forcibly. They use their women ill, and employ them in the most laborious tasks, in which, indeed, a wife is regarded by the Khasya peasant as one of the most laborious and valueable of his domestic animals. These people, though rigid Hindoos, are not so inhospitable as their brethren of the plain. Even Europeans travelling through the country who will put up such accommodations as the peasantry have to offer, are almost sure of being well received, and have no need of carrying tents with them, provided their journey is made at a time when the peasantry are at home to receive them, and not during the annual emigration to the plains."

"Between it [Nundidevi] and the Chinese frontier, two remarkable races of men are found, the first the Bhooteahs, a Mongolian tribe, worshippers of the Delai Lama, who are said to be the descendants of one of the hordes who crossed the snowy mountains with Tamerlane; the other, a savage race, who neither plough nor dig, but live by the chace and on wild fruits only. They call themselves the original inhabitants of the soil, and appear to be the same people with the Puharrees of Rajmahal. I saw some Bhooteahs during my stay at Almorah, who had come down with a cargo of “chowries,” tails of the “yak,” or mountain-ox. They are a short square-built people, with the true Calmuk countenance and eye, and with the same remarkable cheerfulness of character and expression, by which the Calmuk tribes are in general distinguished. Their dress was also completely Tartar, large boots with their trowsers stuffed into them, caftans girded round the waist, and little bonnets edged with black sheep’s skin."

"In the 80's Ashish Bose had coined the term BiMaRU, for the four states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, owing to their abysmal socio-economic indicators. Since then Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have catapulted themselves out of the status of being diseased or BiMaRU. Bihar seemed right on track once, to come out of it, but now looks trapped again in the chakravyuh of kidnapping, nepotism and failed law and order with the re-entry of Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar politics. The state of Uttar Pradesh was, however, still screaming for development and the SP & BSP have failed miserably to live up to the mandate of the people of Uttar Pradesh for the last 15 years. Even without access to all these macro data and facts, the people of Uttar Pradesh daily lived and observed the pathetic condition of their state. They heard 'Kam Bolta Hai' rhetoric in Akhilesh Yadav's rallies, but while going back home from the rally, they faced bad roads, bad traffic, lawlessness, lack of electricity in their houses, corruption in the process for government jobs selection and no future for their children. It is evident that when the people of Uttar Pradesh voted for BJP, they have voted for aspirations, for a better future for their children and for a prosperous Uttar Pradesh. New Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has huge expectations to fulfill."

"For many observers, Madhya Pradesh is the true land of the tiger; not only does it have the highest tiger population in India, it also has some of the most exciting habitats anywhere in the tiger's range. These include the steep ledges that look down on the raging Ken River in Panna, the exquisite bamboo forests of Bandhavgarh, the open meadows of Kanha and the rolling highlands of Satpura. Here, in Satpura the river meanders around looming cliffs, creating landscapes of infinite beauty. Barking deer watch you pass, paralysed for a few seconds, before bounding away; sambar seem immense and dark with coats that look like velvet."

"Both men and women, whom we met on the road, I thought decidedly taller, fairer, and finer people than the Bengalees. Some of the Sepoys, indeed, of a regiment who passed us, were of complexions so little darker than those of Europe, that as they approached I really at first took them for Europeans. Every thing seems to assimilate gradually to the scenes and habits of the eastern and southern parts of Europe. The people no longer talk of their daily rice, but say “it is time to eat bread to-day.” Instead of the softness and gentleness so apparent in those Indians whom we first saw, these men have a proud step, a stern eye, and a rough loud voice, such as might be expected from people living almost always in the open air, and in a country where, till its acquisition by the English, no man was sure that he might not at any moment be compelled to fight for his life or property. Much of this necessity is passed away, but something, yet remains."

