Come midnight Tuesday, the map of India will be redrawn to add three new states. Unfortunately, they'll be facing the same old problems: drought, violence and poverty. Not to mention political infighting. Chhattisgarh, which is being carved out of Madhya Pradesh, will be the largest new state, with 20 million people. The hill state of Uttaranchal is being sliced out of Uttar Pradesh in the north and the tribal Jharkhand state will be created in the poverty-stricken Bihar after decades of struggle. Not everyone is thrilled. "If the obscene rituals attending the birth are anything to go by -- the squabbling for posts, the obsession with real estate, political debauchery in a time of drought -- there will be little justice ... in the new Chhattisgarh," one sociologist wrote.
States of Confusion
Come midnight Tuesday, the map of India will be redrawn to add three new states. Unfortunately, they'll be facing the same old problems: drought, violence and poverty. Not to mention political infighting. Chhattisgarh, which is being carved out of Madhya Pradesh, will be the largest new state, with 20 million people. The hill state of Uttaranchal is being sliced out of Uttar Pradesh in the north and the tribal Jharkhand state will be created in the poverty-stricken Bihar after decades of struggle. Not everyone is thrilled. "If the obscene rituals attending the birth are anything to go by -- the squabbling for posts, the obsession with real estate, political debauchery in a time of drought -- there will be little justice ... in the new Chhattisgarh," one sociologist wrote.
