As India waits for the 2014 parliamentary elections, the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has finally announced the creation of India's 29th state, Telangana.

The new state will be formed out of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, which currently has a population of about 85 million people.

The timing of the announcement remains contentious. Why did it take nearly nine years for the government to consider the demand for the new region, an idea first raised nearly half a century ago?

The government has said that within the next six months a bill on Telangana will be introduced in parliament. Meanwhile, a storm of conflicting opinions has arisen about whether this is all about political opportunism in the run-up to the national elections.

The last few days have witnessed strident protests in other parts of the country by various groups, as this proposal has prompted the revival of further demands for new states, such as Bodoland, Bundelkhand, Vidarbha, Gorkhaland and so on.

The proposed state, now brought closer to reality, will be home to an estimated 36 million people, greater than the population of Canada. Physically, the state is almost the size of the US state of Kentucky.

The old theory in the 1960s of creating states on a linguistic base is no longer the chief criteria used in contemporary India. This state is born out of the economic and social backwardness of the western part of Andhra Pradesh.

Many argue about whether this is a politically mature decision as the Telangana region has suffered from the Naxalite insurgency, India's rural Maoist militants, for several years. They wonder how, as a small state, it will be able to counter extremists.

And how will the current state capital of Hyderabad, located at the center of Telangana, function as a shared capital over the next 10 years? The public and experts remain dubious on the issue.

Will new states give rise to factional elements by encouraging regional separatism, or will their creation make governance more effective and strengthen India's federal nature?

Administering smaller states is more efficient, but the funds required to introduce new administrative personnel and resources in a new state will affect the hard-pressed taxpayers.

More than six decades after the end of British colonial rule, the federal system is still evolving, and trying to accommodate more social and cultural diversity so as to keep national integrity intact. The progress of federalism remains a daunting test in a nation where time and again divisive forces keep emerging.

Perhaps federalism needs to be reorganized to create a new idea of India. The political arithmetic in the last two decades has shifted focus from national parties to regional parties, which can stir up the instinct of the majority of people residing in rural areas.

So any perverse demand arising out of local political calculations can now fuel serious tensions.

Governments at the center are now formed through coalitions with state-based parties who wield considerable influence in defining the relations between the center and the states.

The current electorate is more politically conscious than ever, and if their economic needs are ignored by political parties, India is heading toward yet another fractured mandate in the coming elections.

This will cause a subsequent slowdown in reforms as it's difficult to arrive at a consensus in an era of coalition governments.

Is India giving vent to regional aspirations in a federation by being politically parochial? How does it define the criteria for smaller states?

Back in 2010, the ruling UPA government constituted a committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna who warned the government in his report against the creation of new states as it would trigger a ripple effect across other parts of the country.

It may be that rather than creating new states, the cultivation of a stronger and better federalism that can empower people living in backward areas is the way forward. This may be easier than remapping the nation.

The author is a master's candidate in Global Business Journalism at Tsinghua University. himanshu28102000@gmail.com