Reorganisation of

States

HISTORY

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Reorganisation of States

Introduction
Reorganisation of states is the reforms and changes made to the boundaries of states and territories in the
Indian subcontinent from the East India Company’s period, to the Crown’s period, till the time of
independence. It also includes the integration of princely states into the Union of India.

Content
 Indian Subcontinent

 Before Partition

 Administration under the Company

 Administration under the Crown

 Partition

 After Partition

 Other European Enclaves in the Indian Subcontinent

 French Settlements

 Portuguese Settlements

 Indian Independence Act 1947

 Features

 Boundary Commissions

 Objectives

 Members

 Radcliffe Line

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 McMahon Line

 Integration of Indian States - First Stage

 Herculean Task

 Opposition by Nationalist Leaders

 The Merger of Princely States

 Merger Agreement

 Standstill Agreement

 Instrument of Accession

 Role of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

 Problematic States

 Integration of Junagarh

 Nawab of Junagarh

 Reaction by Government

 Integration of Kashmir

 The firman of Nawab

 The Proposal of Nawab

 People’s Movement

 Operation Polo

 Integration of Indian States - Second Stage

 Integration of Other Colonial Territories

 French Settlements

 Portuguese Settlements

 Conclusion

 Practice Prelims MCQs

 Practice Mains Questions

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Indian Subcontinent
Before Partition
Administration under the Company
 Administration under the East India Company was divided between three presidencies: Bengal, Bombay,
and Madras.

 By 1851, the Company’s vast territory was divided into four main territories:

 Bengal Presidency with its capital at Calcutta

 Bombay Presidency with its capital at Bombay

 Madras Presidency with its capital at Madras

 North-West Frontier Provinces with its Lieutenant Governor at Agra

Year of annexation / Subsidiary

State Battle / Treaty
Alliance

Battle of Plassey 1757

Bengal
Battle of Buxar 1764

Hyderabad Subsidiary Alliance 1798

Mysore Subsidiary Alliance 1799

Poona Treaty of Bassein 1802

Cuttack Treaty of Deogaon 1803

Awadh Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon 1803

Delhi Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon 1803

Punjab Treaty of Amritsar 1809

Nepal Treaty of Sugauli 1815

Uttrakhand Treaty of Sugauli 1815

Indore Treaty of Mandsaur 1818

Gwalior Treaty of Gwalior 1818

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Administration under the Crown

 After the Government of India Act 1858, the British Crown assumed direct control of India. India was to
be governed through a Secretary of State in England, assisted by a Council of fifteen members.

 Central administration of India remained in the hands of the Governor-General who was given the new
title of Viceroy.

 British rule began with Presidencies as the centers of government.

 At the turn of the 19th century, British India had eight major and five minor provinces.

 Major provinces were administered by a Governor or Lieutenant Governor and included Bengal,
Madras, Bombay, United Provinces, Central Provinces, and Berar, Punjab, Assam, and Burma.

 Minor provinces were ruled by a Chief Commissioner and included North West Frontier Province,
Balochistan, Coorg, Ajmer-Merwara, and Andaman and Nicobar islands.

 With the expansion and consolidation of the British empire, Britishers used the Subsidiary Alliance treaty,
to attain paramountcy.

Partition
 British India was divided into provinces and princely states.

 At the time of the partition in 1947, British India had 17 provinces.

Ajmer-Merwara Balochistan Bombay Delhi Orissa Sindh

Central
Andaman and
Bengal Provinces and Madras Panth-Piploda United Provinces
Nicobar Islands
Berar

North-West
Assam Bihar Coorg Punjab
Frontier

Provinces that joined India:

 11 of these provinces chose to join India.

 They included Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Bombay, Central Provinces,
and Berar, Coorg, Delhi, Madras, Panth-Piploda, Orissa, and the United Provinces.

Provinces that joined Pakistan:

 3 of these provinces chose to join Pakistan..

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 They included Balochistan, North West Frontier Provinces, and Sindh.

Provinces that were partitioned:

 3 of these provinces (Punjab, Bengal, and Assam) were partitioned between India and Pakistan.

Princely States:
 In addition to this, there were 565 princely states in India. They covered 40% of the area and 23% of the
population.

