Moving the Draft Constitution for the consideration of the Constituent Assembly in 1948, Dr. Ambedkar explained the significance of the use of the expression Union instead of the expression Federation. Two reasons are given

1.      Though the country and the people may be divided into different States for convenience of administration, the country is one integral whole, its people a single people living under a single imperium derived from a single source.

2.      The expression- India is a Union of States was chosen as India was already a Union at the time of the Constituent Assembly debates.

There are two expressions used in the context of governance in India-˜Union of India and Territory of India’. The former includes States that share federal powers with the Union Government, the latter includes not only States but all other units like UTs and soon. In other words, territory of India encompasses a larger area than Union of India. That is, Territory of India encompasses the entire territory over which Indian sovereignty is exercised while Union of India covers only the federal system. Government of India can acquire any territory by purchase, treaty, cession, conquest or any other method, administer it on the basis of Parliamentary Act. The States and the territories, thereof are specified in the First Schedule. The territory of India comprises of the territories of the States; the Union territories specified in the First Schedule; and such other territories as may be acquired.

Art. 1

Name and territory of the Union

(1)     India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.

(2)     The States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule.

(3)     The territory of India shall comprise-

(a)     the territories of the States;

(b)     the Union territories specified in the First Schedule; and

(c)     such other territories as may be acquired.

Art. 2

Admission or establishment of new States. Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.

Art. 2a

Sikkim to be associated with the Union. [Rep. by the Constitution (Thirty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1975, s.5 (w.e.f.26-4-1975).

Art. 3

Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States. Parliament may by law-

(a)     Form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State;

(b)    Increase the area of any State;

(c)     Diminish the area of any State;

(d)    Alter the boundaries of any State;

(e)     Alter the name of any State:

Provided that no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the States the Bill has been referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the President may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired.

The amendment of the Article 2 and Article 3 are not to be deemed to be an amendment under Article 368.

Art. 4

Laws made under articles 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules 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 an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.

Steps Involved In the Formation of New States

Bill for the formation of new state under Art 3 can be introduced in either house of parliament only with the prior recommendation of the president and before recommending the bill, President has to refer the bill to the concerned state legislatures for their views within such period as may be specifies in the reference or within such period as the President may allow. The opinion of the state legislature is not binding on the President and may either accept or reject it even if the views are received in time. If the bill is passed by both the houses of Parliament by simple majority and receives the accent of the President then new state comes into existence.

Thus reorganization of the states involves a series of administrative steps that begin after enactment of the legislation and end with notification. The Union Home Ministry coordinates these steps in consultation with the parent states as well as Union ministries for Finance, Law and Personnel.

Reorganizationof States

At the time of independence the original constitution provided for four types of states.

Part A: -States comprising Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Panjab, The United Provinces, West Bengal.

Part B:- States comprising Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and Eastern Punjab.

Part C:- States comprising Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Cooch-Bihar, Coorg.

Part D: -Territories comprising The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

After independence, the demand for reorganization of States on linguistic basis was raised from different regions.

• The Constituent Assembly appointed S.K. Dhar Commission in Nov. 1947 to study the issue of reorganization of States on linguistic basis.
• The Congress, in its Jaipur session in 1948, appointed a three member committee to consider the recommendations of Dhar Commission.
• The Committee is properly known as JVP Committee after the names of its three members – Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitarammaiah.
• The Committee rejected language as the basis for reorganization of States. It suggested that the security, unity and economic prosperity of the nation as criteria of reorganization.
• The Congress Working Committee accepted its recommendation in 1949, but the demands for linguistic reorganization of States persisted in Southern States particularly in Telgu speaking areas.
• As the agitation took a violent turn in Telgu speaking areas, the Congress conceded the reorganization of Telgu speaking areas, in the State of Andhra Pradesh in 1953.
• To make an exhaustive study of the problem, the Government of India set up State Reorganisation Commission in 1953 which was headed by Fazal Ali.
• The other members of the Commission were, Hriday Nath Kunzru and K.Panikkar. The Commission, in its report submitted in 1955, accepted the language as the basis of reorganization of States. It suggested the reorganization of 27 states of various categories into 16 States and three UnionTerritories. The State Reorganisation  Act, 1956 was passed by Parliament to give effect to the recommendations of the Commission.
• 14 States and 6 centrally AdministeredTerritories were created under the states Reorganization Act, 1956. The states included Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Bombay, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerela, Madhya Pradesh, Mysore, Tamil Nadu, Orissa-Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.At present, the Indian Union consists of 28 states.
• Centrally AdministeredTerritories were Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Minicoy and Amindivi islands. Presently there are 8 UTs including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (merged in January 2020), Delhi, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry (Now Pudducherry), Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

New states added since 1950

Thus the states reorganized after Reorganization of 1956 were Maharashtra, Gujarat (1960); Nagaland (1963); Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh (1966); Meghalaya (1969); Tripura and Manipur (1970); Sikkim (1975); Mizoram (1986); Arunachal Pradesh (1987); Goa (1987); Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand (2000); and Telangana (2014).

