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Evolution of States and UTs

Tagged in: UPSC PRELIMS UPSC MAINS

Historical Background
The historical events and conditions gave rise to the Indian states. More
reasonable governmental change has been an increasing necessity since
independence.

Indian States were created considering regional languages and financial,

economic, and administrative management.

India had 27 states in 1951, each of which was divided into Parts A, B, C,
and D.

The initial integration of princely states with the rest of India was purely
an ad-hoc arrangement. There were growing demands from different
regions, particularly South India, for the reorganisation of states on a
linguistic basis.

Various commissions were established by the Government to look into the

demands of the re-organisation of states.

State Reorganisation Commissions

There are some important commissions constituted for the Reorganisation of
the State such as the Dhar Commission, JVP Committee and Fazal Ali
Commission.

1. Dhar Commission (June 1948)

This commission was constituted in June 1948 to assess the feasibility of
the linguistic organisation of states.

The Commission recommended the reorganization of States on the basis of

the following criteria:

Geographical contiguity

Financial self-reliance

Administrative viability

Potential for development

Dhar Commission- Significance

The Dhar Commission, in its report, came out strongly against the
formation of provinces exclusively or even mainly along linguistic
considerations.

It emphasized that the country faced larger, more pressing national

challenges.

The Dhar Commission was echoing the strong opinions of every single key
figure in the Constituent Assembly.

The recommendations of the Dhar Commission created much resentment.

Another committee was set up consisting of Jawahar Lal Nehru, Vallahbhai

Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya. The committee was named after the first
letters of their first names i.e., it was known as the JVP committee.

2. JVP Committee (December 1948)

This committee was set up in December 1948 and submitted its report in
April 1949. It formally rejected language as the basis for the
reorganisation of states.

Recommendations

The committee rejected the linguistic factor of reorganization of the

states.

The Committee reaffirmed the Dhar Commission's position in its report

in 1949.

The committee recommended the reorganization of States on the basis of

security, unity and economic prosperity of the nation.

The Committee also recommended that the creation of new provinces be

delayed for a few years so that they could focus on other important
issues and not be distracted by this one.

Potti Sreeramulu, a prominent Telugu leader was demanding Andhra State

be carved out of Madras state.

To get his demands met, he went on a hunger strike. However, he died in

December 1952 (15 December). To calm the massive uproar of the people,
the first reorganization of the state on a linguistic basis was Andhra state
was created by separating Telugu-speaking areas from Madras state.

3. State Reorganisation Commission (Fazal Ali Commission)

The Creation of Andhra Pradesh intensified the demand for the creation of
states on a linguistic basis in other regions as well. The Government was
forced to re-examine the whole question. Thus, a new commission, known as
the State Reorganisation (Fazal Ali Commission), was set up.

The Fazal Ali commission was a three-member State Reorganisation

Commission that was set up in December 1953. Its other two members were
K.M. Panikkar and H.N. Kunzru. The commission submitted its report in
September 1955.

It broadly accepted the idea of reorganizing states on the basis of

linguistic similarities but rejected the idea of one state, one language.

It acknowledges 4 major factors for the reorganization of states:

First, Linguistic and Cultural similarities;

Second, strengthen and preserve the unity and integrity of India;

Third, administrative, financial and economic considerations and

Fourth planning and promotion of people’s welfare

State Reorganisation Commission Outcome

The Government accepted these recommendations with minor changes.

States Reorganisation Act 1956 and the 7th Amendment Act 1956 were
passed. The distinction between Part-A and Part-B states was repealed
and Part-C states were abolished.

Some of the states were merged with adjacent states while others were
designated as union territories (The term ‘Union territories’ was not there in
the original constitution; it was introduced for the first time by the 7th
constitutional amendment). In November 1956, India was composed of 14
States and 6 Union Territories:

States Reorganisation Act 1956

The Parliament passed the State Reorganisation Act in November 1956 on

the recommendation of the State Reorganisation Commission (Fazl Ali
Commission). It provided for 14 states and 6 territories that were governed
centrally. The 7th Constitutional 1956 Amendment Act was passed to replace
the four types of states, known as Part A, B, C, and D

State Reorganisation Act 1956 has added a new Article-350A, which

carries out one of the key recommendations of the State Reorganisation
Commission addressing the safeguard for linguistic minorities.

The States Reorganisation Act, of 1956 did not make a drastic

reorganisation. To create the larger Andhra Pradesh State, the former Part B
State of Hyderabad was merged with Andhra State.

The former Part B State of Mysore became a more significant State of

Karnataka with additional territories transferred from the States of Madras
(Tamil Nadu) and Bombay.

The State of Kerala was carved of the former Part B State of Travancore-
Cochin with new territories acquired from the State of Madras.

The chronology of states' bifurcation in India after 1956:

1960 - Bombay state split into Maharashtra and Gujarat

1963 - Nagaland carved out of Assam

1966 - Haryana and Himachal Pradesh carved out of Punjab state

1972 - Meghalaya , Manipur and Tripura were formed

1975 - Sikkim became part of Indian union

1987 - Goa and Arunachal Pradesh became states (earlier these were
UTs)

2000 - Uttaranchal (out of UP), Jharkhand (out of Bihar) and Chhattisgarh

(out of Madhya Pradesh) were formed

Telangana (out of Andhra Pradesh), when it was eventually created in

2014, became India's 29th state.

Various Statehood Demands in India at Present

Vidarbha: It comprises the Amravati and Nagpur divisions of eastern
Maharashtra.

The State Reorganisation Act of 1956 recommended the creation of

Vidarbha state with Nagpur as the capital, but instead it was included in
Maharashtra state, which was formed on May 1, 1960.

Reason for demand: Backwardness of region due to the neglect of

successive state governments

Delhi: 69th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1991, inserted Article 239AA in

Indian constitution which grants Special Status to Delhi among Union
Territories (UTs).

The amendment does not provide Delhi with the recognition of a full
fledged state as Public Order, Police & Land in NCT of Delhi fall within the
domain and control of Central Government.

To gain the control of such substantive powers, Delhi government is

aspiring for full statehood.

In 2011, then UP Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief,
Mayawati, passed a resolution in the Assembly to split UP into four smaller
states – Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh –
in the interest of providing better administration. The resolution later got
stuck with the Congress government at the centre.

Harit Pradesh: It consists of agriculturally dominated districts of Western

Uttar Pradesh.

Purvanchal: It is a geographic region of north-central India, which comprises

the eastern end of Uttar Pradesh state.

Bodoland: The Bodos are the largest ethnic and linguistic community in
northern Assam.

Saurashtra: The movement for separate Saurashtra state was initiated in

1972 by Ratilal Tanna. Lack of better water supply to the region, lack of job
opportunities and subsequent youth migration have been cited as major
reasons for the demand of statehood. Saurashtra is also linguistically
different from the rest of the state.

Gorkhaland is a proposed state covering areas inhabited by the ethnic

Gorkha (Nepali) people, namely Darjeeling hills and Dooars in the northern
part of West Bengal.

Reasons for Demand

All these demands are from regions which are poor in spite of being rich
in natural resources and disputes exist over sharing and utilisation of
natural resources with the mother states.

Linguistic and cultural reasons, which were the primary basis for
creating new states in the country, have now become secondary in most
of these cases.

Other factors being:

Competition for local resources.

Government negligence towards certain regions.

Improper allocation of resources.

Differences in culture, language, religion, etc.

The economy's failure to create enough employment opportunities.

Popular mobilization and the democratic political process is also one of

the reasons.

‘The sons of the soil' sentiments.

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