"It is, indeed unfortunate that Tripura, despite its age—old tradition, culture, natural wealth, beautiful landscape and archaeological treasures failed to attract the attention of the rest of the country. Only when the staccato of gunshots reverberated from the hills, Tripura attracted the world's attention. As the state slowly emerged from obscurity due to blood spilling tribal militancy to become a flash point of the South Asian conflict zone, people outside the region now could at least recognize the name—Tripura. But, still, Tripura to them meant—and perhaps continues to mean——-a land of tribal guerrillas where killing and kidnapping is the order of the day. For them Tripura is a place with high hills, rugged terrains and deep forests where death lurks in every road, at every bend. It is when you tell them that this is the place where literacy is more than 80 percent, where ONGC is now setting up its first mega power project or when you remind someone that music maestro Sachin Dev Burman actually hailed from the Royal family of this state and was a 'tribal' in ethnic sense or it is the Tripura king who first recognized Rabindranath Tagore in his teen, you will find a shade of amazement flashing across their eyes."

"Sikkim's political future is increasingly hard to disentangle from the pressure for a separate Gorkhaland in the north of West Bengal. Some in the Gorkhaland movement look longingly north at the central government subsidies that come from living in Sikkim and posit the possibility of a greater Gorkhaland encompassing Sikkim. But even the Nepalis in Sikkim are not keen on such a solution: in 2008, all holders of the Sikkim Subjects Certificate – including Nepalis – were granted income tax exemption, making getting one of these prized certificates – introduced by Thondup in 1961 – extremely worthwhile. It is a benefit that those in Sikkim now guard jealously."

"Due to its glorious natural beauty, Manipur has earned such epithets like 'Switzerland of India'. This state is also known as Meiteipak, Kangleipak or Meiteileipak, in addition to twenty other names. It remains the most beautiful of the seven northeastern states of India. Fascinating scenery, valleys all around, blue water lakes, dense forests and the cascading clouds over the valleys – all these make the entire region look like the paradise on earth."

"Manipur was an ancient Kingdom, a cradle of human civilization and creativity, which has come under the influence of many cultures of different ethnic groups who came at various times, and contributed to the growth of the civilization of Manipur. Manipur, being a gateway of India to South East Asia, was influenced by her geographic situation and Ecology in the shaping of her history and cultural development."

"It has been recorded that Manipur was a sovereign country ruled out by its monarch and having had its own two millennia old cultural framework through well developed literary language, rich cultural heritage, customs and traditions, rites and rituals which provides a living testimony to its birth and rise of Manipuri civilization."

"Polo can be traced to origins in Manipur state c. 3100 BC when it was played as Sagol Kangjei. Other claims are of it being of Persian origin, having been played as Pulu c. 525 BC."

"In 1958, Pu Laldenga, secretary of the erstwhile Mizo Cultural Society, in several of his public speeches repeatedly stated, “Mizoram is for Mizos only”."

"One of the greatest losses of the so-called Dravidian discourse in Tamil Nadu is the loss of a number of Hindu Devatas or deities in the civilizational consciousness of the Tamil people. More pointedly, the cultural-heritage-loss that accompanied this Devata loss has in many cases become irreversible. To restate the obvious, most ancient and medieval era temples in Tamil Nadu today have become dens of corruption, squalor, and pettiness at all levels. This rampant degradation continues unchecked as we speak. The Government-appointed administrative heads of these temples are not only ignorant of even something as basic as the temple’s kshetra or sthala puranas – oral and even written history – but dismiss it with a contempt that has to be seen to be believed. This is the visible, physical aspect of this deity loss in the people’s collective cultural consciousness. That which nobody cares about will be ignored, and this ignorance will lead to stagnation, decay, and eventual disappearance. Government control of temples is only one of the causes—the real loss has really occurred at the level of the atman or soul."

"Subject to influences from both north and south, Maharashtra had been the meeting ground of many cultures. Its marriage customs followed the pattern of the south, but its language belonged to the Indo-Aryan family of the north. Yet despite these influences Maharashtra and its people had remained distinct from their neighbours. They were united by a language which was a tongue with few variations between the high and the low and between place and place."

"The houses of this country (Maharashtra) are exceedingly strong and built solely of stone and iron. The hatchet-men of the Government in the course of my marching do not get sufficient strength and power (i.e., time) to destroy and raze the temples of the infidels that meet the eye on the way. You should appoint an orthodox inspector (darogha) who may afterwards destroy them at leisure and dig up their foundations."

"Places of pilgrimage have been destroyed, homes of the Brahmans have been desecrated, the whole earth is agitated; Dharma is gone. Therefore, Marathas should be mobilized; Maharashtra Dharma should be propagated."

