5. Formation of States/ States Reorganisation

 

WHAT

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reformed the boundaries of Indian states and territories, systematizing them on language basis. The newly drafted Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, distinguished states into four main types. 

WHO 

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission in December 1953, with the remit to reorganise the Indian states. The new commission was headed by the retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Fazal Ali; its other two members were H. N. Kunzru and K. M. Panikkar. The efforts of the commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as the Home Minister from December 1954.

WHERE

The States Reorganisation Commission submitted a report on September 30, 1955, with recommendations for the reorganisation of India's states, which was then debated by the Indian parliament. Subsequently, bills were passed to make changes to the constitution and to administer the reorganisation of the states.

WHEN

On what basis were Indian states Reorganised after Independence?

Soon after independence, 571 princely states were reorganised and merged together to form 27 states. This reorganization was done based on political and historical considerations. This reorganization of states was done on a temporary basis. The State Reorganization Commission formed in 1953 gave its report in 1955 to reorganize states into 16 states and 3 union territories. The Government divided the country into 14 states and 6 union territories under the State Reorganization Act that was passed in November 1956. 

The State Reorganization Commission recommended that “it is neither possible nor desirable to reorganise States on the basis of the single test of either language or culture, but that a balanced approach to the whole problem is necessary in the interest of our national unity.” Later when the states were reorganized one could say the basis of reorganization could be linguistic, ethnic or administrative purposes. 

Reorganizing states on the basis of language would not only help in ease of administration but also the development of vernacular languages which was ignored by the British. Even cultural affiliations were taken into account, for example, Nagaland was created taking into account tribal affiliations. In the recent past, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were created for better economic development in the respective regions.

WHY

Why was the States Reorganization Commission formed?

At the time of independence in 1947, India had more than 500 disjointed princely states. Temporarily the constituent units of India were divided into Part A, B, C, and D states. Hence State Reorganization was constituted by the Government of India on 29 December 1953 to look into the matter of redrawing the boundaries of States. One of the most popular demands was to reorganize the states based on languages, this was done to make administration easier and to replace controversial caste and religion-based identities with less controversial linguistic identities. The State reorganization commission consisted of H N Kunzru, Fazal Ali and K M Panikkar.

HOW

States – Classification into 4 Types

Details on the different types of states as classified in the Constitution of India.

Four main types of states are:

1. Part A states

2. Part B states

3. Part C States

4. Part D states

Part A States

1. The former governors’ provinces of British India

2. These states were ruled by an elected governor and state legislature.

3. Part A states were Bombay, Madras,  Assam, Bihar,  Madhya Pradesh (earlier Central Provinces and Berar), Punjab (earlier East Punjab), Uttar Pradesh (earlier the United Provinces),  Orissa,  and West Bengal.

Part B States

1. These were former princely states or groups of princely states

2. These states were governed by a Rajpramukh

3. Rajpramukh is the ruler of a constituent state and an elected legislature.

4. He was appointed by the President of India.

5. Part B states were Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Travancore-Cochin. Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Rajasthan, and Saurashtra.

Part C States

1. It comprised both the former chief commissioners’ provinces and some princely states,

2. These states were governed by a chief commissioner

3. The chief commissioner was appointed by the President of India.

4. Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, and Vindhya Pradesh.

Part D States

1. This state was administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government.

2. Part D state consists of Andaman and Nicobar Islands only

 

Part A States	Part B States	Part C States	Part D States
Assam	Hyderabad	Ajmer	Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Bihar	Jammu & Kashmir	Bhopal	–
Bombay	Madhya Bharat	Bilaspur	–
Madhya Pradesh	Mysore	Cooch-Behar	–
Madras	Patiala & East Punjab	Coorg	–
Punjab	Rajasthan	Delhi	–
Orissa	Saurashtra	Himachal Pradesh	–
United Provinces	Travancore-Cochin	Kutch	–
West Bengal	Vindhya Pradesh	Manipur	–
–	–	Tripura	–

 

Later, with the States Reorganisation Act (1956) and the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act (1956), the distinction between Part-A and Part-B states was done away with, and Part-C states were abolished. Some of them were merged with adjacent states and some others were designated as union territories.

After the repeal of the special status of Jammu & Kashmir in July 2019, on October 31, 2019, the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir was bifurcated into two union territories:

1. Jammu & Kashmir

2. Ladakh

Hence, now India has 28 states and 8 Union Territories.