The political and administrative reorganization of states and territories has been a continuous ongoing…

Question

The political and administrative reorganization of states and territories has been a continuous ongoing process since the mid-nineteenth century. Discuss with examples.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

State reorganisation has been continuous since the 1850s, moving from colonial annexation and administrative convenience to language, ethnicity and development as its basis. Examples run from Awadh's 1856 annexation and Bengal's 1905 partition to the 1956 Act, Telangana in 2014 and the J&K split in 2019.

**Introduction**

India's internal map has been redrawn in almost every generation, from Dalhousie's annexations in the 1850s to the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019. Only the basis changed, from imperial convenience to language, ethnicity and development.

**Colonial Reorganisation for Imperial Convenience**

SKETCH: timeline | Redrawing India's Map
- 1856 :: Awadh annexed
- 1905 :: Bengal partitioned
- 1936 :: Orissa, Sind provinces
- 1956 :: SR Act
- 2000 :: Three new states
- 2019 :: J&K, Ladakh UTs

1. **Annexation and lapse**: Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse absorbed Satara, Jhansi and Nagpur, and Awadh was annexed in 1856, redrawing the map for revenue and control.
2. **Administrative carving**: The Central Provinces (1861) and a separate Assam (1874) were carved out of unwieldy units.
3. **Partition and first linguistic units**: Curzon's 1905 partition of Bengal was annulled in 1911, Bihar and Orissa became a province in 1912, and Orissa became the first linguistic province in 1936.

**Post-Independence Reorganisation of States and Territories**

1. **Integration and language**: Over 560 princely states were merged, and Andhra (1953), the 1956 Act, Maharashtra and Gujarat (1960) and Haryana (1966) followed linguistic movements.
2. **Ethnic and frontier phase**: The 1971 North-Eastern Areas Act, Sikkim (1975) and Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh (1987) answered tribal and strategic concerns.
3. **Development phase**: Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand (2000), Telangana (2014) and the 2019 split of J&K left 28 states and 8 UTs.

**Way Forward**

1. **Clear criteria**: A Second States Reorganisation Commission should test viability and identity before demands like Vidarbha are judged.
2. **Sub-state autonomy**: Sixth Schedule councils such as the Bodoland Territorial Region can meet aspirations without new borders.

**Conclusion**

Reorganisation has moved from serving an empire to serving citizens. Articles 2 and 3 let India absorb continuous change without fracturing.

The political and administrative reorganization of states and territories has been a continuous ongoing process since the mid-nineteenth century. Discuss with examples.

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