Students clashed with police and most educational institutions were closed Friday in the Telangana region in southern India over demands for it to become a state, according to dpa. Student groups and political parties announced plans for protests after the federal government released a report Thursday that favoured maintaining a unified Andhra Pradesh state. Students attempting to hold a rally at the Osmania University campus in Andhra Pradesh's capital, Hyderabad, clashed with police, the PTI news agency reported. Pro-Telangana activists also held rallies in six districts in the region and burned copies of the government report. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti party, which has been spearheading the demand for a separate state, rejected the report, and its leader, K Chandrashekhar Rao, said the Indian National Congress party, which is in power in Andhra Pradesh and leads the ruling federal coalition government, had gone back on its promise to form a new state. Telangana is a region comprising 10 of Andhra Pradesh's 23 districts, including Hyderabad. The movement for a separate state dates back almost 50 years and saw widespread violence in the late 1960s when more than 300 protestors were killed by police gunfire and baton charges. Supporters said Telangana has been neglected and is among India's poorest and most economically backward regions. They argued that the region can only be developed if local people control its administration. The final decision on splitting the state lies with the federal Parliament. The Andhra Pradesh state legislature must also approve its creation. India currently has 28 states with the latest three new states formed in 2000. The South Asian country had 16 states in 1971.
