Re-organization of States

Background  

At the time of independence the provinces in India were arranged by the British according to the pre-independence population and polity. The states were divided into 4 groups – A, B, C and D. Also following the independence the British government dissolved their early treaties with the five hundred Princely States directing them to either join the union of India or Pakistan.

After Independence  

Between 1947 and 1950, the Princely states were politically integrated into the Indian union. Most were merged into existing provinces; others were organized into new provinces, such as Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, and Vindhya Pradesh. Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Bilaspur became separate provinces.

In 1950 the new Constitution of India came into force on 26 January and India now became a Union of States with three main types of states. ‘A’ states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal. The ‘B’ states were Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala, East Punjab, Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Travancore-Cochin. The ‘C’ states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Kutch, Manipur, Tripura and Vindhya Pradesh. The ‘D’ states was Andaman Nicobar Islands.

Movement for States  

After independence, political movement for linguistic-based states developed. The demand for creation of states on linguistic basis started in different parts of India. The movement took serious turn when one Telegu leader Potti Sriramalu died after 56 days of hunger strike demanding creation of Andhra Pradesh with 16 north Madras Telegu speaking districts. As a consequence the central government created a new state of Andhra Pradesh opening the floodgate for such demands.

Government Solution  

Ultimately on 22 December 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced the appointment of a State Reorganization Committee headed by the Retired Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Fazal Ali. This Fazal Ali Commission recommended the re-organization of states based on languages. On the basis of the Commission’s report the discriminatory grouping system of states were abolished and a new 14 states and 6 union territories were established. The states were to be ruled by the state government and the Union Territories directly under the control of the Union government. The Act was implemented in November 1956.

The states were Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Mysore, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The six union territories were Andaman Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Laccadiv Minicoy Islands, Manipur and Tripura.