Telangana - 29th State of India

As the 29th youngest state of India, Telangana will be celebrating second anniversary of state formation day on June 2nd 2016. This Telugu speaking state was merged with Andhra Pradesh previously, but after the official bifurcation on 2 June 2014, the state got separated along with 10 districts, to be called as Telangana. For the next 10 years, the city of Hyderabad will serve as the joint capital for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states. Basically the agitation for separate Telangana state started in 1969, continued for more than four decades, and eventually came to an end on 20 February 2014, when the Bill for separate state got cleared in both the houses of Parliament.

Geographical Information

As the 12th largest state in India, Telangana has total area of 1.14 lakh Sq Km and shares the borders with others states - Karnataka, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odhisha. It has population of 3,52,86,757 as per 2011 census, spreading across 10 districts including major cities like Warangal, Hyderabad, Nizamabad and Karimnagar. Hyderabad is the sixth largest among other metropolitan cities in India, having relatively large number of Telugu or Urdu speaking population. The state has diversified culture combining the customs and traditions from all places and religions. However, Batukamma festival and Lashkar Bonalu have great significance among Telangana people and were identified as the state festivals.

How Telangana got its name?

It was said that the name Telangana is derived from the word Trilinga which refers to the region enclosed by the three lingas of shiva kshetras called Kaleshwaram, Draksharamam and Srisailam. There is also another myth associated with the name. The Nizams who ruled the place between 1724 to 1948 differentiated Telugu speaking region from the Marathi dominions of their kingdom and designated it as Telugu Angana, which gives the meaning 'the place of Telugu speaking people'. As the time passed, the word gradually changed into Telangana.

The significance of Telangana Emblem

The Emblem of Telangana was adopted on 2nd June 2014, immediately after the formation of the new government headed by TRS party leader K. Chandrashekar Rao. Famous painter Laxman Aelay is the person responsible for this artistic work. The color green was chosen for emblem, because it symbolizes prosperity, positive approach and abundance of greenery. The design contains two green circles with the words 'Government of Telangana' scripted in English, 'Telangana Prabhutvam' in Telugu and 'Telangana Sarkar' in Urdu languages. To demonstrate the true multicultural spirit of Telangana people, the symbols of 'Kakatiya Thoranam', and the majestic symbol of Charminar were also included in the design. The middle of the inner most circle contains the symbol of Sarnath Lion Capital with Sanskrit words 'Satyameva Jayathe' scripted right at the bottom.

The State icons of Telangana

Telangana has identified four new icons after its formation -

• state bird -- ‘Palapitta’ (Indian Roller or Blue Jay)

• state animal -- ‘Jinka’ (the deer)

• state tree -- ‘Jammi Chettu’ (Prosopis Cineraria)

• state flower -- ‘Tangedu’ (Tanner’s Cassia)

The reason for choosing them as icons is because they represent tradition and culture of Telangana people. Deer is chosen as state animal due to its historical significance in Indian epics and its wide spread presence in the forests of all Telangana districts. While 'Tangedu’ flowers are associated with the telangana state festival Batukamma, the 'Blue Jay' and ‘Jammi Chettu’ has great importance in popular Hindu festival Dasara.

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