How was Indian states formed?
Answers
India comprises of 36 states and Union territories. Of these, 29 are states while seven are Union Territories.
The political map of India in 1947 was quite different as compared to the present one. During the British rule, India comprised provinces, which were directly under the rule of the British government and the princely states which were controlled by the local kings. However, these local kings were subservient to the British.
Following the independence of India in 1947, it was a herculean task for the newly formed government to integrate all the princely states into the Indian federation. Between the years 1947 and 1950, all the princely states were integrated within the Indian Union. Many of the former princely states were either made new provinces or were attached with existing provinces of the country.
On October 1, 1953, the Andhra State was created. The state comprised the Telugu-speaking districts of Madras State. In 1954, the Union Territory of Puducherry was established. The newly-created Union Territory comprised Yanam, Karaikal, Mahé, and Pondichéry, which were former French enclaves.
In 1956, as a part of the States Reorganization Act, the states in India were arranged on linguistic basis. This resulted in the creation of new states. Andhra Pradesh was created by merging Andhra State with the Telugu speaking area of the Hyderabad State. Travancore State was merged with the Malabar district of the Madras State to form Kerala state. Patiala and East Punjab States Union were merged with Punjab. Madhya Pradesh was created with the merger of Vindhya Pradesh, Bhopal State and the Madhya Bharat province.
The Mysore state was expanded as the western Hyderabad state and the Coorg state were added to it. In 1973, Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka. The Bombay State was also expanded with the addition of Hyderabad's Marathwada region, Saurashtra and Kutch, and the Nagpur division of Madhya Pradesh. New areas were added to Rajasthan. These were parts of Madhya Pradesh and Bombay State and the Ajmer State. The Madras State witnessed changes as the Malabar district was merged with Kerala. The Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi islands were made new territories. These were renamed as the Lakshwadeep Islands in 1973.
Following the States Reorganization Act of 1956, more states were created. In 1960, Bombay State was divided into the two states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. On December 1, 1963, Nagaland was created. In 1966 the Punjab Reorganization Act was implemented. With this, Haryana was carved out of the state on November 1, 1966, while the northern districts were added with Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh was established as a Union Territory and was shared by both Punjab and Haryana.
Indian states are formed on the basis that people who speak the same language live in the same state.
Moreover , the division of these linguistic states has actually made the country even more stronger and has made the administration easier.
Subsequently, new states were created on the basis of language.
Some states were created not on the basis of language, but on the basis of religion, culture, ethnicity etc.
Ultimately, many states have changed their boundaries in the 1950s.