States and union territories of India

Indian States and Union territories
Category	Federated state
Location	Republic of India
Number	29 States 7 Union territories
Populations	States: 607,688 Sikkim – 199,581,477 Uttar Pradesh Union Territories: 64,429 Lakshadweep – 11,007,835 National Capital Territory
Areas	States: 3,700 km^2 (1,429 sq mi) Goa – 342,269 km^2 (132,151 sq mi) Rajasthan Union territories: 31 km^2 (12 sq mi) Lakshadweep – 8,070 km^2 (3,117 sq mi) Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Government	State government, Union Government (Union territories)
Subdivisions	District, Divisions

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-nine states and seven union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and further into smaller administrative divisions.

Responsibilities and authorities

The Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the Union and that State.^[1]

History

Administrative division of India in 1951

Pre-Independence

The Indian Subcontinent has been ruled by many different ethnic groups throughout its history, each instituting their own policies of administrative division in the region.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} During the British Raj, the original administrative structure was mostly kept, and India was divided into provinces (also called Presidencies) that were directly governed by the British and princely states which were nominally controlled by a local prince or raja loyal to the British Empire, who held de facto sovereignty (suzerainty) over the princely states.

1947-50

Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. Most were merged into existing provinces; others were organised into new provinces, such as Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, and Vindhya Pradesh, made up of multiple princely states; a few, including Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Bilaspur, became separate provinces. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, made India a sovereign democratic republic. The new republic was also declared to be a "Union of States".^[12] The constitution of 1950 distinguished between three main types of states:

• Part A states, which were the former governors' provinces of British India, were ruled by an elected governor and state legislature. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh (formerly Central Provinces and Berar), Madras, Orissa, Punjab (formerly East Punjab), Uttar Pradesh (formerly the United Provinces), and West Bengal.
• The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of princely states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state, and an elected legislature. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India. The Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin.
• The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners' provinces and some princely states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, and Vindhya Pradesh.
• The only Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government.

States Reorganization (1951-56)

The Union Territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahé.^[13] Andhra State was created on October 1, 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State.^[14]

The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganized the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states.^[15] As a result of this act, Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to from Travancore-Cochin. Andhra Pradesh was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956. Kerala was created with the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin. Mysore State was re-organized with the addition of districts of Bellary and South Canara (excluding Kasaragod taluk) and the Kollegal taluk of Coimbatore district from the Madras State, the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, North Canara and Dharwad from Bombay State, the Kannada-majority districts of Bidar, Raichur and Gulbarga from Hyderabad State and the province of Coorg. The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organized into the union territory of Lakshadweep.

Bombay State was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, the Marathi-speaking districts of Nagpur Division of Madhya Pradesh and Marathwada region of Hyderabad State. Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar was transferred to West Bengal.

Post 1956

Bombay State was split into the linguistic states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act.^[16] Nagaland was formed on 1 December 1963.^[17] The Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh.^[18] The act also designated Chandigarh as a union territory and the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana.^[19][20]

Madras state was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1968. North-eastern states of Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura were formed on 21 January 1972.^[21] Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka in 1973. On 16 May 1975, Sikkim became the 22nd state of the Indian Union and the state's monarchy was abolished.^[22] 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 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli became separate union territories.^[23]

In November 2000, three new states were created namely, Chhattisgarh from eastern Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal from northwest Uttar Pradesh (renamed Uttarakhand in 2007) and Jharkhand from southern districts of Bihar.^{[24][25][26][27]} Orissa was renamed as Odisha in 2011. Telangana was created on June 2, 2014 by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh and comprises ten districts in northwestern Andhra Pradesh.^[28][29]

