EVOLUTION OF STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES & Article 4 – Polity – Module 2

EVOLUTION OF STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES

• Of the 552 princely states situated within the geographical boundaries of India, 549 joined India and the remaining 3 (Hyderabad, Junagarh and Kashmir) refused to join India. Then Hyderabad by means of police action, Junagarh by means of referendum and Kashmir by the Instrument of Accession.
• In 1950, the Constitution contained a four-fold classification of the states of the Indian Union—Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D State5. In all, they numbered 29.
• Part-A states comprised nine erstwhile governor’s provinces of British India. Part-B states consisted of nine erstwhile princely states with legislatures. Part-C states consisted of erstwhile chief commissioner’s provinces of British India and some of the erstwhile princely states. These Part-C states (in all 10 in number) were centrally administered. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were kept as the solitary Part-D state.

Dhar Commission and JVP Committee

• S K Dhar to examine the feasibility of this. The commission submitted its report in December 1948 and recommended the reorganisation of states on the basis of administrative convenience rather than linguistic factor.
• Appointment of another Linguistic Provinces Committee by the Congress in December 1948 itself to examine the whole question afresh. It consisted of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallahbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya and hence, was popularly known as JVP Committee. It submitted its report in April 1949 and formally rejected language as the basis for reorganization of states.
• However, in October 1953, the Government of India was forced to create the first linguistic state, known as Andhra state, by separating the Telugu speaking areas from the Madras state. This followed a prolonged popular agitation and the death of Potti Sriramulu, a Congress person of standing, after a 56-day hunger strike for the cause.

Fazl Ali Commission

• The creation of Andhra state intensified the demand from other regions for creation of states on linguistic basis. This forced the Government of India to appoint (in December 1953) a three-member States Reorganisation Commission under the chairmanship of Fazl Ali to re-examine the whole question.
• Its other two members were K M Panikkar and H N Kunzru. It submitted its report in September 1955 and broadly accepted language as the basis of reorganisation of states. But, it rejected the theory of ‘one language–one state’.
• The Government of India accepted these recommendations with certain minor modifications. By the States Reorganisation Act (1956) and the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act (1956), the distinction between Part-A and Part-B states was done away with and Part-C states were abolished. Some of them were merged with adjacent states and some other were designated as union territories. As a result, 14 states and 6 union territories were created on November 1, 1956.

• Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1960.
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli It was converted into a union territory of India by the 10th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1961.
• Goa, Daman and Diu India acquired these three territories from the Portuguese by means of a police action in 1961. A union territory by the 12th Constitutional Amendment Act.
• Puducherry It was administered as an ‘acquired territory’, till 1962 when it was made a union territory by the 14th Constitutional Amendment Act.
• Nagaland in 1963.
• Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh In 1966In 1971, the union territory of Himachal Pradesh was elevated12 to the status of a state (18th state of the Indian Union).
• Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya In 1972
• Sikkim Till 1947, Sikkim was an Indian princely state ruled by Chogyal. Accordingly, the 35thConstitutional Amendment Act (1974) was enacted by the parliament. This amendment introduced a new class of statehood under the constitution by conferring on Sikkim the status of an ‘associate state’ of the Indian Union. For this purpose, a new Article 2A and a new schedule (Tenth Schedule containing the terms and conditions of association) were inserted in the Constitution. The 36th Constitutional Amendment Act (1975) was enacted to make Sikkim a full-fledged state of the Indian Union (the 22nd state). This amendment amended the First and the Fourth Schedules to the Constitution and added a new Article 371-F to provide for certain special provisions with respect to the administration of Sikkim. It also repealed Article 2A and the Tenth Schedule that were added by the 35th Amendment Act of 1974.
• Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa in 1987.
• Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand in 2000.
• Telangana In 2^nd June 2014. Hyderabad is made the joint capital for both the states for a period of 10 years. It is the outcome of 15^th Lok Sabha.
• By the 69^th Constitution Amendment Act, 1991 with effect from February 1, 1992 the Union Territory of Delhi has been named as National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Article 4: Laws made under articles 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedule and supplemental, incidental and consequential matters

(1) 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 to give effect to the provisions of the law and may also contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions (including provisions as to representation in Parliament and in the Legislature or Legislatures of the State or States affected by such law) as Parliament may deem necessary.
(2) No such law as aforesaid shall be deemed to be in amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.