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 so on.
List of states and territories ^Note 1 Andhra Pradesh has been split into
two states on 2 June 2014, Telangana and a residual Andhra Pradesh.
Hyderabad is to be the joint capital for both states for ten years while new capital for
the residual Andhra Pradesh state are being decided.
Responsibilities and authorities The Constitution of India distributes the
sovereign powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the
Union and that State.
"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."
History
Pre-1956 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.
During the British Raj, the original administrative structure was mostly kept, and India was divided
into provinces 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 over the princely states.
Post-1956 Several new states and union territories have
been created out of existing states since 1956.
Bombay State was split into the linguistic states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May
1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act.
Nagaland was made a state on 1 December 1963.
The Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 divided the Punjab along linguistic lines, creating
a new Hindi-speaking state of Haryana on 1 November, transferring the northern districts
of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh, and designating Chandigarh, the shared capital of Punjab and
Haryana, a union territory.
Statehood was conferred upon Himachal Pradesh on 25 January 1971, Manipur, Meghalaya and
Tripura on 21 January 1972 the Kingdom of Sikkim joined the Indian Union as a state
on 26 April 1975.
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 became a separate union territory.
In 2000 three new states were created; Chhattisgarh was created out of eastern Madhya Pradesh,
Uttaranchal, which was renamed Uttarakhand in 2007, was created out of the Hilly regions
of northwest Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand was created out of the southern districts
of Bihar.
In 2014, the new state of Telangana was carved out from the North-Western regions of the
state of Andhra Pradesh.
The city of Hyderabad became the joint capital of the two states.
Current Proposals In November 2011 Mayawati, the chief minister
of Uttar Pradesh, proposed dividing it into four states, Avadh Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Paschim
Pradesh, and Purvanchal.
On 21 November this movement was backed through a "voice vote" by the state assembly, despite
criticism from the opposition and claims that the move was made to gain support for the
next state election.
It must gain the approval of the federal government, however this may be difficult due to the opposition
to the creation of Telangana.
See also Adjectivals and demonyms for states and territories
of India List of proposed states and territories of
India Autonomous regions of India
Emblems of Indian States ISO 3166-2:IN
List of states and union territories of India by population
List of states in India by past population Subdivisions of India
References
External links Maps of the Historical Territorial Evolution
of the States of India Official Government of India website: States
and Union Territories