India’s lower house of Parliament approved a plan on Tuesday to create a 29th state in the country’s southeastern region. The bifurcation plan will split the existing state of Andhra Pradesh into two parts. The existing state, home to over 84 million people, will retain its name, and the new state will become Telangana, after the language Telugu, which most residents speak. 

Introduced in 2009, the plan has been hotly debated and protested for years. India’s upper body still must approve the plan on Wednesday, but it is likely to pass. The Telangana region was merged with other districts in 1956. The separation movement gained support in 2009 when it was officially backed by the Congress Party.

Read more at the Washington Post. 

 

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