Recently formed states

States of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

• The Rajya Sabha cleared the Chhattisgarh Statehood Bill on August 9, 2000. The Bill was unanimously passed by the Lok Sabha on July 31, 2000. The President’s signature is the only legal formality left before the Union Government is free to decide the mechanics of the division. A date will have to be chosen for the formal “birth” and everything-from personnel to institutions to finances-has to be divided. The Bill gives the Union the power to arbitrate in case of dispute.
• It is believed that the creation of 26th State of Union of India, namely, Chhattisgarh, carved out of the States of Madhya Pradesh, would facilitate speedy and more balanced development of the region and meet the democratic aspirations of the people there. The proposed tribal-dominated State would consist of 16 districts and have an estimated population of 1.76 crores, of which 78 lakh people would belong to the Scheduled Tribes.
• Council of States: Five of the 16 sitting members of the Council of States from the existing State of Madhya Pradesh will represent the new State of Chhattisgarh and the term of office of such sitting members shall remain unaltered.
• House of the People: Eleven of the present 40 sitting members in the House of the People from the existing State of Madhya Pradesh will represent the new State of Chhatisgarh and the term of office of such sitting members shall remain unaltered.
• Legislative Assembly: The number of seats as on the appointed day in the Legislative Assemblies of the States of Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh shall be 230 and 90 respectively.
• High Court: There shall be a separate High Court for the State of Chhatisgarh referred to as the High Court of Chhatisgarh and the High Court of Madhya Pradesh shall become the High Court for the State of Madhya Pradesh.

States of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

• The Parliament approved the Uttar Pradesh Reorganization Bill, 2000 with the Rajya Sabha passing it by voice-vote on August 10, 2000 after the Union Home Ministerassured the House that the existing land ceiling laws would not be altered.The passage of the Bill, cleared by the Lok Sabha on August 1, 2000 will pave the way for the formation of a separate Uttarakhand State, the 27th State of Union of India.

States of Bihar and Jharkhand

• The Parliament on August 11, 2000 approved the Bihar Reorganization Bill 2000 with the Rajya Sabha passing it by a voice-vote thus paving the way for the creation of a new State of Jharkhand, comprising 18 districts of the existing State of Bihar.

Andhra pradesh reorganisation act, 2014

• The act proclaims the bifurcation of the Andhra Pradesh state into two states, Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh. New state was formed in 2014 as 29^th state.

Key terms

Union of States: A union or centre of authority that is constituted by the combination of peripheral subunits called as States.

Territory of India: Territory throughout which jurisdiction of India extends. As per the Constitution, it constitutes the States, Union territories or any other territory that may be acquired by the Government of India at any future date and extends her jurisdiction on it.

International Law: This is a body of customary and conventional rules of law as well as general principles of law. This body also relates to function of International institutions or organizations, their relations with each other and their relations with States and individuals. There are two kinds of International Law i.e. public international law and private international law.

Part-A States: Former British India provinces that used to exist in the British empire and classified as such at the commencement of the Constitution, Jan 26, 1950.

Part-B States: Former Princely States as a part of the British Empire and classified as such at the commencement of the Constitution.

Part-C States: The Chief Commissioner’s provinces in the British Empire, classified as part-C States.

Part-D States: Andaman and Nicobar islands at the commencement of the Constitution.

JVP Committee: Committee appointed in Dec.1948 and was comprised of J.L.Nehru, S. V.Patel and P.Sitaramya to look into the question of State’s reorganization on Linguistic basis.

States Reorganization Commission: The Commission appointed in Nov.1953 by the then Government of India for constituting the States on Linguistic basis. Also known as Fazl Ali Commission after the name of its chairman, Fazl Ali. Its two other members were J.B.Kriplani and H.N. Kunzuru.