Separation of states

Does it make sense for large Indian states to be broken up (or is it broken down) into smaller managable states?

India Today’s cover story on survey of states (August 16,2004) and the issue following that have done this question to death. (Of course, I do not fully agree with the findings and analysis of this survey – but when have I ever agreed with magazine surveys? Take Punjab – No. 1 on list of 20 large states. Does being No.1 on infrastructure and other parameters make it No. 1 state to live in with best quality-of-life-and-work?)

My take on this is that separation of states with focus on development makes a lot of sense –

in the survey, Uttaranchal stands at No. 9 while Uttar Pradesh is at No. 17 (having gone down two notches from 15 last year). I cannot resist quoting myself here 🙂
In pleasant contrast was Uttaranchal. The roads were in top shape and a pleasure to travel on. The locals I spoke with claim that all this was made possible only after these regions broke away from Uttar Pradesh. Overall better infrastructure and a better life, some of them said…..
Of the bunch of new states (Jharkhand types), Uttaranchal was the only one that ever made sense to me. A state created with the objective of Focussed Development. (As an aside, it seems to be paying dividends; Uttaranchal being in fifth rank, of places most visited by foreign tourists in India – Source : Outlook. Can you imagine Uttar Pradesh ever on that list??!)
On the contrary, separation of states on entirely language or ethnic grounds has yielded little benefit. Take MP at 12 and Chattisgarh at 16. And of course, Jharkhand and Bihar fighting for last position at No. 19 and 20 respectively.
In fact, the concept of SCR (socio-cultural region) makes more sense than physical / geographic boundaries.

For instance, enroute from Jhansi to Khajuraho by car, we constantly criss-crossed UP and MP. At any moment, I was never sure of which state I was in. (Of course, if I had paid closer attention to the number of and size of potholes, I may have been able to make a guess – but I was too busy paying attention to the ‘welcome to UP, thanks for visiting MP’ – or was it the other way round boards. And I soon grew bored of the ‘ now guess where’ game, as did my fellow traveller.)

The point here being, MP and UP almost seamlessly merge at many points – and those living on the borders have many common customs and habits. It is in such cases where understanding of the socio-cultural region becomes more relevant.

Similarly, in Karnataka, places on the Maharasthra border (Belgaum, Dharwar…) seem more Maharasthrian – food habits, customs, even language. I actually know Maharashtrians with Marathi surnames who hail from these regions and speak only Kannada.

Painful as it may seem, do we need to rethink the issue of state separation? Or is it just unthinkable now?