‘Nizam’s rule led to lack of progress in education in HK’

Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi opined that the rule of the Nizams of Hyderabad played a crucial role in checking educational progress in the Hyderabad Karnataka (HK) region. He was addressing the 35th convocation at Gulbarga University, Kalaburagi, on Friday.

“The HK region is rich in tradition and poor in education. It has been a basin for various social reformist movements including Vachana, Dasa and Sufi traditions, which produced some of the best literary works. It is the area which, through an edict at Maski in Raichur district, showed Emperor Ashoka referring to himself as Devanam Priya. The 250 years of Nizam rule, however, checked the tremendous educational progress in the area. The Nizam regime did not put education on its priority list and hence, not many schools were opened,” he said.

As a result, he added, the Nizam ruled areas – presently Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur and Koppal districts – began to reel under economic, social and political backwardness apart from a surge in superstitious practices.

“We could not fill the gap even decades after our Independence. The HK region continues to be most backward in education even today. While the National and State literacy averages are around 70 per cent, it is 62 per cent in the HK region. It was 12 per cent at the National-level and 4 per cent in the HK region during Independence,” he said.

The Minister held that Article 371(J) of the Constitution that provided special status to the region would play an instrumental role in bridging the gap. However, he suggested waiting for some more time to reap the maximum benefits from the enactment.

“Article 371(J) is just three years old and we are yet to see how important it is for HK region. We have already begun to reap its fruits. But, ten years on, we will realise how important it is for region’s transformation,” he said.