 The principal princely states in 1947 were Baroda, Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Mysore, and Gwalior

After Partition
 At the time of Independence, India was divided into two sets of territories.
 Territories of British India - under the direct control of India Office at London and the Governor-General
of India
 Princely states - the territories over which the Crown had suzerainty, under the control of hereditary
rulers

Other European Enclaves in the Indian Subcontinent

French Settlements:
 At the time of independence, the French held five settlements in India.

 They were the regions of Pondicherry, Karaikal, Yanam, Mahe, and Chandernagore.

Portuguese Settlements:
 At the time of independence, the Portuguese held three colonies in India.

 They included Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Goa.

Indian Independence Act 1947

 The Act was based on the June 3 or Mountbatten plan of 1947. The British parliament passed it on July 5,
1947, and the King gave his assent on July 18, 1947.
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Features
 It provided for two dominion states of India and Pakistan

 It provided for a Boundary Commission to be established to decide the boundaries between the two
dominions

 The British Crown's jurisdiction over the princely states disappeared.

 The princely states were free to join India or Pakistan or to remain independent.

 Governor Generals were to be appointed by the British King to both India and Pakistan's dominions. If
both parties agreed, the agreement also called for a shared Governor-General.

 Both states' constituent assemblies were free to devise constitutions for their own countries. For the
time being, until the constitution was written, they would be governed by the Government of India Act of
1935.

 The Governor-General had the authority to make any changes or omissions.

 The British government would not maintain any dominion control.

 The Governor-General was given sufficient authority to issue instructions for the efficient execution of
the Indian Independence Act 1947 until March 1948.

Boundary Commissions

Source: Recalling Radcliffe's division of India

Fig-1 : Jawaharlal Nehru, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah

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 Boundary Commission was a consultative body created in July 1947.

 They were two in number (one each for Bengal and Punjab).

 They were appointed by the Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten.

Objectives
 Their main objective was to recommend how the states of Punjab and Bengal were to be divided
between the newly independent nations of India and Pakistan.

 The Commission was instructed to draw boundaries in such a way that the Hindu and Muslim populations
in Indian and Pakistan would be kept intact as much as possible.

 However, an agreement between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League could not be
achieved and Radcliffe made the final decision.

Members
 Each commission included five members - Sir Cyril Radcliffe as Chairman, two members nominated by
the Indian National Congress, and two members nominated by the Muslim League.

 Sir Cyril Radcliffe was a lawyer from England with no previous knowledge or experience of Indian
demography or cartography.

Punjab Boundary Commission

Party Members

Chairman Sir Cyril Radcliffe

Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan

Indian National Congress
Justice Teja Singh

Justice Din Muhammad

Muslim League
Justice Muhammad Munir

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Bengal Boundary Commission

Party Members

Chairman Sir Cyril Radcliffe

Justice CC Biswas
Indian National Congress
Justice BK Mukherji

Justice Abu Saleh Akram

Muslim League
Justice SA Rehman

Radcliffe Line
 This 3323 km borderline separates India and Pakistan (including erstwhile Pakistan i.e. present day
Bangladesh).

 Today, its western side serves as the India-Pakistan border and the eastern side serves as the India-
Bangladesh border.

 It was established on 17 August 1947.

 It spreads from Rann of Kutch in Gujarat to Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir.

 A total area of 450000 sq km with a population of 88 million people was divided.

 When dividing the regions, not just population but also roadways, railway lines, irrigation systems and
individual holdings had to be considered.

 Radcliffe line divided India into the following three parts:

 West Pakistan

 East Pakistan

 India

McMahon Line
 This 890 km line formed the border between Tibet and British India.

 It is named after Sir Henry McMahon, foreign secretary of the British-run government in India.

 It was decided in the Shimla Treaty of 1914, which was attended to and signed by representatives of India
and Tibet.
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 It was a negotiation between India and Tibet without the participation of China. This is why China
considers the McMahon line illegal.

Integration of Indian States - First Stage

Source: thebetterindia

Herculean Task
 After Independence, the integration of states and unification of India under one administration was a
huge task.

 There existed about 565 small and large princely states ruled by princes who enjoyed varying degrees of
autonomy under the British.

 Some states joined India by joining the Constituent Assembly in April 1947.

 However, the majority of the states stayed away, and a few such as Travancore, Hyderabad, Bhopal, etc
publicly announced their desire to form independent nations.

