Reorganisation of States in India, 1953–2019

Articles 1 to 4: The Legal Machinery

Part I of the Constitution (Articles 1 to 4) is only four articles long, but it decides how the map of India can change.

• Article 1 declares that "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States". Its territory has three parts: the states, the Union Territories, and any territory that India may acquire later. Dr B.R. Ambedkar explained the word "Union". The federation is not the result of an agreement among the states, and no state has the right to secede from it.
• Article 2 lets Parliament admit or establish new states that were not already part of India. Sikkim's entry in 1975 is the standard example.
• Article 3 lets Parliament reshape states that are already inside the Union. By law it may form a new state by separating territory from a state or by uniting states or parts of states. It may also increase or diminish the area of any state, alter its boundaries and alter its name.
• Article 4 says that a law made under Article 2 or 3 is not an amendment of the Constitution for the purposes of Article 368. It may still change the First Schedule (the list of states and territories) and the Fourth Schedule (Rajya Sabha seats).

The procedure under Article 3

1. The Bill can be introduced in either House only on the recommendation of the President.
2. Before recommending it, the President refers the Bill to the legislature of the affected state, so that it can express its views within a set period.
3. Parliament is not bound by those views, and need not refer the Bill again if it is later amended. When the territory affected is a Union Territory, no reference is needed at all.
4. The Bill passes by a simple majority in each House, like any ordinary law. No special majority and no ratification by the states are required.

Ceding territory is different

Article 3 covers internal changes. Giving Indian territory to a foreign country is not covered by it. In the Berubari Union reference (1960), the Supreme Court advised that handing over part of the Berubari Union (in West Bengal) to Pakistan needed a constitutional amendment under Article 368. The handover had been agreed under the 1958 Nehru–Noon agreement. The opinion led to the 9th Amendment (1960). The same route was used for the 100th Amendment (2015), which put the India–Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement into effect: 111 Indian enclaves went to Bangladesh, and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves came to India. Settling a boundary dispute, as opposed to ceding land, needs no amendment.

Why Language Was First Refused

At independence, India inherited a patchwork of British provinces and more than 560 princely states. The Constitution of 1950 grouped them into four categories:

• Part A: former governor's provinces, such as Madras, Bombay and the United Provinces.
• Part B: former princely states and unions of states, each headed by a Rajpramukh, such as Hyderabad, Mysore and Travancore-Cochin.
• Part C: chief commissioner's provinces and some smaller princely states, such as Delhi, Coorg and Bhopal.
• Part D: the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Congress had promised linguistic provinces since the Nagpur session of 1920, when it reorganised its own provincial committees on the basis of language. After Partition, however, the leadership feared that redrawing the map on the basis of language would encourage further division. Two inquiries said so plainly:

NDA 2024-II tested exactly this point. The Constituent Assembly did not recommend writing linguistic reorganisation into the Constitution. The Dhar Commission, appointed by the Assembly's President, advised against it.

Potti Sriramulu and Andhra State

The demand for a Telugu-speaking state carved out of Madras would not die down. Potti Sriramulu, a Gandhian, began a fast unto death on 19 October 1952 and died on 15 December 1952, after 56 days of fasting (NCERT's figure; some accounts count 58). Violent protests followed across the Telugu districts. On 19 December 1952, Prime Minister Nehru announced that a separate state would be formed. Andhra State came into being on 1 October 1953, with Kurnool as its capital. It is the first state formed on a linguistic basis, and Sriramulu is remembered as Amarajeevi ("immortal being").

The Fazl Ali Commission and 1 November 1956

Andhra opened the floodgates. On 29 December 1953 a Home Ministry resolution set up the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC). Its chairman was Fazl Ali, and its members were K.M. Panikkar and H.N. Kunzru. The Commission submitted its report on 30 September 1955. Its main recommendations were:

• Accept language as a broad basis for states, but reject the "one language, one state" principle. National unity, administrative and financial viability, and economic planning had to be weighed as well.
• Abolish the four-fold Part A/B/C/D classification.
• Reorganise India into 16 states and 3 centrally administered territories.

Parliament did not follow the map exactly. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and the 7th Constitutional Amendment, 1956 together created 14 states and 6 Union Territories with effect from 1 November 1956. The Rajpramukh's office disappeared, and the "Union Territory" came into existence as a category.

