After being termed as not fit for Special Category status, Andhra Pradesh government is citing parameters like w literacy level and high infant mortality to claim the status. After the state bifurcation, AP literacy rate is 67.07% which is well below all-India average of 74.04 per cent.
AP has also lost some of the prime educational institutions to Telangana. Only Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand are below Andhra Pradesh in terms of literacy rate.
And on the other side, infant mortality rate is particularly high 39 deaths per 1000 live births. This is due to deficits in terms of hospitals and human resources, which are mostly concentrated in Hyderabad. The economic and human development indicators of three north coastal Andhra and four Rayalaseema districts are closer to the special category states.