MUZAFFARNAGAR, India -- Brij Pal Choudhury, a muscular, 57-year-old farmer in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,is proud of his shimmering green fields of sugar cane. This has been a good year for Choudhury -- in fact, a good decade. His crops are thriving and there is plenty of food for his family.
But despite the veneer of affluence, Choudhury joined about 50,000 farmers late last month for a protest rally near this village in western Uttar Pradesh. These farmers, who are among the most successful in this fertile region, say they no longer want to be part of a state that is poor and backward. They want a separate state of their own.
"We have done very well in agriculture, but we don't want to be lumped in with a poor state anymore," said Choudhury, perched on his tractor, its engine spewing diesel fumes. "We want our own state so that we are not dragged down by the other pockets of poverty."
Uttar Pradesh is not the only place where Indians are unhappy with the way their state boundaries have been drawn. As India struggles to manage the broad diversity and deep poverty of its 1 billion people, it seems to be imploding in many places. There are at least 10 revolts across the country to break existing states into smaller ones that better suit the ethnic and economic demands of the inhabitants.
India, with nearly four times as many people as the United States and at least 15 languages, has only 28 states. Soon after independence in 1947, India created 16 states along linguistic lines, and added more in the 1960s and '70s. Last year, three states -- Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh -- were created in response to the demands from local people.
"The door is now open for many more [new states]," said Sansuma Bwiswmuthiary, a member of Parliament and president of the Indian National Front for Smaller States. Bwiswmuthiary, an ethnic Bodo, wants a separate state, Bodoland, for his people in India's northeast.
"Widespread and simmering discontent among people about skewed development and inequity finds expression in different ways," said Zoya Hasan, a professor of politics at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. "Asking for a separate state of their own is one. Some assert that they are a different ethnic group, and others say smaller states are easier to govern. But a deep sense of neglect and economic marginalization is at the heart of it all."
In at least 10 pockets across India, groups are asking for new states on the basis of their ethnic identity, economic neglect and underdevelopment, or the lack of efficient management in large states. For example, the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, known more for software development and its government's embrace of the Internet, is facing a revolt in the underdeveloped region of Telengana.
In Uttar Pradesh, the push for separatism comes from the other end of the economic spectrum. The prosperous farmers want a new state called Harit Pradesh, or Green Land, because they don't want to be burdened by less advanced neighbors. Uttar Pradesh, with more than 160 million people, is also seen as an administrative nightmare and may be chopped in three.
But not everybody agrees that Indian states must be endlessly broken down.
"Small is beautiful, but is it also viable?" asked Prithviraj Chavan, a politician from the western state of Maharashtra, which also faces a demand to be cut up. Chavan contends that some of the newly formed states are not self-sufficient and need a lot of propping up from the national government.
The new state of Uttaranchal is facing a fiscal crunch. In an already beleaguered economy, the cost of establishing a new judiciary, executive, bureaucracy and infrastructure is immense.
Creating a state does not always mean creating opportunities. In some cases, it merely replicates the old model of neglect and top-down governance on a smaller scale.
In Jharkhand, an eastern state rich in minerals, the euphoria of last year's victory for the indigenous tribal people has already given way to disillusionment among the leaders of what was a 40-year struggle for statehood.
"All the top jobs have been cornered by non-Jharkandis. This is what we fought against for so long," said Prabhakar Tirky, president of the All Jharkhand Students Union. "Our tribal languages have not been introduced in the school curriculum yet. There is no move to declare holidays for tribal festivals. Where is that pride we dreamt of?"
Critics fear that the constant clamor for new states, based on development needs or ethnic identity, is a slippery slope.
"Can we go on creating new states based on real or imaginary identities and grievances? It may be difficult to stop this process," said Hasan, the university professor.
But for the farmers of western Uttar Pradesh, the demand for Harit Pradesh is a battle cry.
"Without the new state, our future is in the dark," said local politician Ajit Singh. "We will redraw our state with the farmers' sweat and blood."