Reorganisation of States after Independence.

At the time of independence, India comprised of two categories of political units:

1. British Province- Under direct rule of British Governemnt

2. Princely States: Under the rule of native prince but subject to para-mountcy of British Crown.

After Independence about 552 princely states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. Most were merged into existing province and others were organised into new province like Madhya Bharat ,Vindhya Pradesh etc.

Note: Hyderabad, Junagarh and J&k refused to join earlier but later on they were integrated with India.

Hyderabd By means of Police action ( Operation Polo)

Junagarh by means of referendum

J&K- by the instrument of accession

Indian constitution declares India a federation as well as a Union. The reorganization of state has been a major issue since independence and it still haunts the nation. While there are differences of opinions on the organization of states on linguistic basis, there have been demands for creation of new states. The country has witnessed a number of movements demanding creation of different states

So far, India has 28 states and seven Union Territories. Telangana will be the 29th state of the country.



History of reorganisation of states:

In 1938, with the formation of the first Congress ministry, the Madras Legislative Assembly recommended the formation of separate Provinces for the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Kerala regions.

After independence, the demand for the reorganisation of states on linguistic basis was raised from different regions. At that time the constituent units of India were classified under the following distinct categories:


CategoryAdministratorProvinces

Part AAn elected governor and state legislature9 states: Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, United Province(U.P.), West Bengal

Part BRajpramukh(Former Princes)9 states: Hyderabad, Jammu &Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Travancore-Cochin, Vindhya Pradesh

Part CChief Commissioner10 States: Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Cooch-Behar, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Kutch, Manipur, Tripura

Part DGovernor appointed by Indian President1 state: Andaman &Nicobar Islands

At that time different languages speaking people reside in the same state. They gradually demanded separate states based on similar languages. Demands raised particularly in Madras and Bombay provinces.

But In constitutional assembly debate during 1947-48 Congress completely denied the formation of states on linguistic basis concerning that the states formed solely on a linguistic basis might be unsuitable, and might even pose a risk to the national unity.

S. K. Dhar committee:

But seeing the agitation in south India particularly, S. K. Dhar committee ( Linguistic Province Commission) was set up in June 1948 to recommend whether the states should be reorganized on linguistic basis or not.

The Commission recommended that "the formation of provinces on exclusively or even mainly linguistic considerations is not in the larger interests of the Indian nation". The commission in its report recommended against the organisation of states purely on linguistic basis. Instead, the commission suggested the following criteria -1. Geographical contiguity2. Financial self-reliance3. Administrative viability4. Potential for development


JVP committee:

Soon JVP committee (members were Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallahbhai Patel, Pattabhi Sitaramyya .) was formed in 1949 . The committee defer the reorganisation of states on linguistic basis by 10 years. It opposed the linguistic basis, but said: If public sentiment is overwhelming, we as democrats have to submit to it.So it conceded the demand of separate Telgu speaking state but Madras city to be excluded.



By the 1952, the demand for creation of a Telugu-majority state in the parts of theMadras Statehad become powerful, Potti Sreeramulu one of the activists demanding the formation of a Telugu-majority state with Madras as its capital, died on 16 December 1952 after undertaking fast unto death. The Government of India appointed in December 1952 a committee under Justice K.N. Wanchoo. Wanchoos report, submitted in early February 1953, favoured the creation of the 1st linguistic state- Andhra state and recommended that, until a new capital was built, the Andhra government could be lodged in Chennai. Thus the Telugu-majorityAndhra Statewas formed in October, 1953.



State Reorganisation Commission (S.R.C.):

The creation of Andhra state intensified the demand from other regions for creation of states on linguistic basis. This forced the Govt to appoint a S.R.C.



After 2 months of formation of Andhra state on 22 December 1953, GOI formed state reorganisation commission (S.R.C). The commission was headed by JusticeFazal Aliso it was called Fazal Ali Commission. The other members of the commission were Hriday Nath Kunzru and K M Panikkar. S.R.C was given 2 years time period to submit its report.



In the meantime demand for separate states in Bombay province erupted.

3 types of contender:

1. Marathi speaking people for separate Maharashtra state with Bombay as its capital. (sanyukta maharashtra samiti)

2. Guajarati speaking people for separate Gujarat state with Bombay as its capital

3. Bombay Citizen Committee for separate Bombay state with both Guajarati and Marathi speaking people. It includes mainly businessmen like J. R. D Tata.



S.R.C report submitted on 30 September 1955. It broadly accepted language as the basis of reorganisation of states. It completely changed Indias Geography.

Major recommendations of report:

1. The three-tier (Part-A/B/C) state system should be abolished.

2. Indian union to be constituted of 16 states as against the existing 29 and there should be 3 centrally ministered territories i.e. Andaman & Nicobar, Delhi and Manipur. The other Part-C/D territories should be merged with the adjoining states

3. The institution of Rajapramukh and special agreement with former princely states should be abolished

4. To recognise linguistic homogeneity as important factor but not to consider it as an exclusive and binding principle;

5. To ensure that communicational, educational and cultural needs of different language groups are adequately met;

6. where satisfactory conditions exist, and the balance of economic, political and administrative considerations favour composite States, to continue them with the necessary safeguards to ensure that all sections enjoy equal rights and opportunities;

7. It rejected the theory of 'one language one State.

8. Reconstitution of central All India Services. At least 50% of new entrants to all India service and at least one third of number of judges in High Court should be recruited from outside the sates for the interest of national unity.

