Government and society

Telangana is a constituent unit of the Republic of India, and, as such, its government structure, like that of most Indian states, is defined by the national constitution of 1950. A governor appointed by the president of India is the executive head of the state administration, but the real power is in the hands of a chief minister and a Council of Ministers responsible to the state legislature. The state has a unicameral legislature, the Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha), which is elected by adult suffrage from territorial constituencies. Members of the assembly serve for five-year terms, unless the assembly is dissolved prior to the next elections.

The administration is conducted by various ministries and departments, each under the direction of a minister who is assisted by a staff of permanent civil servants. The State Secretariat at Hyderabad supervises the administration of the state’s 10 districts. Local administration in each district is the responsibility of a district collector. Rural local government has been democratically decentralized by the introduction of a system in which local authorities operate at the village, block (a unit consisting of a group of villages), and district levels. Municipal bodies govern the urban areas.

The state judiciary is headed by a High Court, located in Hyderabad, which has jurisdiction for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh; the High Court has original jurisdiction in some cases and exercises appellate and administrative control over the district and lower-level courts. The High Court is itself subject to the appellate authority of the Supreme Court of India in certain matters. Secunderabad, north of and adjacent to Hyderabad, is home to a number of defense establishments.

Government-supported health facilities expanded rapidly beginning in the late 20th century. Under the Primary Health Centres program, medical help, both curative and preventive, was brought to many rural areas. Urban public medical centres, such as the large Osmania Hospital at Hyderabad, have been expanded and upgraded; and specialized institutes, including those for treating specific diseases, have been opened. There is also a family-planning program. Medical aid is free to low-income groups, and several medical insurance programs cover various categories of employees.

Before India’s independence, social welfare work was mainly undertaken by private agencies. Since the mid-20th century, however, the magnitude of need and the scarcity of resources, both organizational and financial, led the state government to accept primary responsibility in that field. Public investment in social welfare accounts for a large proportion of the total amount spent on planning. There are social welfare programs for people with disabilities, for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and for other groups that are not fully integrated into the social structure. Such programs include, among others, those that reserve places in educational institutions, those that provide employment, and housing and land-distribution schemes.

The state’s educational system provides for 10 years of schooling, followed by a two-year junior college course leading to undergraduate and postgraduate education. Primary school is compulsory, and both primary and secondary school are provided free of charge. About two-thirds of the state’s population is literate, although the proportion for males is considerably higher than that for females. The English and Foreign Languages University (founded 1958), a nationally prominent institution of higher education, is located at Hyderabad, as is the University of Hyderabad (1974).

Since the late 20th century, technical education has received special attention in order to meet the demands of industrialization. Various institutes offer vocational training, while the engineering colleges of the universities train advanced technical personnel. Scholarship programs are available for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other disadvantaged groups in all educational institutions that receive substantial financial assistance from state and federal agencies. Privately run facilities also operate at all levels.

Cultural life

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Many of southern India’s major composers of Indian classical music have been from the region, and Telugu has been the language of most of the compositions. Telugu, one of the four literary languages of the Dravidian family, occupies a prestigious place among Indian languages, being renowned for its antiquity and admired by many for its mellifluous quality. Telugu literature was prominent in the Indian literary renaissance of the 19th and 20th centuries, as the writing resonated with a revolution in literary forms and expression, stimulated to a large degree by Western genres. Telangana has many periodicals in English, Telugu, and Urdu. Muslim culture in the state further enriches its cultural diversity.

Hyderabad is at the cultural heart of Telangana and is home to numerous museums, religious edifices, and cultural venues. The city is also renowned for its many parks and green spaces, which include one of India’s best-known zoos. In addition, Hyderabad and Warangal are noted for a wealth of historic sites in and around them that chronicle the centuries of Muslim rule in the region. Hyderabad, dubbed Tollywood, is also the centre of a thriving Telugu-language film industry.