Special status was a pre-poll promise made by BJP and it was an assurance which the Centre has given before 2014 elections. It is now a known fact that the NDA leadership has been dithering on the issue due to many factors.
After being labeled as not fit for the Special Category status, sources say Andhra Pradesh government is citing parameters such as literacy level and high infant mortality for getting this status. After the AP state bifurcation, AP’s literacy rate is 67.07%, well below the all-India average of 74.04 per cent.
AP has also lost many prime educational institutions to Telangana. Now only states like Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand are below the state Andhra Pradesh when it comes to literacy rate. Hence this has come in handy now.
Even infant mortality rate is high with 39 deaths per 1000 live births. This is because of shortage in hospitals and human resources, as most of them were concentrated in Hyderabad. The economic as well as human development indicators of the three north coastal Andhra and four districts of Rayalaseema are now closer to the special category states.
