In the previous post, we have read the important features of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.
Articles 1 to 4 under part-I of the Constitution deal with the Indian Union and its territories.
Union of States
Article 1 describes India, that is, Bharat as a ‘Union of States. This article describes the name of the country and type of polity. Territories of India :
- Territories of the States,
- Indian Union Territories and
- Territories that may be acquired by the government of India at any time.
Article 2 empowers Parliament to ‘admit into the new states’ (admission of states which are already in existence) and ‘power to establish new states’ (establishes states which are not in existence ).
Article 3 deals with the internal re-adjustment of the constituent states of the Union of India.
- Form a new state by separation of territory from any state or by uniting parts of two or more states.
- Increase the area of any state,
- Reduce or decrease the area of any states and
- Alter the boundary or alter the name of any states.
Evolution of Indian States and Indian Union Territories
Integration of Princely States
At the time of Independence, India had two political units, namely, the British India provinces and the Princely states.
The India Independence Act (1947) created two separate dominions India and Pakistan and gave three options to Princely states viz.,
- Joining India,
- Joining Pakistan or
- Remaining Independent.
Out of 562 princely states, 549 joined India and the remaining 3 integrated in India in course of time. (Hyderabad by means of Police action, Junagarh by means of referendum and Kashmir by the instrument of Accession).
Dhar Commission and JVP Committee
After the integration of princely states with the rest of India, There has been a demand for the re-organization of states on a linguistic basis, particularly from south India.
In June 1948, the Government appointed linguistic provinces commission under the chairmanship of S K Dhar. In December 1948 they recommended the re-organization of states on the basis of administrative convenience, not on linguistic factor.
After that, another committee consists of J L Nehru, Sardar Patel, and Pattabhi Sitaramayya appointed. It also rejected language as the basis for state reorganization. however, Government was forced to create the first linguistic state, know as Andhra state.
Fazal Ali Commission
After the creation of Andhra State other regions also demanded states on linguistic basis. So, the Government of India appointed another state reorganization commission under the chairmanship of Fazal Ali.
Its other members were KM Panikkar and HN Kunzru. It broadly accepted language as the basis of the reorganization of states. But it rejected the ‘one language one state’ theory. Major factors to reorganize a state was :
- Preservation and strengthening of the unity and security of country.
- Linguistic and cultural homogeneity.
- Financial, economic and administrative consideration.
Recent Developments in Indian Union and Territories
On August 5th, 2019, the Indian Union Government came with the proposal to revoke article 370 of the Indian Constitution (We will discuss Article-370, in the upcoming post). The Rajya Sabha passed the proposed legislation, with 125 votes in favour and 61 against & The Lok Sabha passed it with 351 votes in favour in and 72 against. This bill proposes,
- Special Status to Jammu & Kashmir is revoked.
- Indian Union bifurcated the State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.
- One is Ladakh and another one is Jammu and Kashmir.
So, here we have proposed a map of Jammu and Kashmir integrated India,
Thanks and Stay Civilised. 😊
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