In this article, we will delve into the fascinating world of States and union territories of India, exploring all its facets and relevant aspects. From its origins to its impact on today's society, we will address its evolution over time and its relevance in different contexts. In addition, we will analyze its role in different areas of study and its influence on various aspects of daily life. Along these lines, we will seek to understand and reflect on States and union territories of India from multiple perspectives, with the purpose of providing the reader with a comprehensive and enriching vision on this topic.
States and union territories of India | |
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Category | Federated states |
Location | Republic of India |
Number | 28 States 8 Union territories |
Populations | States: Sikkim – 610,577 (lowest) Uttar Pradesh – 199,812,341 (highest) Union Territories: Lakshadweep – 64,473 (lowest) Delhi – 16,787,941 (highest) |
Areas | States: Goa – 3,702 km2 (1,429 sq mi) (smallest) Rajasthan – 342,269 km2 (132,151 sq mi) (largest) Union territories: Lakshadweep – 32 km2 (12 sq mi) (smallest) Ladakh – 59,146 km2 (22,836 sq mi) (largest) |
Government |
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Subdivisions |
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India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 entities.[1] The states and union territories are further subdivided into 806 districts and smaller administrative divisions.[2]
The states of India are self-governing administrative divisions, each having a state government. The governing powers of the states are shared between the state government and the union government. On the other hand, the union territories are directly governed by the union government.[a]
The Indian Empire was a very complex political entity consisting of various imperial divisions and states and territories of varying autonomy. At the time of its establishment in 1876, it was made up of 584 constituent states and the directly ruled territories of the Crown. The entire empire was divided into provinces and agencies.
A province consisted of territory under the direct rule of the Emperor of India (who was also the King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions) and a few minor states, ruled by Indian princes under the suzerainty of the Emperor. A Governor or Lieutenant-Governor acted as the representative of the Emperor to that province and head of government of the directly ruled territories in the province. The governor or lieutenant-governor also served as the Emperor's representative to the constituent states of the province. The first three of the lieutenant-governorships were territories annexed to India from other powers and temporarily governed by the erstwhile Bengal Presidency before being made into their own separate provinces. Agra and Bengal were still considered de jure parts of the defunct Bengal Presidency for judicial and legal purposes. Agra was finally separated in 1878 and merged with Oudh. The Bengal Presidency was re-established in 1912 as a governorship. All these provinces had their own legislatures established by the Indian Councils Acts and high courts established by Indian High Courts Acts. Laws passed by these legislatures needed the dual assent of the governor or lieutenant-governor of the province and the governor-general of India who functioned as the representative of the Emperor.
In addition to these, there were certain territories ruled directly by the Government of India through nominated chief commissioners. These were former independent states annexed to India and since ruled directly by the Supreme Government.
A vast majority of the Indian states in the late nineteenth century were, in terms of imperial divisions, organised within the provinces. However a good number of states were organised into imperial structures called agencies (or residencies). An Agent to the Governor-General (AGG) functioned as the Emperor's representative to all the states in the agency.
In 1919, the fourth Government of India was enacted by the Crown. This saw many major changes. The legislatures of the provinces were made elected ones rather than nominated ones. Some provinces were given bicameral legislatures. All provinces were elevated to governorships and all lieutenant governors were made governors. Burma was given a special status and made an autonomous province.
The Chamber of Princes was established by Emperor George V in 1920. One the major consequences of this was the creation of many more agencies from the states of the provinces, thus granting them direct relations with the Emperor instead of with the Governors.
This saw the separation of all the states from the provinces and addition to before-mentioned agencies. This left all the provinces with only territories under direct Crown rule.
The latter years of the Indian Empire saw the enactment of the last Government of India Act by the Crown. This act granted full autonomy to Indian provinces. Provincial laws no longer needed the assent of the governor-general. This act also created the office of a Premier in each province who functioned as the new head of government and was responsible to the provincial legislature. Bengal, Madras and Bombay which had been till now styled Presidencies, were now officially styled as provinces. The provinces of Orissa and Sind were created from Bihar and Bombay respectively. The Province of Burma which had previously functioned as an autonomous province of India was now separated from the Indian Empire and established as the Crown Colony of Burma.
In 1947, the last Act of the Crown was passed. The act dissolved the Indian Empire, the Imperial Legislative Council and the Chamber of Princes and the Union of India was consequently established from 9 former Indian provinces (East Punjab, United Provinces, Central Provinces, Madras, Bombay, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam) and 562 former Indian states.