In Part II of Report of SRC 1955, titled Factors Bearing on Reorganization, the Commission clearly said 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. It considers economic integrity and geographical contiguity along with linguistic basis.

S.R.C identifies 4 major factors to be taken in account while reorganising states:

1. Preservation and strengthening of unity and integrity of country

2. Linguistic and cultural homogeneity

3. Financial, economic and Administrative considerations

4. Planning and promotion of welfare of people in each state as well as of the nation as a whole.

7th Constitutional amendment for implementing S.R.C recommendations:

The States Reorganisation Act was enacted on 31 August 1956. Before it came into effect on 1 November, an important amendment to the Constitution was also enacted. Under the Seventh Amendment, the existing distinction among Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D states was abolished. The distinction between Part A and Part B states was removed, becoming known simply as "states". A new type of entity, the union territory, replaced the classification as a Part C or Part D state. A further Act also came into effect on 1 November, transferring territories from BihartoWest Bengal.

TheStates Reorganisation Actof 1956 implemented some of the recommendations of the SRC. In addition to the three Union Territories (UTs) proposed by the SRC, it also establishedLaccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands,Himachal PradeshandTripuraas UTs. It established a total of 14 states in addition to these 6 UTs.

Many of recommendations that were not accepted like:

1.Separate Vidharbha as a new Marathi state.

2.Separate Telangana from Andhra state. ( At that time if Nehru didnt acted in haste to deny this recommendation of SRC , todays situation of Telangana movement never arised)

3.Demands for separate tribal states, including Jharkhand and Nagaland, were also bypassed.



Territory of India in 1956:

States

1. Andhra Pradesh:Andhra State(formed in oct 1953) was merged with the Telugu-speaking area ofHyderabad stateto create Andhra Pradesh in 1956.

2. Assam: No change of boundary in 1956.

3. Bihar: Reduced slightly by the transfer of minor territories to West Bengal.

4. Bombay State: The state was enlarged by the addition ofSaurashtraandKutch, the Marathi-speaking districts ofNagpur Divisionof Madhya Pradesh, and theMarathwadaregion of Hyderabad. The state's southernmost districts of Bombay were transferred to Mysore State. (In 1960, Bombay State was split intoMaharashtraandGujarat.)

5. Jammu and Kashmir: No change of boundary in 1956.

6. Kerala: Formed by the merger ofTravancore-Cochinstate with theMalabar districtof Madras State,Kasaragodof South Canara (Dakshina Kannada). The southern part ofTravancore-Cochin,Kanyakumari districtwas transferred to Madras State.

7. Madhya Pradesh: Madhya Bharat,Vindhya Pradesh, and Bhopal State were merged into Madhya Pradesh; the Marathi-speaking districts ofNagpur Divisionwere transferred to Bombay State.

8. Madras State: Malabar Districtwas transferred to the new state ofKerala, and a new union territory,Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands, was created. The southern part ofTravancore-Cochin(Kanyakumari district) was added to the state. (The state was renamedTamil Naduin 1968.)

9. Mysore State: enlarged by the addition ofCoorgstate and theKannadaspeaking districts from southern Bombay state and westernHyderabad state. (The state was renamedKarnatakain 1973.)

10. Orissa: No change of boundary in 1956.

11. Punjab: Enlarged by addition of thePatiala and East Punjab States Union.

12. Rajasthan: Enlarged by the addition ofAjmerstate and parts of Bombay and Madhya Bharat states.

13. Uttar Pradesh: No change of boundary in 1956.

14. West Bengal: Enlarged by addition of minor territory previously forming part of Bihar.

Union territories:

15. Andaman and Nicobar Islands

2. Delhi

3. Himachal Pradesh

4. Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands: created from territory detached fromMadras State. (The union territory was renamed as Lakshadweep in 1973.)

5. Manipur

6. Tripura



In May 1956, Puducherry became a UT after the French handover.

Gujarat and Maharashtra were born in 1960 by the Mumbai (Reorganisation) Act 1960

In 1961, Goa was liberated.

The government capitulated to the Sikh homeland demand in Punjab. In 1966 the state was divided in 2 parts Punjab and Haryana by the Punjab (Reorganisation) Act, 1966. The status of Chandigarhif it would be the joint capital wasnt settled initially, later the two states agreed to share the city.

Nagaland was carved out of Assam in 1963 by the State of Nagaland Act, 1962

In 1966 Meghalaya was carved out of the same state.

The Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh was elevated to the status of State by the State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970

In 1971, Manipur and Tripura were born. Both these States were elevated from the status of Union-Territories by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act 1971. Also UTs of Sikkim and Arunachal were created.

