Reorganisation of States

Introduction

The introduction to Reorganisation Of States acts 1956 reestablished the boundaries of Indian territories and states while arranging them based on regional language. The Indian constitution that came into force on 26 January 1950 differentiates states based on four major types. 

• The merger of all the princely states and their integration was an Ad Hoc arrangement, which means an urgent need to recognize permanent states on various crucial factors, including the provinces growth, multilingual nature, and the difference between several states.
• The government appointed a commission In 1948 under S.K. Dhar, a high court judge in Allahabad.
• Apart from mentioning its importance on the basis of linguistics, the commission also highlighted the importance of historical, economic, and geographical considerations. It was noticed that rather than the linguistic considerations, reorganisation based on administration was more favoured.

JVP Committee

• 1948, In December, the JVP committee was appointed under Vallabh Bhai Patel, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, and Jawaharlal Nehru with an aim to monitor the issue afresh. Later in April 1949, a report was submitted which clearly states the idea of abolishing the linguistic reorganisation of states. However, it was suggested to go through the problem again in the light of public demand.

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First Linguistic State

• In 1953, a separate state was forcefully established, especially for people speaking Telugu in Andhra Pradesh. This incident also led to the death of Potti Sriramulu. Hence, the government was under pressure to develop the first linguistic state of Andhra Pradesh.

Fazl Commission

• Due to this incident, the demand for creating the states on a linguistic basis arose from all over the country. Jawaharlal Nehru appointed Fazl Al on December 22, 1953, as a committed leader to fulfil this demand. Apart from Fazl Al in, HN Kunzru and K M Panikkar were also the integral part of the commision. After understanding the people’s wishes in different regions, the report was curated and submitted.
• According to the commission report, there was a need for the reorganisation of the entire country into three central administration areas and 16 states. However, these recommendations were not accepted by the government.
• As per States Reorganisation Act 1956, the country was divided into six union territories and 14 states.
• These states were Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Mysore, Madras, Punjab, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal. The six union territories were Delhi, Manipur, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Minicoy, Laccadive, Himachal Pradesh, and Amindivi Islands, and Tripura.

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Concept of Zonal Council

• In order to promote cooperation in several states, the five zonal councils were provided for the central, eastern, northern, southern zone states, and western.
• The President appointed the union home minister as chairman for each of the zonal councils, zones chief ministers, state’s minister, and an advisor, especially for the eastern zone.

Diversion of Bombay

• The state of Bombay was divided into two, giving rise to the conditions of Gujarat and Maharashtra. This was the result of continuous violence and agitation in 1960.

Formation of Nagaland

• In order to provide a separate state for Nagas, the state of Nagaland was introduced in 1963; however, before marking it as a full-fledged state, it was under the Assam government in 1961.

Territories from Portuguese and France

• After the acquisition imposed by Mahe, Chandernagore, Karaikal, and Aman, the territories of Daman and Diu, and Goa were either marked as union territories or given the status of neighbouring states.

Shah Commission

• After many revolts to form Punjabi Suba, the Punjab Reorganisation Act was passed in 1966. Shah Commission, who was appointed in 1966, suggested the importance of this step.
• Lately, most of the Punjabi-speaking community has shifted to Haryana. Chandigarh served as the Union Territory and is known as the joint capital of Haryana and Punjab.
• Both of these states share many things in common such as universities, high count, and the major components of the power system. Later, Punjab was known as a separate state.

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Further Formation of the State

• In 1969, Assam was divided into two states, popularly known as the state of Meghalaya. Initially, the state was counted within Assam; however, it was raised as a full-fledged state over the years.
• After converting Manipur and Tripura into states, the number of Indian states rose from 19 to 21.
• Earlier, Sikkim was established as a state of the Indian Union. Although it was known as an association state, it turned into a full-fledged state after a few years.
• In 1986, Mizoram was introduced as the 23rd state of India after giving it the status of a full-fledged state.
• In 1987, another Union Territory of India, Arunachal Pradesh, was known to be the 24th state of the Indian Union.
• The state of Goa was given the status of a separate entity after separating it from Daman and Diu, the Union territory of Goa. Three new states Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, and Chhattisgarh, were established in November 2000.

Note

• On November 2, 2000 the government released a new map with Ladakh having two districts.
• After creating the two Union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, the new political map came into existence which led to reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Conclusion

India’s federal structure is a one-of-a-kind example in which the state has been constantly fiddling with its inner boundaries in order to maintain its unity in diversity.