Current proposals

List of states and union territories

States

Map	Name	ISO 3166-2 code[30][31]	Date of formation	Population	Area (km^2)	Official language(s)[32]	Administrative capital	Largest city (if not the capital)	Population density (per km^2)	Literacy Rate (%)	% of total population that is urban
1	Andhra Pradesh	AP	1953 Oct 1 (as Andhra State)	49,506,799	160,205	Telugu	Hyderabad^Note 1	Visakhapatnam	308	67.41%[33]	29.6
2	Arunachal Pradesh	AR	1987 Feb 20	1,382,611	83,743	English	Itanagar		17	66.95	20.8
3	Assam	AS	1912 Apr 1 (as Assam Province)	31,169,272	78,550	Assamese, Bengali, Bodo	Dispur	Guwahati	397	73.18	12.9
4	Bihar	BR	1936 Apr 1	103,804,637	99,200	Hindi, Urdu	Patna		1,102	63.82	10.5
5	Chhattisgarh	CT	2000 Nov 1	25,540,196	135,194	Hindi	Naya Raipur	Raipur	189	71.04	20.1
6	Goa	GA	1987 May 30	1,457,723	3,702	Konkani	Panaji	Vasco	394	87.40	62.2
7	Gujarat	GJ	1960 May 1	60,383,628	196,024	Gujarati	Gandhinagar	Ahmedabad	308	79.31	37.4
8	Haryana	HR	1966 Nov 1	25,353,081	44,212	Hindi, Punjabi	Chandigarh (shared, Union Territory)	Faridabad	573	76.64	28.9
9	Himachal Pradesh	HP	1971 Jan 25	6,856,509	55,673	Hindi	Shimla		123	83.78	9.8
10	Jammu and Kashmir	JK	1947 Oct 26	12,548,926	222,236	Dogri, Kashmiri, Ladakhi, Urdu[34]	Srinagar (summer) Jammu (winter)		124	68.74	24.8
11	Jharkhand	JH	2000 Nov 15	32,966,238	74,677	Hindi	Ranchi	Jamshedpur	414	67.63	22.2
12	Karnataka	KA	1956 Nov 1 (as Mysore State)	61,130,704	191,791	Kannada	Bengaluru		319	75.60	34.0
13	Kerala	KL	1956 Nov 1	33,387,677	38,863	Malayalam	Thiruvananthapuram		859	93.91	26.0
14	Madhya Pradesh	MP	1947 Aug 15	72,597,565	308,252	Hindi	Bhopal	Indore	236	70.63	26.5
15	Maharashtra	MH	1960 May 1	112,372,972	307,713	Marathi	Mumbai		365	82.91	42.4
16	Manipur	MN	1972 Jan 21	2,721,756	22,347	Manipuri	Imphal		122	79.85	25.1
17	Meghalaya	ML	1972 Jan 21	2,964,007	22,720	English, Garo, Hindi, Khasi, Pnar	Shillong		132	75.48	19.6
18	Mizoram	MZ	1987 Feb 20	1,091,014	21,081	Mizo, English	Aizawl		52	91.58	49.6
19	Nagaland	NL	1963 Dec 1	1,980,602	16,579	English	Kohima	Dimapur	119	80.11	17.2
20	Odisha	OR	1936 Apr 1[35] (as Odisha Province)	41,947,358	155,820	Odia	Bhubaneswar		269	73.45	15.0
21	Punjab	PB	1947 Aug 15 (as East Punjab)	27,704,236	50,362	Punjabi	Chandigarh (shared, Union Territory)	Ludhiana	550	76.68	33.9
22	Rajasthan	RJ	1950 Jan 26	68,621,012	342,269	Hindi	Jaipur		201	67.06	23.4
23	Sikkim	SK	1975 May 16	607,688	7,096	Bhutia, Gurung, Lepcha, Limbu, Manggar, Nepali, Newari, Sherpa, Sunwar, Tamang	Gangtok		86	82.20	11.1
24	Tamil Nadu	TN	1950 Jan 26 (as Madras State)	72,138,958	130,058	Tamil	Chennai		480	80.33	44.0
25	Telangana	TG	2014 Jun 2	35,193,978[36]	114,840[36]	Telugu, Urdu	Hyderabad^Note 1		307 [37]	66.50% [37]	N/A
26	Tripura	TR	1972 Jan 21	3,671,032	10,492	Bengali, Tripuri	Agartala		350	87.75	17.1
27	Uttar Pradesh	UP	1902 Mar 22 (as United Provinces of Agra and Oudh)	199,581,477	243,286	Hindi, Urdu[38]	Lucknow	Kanpur	828	69.72	20.8
28	Uttarakhand	UT	2000 Nov 9 (as Uttaranchal)	10,116,752	53,483	Hindi, Sanskrit	Dehradun		189	79.63	25.7
29	West Bengal	WB	1947 Aug 15	91,347,736	88,752	Bengali and Nepali[lower-alpha 1]	Kolkata		1,029	77.08	28.0

• ^Note 1 Andhra Pradesh was divided into two states, Telangana and a residual Andhra Pradesh on 2 June 2014.^[39][40][41] Hyderabad, located entirely within the borders of Telangana, is to serve as joint capital for both states for a period of time not exceeding ten years.^[42]

Union territories

Map	Name	ISO 3166-2 code[30][31]	Population	Official language[32]	Capital	Population density (per km^2)	Literacy Rate(%)	% Urban Population
A	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	AN	379,944	English, Hindi	Port Blair	46	86.27	32.6
B	Chandigarh	CH	1,054,686	English, Hindi, Punjabi	Chandigarh	9,252	86.43	89.8
C	Dadra and Nagar Haveli	DN	342,853	English, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi	Silvassa	698	77.65	22.9
D	Daman and Diu	DD	242,911	English, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi	Daman	2,169	87.07	36.2
E	Lakshadweep	LD	64,429	English, Malayalam	Kavaratti	2,013	92.28	44.5
F	National Capital Territory of Delhi	DL	11,007,835	English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu	New Delhi	11,297	86.34	93.2
G	Puducherry	PY	1,244,464	English, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu[43][lower-alpha 2]	Pondicherry	2,598	86.55	66.6

