Union and Its Territory
- Articles 1-4 of the Constitution's Part-I deal with the Union and its territory.
Union of States
Article 1 describes India as a 'Union of States', not a 'Federation of States'.
Deals with country's name and type of polity.
The Constituent Assembly adopted 'India, that is, Bharat' as the country's name due to differing opinions.
'Union' was preferred over 'Federation' because:
- The Indian Federation isn't from a state agreement.
- States cannot secede, ensuring the Union's indestructibility.
Territory of India Classification (Article 1):
- Territories of the states
- Union territories
- Territories acquired by the Government of India in the future
The names/extents of states/UTs are in the First Schedule of the Constitution.
- Currently, there are 28 states and 8 UTs.
- Special provisions under Part XXI apply to some states.
- Fifth and Sixth Schedules have provisions for administering scheduled and tribal areas.
Territory of India vs. Union of India:
- 'Territory of India' is wider and includes states, UTs, and future acquired territories.
- 'Union of India' includes only states.
- States share power with the Centre.
- UTs and acquired territories are directly administered by the Central government.
India, being a sovereign state, can acquire foreign territories through international law modes like cession, occupation, conquest, etc.
- India acquired territories such as Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Daman and Diu, Puducherry and Sikkim.
Parliament's Power to Reorganise the States
Article 2: Empowers the Parliament to admit new states into the Union or establish new states with terms and conditions as it deems fit.
- Article 2 relates to the admission or establishment of new states that are not part of the Union of India.
Article 3: Authorises the Parliament to form new states, alter areas/boundaries/names of existing states.
- Article 3 deals with the internal re-adjustment inter se of the territories of the constituent states of the Union of India.
Conditions for Article 3:
- A bill for changes needs the President's prior recommendation.
- The President refers the bill to the concerned state legislature for expressing its views within a specified period.
- The President/Parliament isn't bound by state legislature views.
- Fresh reference isn't needed for every amendment to the bill.
- For UTs, no reference to the legislature is needed.
Parliament can redraw India's political map without state consent.
- The territorial integrity/existence of a state isn't guaranteed by the Constitution.
- India is described as 'an indestructible union of destructible states'.
- The Union Government can destroy the states, but not vice-versa.
- The USA is an 'indestructible union of indestructible states' where state consent is needed for border changes.
Article 4 states that laws made under Articles 2/3 aren't considered constitutional amendments under Article 368. They can be passed by simple majority and ordinary legislative process.
The power to diminish state areas doesn't include ceding Indian territory to a foreign country. This requires a constitutional amendment under Article 368.
- Settling boundary disputes with another country can be done via executive action.
Exchange of Territories with Bangladesh
The 100th Constitutional Amendment Act (2015) was enacted to give effect to the acquiring of certain territories by India and transfer of certain other territories to Bangladesh.
Key Aspects:
- India transferred 111 enclaves to Bangladesh.
- Bangladesh transferred 51 enclaves to India.
- The deal also involved the transfer of adverse possessions and the demarcation of a 6.1 km undemarcated border stretch
- Modified provisions related to territories of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura.
Background:
- The India-East Pakistan boundary was determined as per the Radcliffe Award of 1947.
- Disputes were sought to be resolved through the Bagge Award of 1950 and the Nehru-Noon Agreement of 1958.
- The issue relating to division of Berubari Union was challenged before the Supreme Court. To comply with the opinion rendered by the Supreme Court, the Constitution (9th Amendment) Act, 1960 was passed by the Parliament
- An Agreement between India and Bangladesh was signed on May 16, 1974, concerning the demarcation of the land boundary and related matters.
Evolution of States and Union Territories
At independence, India comprised British provinces and princely states.
The Indian Independence Act (1947) offered princely states options to join India, Pakistan, or remain independent.
Of 552 princely states, 549 joined India.
The remaining 3 (Hyderabad, Junagarh and Kashmir) were integrated later.
- Hyderabad was integrated by means of police action.
- Junagarh was integrated by means of referendum.
- Kashmir was integrated by the Instrument of Accession.
1950 Classification: The Constitution had a four-fold classification of states and territories of the Indian Union: Part A, Part B and Part C states and Part D territories.
- Part A: nine erstwhile governor's provinces of British India.
- Part B: nine erstwhile princely states with legislatures.
- Part C: erstwhile chief commissioner's provinces of British India and some of the erstwhile princely states.
- Part D: Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Dhar Commission and JVP Committee
- The integration of princely states was an ad hoc arrangement.
- Demands arose for reorganisation of states on a linguistic basis, particularly in South India.
- Linguistic Provinces Commission (1948) under S.K. Dhar recommended administrative convenience over linguistic factors.
- Linguistic Provinces Committee (1948) (JVP Committee) rejected language as a basis for reorganisation.
Fazl Ali Commission
The creation of Andhra state intensified the demand from other regions for creation of states on linguistic basis.
States Reorganisation Commission (1953) under Fazl Ali broadly accepted language as the basis of reorganisation but rejected 'one language-one state'. It prioritised India's unity.
Four major factors for reorganisation:
- Preservation of country's unity/security
- Linguistic/cultural homogeneity
- Financial, economic, administrative considerations
- Welfare of people in each state and nation
The commission suggested abolishing the original Constitution's four-fold classification and creating 16 states and 3 centrally administered territories.
The Government accepted these recommendations with certain minor modifications. The States Reorganisation Act (1956) and the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act (1956) led to the creation of 14 states and 6 union territories on November 1, 1956.
New States and Union Territories Created After 1956
Even after the large-scale reorganisation of the states in 1956, the political map of India underwent continuous changes due to the pressure of popular agitations and political conditions.
Maharashtra and Gujarat: Bombay was divided in 1960 into Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Dadra and Nagar Haveli: Became a UT in 1961. Later, in 2020, this union territory was merged with the union territory of Daman and Diu.
Goa, Daman and Diu: Acquired in 1961 and made a UT in 1962. Goa attained statehood in 1987, while Daman and Diu became a separate UT. Again, in 2020, the union territory of Daman and Diu was merged with the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Puducherry: Made a UT in 1962.
Nagaland: Formed in 1963.
Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh: Punjab was bifurcated in 1966.
Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya: Gained statehood in 1972.
Sikkim: Became an associate state in 1974 and a full-fledged state in 1975.
Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa: Became states in 1987.
Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand: Created in 2000.
Telangana: Formed in 2014
Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh: In 2019, the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir had its own constitution and thus enjoyed a special status by virtue of Article 370 of the Constitution of India. In 2019, this special status was abolished. Further, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, bifurcated the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate union territories
Change of Names
- Several states/UTs have had name changes.
- Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Puducherry, Odisha