 Many of the princes wanted to achieve independence, as they did not want to transfer paramountcy to
India or Pakistan.

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Opposition by Nationalist Leaders

 The independence of princely states would’ve endangered the unity of India. Hence, it was not digested
by Indian nationalists.

 The political integration of these states into India was an objective of the Indian National Congress.

 Sardar Patel (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs) and V.P. Menon (Civil servant and
Secretary to the Home Minister) convinced the rulers of the states to accede to India.

 After securing their accession, they proceeded to extend the central government’s authority over them.

The Merger of Princely States

Source: The Making of A Nation: How Sardar Patel Integrated 562 Princely States

Fig-2 : Sardar Patel with the Maharaja of Jaipur

Following the lapse of paramountcy, the princely states were required to either merge with India, or Pakistan
or assert their independence. For this purpose Sardar Patel and V.P. Menon prepared three agreements:

Merger Agreement
 This agreement would result in the complete merger of a state into India.

 Most states which were unable to suppress democratic movements signed this agreement.

 In return for annual pensions and privy purses, they surrendered all power and authority.

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Points to Remember
Privy Purse
 It was a payment made to the rules of erstwhile princely states

 It was promised to them upon their integration with India in 1947

 It was abolished by the 26th amendment to the Constitution in 1971.

Standstill Agreement
 Large princely states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Travancore, did not want
to merge with either India or Pakistan.

 These states signed the Standstill Agreement, which provided for the continuance of pre-existing
practices.

Instrument of Accession
 Other princely states such as Manipur, Sikkim, etc. signed the Instrument of Accession.

 It provided for the state’s accession to India in three subjects, namely, foreign relations, defense, and
communications.

Role of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

Source: The Making of A Nation: How Sardar Patel Integrated 562 Princely States

Fig-3 : Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

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 The role of Sardar Patel in the integration of Indian states was praiseworthy.

 With great skill and diplomacy using both persuasion and pressure he succeeded in integrating hundreds
of princely states into India.

 He convinced the princes by providing them honorary titles and promising them pensions.

 He assumed the charge of the newly formed States’ Department as Minister of State, with VP Menon as
its administrative head and his Secretary.

Problematic States
By 15 August 1947, 562 states joined the Indian union by acceding to India. But three of them, namely,
Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Jammu and Kashmir did not accede.

Integration of Junagadh
Nawab of Junagarh
 As pointed out by Mountbatten, that although the states could join either country, geographical
compulsions meant that most of them would choose India. Only those states that shared their border
with Pakistan would choose to accede to it.

 Junagarh was a princely state in the south-western end of Gujarat, with no border with Pakistan.

 It was ruled by Nawab, Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III.

 The Nawab, ignoring Mountbatten’s views, chose to accede to Pakistan.

 The two states that were under the suzerainty of Junagarh, Mangrol and Babariawad, declared their
independence and acceded to India. In response, Nawab of Junagarh militarily occupied the states.

 The rulers of neighboring states appealed to the government of India for assistance.

Reaction by Government
 India refused to accept this accession to Pakistan, as it was believed that accession to Pakistan would
increase communal tensions.

 As the state consisted of 80% Hindu population, a plebiscite was called to decide the issue of accession.

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 Following clashes with Indian troops, the Nawab and his family fled to Pakistan.

 On 7 November 1947, the Government of India took over the state’s administration.

 The plebiscite conducted in February 1948 was unanimously in favor of accession to India.

 Hence, Junagadh joined the Indian union.

Integration of Kashmir

Source: The Making of A Nation: How Sardar Patel Integrated 562 Princely States

 The state of Kashmir had strategic importance as it bordered both India and Pakistan.

 At the time of independence, it was ruled by Hari Singh, a Hindu ruler, while nearly 75% of the population
was Muslim.

 Hari Singh refused to accede to either India or Pakistan.

 India declared that Kashmir was free to join either country, in accordance with the will of the people.

Invasion by Pathan Tribesmen

 Pakistan refused to accept the principle of a plebiscite. Led unofficially by Pakistani army officers, several
Pathan tribesmen invaded Kashmir.

 The Maharaja Hari Singh appealed to India for military assistance.

Hari Singh’s Accession

 Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference and Sardar Patel insisted on accession to India.

