Central University of South Bihar

My constitutional history assignment

Name-Ravi Sharma
Session -2021-26
Enrollment - CUSB2113125085
Section - A
Topic - Constitutional position of Indian
states before and after 1947
Submitted to Dr Kumari Nitu

Introduction

India is a prosperous country with 29 states and 7 Union territories. Every

state of this country has a unique charm, a unique history and a unique
culture, which makes it stand apart from the rest. One needs more than a
lifetime to explore all the states of India as they offer a wide spectrum of
tourism possibilities. You meet multilingual people, delve into their faiths,
understand their cultures and savour their cuisines.
States of India offer diverse geographical experiences to travellers. Beach
lovers can enjoy the pleasure of sun, sea and sand in states like Goa,
Chennai and Kerala. These states house the most immaculate beaches where
sun shines with all its grandeur. Then there are states like Jammu and
Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh which bring out the most
enchanting facets of nature. These states also offer you immense
opportunities to partake in the most exciting adventure activities, including
river rafting, climbing, paragliding, mountaineering, skiing and camping.
Those looking for culturally rich states of India, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat,
Haryana and Bihar top the charts. The locals of these states follow their
cultures and religions by heart which can be seen in their traditional attires,
festivals and lifestyle.

Some states of India are known for their serenity as they are still far-away
from the modern layers. Visit Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland to
experience a whole new side of India which is simple yet stunning, unique yet
familiar.

Indian states before independence

There were 17 provinces and 584 princely states in the British India. The
provinces were:

Ajmer – Merwara (Now part of of Rajasthan)

Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Assam (Seven Sister states and some parts of Bangladesh)
Baluchistan (Joined Pakistan after Independence)
Bengal (Split into West Bengal and East Pakistan (Bangladesh))
Bihar
Bombay (Consisted parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka)
Central Provinces & Berar (It is Madhya Pradesh in the present time)
Coorg (Now part of Karnataka)
Delhi (Now part of NCT of Delhi)
Madras (Consisted parts of present day Tamil Nnadu, Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka)
North-West Frontier (Joined Pakistan after Independence)
Orissa (It is Odisha in the present time)
Panth-Piploda (Now part of Madhya Pradesh)
Punjab (Split into two parts between India and Pakistan)
Sindh (Joined Pakistan after Independence)
United Provinces (It is Uttar Pradesh in the present time)

Princely States
After independence of India from the British Rule, the 584 princely states
either joined the Indian Union or Pakistan.

Sikkim was the last princely state to join the Indian Union in 1975.

Indians States at the Time of Independence

At the time of Independence on 15 August 1947, India had following 12 states:

Assam
Bengal
Bihar
Bombay
Central India
Central Provinces
Madras
Mysore
Orissa
Punjab
Rajputana
United Provinces
By the time India became a sovereign democratic republic on 26 January
1950, states like Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Manipur and Tripura
had also joined the Indian Union.

Indian States after independence

India is also known as a Union of States. Article 1(1) of the Constitution of

India declares that India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. In
describing India as a Union of States, the Drafting Committee of the
Constituent Assembly followed the language of the Preamble of the British
North America Act, 1867.[1] Explaining the significance of the expression
Union instead of the expression Federation, Dr. B.R Ambedkar, the Chairman
of the Drafting Committee, said that the word was adopted to indicate two
things, viz.:
That the Indian federation is not the result of an agreement between the units
it constituted of and
That the component units have no freedom to secede from the Union so
created.[2]
The same was done with the intention to create and preserve the federal
structure of India. The authors of the Indian Constitution, unlike the current
generation of Indians, did not believe that the states, districts and mandals
within India are static, unchanging, and permanent. They had the maturity to
accept that States would evolve and change, and hence made provisions for
the creation of new States in Indian Union.[3] In a case[4] the Supreme Court
has held that India adopted a 'loose federal structure', which is an
indestructible Union of destructible Units.
Therefore, the States form an integral part of India as a Union. They represent
their unique identities and ultimately play a vital role in securing and
preserving the Federal Structure in India as also set out by the Constitution.

In this Article, I shall be discussing about the Constitutional provisions relating

to the creation of new States in India, the procedure for their creation as
prescribed in the Constitution, as well as some examples of the newly formed
States in India under the ambit of the Indian Constitution.

Creation Of New States In India : Constitutional Provisions

In India, new states are created following the provisions as prescribed under
Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the Constitution of India.

Article 2 is titled as: Admission and establishment of new states.

Article 3 is titles as: Formation of new states and alteration of areas,

boundaries or names of existing states.

Article 4 is titled as: Laws made under articles 2 and 3 to provide for the
amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules and supplemental, incidents
and consequential matters.

We shall be discussing the above provisions in depth in this present Article.

Creation Of New States In India: The Constitutional Procedure

As given above, new States in India are created under the provisions of
Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the Indian Constitution.

Article 2 of the Constitution of India vests in the Indian Parliament the

exclusive power to admit or establish new states into the Indian Union on such
terms and conditions as the Parliament may provide for. This authority is with
the Indian Parliament only and the State legislatures have no power to frame
laws on this subject matter.

Article 2 reads as:

Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new states on such
terms and conditions as it thinks fit.
Article 3 of the Constitution of India dives and defines further and authorises
the Indian Parliament to form new states; alter the area, boundaries or names
of existing states by legislation. The parliament, under this Article, is
empowered to form a new state by separating a territory from any state or by
uniting states or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any
state. It is also empowered to increase or diminish the area of any state or to
alter the boundaries or the name of any state. It should be noted that in
clauses from (a) to (e) under Article 3, the expression 'State' includes a Union
Territory.