"I think you are unnecessarily blaming Maharashtrians. The battle of Shivaji was not just for the Marathas, but for the whole Bharatvarsha. From the last two decades and more, the flag of struggle that we have unfurled is also for the country. Have Ranade, Gokhale or Tilak fought only for Maharashtra? All the major political and revolutionary movements in the country in the last fifty years have come from this soil. Bengal was partitioned. But did Maharashtra not stand in strong protest and suffer that as though she herself had been vivisected? We protested and grieved with Punjab when the tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh happened. These are no favours that we have done; it is our sacred duty to stand with all our brethren and countrymen wherever and whenever they are in peril. Hence it is utterly ungrateful of you to not acknowledge this and rather make such atrocious allegations against Maharashtra."

"The road to paradise begins in Karnataka – and ends there. There is nowhere else to go. It is, as the poet says, cheluva Kannada Nadu. The word cheluva defies clear definition. It suggests beauty, grace, athomeness. In Karnataka, a graceful girl is a cheluve, one who is pleasing who radiates charm, contentment, peace. The state's theme song says: Udayavagali namma cheluva kannada nadu. May the lovely land of the Kannadigas arise. The people of Karnataka do not take their land – or themselves – for granted. The romantic in them always strives for the ideal and like all ideals, it is a movable feast. To say that the land is already beyond comparison is to invite comparison. To wish it to be is to live eternally in hope."

"In many ways, South India is to North India as Ireland is to England. South India has been dominated politically and culturally by North India for many centuries. Tamils in particular, the most populous of South Indian ethnic groups (defined by the language they speak) take pride in their identity and more than once in this century have attempted to establish a separate Tamil nation. Also like the Irish, Tamils believe in strong sentiment: rage, grief, compassion, affection, desire, laughter, and ecstasy are openly and frequently displayed in the streets and courtyards of Tamil Nadu. And like the Irish, Tamils value the gift of gab: fabulous conversationalists, storytellers, singers, and poets abound among them."

"“From the very beginning of historical times, Tamilnadu was the land of Vedic traditions in every field of life. The Vedic concepts, gods, customs and manners ruled Tamil life : be it the kings, merchants, cultivators, brahmins, hunters, hill tribes, fishermen, chiefs and soldiers, cowherds, artists, musicians, dancers. They followed the Vedic ideology, worshipped Vedic Gods and propitiated their ancestors are shown abundantly in the data available”."

"Today, Tamil Nadu has become the largest manufacturing hub, both for electronic hardware, consumer durables and automobiles."

"Being composed by princely states in almost two-thirds of their territory, Chhattisgarh was only very partially integrated with the national political arena. A patronage relationship entrenched in the local context remained, and still remains, very strong. The northern region was marked by a strong sense of emulation and competition between Christian and Hindu missionaries. The central plains of Chhattisgarh carried a strong tradition of reformist movements, whereas Bastar in the south was certainly one of the latest to be integrated into the national political fold. The overall picture that remains of the political class of Chhattisgarh is therefore dominated, on the one hand, by local context and kinship, and on the other hand, by the ruling party's ability to co-opt local leaders with not much national-level or even state-level ambition, except a few apparatchik, mainly Brahmins outside of Chhattisgarh, such as the Shukla dynasty and Motilal Vora. To the decline of this sociological class inherited from the traditional leadership of Congress has succeeded the rise of a local political class, also belonging to the upper castes, with a notable number of them having direct affiliation with the RSS, for instance, Dr Ramen Singh and Dilip Singh Yudev, and another important branch represented by the Baniya class, namely, Aggrawal. Nevertheless, it is worth noticing that Arjun Singh, who is from a Baghel Rajput family from the nearby region of Rewa, has been instrumental in undermining the Shukla–Vora stronghold."

"Once the state of Haryana was created, of course, there remained no incentive for the Haryana politicians to press for its enlargement to encompass—and be dwarfed by—the huge area and population of the western districts of UP. Moreover, in an ironical twist concerning the issue of Jat predominance, the small state of Haryana indeed did become, in effect, a Jat dominated enclave, in which 25 per cent of the population belonged to that caste group. So, the enlargement of Haryana to include the western UP districts would have the consequence exactly opposite of what its opponents claimed to fear, namely, the reduction rather than the enhancement of Jat dominance in the larger state. Nevertheless, there remained a few diehard supporters of the old idea of a broader “Hariana” state even after the creation of the smaller Haryana."