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 So, on 26 October 1947, the Maharaja acceded to India by signing the Instrument of Accession and
installed Abdullah as head of administration.

 India, on Mountbatten’s advice and its democratic commitment, announced that it would hold a
referendum after peace is restored in the valley.

Points to Remember
Referendum Plebiscite

 People vote to decide on a particular issue  A method to obtain the opinion of people

 An instrument of pure democracy as it gives  Can even be held in a non-democracy

power in the hands of the people
 Not legally binding
 Legally binding

India’s Help to Kashmir

 After the accession, the Cabinet of India decided to fly troops to Srinagar.

 Srinagar was first brought under control, and slowly the invaders were driven out of the valley.

 However, they still retained control over parts of the state and continued armed conflict.

Kashmir Issue in UN Security Council

 At Mountbatten’s suggestion, the Government of India referred the matter of Kashmir to the UNSC to
prevent a full-scale war.

 This decision was regretted later, as the UNSC, guided by Britain and the United States, chose to side with
Pakistan.

 The Kashmir Question was referred to as the India-Pakistan Dispute.

 Following UN resolutions, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on 3 December 1948.

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UN Intervention
 In 1951, the UN passed a resolution providing for a referendum under UN supervision after Pakistan had
withdrawn its troops from Kashmir in its entirety.

 The referendum remains unperformed as Pakistan refused to withdraw its troops.

 Hence, the northern and western parts of Kashmir came under Pakistan’s control and are today called
POK or Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

 India regards Kashmir’s accession to India as final and irrevocable, and Kashmir an integral part of India.

Integration of Hyderabad
 At the time of Independence, Hyderabad was the largest state of India.

 It was a landlocked state, with an 87% Hindu population, and Nizam Osman Ali Khan was its ruler.

Points to Remember
Firman
 an administrative order

 Issued by the Nizam of Hyderabad stating that on the transfer of power from Britain to India, the state of
Hyderabad would retain its independence.

 This firman was rejected by India.

 A Firman could be issued by an Islamic ruler or official

Proposal of Nizam
 The Nizam asked to enter into a limited treaty with India with safeguards.

 This was rejected by India, arguing that other states would demand similar concessions.

 Therefore, a temporary standstill agreement was signed in September, 1947.

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People’s Movement against the Nizam

 In 1946, there was an uprising in Telangana led by communists which started as a peasant revolt against
feudal elements.

 The Nizam was not able to subjugate the revolt.

 Attempts at a negotiated settlement failed, and the Nizam approached the UN Security Council and the
International Court of Justice.

Operation Polo
 On 13 September 1948, the Indian Army was sent to Hyderabad under Operation Polo to secure law and
order.

 After meeting some resistance, the Army took complete control of the state by 18 September 1948.

 The Nizam disavowed the complaints made to the UNSC and hence, Hyderabad was integrated fully into
India.

 With the succession of Hyderabad, the merger of princely states in India was complete.

Integration of Indian States - Second Stage

The second stage of the full integration was difficult.

 Smaller states were either merged with big states or merged to form “centrally administered areas”.

 A large number of them were consolidated into five new states:

 Madhya Bharat

 Rajasthan

 Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU)

 Saurashtra

 Travancore-Cochin

 Mysore, Hyderabad, and Jammu and Kashmir retained their original form as separate states of the
Union.

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Integration of Other Colonial Territories

The French and Portuguese territories still dotted India’s West and East coasts.

French Settlements
 After negotiations, the French handed over Pondicherry and other French possessions to India in 1954.

Portuguese Settlements
 The Portuguese, on the other hand, were determined to stay on.

 The people of Goa started a movement seeking freedom but it was suppressed.

 Nehru ordered Indian troops to march into Goa on 17 December 1961. The governor-general of Goa
surrendered without a fight.

Conclusion
 With this, the territorial and political integration of India was completed under the skilled leadership of
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Deputy Prime Minister of India, and his Secretary V.P. Menon.

Mains Question for Practice:

Q.1 Integrating the princely states into the Indian Union was a huge challenge faced by the founding
fathers of the country. Discuss. (250 words, 15 marks)

Q.2 Why was it necessary for Nation-builders to transform the then British India into a Union of States
after getting Independence? (150 words, 10 marks)

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