Article 3 of the Constitution of India reads as: Parliament may by law

Form a new state by separation of territory from any state or by uniting two or
more states or parts of states or by uniting any territory to a part of any state;
Increase the area of any state;
Diminish the area of any State;
Alter the boundaries of any state;
Alter the name if any State
There is a provisio clause attached to Article 3. The clause provides that any
legislation framed upon the provisions of Article 3 shall not be introduced in
either House of the Indian Parliament, except when it is firstly recommended
by the President of India for the same purpose.

This clause further provides that where such legislation affects the area,
boundary or the name of any existing State, then such a legislation shall not
be introduced in either House of the Parliament unless, when first referred by
the President to such State legislature affected, views of such State legislature
are first acquired on its area, boundary or name being affected thereby.

It is to be noted that such views by the State legislature shall be

communicated to the Parliament within such time period as the President of
India may specify in such reference or within such time period as the
President may allow. If the Centre accepts the State's recommendation, a bill
can be introduced in either House of Parliament on the recommendation of the
President, which in fact means the recommendation of the Union government.

Before drafting the Bill, it is open to the Centre to appoint a Commission to fix
boundaries and for Sharing waters, providing other guarantees and location of
capitals, High Courts and all other requirements of the States to be formed. It
is only on receipt of a report of the Commission that the President may
recommend a Bill, on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.[1]
However, the Parliament is not bound to accept or act upon the views of the
State legislature, even if such views are received in time.[2] This means, even
if there is opposition to the referred Bill, or such reference is not responded to
within the prescribed time, or when such a Bill is approved, the a President
can go ahead with formation of a new State.[3] Period within which the State
Legislature must express its views has to be specified by the President; but
the President may extend the period so specified.

If, however, the period specified or extended expires and no views of the State
Legislature are received, the Second condition laid down in the provisio is
fulfilled in spite of the fact that the views of the State legislature have not been
expressed. The intention seems to be to give an opportunity to the State
Legislature to express its views within the time allowed; if the State Legislature
fails to avail itself of that opportunity, such failure does not invalidate the
introduction of the bill.[4]

It should be noted that in the provisio clause attached to Article 3, the

expression State does not include a Union Territory.
The provisio clause reads as : provided that no bill for the purpose shall be
introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the
President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the
area, boundaries or names of any of the States, the Bill has been referred by
the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon
within such further period as the President may allow and the period so
specified or allowed has expired.

Article 4 of the Indian Constitution reflects a mandatory direction to the

Parliament while framing a legislation under Article 2 and 3. It directs the
Parliament to frame a legislation which bears within it certain provisions
providing for the amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule of
the Constitution of India in order to giving affect to such legislation.

Such a law may also contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential
provisions, including provisions relating to the distribution of representation in
the Parliament and in the legislatures of the States, as the Parliament may
deem necessary. Further, this Article clearly bars the jurisdiction of the
Parliament to frame a legislation intending to be an amendment of the
Constitution for the purposes of Article 368.
The First Schedule of the Indian Constitution enlists the names of the States
and the Union Territories which are included in the expression 'Union of
States'. The Fourth Schedule prescribes the allocation of seats in the Council
of States.

Article 4 of the Constitution of India reads as:

Any law referred to in Article 2 or Article 3 shall contain such provisions for the
amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule as may be
necessary to give effect to the provisions of the law and may also contain such
supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions (including provisions as
to representation in Parliament and in the Legislature or Legislatures of the
State or States affected by such law) as Parliament may deem necessary.

No such law as aforesaid shall be deemed to be an amendment of this

Constitution for the purposes of Article 368.
Therefore, the procedure discussed above is how States in India are created.

Some Notable Examples Of Newly Created States In India

Since the enforcement of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 in India, a
major reformation of the boundaries of the Indian States and the Union
Territories, several States were created on the basis of linguistic lines. The
States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was enacted on 31st August, 1956 and the
same came into force on 1st November, 1956.

Some of the recent and notable examples of newly created States in India on
the basis of The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 includes:
The State of Andhra Pradesh was the first State to be created, post
Independence, on a linguistic basis out of Telugu speaking regions of Madras
State. It was created in the year 1953. Telangana was a region within Andhra
Pradesh for almost six decades, but in 2014 it was carved off to form a
separate State. The Capital of both Andhra and Telangana is Hyderabad, in
West Central Telangana.[1]

The Union Territory of Puducherry ( earlier Pondicherry) was formed out of the
four former French colonies in India; namely Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and
Yanam. It was created in the year 1962.

The State of Telangana was officially formed on June 2, 2014. Telangana

region was part of the Hyderabad State from September 17th , 1948 to
November 1st, 1956, until it was merged with Andhra State to form the Andhra
Pradesh State. After decades of movement for a separate state, Telangana
was created by passing the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act in both
the Houses of the Parliament.[2]

The former State of Jammu and Kashmir was officially created into a Union
Territory on 31 October, 2019 by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act,
2019, which was passed by both the Houses of the Parliament of India in
August 2019. This Act resulted into the re constitution of the former State of
J&K into two Union Territories i.e Union Territory of J&K and Union Territory of
Ladakh.

Conclusion

India, a Union of States, has a federal structure and being so it is counted in

as one of the Basic Structure of the Indian Constitution. India being rich in
diversity, cultures and languages, it is abundantly necessary to preserve these
aspects. The Constitution makers also envisaged this and therefore,
provisions like Article 2, 3 and 4 were incorporated as an important part of
Indian Federalism.

In this respect, new States are created in India on the basis of these criteria to
strengthen and preserve the States unique cultures and languages or scripts.
This is one of the ways through which not only the uniqueness of India is
protected but also its cultures, traditions and dialects