Fazl ali commission

Introduction:

India is a union of states, as per the first article of the Indian Constitution. Therefore all the states’ demands must be respected. One such prominent demand was made at the time of independence. This demand was to reconstitute the states along the linguistic lines. But the newly formed union was clueless about how to go about this reconstitution without compromising on the unity of India. As a result, the Fazl Ali Commission was formulated.

In this article, we will understand in detail the Fazal ali commission and the recommendations of fazl ali commission.

What is the Fazl Ali commission?

Fazl Ali commission also known as the states reorganization commission was formed in 1953 to ponder upon the demands of different states. The states just after independence demanded reorganization of the whole country into different parts based on the language. Therefore the central government formed this committee in Aug 1953 to look into these demands.

The members of the fazl ali commission included K.M. Pannikar, H.N. Kunzru, and Justice Fazl ALi who was also the chairperson of the committee.

Why was the need for fazl ali commission felt?

To understand the need of this commission, we have to first look at the history of Indian states after independence. As soon as we became free from British rule, the states were divided into the following types:

Part A (Former British provinces), Part B (former princely states), Part C (Princely states and provinces), and Part D (centrally administered areas). As you can see the division is more from the perspective of administration rather than a collective culture of the language. Due to this, the people did not relate with their states and problems were faced in proper administration.  

This idea to reconstitute states based on common language and culture was also sponsored by the Indian National Congress before independence (in the year 1920). Therefore after independence, the states demanded that this promise be fulfilled.

The first state to raise this issue of reconstituting states based on linguistic lines was Andhra Pradesh. The people speaking Telugu were earlier combined with Tamil speaking people for administrative purposes. But now when India had gained freedom, the Telugu people wanted their state. As a result, they started demanding the reorganization of states on linguistic lines.

Why was the whole scheme of reconstituting states of linguistic lines problematic?

Though it might sound simple to reconstitute states, there was always a fear in the minds of political leaders that reorganization might lead to disunity in the country. The concerns were genuine because the country had just witnessed a bitter partition. But still, due to popular demand, several committees were constituted from time to time to look into this issue.

Committees before the Fazl Ali commission that gave recommendations on reorganizing states:

1. Dhar committee: Dhar committee, also called the Linguistic provinces committee was formed by President Dr. Rajendra Prasad in 1948. The major aim of this committee was to see whether the idea of reconstituting the states on linguistic lines would be feasible or not. The prominent members of this committee were Justice Sk Dhar, Jagat Narain Lal, and Panna Lal. Finally, when the report was released, the idea of linguistic reorganization was found to be not that feasible and the idea was dropped.
2. JVP Committee: This committee is composed of prominent constitutional leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya. It also had a similar view to the Dhar committee. When the report came in 1949, the committee opined that reconstituting the country on linguistic lines would not be feasible at that time.

Finally in 1952 after the fasting and death of popular Telugu leader Potti Sreeramulu, the demand of linguistic groups reached an extreme level. The government, therefore, decided to have SRC (state reorganization commission) headed by fazl Ali.

Major recommendations of fazl ali commission:

The recommendations of this committee were received by the central government on 30 Sep 1955. Following were some of the recommendations of fazl ali commission:

1. Abolishing the A, B, C system of states.
2. Abolishing Rajpramukh and princely states
3. Merging the C and D group states into existing states.

It also advocated for a mixed approach to balance unity and linguistic organization.

The recommendations of fazl ali commission were majorly accepted by the central government. But a few changes were made as the parliament deemed fit. As a result, India was divided into almost 14 states and 6 union territories at that time. Today the count has increased to 28 states and 8 Union Territories and all the states are living in harmony.

Conclusion:

State reorganization being a tedious task requires effective planning and execution. The fazl ali commission did its job perfectly and came up with proper proposals for constituting state boundaries on the basis of language. The fear of disunity due to state reorganization was also pushed away gradually. If we see in the long run, this reorganization strengthened the democracy because localities were able to represent themselves in their language and culture, without compromising on their national identity.