Opinions about article 1 and article 2
Answers
Answer:
Article 1 of the constitution says that India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states and the territory
The acquired territories can be converted in to a state/states as per Article 2. Jammu and Kashmir get converted to Union territory in 2019. Ladakh was also so converted.
Sikkim was a special case which was included as a completely new type of statehood under a new Article 2A and conditions mentioned in tenth schedule, and was called 'associate state'. But this experiment failed and Sikkim was later added to Indian Union by Constitutional Amendment Act (1975).
With the seventh amendment to the constitution in 1956, the concept of Union territory is brought in to administer areas which are very small in area or governed by international agreements or politically not evolved for locally elected governance. The representation of seats in the council of states (Rajya Sabha) shall be as given in Schedule 4 of the constitution. The territorial waters and the exclusive economic zones shall also become part of the territories of states or union territories in the absence of any listing of them separately in Schedule 1 and 4 of the constitution. There is no separate representation in parliament though people inhabit on these offshore areas for exploiting resources such as fisheries, oil and gas, etc.
The constitution (40th amendment) act, 1976, was passed during the emergency period and received Presidential assent on 27 May 1976. It amended the Article 297 (earlier also amended by the constitution [15th amendment] act, 1963) so as to vest in Union of India all lands, minerals, and other things of value underlying the ocean within the territorial waters or continental shelf or exclusive economic zone of India.[2]
The territorial waters, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and other maritime zones act, 1976 was enacted by the Indian government to notify the sovereign rights on these areas for dealings with other countries.[3] However, these maritime zones are also parts of the states as they are not separately listed in schedule 1 of the constitution and union government (i.e. union of states) has control over these territories.[4][5]
States are not debarred from imposing taxes or royalty on the minerals extracted from the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone (which are under states jurisdiction) as per serial no. 50 of state list in seventh schedule (Taxes on mineral rights subject to any limitations imposed by Parliament by law relating to mineral development) of the constitution.[6]