The reorganisation of Indian states

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The reorganization of Indian states

How the number of states grew to 29 over the years (+ seven union territories= 36).

Akshaya Mukul TNN

The Times of India 2013/07/31

1948, 1949

On April 1, 1949, when the Nehru-Sardar Patel-Pattabhi Sitaramayya (JVP) Committee report was made public it endorsed what the earlier S K Dar Commission had said in December 1948. Arguing for reorganization of states, Dar said new states shouldn’t be on linguistic basis.

The Cogress decided in 1948 to re-examine formation of states and formed the JVP Committee. It opposed the linguistic basis, but said: “If public sentiment is overwhelming, we as democrats have to submit to it..” It said the time’s not ripe for creating more states, but added a case can be made for AP’s Telugu-speaking people. This fanned a movement among Telugu-speaking people of Madras state — the highlight being Potti Sriramulu’s death after a 56-day fast on December 15, 1952. AP was born on 1953. The creation of AP opened the floodgates.

1953: The States Reorganization Commission (SRC)

Bowing to pressure, Nehru in 1953 formed the States Reorganization Commission (SRC). In September 1955, it recommended the abolition of A, B, C, D category states and said there should be 16 states and 3 UTs. It recommended formation of Hyderabad state. Bulk of its recommendations was accepted leading to the passage of State Reorganisation Act, 1956, and creation of 14 states and five UTs.

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

The 1960s

In 1961, Goa was liberated. Gujarat and Maharashtra were born in 1960. The government capitulated to the Sikh homeland demand in Punjab. The status of Chandigarh—if it would be the joint capital — wasn’t settled initially, later the two states agreed to share the city.

Nagaland was carved out of Assam in 1963. In 1966 Meghalaya was carved out of the same state.

The 1970s

In 1971, Himachal, Manipur and Tripura were born. Also UTs of Sikkim and Arunachal were created. Sikkim became a full state in 1975. The Jharkhand movement was brewing, so was the demand for separation of hill regions from UP. Tribal areas of MP wanted a separate identity.

2000-13

BJP created Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh on November 1, 2000. It took another 13 years for Telangana to be born.