The Telangana agitation may not have produced a separate state yet but it has a mountain of research. Universities in the state have generated no less than 245 studies on Telangana by M. Phil and Ph.D scholars. The theses span a wide range of subjects relating to Telangana: literature, language, history, sociology, politics, culture, geographical and economy.
The agitation has been a gold mine for researchers, says Boda Venkat Ratnam, vicechancellor of Kakatiya University, Warangal. “To a research scholar, Telangana offers a lot to explore as it was ruled by several kingdoms. Its culture, language and socioeconomic condition has undergone significant changes in the course of the time.
The movement for a separate state has encouraged scholars to explore and to fill the gaps in our understanding of Telangana.”Apart from the 245 theses already written, officials estimate that about 50 more are still in the works.
Apart from the studies done in state universities, some 25 theses have been written in varsities elsewhere like Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Of these theses, 75 per cent are M.Phil dissertations and 25 per cent PhDs.
The enthusiasm for Telangana studies received a spurt with the separate state agitation becoming more strident in the past ten years. With universities being the hub of the movement, young researchers have been taking up Telangana as their subject of study, said B Ramesh, registrar of Potti Sriramulu Telugu University (PSTU).
“In this politically charged time, universities are seeing a surge of research proposals on Telangana, especially in Osmania University and Kakatiya University.”G Nagaraju, associate professor of sociology at University of Hyderabad (UoH), says this trend is reflective of the desire of young scholars to place the movement in a sociocultural context.
Researchers also say they find the politically charged atmosphere very invigorating to work in. Research scholar M Sammanna of OU said, “I took admission in M.Phil. at OU as it is the centre of Telangana politics. While I work in the related field of conflict resolution, my main focus is to bring in an academic perspective to the movement.”
[Express News Service]