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.

Increasing demand for separate states is a proxy for the administrative efficiency and will make the Indian Policy more federal

The demand for statehood has the following explanatory factors:

• Development deficit due to the uneven development of the country is one reason. Those regions that have not seen fruits of growth want a new state.
• Population explosion- electorate today is about 70 crores which is a fivefold increase over the 1950s figure. It has created pressures that have found expression as demands for special status.
• Cultural identities have become the basis for political agitations for separate statehood which is partly the offshoot of language-based statehood followed since 1950. Political parties also are instrumental in encouraging such demands for their own ends.
• So far, a range of Constitutional and non-Constitutional mechanisms have been put in place to satisfy demands for autonomy and respect for cultural identity.
• They are special category states like the north east, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand etc that receive central plan assistance at liberal terms
• there are autonomous councils as in Ladakh, Darjeeling, Bodo where regions enjoy autonomy in administration
• development boards (Art. 371(2)) for the backward regions of the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat
• Finance Commission recommends more finances in terms of tax share and grants for the underdeveloped states
• ‘73rd and 74th Amendment Acts for local self government strive to satisfy local aspirations through decentralized governance
• Inclusions of languages in the 8th schedule of the Constitution for the cultural development of the people.
• Sixth Schedule benefits

States reorganization has been taking place since mid-fifties-first in south and later in northwest and northeast and now in the northern, central and eastern India so that big states are made more governable through bifurcation on linguistic, cultural, ecological, economic or any other criterion or a combination of them. The case for small states rests on.

• big states needed to be divided for administrative viability
• better system of administration through participative planning
• avoid neglect of certain regions and sections of society
• remove regional economic imbalances etc.

Examples of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh are shown as successful small states. Northeast is cited to show that without the reorganization, there would have been greater levels of insurgency. While there is no opposition to carving more states out of the big states like Bihar, MP and UP as social and economic indicators show that for reasons of governability, there should be bifurcation, the costs are cited as the following

• viability problems creating fiscal stress for Centre
• more demands by other regions
• leave the parent state with drastically reduced resources
• federal coordination becomes difficult
• higher rates of taxation on citizens to raise the required resources for the following reason: when a UT becomes a State, it foregoes financial - assistance that it enjoys as a UT. It necessitates resort to higher taxation to compensate for the central assistance that is no longer available.

According to some development experts, the need for division of big states is undeniable but the debate regarding the desirability of small states is basically one of how to enable balanced development and facilitate better administration. According to them, the answer lies in Local self government institutions; institutionalization of regional planning through autonomous councils etc; sustaining the existing funding mechanisms through Planning Commission (Gadgil formula for plan assistances) and Finance Commission -mediated transfers on the basis of poverty; special category states etc.

Berubari  and Katchatevu case

Berubari Union No. 12 fell within West Bengal and was treated as such by the Constitution which came into force on January 26, 1950, and has since been governed on that basis. Certain disputes arose between India and Pakistan subsequent to the Radcliffe Award but Berubari was not in issue before the Badge Commission set up by agreement between the parties to decide those disputes. That commission made its award on January 26, 195o. Pakistan raised the question of Berubari for the first time in 1952 alleging that under the Radcliffe Award it should form part of East Bengal and was wrongly included in West Bengal. On August 28, 1949, the Ruler of the State of Cooch-Behar

The court ruled in Berubari case that cession of Indian territory to another country had to be ratified by parliament through amendment of the constitution. However, the Indian government has stated that “No territory belonging to India was ceded nor sovereignty relinquished since the area was in dispute and had never been demarcated” and that the dispute on the status of the island was settled in 1974 by an agreement, and both countries took into account historical evidence and legal aspects

In June 2011, the new Tamil Nadu government led by Jayalalithaa filed a petition in Supreme Court seeking the declaration of the 1974 and 1976 agreements between India and Sri Lanka on ceding of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka as unconstitutional.

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.

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.