Sikkim became a full state in 1975 which was till then protectorate of India. Sikkim was first given the Status of Associate State by the 35th Constitutional Amendment Act 1974. It got the status of a full State in 1975 by the 36th Amendment Act, 1975.

In 1987, former Portuguese regions- Goa, Daman and Diu UT split into Goa states and Daman and Diu as UT.

Delhi becomes National Capital Territory in 1992( without being conferred the status of full fledged state) by 69th constitutional amendment Act, 1991

Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh created on November 1, 2000 by the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000.

Now Telangana on the way of becoming 29th states of India.





The Process of Forming a New State:

* Centre refers proposal regarding the creation of a new state to the concerned state legislative assembly

* The State Assembly passes a resolution on the proposal

* If the resolution is passed, the Union Home Ministry prepares a note on the resolution and sends it to the Cabinet for consideration

* If the assembly does not pass or negates the resolution, the Cabinet can take it upon itself to take the issue forward

* The Central government also looks into economic issues like sharing of water, electricity, forests, institutions as well as liabilities and assets within 30 days

* The Law Ministry finalises a Cabinet note with the reorganisation bill based on recommendations of the GoM in 15 days

* The Home Ministry prepares a detailed note in seven days, requesting the president to refer the bill to the state legislature.

* The bill is finally submitted to the Cabinet for approval. Following this, the bill is sent to the assembly for its views in 30 days

* The Law Ministry receives the Cabinet note with recommendations incorporated in draft reorganisation bill; it has to vet it in seven days.

* The Law Ministry sends this bill to the Cabinet in five days.

* Notice for introduction of reorganisation bill is sent to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and it should take two days.

* The bill has to be passed by a simple majority in both houses within 15 days.

* It is sent to the president for a final nod and declaration of formation of a new state. This process should take two days.

Various articles of Indian constitution related with states:

Article 2- Admission or establishment of new States: Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.

Article 3 - Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States: Parliament may by law

1.form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State;

2.increase the area of any State;
3.diminish the area of any State;
4 alter the boundaries of any State;
5. alter the name of any State;
Provided that Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament only on the prior recommendation of the President the same has to be referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon within a specified period. President is not bound by the views of state legislature and may either accept or reject them.



Article 4-Laws made under Articles 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules and supplemental, incidental and consequential matters



Any law referred to in article 2 or article 3 shall contain such provisions for the amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule as may be necessary.

No such law as aforesaid shall be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.

Thus it is clear that Union Govt can destroy the states whereas the state Govt cannot destroy the union. India- an indestructible union of destructible states.
Telangana: 29th State Of India????

NOTE : (Too clichd and POLITICAL topic to be asked so hereby i skipped it and any one can get many pros and cons of creating new Telangana state from articles of Hindu and I.E. )

The demands for separate states from various regions:

In Uttar Pradesh, there have been demands for Awadh Pradesh, Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand and Pachimanchal or Harit Pradesh. Resolution passed in the assembly in 2011.

Gorkhaland, by curving out Darjeeling and its adjoining areas in West Bengal. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) wants aGorkhalandstate.( for more on it see mrunal.org)

Bodoland, comprising Bodo dominated areas in Western Assam, The All Bodo Students Union (Absu) wants theBodolandstate.

Garo regions of Meghalaya (includes 5 districts) are demanding for a new state of Garoland. The Garo Hills State Movement Committee (GHSMC)--a conglomeration of several Garo organisations, including the Garo National Council (GNC), a regional political partydemand aGarolandstate.

Karbi Anglong, comprising the Karbi tribals living areas under Karbi Anglong autonomous district in Assam,

Vidarbha by curving out the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

Braj Pradesh, consisting of Agra division and Aligarh division of Uttar Pradesh and districts of Bharatpur and Gwalior from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Bhojpur comprising areas of eastern UP, Bihar and Chhattisgarh

Mithilanchal comprising Maithili speaking regions of Bihar and Jharkhand.

Saurashtra by curving that region out of Gujarat.

Dimaraji or Dimaland comprising the Dimasa inhabited areas of Assam and Nagaland.

Kongu Nadu comprising parts of southwest of Tamil Nadu, southeast of Karnataka and east of Kerala.

Coorg state, comprising the Coorg region of Karnataka

Kosal state comprising some districts of Odisha, parts of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Tulu Nadu comprising a region on the border between Karnataka and Kerala.

Kukiland, comprising Kuki tribal inhabited areas in Manipur

Konkan, comprising Konkani speaking part of Western India along the Arabian sea coastline

Kamtapur comprising some districts West Bengal, including Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri.

Eastern Nagaland by curving out some parts of the Northeastern state.

creation of an Union Territory for Ladakh has also been pending with the Home Ministry.



Food for thought( (Burning Issues of Telangana and Gorkhaland)

1. Are smaller states more efficient?

2. Who benefits from split of states: Mother or Daughter state??

3. Do we need 2nd SRC ? ( Like 2nd ARC ..lolzz)

References:

Pradhanmantri series episode 4 ( ABP news)

Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth

The Hindu

Preservearticles.com

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By:

Nilesh Nayan