States formed under linguistic basis

In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis. Since then, their structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is further divided into administrative districts.

The Constitution distributes the sovereign powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any state between the Union and that state.

Article 73 provides that the executive power of the Union shall extend to the matters with respect to which Parliament has power to make laws.

Article 162 similarly provides that the executive power of a state shall extend to the matters with respect to which the legislature of a state has power to make laws.

The Supreme Court has reiterated this balance of equation betweenthe Centre and states when it ruled in the Ramanaiah case that the executive power of the Union or of the state broadly speaking, is coextensive and coterminous with its respective legislative power.

India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and a multi-ethnic societywith Constitution according equal importance to all religions.

The second most populous country in the world is home to diverse species of flora and fauna with rich cultural heritage dating back to centuries before the advent of Christian era (BCE).

The subcontinent has been ruled by many different ethnic groups throughout its history, each instituting their own policies of administrative division in the region.

Post-Independence Integration (1947-1950):

During the colonial period till 1947, the original administrative structure was mostly kept, and India was divided into provinces that were directly governed by the British and princely states which were nominally controlled by a local prince or raja loyalto the British Empire, who held de facto sovereignty over theprincely states.

When India became independent, it consisted of 571 princely states and British-administered provinces. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and V.P. Menon led the integration of these princely states, bringing them into the Indian Union through diplomacy and force when necessary. On January 26, 1950, India adopted its Constitution and became a Republic, organizing itself into Part A, Part B, and Part C states, along with Union Territories. However, this structure was temporary and required reorganization.

States Reorganization Act (1956):

Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State.

The French enclave of Chandernagore was transferred to West Bengal in 1954. In the same year Pondicherry, comprising the former French enclaves of Pondicherry, Karaikal, Yanaon and Mahé, was transferred to India. This became a union territory in 1962.

Also in 1954, pro-India forces liberated the Portuguese-held enclaves of Dadrá and Nagar Aveli, declaring the short-lived de facto state of Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 1961, India annexed it as the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states.

As a result of this act:

• Madras State retained its name, with Kanyakumari district added to form Travancore–Cochin.
• Andhra Pradesh was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956.
• Kerala was created by merging Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore–Cochin.
• Mysore State was re-organised with the addition of the districts of Bellary and South Canara (excluding Kasaragod taluk) and the Kollegal taluk of Coimbatore district from the Madras State, the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, North Canara and Dharwad from Bombay State, the Kannada-majority districts of Bidar, Raichur and Kalaburagi from Hyderabad State and the Coorg State.
• The Laccadive Islands, Aminidivi Islands and Minicoy Island, which had been divided between the South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State, were united and organised into the union territory of Lakshadweep.
• Bombay State was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, the Marathi-speaking districts of Nagpur division of Madhya Pradesh and the Marathwada region of Hyderabad State.
• Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer State and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar were transferred to West Bengal.

Further State Formations (post-1956)

The Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960 split Bombay State into Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 based on linguistic differences. Nagaland became a state on 1 December 1963. The Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 led to the creation of Haryana on 1 November 1966, transferred northern Punjab districts to Himachal Pradesh, and made Chandigarh a Union Territory and the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana.

Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969, and Mysore State became Karnataka in 1973. On 21 January 1972, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura gained statehood. Sikkim joined India as the 22nd state on 16 May 1975, abolishing its monarchy. In 1987, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states on 20 February, followed by Goa on 30 May, while Daman and Diu became a separate Union Territory.

In November 2000, three new states were created, namely:

• Chhattisgarh, from eastern Madhya Pradesh,
• Uttaranchal, from northwest Uttar Pradesh (renamed Uttarakhand in 2007)
• Jharkhand, from southern districts of Bihar with the enforcement of Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000 and Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 respectively.
• Pondicherry was renamed Puducherry in 2007 and Orissa was renamed Odisha in 2011. Telangana was created on 2 June 2014 from ten former districts of north-western Andhra Pradesh.

In August 2019, the Parliament of India passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which contains provisions to reorganise the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories; Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, effective from 31 October 2019. Later that year in November, the Government of India introduced legislation to merge the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli into a single union territory to be known as Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, effective from 26 January 2020.

What does India mean?

The name of the country is derived from the Indus River that flows across Ladakh and Pakistan. Even here, Indus originates from the OldPersian word 'Hindus' which has a Sanskrit root called'Sindhu'.

In fact, the Indus River is historically referred to as Sindhu River. The ancient Greeks referred to Indians as Indoi which translates as "the people of the Indus".

The geographical term Bharat which is recognised by the Constitution as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations.

The eponym of Bharat is King Bharata, the younger brother of Lord Rama. According to legend, he ruled the subcontinent with the sandals of Lord Rama as the latter was banished to live in forests before his eventual return to rule Ayodhya.

Hindustan was originally a Persian word that meant "Land of the Hindus". Prior to 1947, it referred to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan.

Sometimes, 'Hindustan' is occasionally used to denote India in its entirety.