India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 806 districts and smaller administrative divisions.
Bombay State was a large Indian state created in 1950 from the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency and Vidarbha) was merged with the princely states of Baroda, Western India and Gujarat and the Deccan States.
Rajpramukh was an administrative title in India which existed from India's independence in 1947 until 1956. Rajpramukhs were the appointed governors of certain Indian provinces and states.
Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a political territory within the Dominion of India and the subsequent Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's capital. When Parliament passed the States Reorganisation Act in 1956. Mysore State was considerably enlarged when it became a linguistically homogeneous Kannada-speaking state within the Republic of India by incorporating territories from Andhra, Bombay, Coorg, Hyderabad, and Madras States, as well as other petty fiefdoms, It was subsequently renamed Karnataka in 1973.
Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a region located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and part of the larger region of Kashmir which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pakistan and China since 1947. Jammu and Kashmir was administered by India as a state from 17 November 1952 to 31 October 2019, and Article 370 conferred on it the power to have a separate constitution, a state flag, and autonomy of internal administration.
The States Reorganisation Commission of India (SRC) constituted by the Central Government of India in December 1953 to recommend the reorganization of state boundaries. In September 1955, after two years of study, the Commission, comprising Justice Fazal Ali, K. M. Panikkar and H. N. Kunzru, submitted its report. The commission's recommendations were accepted with some modifications and implemented in the States Reorganisation Act in November 1956. The act provided that India's state boundaries should be reorganized to form 14 states and 6 centrally administered territories. On 10 December 1948, the report of Dar Commission was published but the issue remained unsolved.
For the government of India, Part XI of the Constitution of India – consists of Articles on Relations between the Union and States.
Amending the Constitution of India is the process of making changes to the nation's fundamental law or supreme law. The procedure of amendment in the constitution is laid down in Part XX of the Constitution of India. This procedure ensures the sanctity of the Constitution of India and keeps a check on arbitrary power of the Parliament of India.
A union territory is a type of administrative division in the Republic of India. Unlike the states of India, which have their own governments, union territories are federal territories governed, in part or in whole, directly by the Central Government of India. There are currently eight union territories in India: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi (NCT), Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
The Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1961, incorporated Dadra and Nagar Haveli as the seventh Union territory of India, by amending the First Schedule to the Constitution. It also amended clause (1) of article 240 of the Constitution to include therein the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in order to enable the President to "make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of the territory". The 10th Amendment retroactively came into effect on 11 August 1961.
Part I—The Union and Its territories is a compilation of laws pertaining to the constitution of India as a country and the union of states that it is made of.
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines.
The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1955, empowered the President to prescribe a time limit for a State Legislature to convey its views on proposed Central laws relating to the formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States. The amendment also permitted the President to extend the prescribed limit, and prohibited any such bill from being introduced in Parliament until after the expiry of the prescribed or extended period. The 5th Amendment re-enacted the provision to Article 3 of the Constitution.
The Twenty-third Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1969, discontinued reservation of seats for the Scheduled Tribes in Nagaland, both in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assembly and stipulated that not more than one Anglo-Indian could be nominated by the Governor to any State Legislative Assembly. Prior to the amendment, the number of Anglo-Indians who could be nominated to the State Legislative Assemblies, was left to the discretion of the Governor of the State. The amendment also extended the period of reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and representation of the Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies for another ten years, i.e. up to 26 January 1980.
The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1956, brought taxes on inter-State sales and purchases of goods other than newspapers within the exclusive legislative and executive power of the Union, and levied taxes on inter-State sales and purchase of goods other than newspapers. Although these taxes would be levied and collected in accordance with an Act of Parliament, they would not form part of the Consolidated Fund of India, but would accrue to the States themselves in accordance with such principles of distribution as may be formulated by Parliament by law.
The Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1962, incorporated Goa, Daman and Diu as the eighth Union territory of India, by amending the First Schedule to the Constitution. India acquired control of Goa, Daman and Diu from Portugal in December 1961. The amendment also amended clause (1) of article 240 of the Constitution to include therein these territories in order to enable the President to "make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of the territory".
The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1962, incorporated Pondicherry as the ninth Union territory of India, and also gave Parliament the authority to create by law, Legislatures and Councils of Ministers for the Union territories of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Goa, Daman and Diu and Puducherry.
The Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1966, amended article 3 of the Constitution in order to clarify the "State" in clauses (a) to (e) of that article include "Union territories". It also added another "Explanation" that the power conferred on Parliament by clause (a) includes the power to form a new State or Union territory by uniting a part of any State or Union territory to any other State or Union territory.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as The Constitution Act, 1971, enables Parliament to dilute Fundamental Rights through Amendments of the Constitution. It also amended article 368 to provide expressly that Parliament has power to amend any provision of the Constitution. The amendment further made it obligatory for the President to give his assent, when a Constitution Amendment Bill was presented to him.
The One Hundred and Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of India, extends the deadline for the cessation of the reservation of seats for members from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies by a period of 10 years.
