States and territories of India
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India is a federal union of states[1] comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.[1]
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[edit] States and territories
States:
Union Territories:
Jammu and Kashmir is disputed territory and controlled by India it is claimed by Pakistan & China with each country administering a part of the former state of Kashmir
Arunachal Pradesh is also claimed by China
The Andhra Pradesh state government has announced that the Northwestern part of Andhra Pradesh is to be turned into a new state. The state boundaries are most probably to be lain out around the areas which constituted the Telugu-speaking areas ruled by the Nizam. The campaign for a new state has been going on for many years, but has hasn't been officially accepted until now
[edit] Pre-1956
The subcontinent of India has been ruled by many different ethnic groups throughout its history, each imposing their own administrative divisions on the region. Modern India's current administrative divisions are fairly recent developments, which began to develop during British colonial rule of India. British India included almost all of present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, as well as the associated protectorate of Afghanistan and province, later colony, of Burma (Myanmar). During this period, regions of India were either directly ruled by the British or under the control of local rajas. Independence in 1947 largely preserved these divisions, with the provinces of Punjab and Bengal being divided between India and Pakistan. One of the first challenges for the new nation was the integration of the multitude of princely states into the union.
Following independence, however, instability soon arose in India. Many of the provinces had been created by the British to serve their colonial purposes and as such did not reflect either the will of India's citizens or the ethnic divisions found throughout the subcontinent. Ethnic tensions spurred the Indian Parliament to reorganize the country along ethnic and linguistic lines in 1956 by means of the States Reorganisation Act.
[edit] After 1956
The former French and Portuguese colonies in India were incorporated into the Republic as the union territories of Pondicherry, Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Goa, Daman, and Diu in 1962.
Several new states and union territories have been created out of existing states since 1956. Bombay State was split into the linguistic states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 [2] by the Bombay Reorganization Act. Nagaland was made a state on 1 December 1963. [3]. The Punjab Reorganization Act of 1966 divided the Punjab along linguistic and religious lines, creating a new Hindu and Hindi-speaking state of Haryana on 1 November [4], transferring the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh, and designating Chandigarh, the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana, a union territory.
Statehood was conferred upon Himachal Pradesh on 25 January 1971, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura on 21 January 1972. [5] The Kingdom of Sikkim joined the Indian Union as a state on 26 April 1975. [6] In 1987, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became states on 20 February, followed by Goa on 30 May, while Goa's northern exclaves of Daman and Diu became a separate union territory. [7]
In 2000 three new states were created; Chhattisgarh (November 1, 2000) was created out of eastern Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal (November 9, 2000), since renamed Uttarakhand, was created out of the Hilly regions of northwest Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand (15 November 2000) was created out of the southern districts of Bihar. The Union Territories of Delhi and Pondicherry (renamed to Puducherry) have since been given the right to elect their own legislatures and they are now counted as small states
On the midnight of 9th of December 2009 the union home minister of India Mr. P. Chidambaram made an announcement that the Central Government is giving the nod for separate state of Telangana (to be separated from Andhra Pradesh)[8]
[edit] Late 2009
Ahead of the 2009 General Elections in India all the major parties in Andhra Pradesh supported Telangana state. In the first week of Dec 2009, the TRS president, K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) started a fast-unto-death demanding that the Congress party introduce a Telangana bill in the Parliament.Student organizations, employee unions and various organizations joined the movement.The decline of KCR's health has contributed to a sense of urgency for the central government to take a decision on the issue of Telangana statehood.
On Dec 9th 2009, 11:30 PM, Mr. P. Chidambaram, Union Minister of Home Affairs, on behalf of the Government of India announced that a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh assembly for the creation of a separate Telangana state will be passed. Mr. Chidambaram also informed that process for the formation of a separate Telangana state will be initiated soon. KCR ending his 11 day fast said from his hospital bed that this a true victory of the people of Telangana. [9]
On December 10, 2009, Indian government has agreed to start the process of forming a separate Telangana.[10] Central government asked Andhra Pradesh state government to pass of a resolution in the legislative assembly(As per article 3 of Constitution, Parliament does not require assembly resolution to create a new state. Its mere formality).[11]
Several members of Andhra Pradesh's legislature submitted their resignations to protest the creation of the new state.[12] As of 11 December, at least 117 legislators and many Members of Parliament had resigned in protest of the Government's decision to carve out a new state of Telangana.[13] Most of this Legislators/MPs' resigned belong to Andhra/Rayalaseema region.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
As on Dec 14th 2009, Indian government is in dilemma whether to proceed with the Telangana state or not. Still government is in ambiguity situation to take the decision on Telangana.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "States and union territories" (HTML). http://www.india.gov.in/knowindia/state_uts.php. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ J.C. Aggarwal and S.P. Agrawal, editors, Uttarakhand: Past, Present, and Future (New Delhi: Concept Publishing, 1995), p89-90
- ^ Ibid. at 91
- ^ Ibid. at 89
- ^ Ibid. at 89-90, 92
- ^ Ibid. at 92
- ^ Ibid. at 89, 91
- ^ http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/dec/10/slide-show-1-trs-supporters-celebrate-telangana-statehood-news.htm
- ^ Process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated
- ^ "Centre agrees to form Telangana state". Business Standard. 10 December 2009. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/centre-agrees-to-form-telangana-state/379142/. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
- ^ Constitution of India
- ^ Press Trust of India (December 10, 2009). "60 AP MLAs submit resignation to protest Telangana creation". Business Standard. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/60-ap-mlas-submit-resignation-to-protest-telangana-creation/80453/on. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
- ^ "Telangana: Shutdown in Andhra Pradesh, 117 legislators quit". Times of India. December 11, 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Telangana-Shutdown-in-Andhra-Pradesh-117-legislators-quit/articleshow/5325650.cms. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
[edit] External links
- Official Government of India website: States and Union Territories
- Clickable map of India and History of States
- Article on sub-national governance in India
- Interactive Map of India
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