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During India’s independence, India comprised 571 disconnected princely states, merged to form 28 independent states as of now. This grouping was done based on several historical and political deliberations with a preference for cultural and linguistic considerations. However, this was a temporary disposition.
It was in 1953 when India’s first linguistic state of Andhra Pradesh was formed for the people speaking Telugu. This was a result of a hunger strike that extended for nearly 56 days on account of the death of Potti Sriramulu. Further demands were made for the creation of different states based on languages in India.
Under Jawaharlal Nehru’s government, it was recommended to divide the entire country of India into 16 states and three central administrative states. However, after non-agreement to the proposal, the government decided to divide the country into 14 states and 6 union territories. This was done under the guidance of the State Regulation Act of 1956. The states were namely:
- Andhra Pradesh.
- Madhya Pradesh.
- Uttar Pradesh.
- West Bengal.
- Assam.
- Bombay.
- Bihar.
- Jammu and Kashmir.
- Kerala.
- Madras.
- Mysore.
- Orissa.
- Rajasthan.
- Punjab.
The following were the six union territories:
- Delhi.
- Himachal Pradesh.
- Manipur.
- Tripura.
- Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands.
- Laccadive.
During 1960, Bombay was bisected to form states of Maharashtra and Gujarat as a result of turbulence and violence. In 1963, Nagaland was formed especially for the Naga people and the total count of states stood at 16.
Goa and Daman and Diu have later formed to be the union territories that were coupled with the states neighbouring them.
The state of Haryana was formed with the people speaking Punjabi and the hilly regions were shifted to another forming union territory of Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh was made the capital of both Punjab and Haryana and was also recognized as a union territory.
During 1969 and 1971, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh came into existence and with the conversion of Manipur and Tripura into union territories India’s total count of states rose to 21.
Consequently, in 1975 Sikkim was considered as a state followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram in 1987. Goa was the 25th state to acquire the position of a state in India. Later, the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Uttaranchal were formed in 2000. The state of Telangana was the last state which was officially formed on 2nd June 2014.
In the present scenario, there are 28 states in total and 8 union territories in India,
after bifurcation of Jammu and kashmir and ladakh and was made into union territories.
The outstanding development of India’s regional languages led to the emotional unification of various language groups and the rise of consciousness within them regarding the fact of being different cultural and linguistic units.
This also led to the development of colloquial speaking languages which was disregarded during the British rule by the British
Thus, the linguistic reorganisation led to a major territorial change within India.
Conclusion
India has been highly successful regarding the reorganisation of boundaries of the states and union territories where there existed several obstacles in the way. The reorganisation of states has mainly emphasised minority representation and delegation of authority and powers in the hands of both the government and citizens of India. Thus, India continues to follow the value of “Unity in Diversity”.