Between 1947 and 1950 the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the new Indian Union. Most were merged into existing provinces; others were organised into new provinces and states, such as Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Malwa Union, Baghelkhand and Bundelkhand States Union, and Patiala and East Punjab States Union, made up of multiple princely states; a few, including Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Bilaspur, became separate states. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, made India a sovereign democratic republic. The new republic was also declared to be a "Union of States". The constitution of 1950 distinguished between three main types of states:[3]
Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State.[4]
The French enclave of Chandernagore was transferred to West Bengal in 1954. In the same year Pondicherry, comprising the former French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karikal, Yanaon and Mahé, was transferred to India; this became a union territory in 1962.[5]
Also in 1954, pro-India forces liberated the Portuguese-held enclaves of Dadrá and Nagar Aveli, declaring the short-lived de facto state of Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 1961, India annexed it as the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.[6][7][8][9]
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states.[3]
As a result of this act:
Bombay State was split into the linguistic states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act.[10] The former Union Territory of Nagaland achieved statehood on 1 December 1963.[11] The Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh.[12] The act also designated Chandigarh as a union territory and the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana.[13]
Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969. The north-eastern states of Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura were formed on 21 January 1972.[14] Mysore State was renamed Karnataka in 1973. On 16 May 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union and the state's monarchy was abolished.[15] In 1987, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states on 20 February, followed by Goa on 30 May, while erstwhile union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu's northern exclaves Damão and Diu became a separate union territory as Daman and Diu.[16]
In November 2000, three new states were created, namely:
Pondicherry was renamed Puducherry in 2007 and Orissa was renamed Odisha in 2011. Telangana was created on 2 June 2014 from ten former districts of north-western Andhra Pradesh.[21][22]
In August 2019, the Parliament of India passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which contains provisions to reorganise the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories; Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, effective from 31 October 2019.[23] Later that year in November, the Government of India introduced legislation to merge the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli into a single union territory to be known as Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, effective from 26 January 2020.[24][25][26]
State | ISO | Vehicle code |
Zone | Capital | Largest city | Statehood | Population (2011)[27][28] |
Area (km2) |
Official languages[29] |
Additional official languages[29] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andhra Pradesh | IN-AP | AP | Southern | Amaravati | Visakhapatnam | 1 November 1956 | 49,506,799 | 162,975 | Telugu | Urdu[30] |
Arunachal Pradesh | IN-AR | AR | North-Eastern | Itanagar | 20 February 1987 | 1,383,727 | 83,743 | English | — | |
Assam | IN-AS | AS | North-Eastern | Dispur | Guwahati | 26 January 1950 | 31,205,576 | 78,438 | Assamese, Boro | Bengali, Meitei[31] |
Bihar | IN-BR | BR | Eastern | Patna | 26 January 1950 | 104,099,452 | 94,163 | Hindi | Urdu | |
Chhattisgarh | IN-CG | CG | Central | Raipur[b] | 1 November 2000 | 25,545,198 | 135,194 | Hindi | Chhattisgarhi | |
Goa | IN-GA | GA | Western | Panaji | Vasco da Gama | 30 May 1987 | 1,458,545 | 3,702 | Konkani | Marathi |
Gujarat | IN-GJ | GJ | Western | Gandhinagar | Ahmedabad | 1 May 1960 | 60,439,692 | 196,024 | Gujarati, Hindi | — |
Haryana | IN-HR | HR | Northern | Chandigarh | Faridabad | 1 November 1966 | 25,351,462 | 44,212 | Hindi | Punjabi[32] |
Himachal Pradesh | IN-HP | HP | Northern | Shimla (Summer) Dharamshala (Winter)[33] |
Shimla | 25 January 1971 | 6,864,602 | 55,673 | Hindi | Sanskrit[34] |
Jharkhand | IN-JH | JH | Eastern | Ranchi | Jamshedpur | 15 November 2000 | 32,988,134 | 79,714 | Hindi | Angika, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bhumij, Ho, Kharia, Khortha, Kurmali, Kurukh, Magahi, Maithili, Mundari, Nagpuri, Odia, Santali, Urdu[35][36] |
Karnataka | IN-KA | KA | Southern | Bangalore | 1 November 1956 | 61,095,297 | 191,791 | Kannada | — | |
Kerala | IN-KL | KL | Southern | Thiruvananthapuram | 1 November 1956 | 33,406,061 | 38,863 | Malayalam | English[37] | |
Madhya Pradesh | IN-MP | MP | Central | Bhopal | Indore | 1 November 1956 | 72,626,809 | 308,252 | Hindi | — |
