New State in Southern India

In November 2000 India created three new states – the first in 30 years.  Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand were created by reducing in size three huge Northern Indian states - Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar respectively.  Now Andhra Pradesh – the largest southern state has been split into two – creating the new state of Telangana.  AP’s state capital – Hyderabad – falls within Telangana and will act as capital for both states for the foreseeable future.  

India now has 29 states – some huge, some tiny.  Most were created after independence based on linguistic groupings.  With a population three times that of the United States many people feel that more are required to help spread the funding into the impoverished areas.  So Telangana will probably not be the newest state for long.