"In Jharkhand the tribals had a number of encounters and battles, recorded as Santhal Revolt of Tilka Majhi, Siddhu-Kanu, Bhumij (Sardar) Revolt, Vir Buddhu Bhagat Revolt, Tana Bhagat Movement, the Revolt of Birsa Bhagawan, etc., which did not allow the British to set their feet on the sacred land. But the crafty British recorded these territories as 'excluded' to mislead the world. Accordingly, their territories remained outside the purview of the general law. But what an irony of fate, there was no place for this system in our Constitution after independence. The result was an automatic extension of the general laws to these areas. Accordingly the state acquired control over the resources. There were movements for separate identity of Jharkhand. But the spirit of self-governance, a natural right of the community, was forgotten. The issues raised in Jharkhandi Ulgulans (revolts) remained unattended."

"God's own country"

"Ownership inequality between men and women are is not a newly emerging inequality, in contrast with natality inequality, for example. It has existed in most parts of the world for a very long time. However, there are also important local variations in the prevalence of this of this inequality. For example, even though traditional property rights tend to favour men over women in most parts of India, nevertheless in the state of Kerala, over a long period there has been matrilineal inheritance for an influential part of the community, most notably the Nairs, who constitute about a fifth of the total population of Kerala and who has long been influential in the governance and politics of kerala. In the exceptional nature of Kerala’s social achievements, the greater voice of women seems to have been an important factor, and in this long tradition of matrilineal inheritance on the part of an influential segment of society has played a significant role."

"While India’s life expectancy figure of around 60 years compare quite unfavourably with China’s 69 years, Kerala’s life expectancy – about 72 years – appears on the other side of China’s achievement. Similarly, the infant mortality rate of 79 per thousand live births in India is very high indeed in comparison with China’s 31, but Kerala’s rate of 17 is much better than China’s. Again while India’s literacy rate is much lower than that of China, Kerala’s is substantially higher than China’s."

"The whole state of West Bengal seemed like a huge refugee camp, with its muddy roads jammed with endless lines for inoculations or registration cards."

"The administration is hopelessly inefficient and dishonest and as no improvement can be expected in the course of things, the future of the Hindus here (Calcutta or Bengal) is unspeakably dark."

"“It is no use belittling the fact that people are coming from East Bengal to West Bengal because they find life in East Bengal intolerable.”"

"“The fourteenth century was a period of expansion of Muslim authority in Bengal and the adjoining territories. A significant part was played in this process by the warrior saints who were eager to take up the cause of any persecuted community. This often resulted (in clash) with the native authority, followed, almost invariably, by annexation…” This also shows how elastic were the methods adopted by the Sufis. They acted mostly as peaceful missionaries, but if they saw that the espousal of some just cause required military action, they were not averse to fighting. “The Sufis… did not adopt the Ismaili technique of gradual conversion… They established their khanqahs and shrines at places which had already had a reputation for sanctity before Islam. Thus some of the traditional i.e. (Hindu) gatherings were transformed into new festivals. (i.e. Muslim). As a result of these efforts, Bengal in course of time became a Muslim land…”"

"We investigated the working of a number of elementary schools from three districts of West Bengal… The problem is, in some ways, compounded by the fact that school teachers are now comparatively well paid – no longer the recipients of miserably exploitative wages... The salary of teachers in regular schools has gone up dramatically over recent years. This is an obvious cause for celebration at one level (indeed, I remember being personally involved, as a student at Presidency College fifty years ago, in agitations to raise the desperately low prevailing salaries of school teachers). But the situation is now very different. The big salary increases in recent years have not only made school education vastly more expensive (making it much harder to offer regular school education to those who are still excluded from it), but have also tended to draw school teachers as a group further away from the families of children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. There is considerable evidence that the class barrier that deeply impairs the delivery of school education to the worst-off members of society is now further reinforced by the increase in economic and between the teachers and the poorer (and less privileged) children"