See also

• Autonomous regions of India
• Emblems of Indian States
• ISO 3166-2:IN
• List of adjectives and demonyms for states and territories of India
• List of states and union territories of India by population
• List of states in India by past population
• List of Indian state and union territory name etymologies
• Subdivisions of India

Notes

1. Bengali and Nepali are the Official Languages in Darjeeling and Kurseong sub-divisions of Darjeeling district.
2. See Official languages of Puducherry

References

1. "Article 73 broadly stated, provides that the executive power of the Union shall extend to the matters with respect to which Parliament has power to make laws. Article 162 similarly provides that the executive power of a State shall extend to the matters with respect to which the Legislature of a State has power to make laws. The Supreme Court has reiterated this position when it ruled in the Ramanaiah case that the executive power of the Union or of the State broadly speaking, is coextensive and coterminous with its respective legislative power." Territoriality of executive powers of states in India, Balwant Singh Malik, Constitutional Law, 1998
2. Krishna Reddy (2003). Indian History. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-07-048369-8.
3. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1977). Ancient India. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN 81-208-0436-8.
4. Romila Thapar. A History of India: Part 1.
5. G. Bongard-Levin. A History of India: Volume 1.
6. Gupta Dynasty - MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009.
7. "India - Historical Setting - The Classical Age - Gupta and Harsha". Historymedren.about.com. 2 November 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
8. Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (2002) [1955]. A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar. New Delhi: Indian Branch, Oxford University Press. p. 239. ISBN 0-19-560686-8.
9. Chandra, Satish. Medieval India: From Sultanate To The Mughals. p. 202.
10. "Regional states, c. 1700–1850". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
11. Grewal, J. S. (1990). "Chapter 6: The Sikh empire (1799–1849)". The Sikh empire (1799–1849). The New Cambridge History of India. The Sikhs of the Punjab. Cambridge University Press.
12. "Article 1". Constitution of India.
13. "Reorganisation of states" (PDF). Economic Weekly. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
14. "Map of Madras Presidency in 1909". Retrieved 15 October 2013.
15. "Article 1". Constitution of India. Law Ministry, GOI. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
16. J.C. Aggarwal, S.P. Agrawal (1995). Uttarakhand: Past, Present, and Future. New DElhi: Concept Publishing. p. 89-90.
17. "Nagaland History & Geography-Source". india.gov.in. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
18. "Himachal Pradesh Tenth Five Year Plan" (PDF). Retrieved 17 June 2013.
19. "The Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966" (PDF). india.gov.in. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
20. "State map of India". Travel India guide. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
21. "Snapshot of North Eastern States" (PDF). thaibicindia.in. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
22. "About Sikkim". Official website of the Government of Sikkim. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
23. "Goa Chronology". goaonline.in. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
24. "Official Website of Government of Jharkhand". Jharkhand.gov.in. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
25. "Chhattisgarh state - History". Cg.gov.in. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
26. Chopra, Jasi Kiran (2 January 2007). "Uttaranchal is Uttarakhand, BJP cries foul". Times of India. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
27. "About Us: Uttarakhand Government Portal, India". Uk.gov.in. 9 November 2000. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
28. "The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014" (PDF). Ministry of law and justice, Government of India. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
29. "Telangana bill passed by upper house". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
30. "ISO Online Browsing Platform". ISO. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
31. "Code List: 3229". UN/EDIFACT. GEFEG. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
32. "Report of the Commissioner for linguistic minorities: 50th report (July 2012 to June 2013)" (pdf). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
33. "Literacy of AP (Census 2011)" (pdf). AP govt. portal. p. 43. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
34. "Official and Regional Languages of India". Mapsofindia.com. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
35. "Provinces of British India". Retrieved 24 December 2015.
36. "Telangana State Profile" (PDF). Telangana government portal. p. 34. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
37. "Population of Telangana" (pdf). Telangana government portal. p. 34. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
38. "Uttar Pradesh Legislature". Uplegassembly.nic.in. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
39. "Bifurcated into Telangana State and residual Andhra Pradesh State". The Times Of India. 2 June 2014.
40. "The Gazette of India : The Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014" (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice. Government of India. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
41. "The Gazette of India : The Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 Sub-section" (PDF). 4 March 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
42. Sanchari Bhattacharya (1 June 2014). "Andhra Pradesh Minus Telangana: 10 Facts". NDTV.
43. http://sabt.org.in/npmb-india/downloads/travel-info.pdf

External links

• Maps of the Historical Territorial Evolution of the States of India
• Official Government of India website: States and Union Territories