The 7th Amendment did more than redraw the map. It allowed a common High Court for two or more states (Article 231). It also inserted Article 350A (instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage) and Article 350B (a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities). The 1956 Act separately created five Zonal Councils to settle disputes between neighbouring states. That is why the 7th remains the most frequently tested amendment from the 1950s.

Every New State and UT Since 1956

The 1956 map lasted barely four years. This table is the one to revise the night before the exam:

The result today is 28 states and 8 Union Territories. The eight UTs are Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Chandigarh; Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu; Delhi; Jammu and Kashmir; Ladakh; Lakshadweep; and Puducherry. Delhi has been the National Capital Territory with its own legislature since the 69th Amendment (1991), under Article 239AA.

Renamings the examiner likes

• Madras State became Tamil Nadu (1969); Mysore became Karnataka (1973).
• Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands became Lakshadweep (1973); Pondicherry became Puducherry (2006); Uttaranchal became Uttarakhand (2007); Orissa became Odisha (2011).

Each renaming was done by an ordinary Act of Parliament under Article 3. The 96th Amendment of 2011 is sometimes mistaken for the Odisha renaming, but it only changed the language's name in the Eighth Schedule, from Oriya to Odia.

The Northeast states also come with special provisions (Articles 371A to 371J) attached to their statehood. These are covered on our page on special provisions, schedules and tribal administration.

Language, Unity and the Lessons of 70 Years

The fear of 1948 was that linguistic states would weaken the country. NCERT's Politics in India since Independence reaches the opposite verdict. Accepting the demand for linguistic states made the map more democratic. It also took the sting out of what could have become separatist movements. Language-based states made administration in the people's own language possible, and they brought regional elites into national politics instead of pushing them out.

The later states were drawn on different grounds:

• Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya: tribal identity.
• Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in 2000: regional neglect and development, not language. Hindi is the main language on both sides of each of their borders.
• Telangana in 2014: regional, not linguistic. It is the clearest example, since Telugu is spoken on both sides of its border.

The States Reorganisation Commission's warning still holds: language is a good basis for a state, but not the only one.

The same thread runs through the integration of the princely states, which came before reorganisation. Our article on Sardar Patel and India's integration covers how 560-plus states joined the Union. The link between language and the Constitution is traced further in Hindi Diwas and the official-language articles.

How UPSC Has Asked It: Past Papers Solved

These are actual CDS and NDA questions on this topic since 2018. Read the explanation even when you get the answer right, because the wrong options are the traps the examiner reuses.

Practice MCQs (with answers)

1. A Bill to change the name of a state can be introduced in Parliament
   1. only in the Lok Sabha, after the state legislature consents
   2. in either House, on the recommendation of the President
   3. only after a resolution of the Inter-State Council
   4. only through an amendment under Article 368
2. The views of a state legislature on a Bill under Article 3 are
   1. binding on Parliament
   2. binding only if expressed within 30 days
   3. not binding on Parliament
   4. binding only for boundary changes
3. Which was the first state formed on a linguistic basis?
   1. Andhra State, 1953
   2. Bombay State, 1956
   3. Gujarat, 1960
   4. Tamil Nadu, 1969
4. Who among the following was NOT a member of the States Reorganisation Commission?
   1. Fazl Ali
   2. K.M. Panikkar
   3. H.N. Kunzru
   4. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
5. Consider the pairs: 1. Haryana – 1966; 2. Sikkim – 1975; 3. Goa – 1987. Which are correctly matched?
   1. 1 only
   2. 1 and 2 only
   3. 2 and 3 only
   4. 1, 2 and 3
6. The Supreme Court's opinion in the Berubari Union reference (1960) held that
   1. ceding Indian territory to a foreign state needs a constitutional amendment
   2. Parliament cannot create new states
   3. boundary disputes must go to the Inter-State Council
   4. Article 3 needs ratification by half the states
7. Which state was created in 2000 and later renamed?
   1. Jharkhand
   2. Chhattisgarh
   3. Uttaranchal
   4. Telangana
8. Article 4 of the Constitution provides that laws made under Articles 2 and 3
   1. must be passed by a two-thirds majority
   2. are not amendments for the purposes of Article 368
   3. cannot amend the First Schedule
   4. require the Governor's assent

Quick Revision