Maharashtra | IN-MH | MH | Western | Mumbai (Summer) Nagpur (Winter)[38][39] |
Mumbai | 1 May 1960 | 112,374,333 | 307,713 | Marathi | — |
Manipur | IN-MN | MN | North-Eastern | Imphal | 21 January 1972 | 2,855,794 | 22,327 | Meitei | English | |
Meghalaya | IN-ML | ML | North-Eastern | Shillong | 21 January 1972 | 2,966,889 | 22,429 | English | — | |
Mizoram | IN-MZ | MZ | North-Eastern | Aizawl | 20 February 1987 | 1,097,206 | 21,081 | Mizo, English | — | |
Nagaland | IN-NL | NL | North-Eastern | Kohima | Dimapur | 1 December 1963 | 1,978,502 | 16,579 | English | — |
Odisha | IN-OD | OD | Eastern | Bhubaneswar | 26 January 1950 | 41,974,218 | 155,707 | Odia | — | |
Punjab | IN-PB | PB | Northern | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | 1 November 1966 | 27,743,338 | 50,362 | Punjabi | — |
Rajasthan | IN-RJ | RJ | Northern | Jaipur | 26 January 1950 | 68,548,437 | 342,239 | Hindi | English | |
Sikkim | IN-SK | SK | North-Eastern | Gangtok | 16 May 1975 | 610,577 | 7,096 | Nepali, Sikkimese, Lepcha, English[40] | Gurung, Limbu, Magar, Mukhia, Newari, Rai, Sherpa, Tamang | |
Tamil Nadu | IN-TN | TN | Southern | Chennai | 1 November 1956 | 72,147,030 | 130,058 | Tamil | English | |
Telangana | IN-TS | TG[41] | Southern | Hyderabad[c] | 2 June 2014 | 35,193,978[45] | 112,077[45] | Telugu | Urdu[46] | |
Tripura | IN-TR | TR | North-Eastern | Agartala | 21 January 1972 | 3,673,917 | 10,491 | Bengali, English, Kokborok | — | |
Uttar Pradesh | IN-UP | UP | Central | Lucknow | 26 January 1950 | 199,812,341 | 240,928 | Hindi | Urdu | |
Uttarakhand | IN-UK | UK | Central | Bhararisain (Summer) Dehradun (Winter)[47] |
Dehradun | 9 November 2000 | 10,086,292 | 53,483 | Hindi | Sanskrit[48] |
West Bengal | IN-WB | WB | Eastern | Kolkata | 26 January 1950 | 91,276,115 | 88,752 | Bengali, English | Nepali,[d] Hindi, Odia, Punjabi, Santali, Telugu, Urdu, Kamatapuri, Rajbanshi, Kurmali, Kurukh |
State[49] | ISO[50] | Vehicle code[51] |
Zone[52] | Capital[49] | Largest city[53] | Established[54] | Population (2011)[55] |
Area (km2)[56] |
Official languages[57] |
Additional official languages[57] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | IN-AN | AN | Eastern | Sri Vijaya Puram | 1 November 1956 | 380,581 | 8,249 | Hindi, English | — | |
Chandigarh | IN-CH | CH | Northern | Chandigarh | 1 November 1966 | 1,055,450 | 114 | English | — | |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | IN-DH | DD | Western | Daman | Silvassa | 26 January 2020 | 587,106 | 603 | Hindi, English | Gujarati |
Delhi | IN-DL | DL | Northern | New Delhi | Delhi | 1 November 1956 | 16,787,941 | 1,484 | Hindi, English | Urdu, Punjabi[58] |
Jammu and Kashmir | IN-JK | JK | Northern | Srinagar (Summer) Jammu (Winter)[59] |
Srinagar | 31 October 2019 | 12,258,433 | 42,241 | Dogri, English, Hindi, Kashmiri, Urdu | — |
Ladakh | IN-LA | LA | Northern | Leh (Summer) Kargil (Winter)[60] |
Leh | 31 October 2019 | 290,492 | 59,146 | Hindi, English | — |
Lakshadweep | IN-LD | LD | Southern | Kavaratti | 1 November 1956 | 64,473 | 32 | Hindi, English | Malayalam | |
Puducherry | IN-PY | PY | Southern | Pondicherry | 16 August 1962 | 1,247,953 | 479 | Tamil, French, English | Telugu, Malayalam |
Name | Zone | Capital | Area | Begin | End | Successor(s) | Map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arunachal Pradesh | North-Eastern | Itanagar | 83,743 km2 (32,333 sq mi) | 21 January 1972 | 20 February 1987 | As an Indian state | |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli | Western | Silvassa | 491 km2 (190 sq mi) | 11 August 1961 | 26 January 2020 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (UT) | |
Daman and Diu | Western | Daman | 112 km2 (43 sq mi) | 30 May 1987 | 26 January 2020 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (UT) | |
Goa, Daman and Diu | Western | Panaji | 3,814 km2 (1,473 sq mi) | 19 December 1961 | 30 May 1987 | Goa (state), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (UT) | |
Himachal | Northern | Shimla | 55,673 km2 (21,495 sq mi) | 1 November 1956 | 25 January 1971 | As an Indian state | |
Manipur | North-Eastern | Imphal | 22,327 km2 (8,621 sq mi) | 1 November 1956 | 21 January 1972 | As an Indian state | |
Mizoram | North-Eastern | Aizawl | 21,081 km2 (8,139 sq mi) | 21 January 1972 | 20 February 1987 | As an Indian state | |
Nagaland | North-Eastern | Kohima | 16,579 km2 (6,401 sq mi) | 29 November 1957 | 1 December 1963 | As an Indian state | |
Tripura | North-Eastern | Agartala | 10,491 km2 (4,051 sq mi) | 1 November 1956 | 21 January 1972 | As an Indian state |
The Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any state between the Union and that state.[62]
Article 73 broadly stated, provides that the executive power of the Union shall extend to the matters with respect to which Parliament has power to make laws. Article 162 similarly provides that the executive power of a State shall extend to the matters with respect to which the Legislature of a State has power to make laws. The Supreme Court has reiterated this position when it ruled in the Ramanaiah case that the executive power of the Union or of the State broadly speaking, is coextensive and coterminous with its respective legislative power